The thing is, short of apocalyptic scenarios that imminently endanger most people, there’s no limiting principle on the rhetorical frame “you’re overreacting/this is a distraction.” You can easily apply it to some of the worst parts of US history. “Oh you have to sit at the back of the bus? So what”
May 13, 2025 19:32It’s a pose, a mindset, not an objective assessment of events. It’s a way of signaling that you’re not some screeching hysteric and understand that things are still basically normal. No circumstance will engender alarm from these people, because “alarm” is specifically what they hold in contempt
Over the past years we’ve seen the same crowd of pundits (usually after an initial freakout) retreat to the same smug “calm down” posture over:
-a president attacking the Capitol
-a worldwide pandemic
-immigrants being disappeared
-courts and Congress being ignored
-full return of white supremacy
I think seeing more video of what ICE is doing and the way they are doing it really can wake Americans up to the horrible reality. The cruelty and inhumanity being perpetrated by these masked marauders is unjustifiable and horrifying. Who would believe this is America today?
To be fair, people on different ends of the political spectrum play this record on each other all the time.
Not taking the concerns of "the other side" seriously sadly belongs to the standard political repertoire.
If that were not the case, the US would not be in the mess it is in.
