no subject

[lotesse]

Here comes a new era of the US Supreme Court. It's a lot to swallow. Now that the Kavanaugh theft and installment is accomplished, the court is illegitimized, and has become a hammer of authoritarianism. The court just ruled for gender discrimination, against other legal precedents. I feel, again, that something must be done; but I don't know what.

Comments

[starshipfox]

I'm sorry you're living through this. The news everywhere is such a shitshow, but hearing about the US stuff is so upsetting.

[lotesse]

I try to keep a historical perspective, at least -- there's always a shitshow somewhere, and most people's lifetimes intersect with at least a few. I think this one must feel very different for people a half-generation younger than myself; I may have grown up at the last recent moment when they were teaching you that the government was stable and well-thought-out, and you could sort of really believe it!

I don't know how you resist the Supreme Court, but I'm sure there's a way. Adjust and adapt!

[starshipfox]

I remember speaking to a British person who was maybe five years older than me and had grown up with a fairly stable Labour government, and she was so confused and horrified by the current British government. She kept saying she expected the government to be on the people's side, and she couldn't believe they weren't any more. That was interesting to me, because while the Irish government is pretty stable and looks fairly good atm in comparison with the UK or US, I never felt like the government was on my side or cared about me. I imagine for people who came to political awareness under the Obama administration this must feel be a hard shock. It's very hard to be living in a shitshow, it's hard to keep perspective.

[lotesse]

I was a kid in the Clinton years, and the child of a successful female entrepreneur, at that -- so my sense of positivity and hope for the future was very strong. The stolen election in 2000 was a watershed moment for me, but my sense of government-should-be-on-my-side had developed already by then, and I was so angry with the Bushies precisely because I saw them as usurpers and destroyers of an edifice that I had had faith in. Admittedly, all of this would have been very different if my family hadn't been *white* immigrants ...

I've not decided if I'd rather be on the English sinking ship, or my own. I think not theirs. I've been posting a Dark Is Rising fic this last month that engages with Arthurian mythology, and I recently remembered that I'd lost momentum on it because, just as I was all researched up on Welsh devolution, the Brexit vote happened and I suddenly very much didn't want to work on the Matter of Britain any more! But I'm back to it. The idea of good government is just so compelling, I can't seem to stop trying to read/write it. Good government: the ultimate fantasy!

[stellar_dust]

Same - I also came of age in the 90s and felt betrayed by the 2000 election. These last two years have left me even more cynical, when I'm not just angry.

I don't know what can be done about the Supreme Court either. I think it's possible to impeach judges, but that seems vanishingly unlikely, even if the balance of power were to shift in the Senate.

[starshipfox]

As a kid, the European Union was always emphasised very strongly as a force for good, and I still feel very positive about it, even though it's imperfect. The British Right rejection of the EU was so shocking to me -- in part because it's a very stupid thing to do, but I think also because one of my earliest political beliefs was in the EU. It must have been so alarming to suddenly realise the government wasn't on your side...

It's been so long since I read The Dark Is Rising. I remember it as dark and compelling though! I can definitely understand how you would want to stop engaging with Arthurian mythology or British myth in general. Heh, yes, an actually good government is definitely the biggest fantasy of all.