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The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire

Book by Matt Taibbi · 2 quotes · Current Events, Extremism, Polarization

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The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire Quotes

“No voter wants to believe he doesn’t really matter, so he buys into the idea that there are two substantively different parties frantically competing for his attention, the ideological fate of the country hanging on his decision every few years. It flatters the average citizen to think that way. The reality is that the dominant characteristic of our political system is the unchanging nature of the political consensus—while the two parties agree about most all of the important things, they disagree violently about the inconsequential stuff, providing the fodder and the drama for an endless political “struggle” that plays itself out in entertaining fashion every couple of years.”

ExtremismPolarizationPolitics Observation
Book:The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire
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“The similarities between both of these groups were striking and should be clear to anyone who reads this book. Both groups were and are defined primarily by an unshakable belief in the inhumanity of their enemies on the other side; the Christians seldom distinguished between Islamic terrorism and, say, Al Gore–style environmentalism, while the Truthers easily believed that reporters for the Washington Post, the president, and the front-line operators of NORAD were equally capable of murdering masses of ordinary New York financial-sector employees. Abandoned by the political center, both groups ascribed unblinkingly to a militant, us-against-them worldview, where only their own could be trusted. What made them distinctly American was that, while actually the victims of an obvious, unhidden conspiracy of corrupt political power, they chose to battle bugbears that were completely idiotic, fanciful, and imaginary”

ExtremismPolarizationPolitics Observation
Book:The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire
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