The 1619 Project- Observing & Understanding the 400th Anniversary of American Slavery ~> PDF|Video
- Thread starter godofwine
- Start date
Thanks-- I've been meaning to get to it.
Thank you. What is this pertaining to?
the 400 year legacy of slavery and racism in this country.
Right on.
So does this go into detail that other history books didn’t? I mean what separates this from other source material out there?
Not entirely sure, but I'm going to read it. Maybe afterwards i can try to answer that. It seems that they are connecting the dots and explaining why and how things got how they did - redlining, etc. Information most of us should know, but likely foreign to many others.
"The 1619 Project is a major initiative from The New York Times observing the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history, understanding 1619 as our true founding, and placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are."
New York Times Magazine this Sunday Aug. 18th has illuminating articles, well worth reading, noting this month's 400 year benchmark of the year 1619 when the first captive Africans were brought to America and how Black labor built America and made the U.S. the richest nation of the cac countries.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/sugar-slave-trade-slavery.html
Conservatives rail against New York Times project on America’s sordid slave past
An uproar over a New York Times series that explores the nation's sordid slave legacy, and the rich and varied contributions of black Americans.
https://thinkprogress.org/african-americans-at-the-heart-of-american-history-the-countrys-euro-centrists-push-back-hard-b4576be3ec1c/
In a sweeping and ambitious journalistic project, the New York Times on Sunday launched its 1619 series, reframing the American story around a single, pivotal historical event: the arrival to America 400 years ago this month of the first enslaved Africans.
The premise of the groundbreaking initiative unveiled in the pages of the Sunday magazine is that the arrival of these captured Africans was the defining moment of American history.
Their bondage, enforced servitude, and struggle for equality became the leitmotif of our national narrative. The contributions of black Americans, the series posits, is the cornerstone on which the nation’s rich cultural legacy was built.
Needless to say, conservatives — many of whom can probably safely be considered
genesis 15:13.
Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own; they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will depart with many possessions. Our time has come!!!
New York Times Magazine this Sunday Aug. 18th has illuminating articles, well worth reading, noting this month's 400 year benchmark of the year 1619 when the first captive Africans were brought to America and how Black labor built America and made the U.S. the richest nation of the cac countries.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/sugar-slave-trade-slavery.html
Conservatives rail against New York Times project on America’s sordid slave past
An uproar over a New York Times series that explores the nation's sordid slave legacy, and the rich and varied contributions of black Americans.
https://thinkprogress.org/african-americans-at-the-heart-of-american-history-the-countrys-euro-centrists-push-back-hard-b4576be3ec1c/
In a sweeping and ambitious journalistic project, the New York Times on Sunday launched its 1619 series, reframing the American story around a single, pivotal historical event: the arrival to America 400 years ago this month of the first enslaved Africans.
The premise of the groundbreaking initiative unveiled in the pages of the Sunday magazine is that the arrival of these captured Africans was the defining moment of American history.
Their bondage, enforced servitude, and struggle for equality became the leitmotif of our national narrative. The contributions of black Americans, the series posits, is the cornerstone on which the nation’s rich cultural legacy was built.
Needless to say, conservatives — many of whom can probably safely be consideredEuro-centristsWhite-supremacists RACIST— simply weren’t having it.
fuck a racist.
Props, now my iPad has more purpose
revelations 7:1, 14.
only 144,000 righteous living black americans (negro americans) will survive the impending lake of fire slated for north america.
the remaining 37, 000, 530 will be destroyed along with the white race.
only 144,000 righteous living black americans (negro americans) will survive the impending lake of fire slated for north america.
the remaining 37, 000, 530 will be destroyed along with the white race.
Read on down to verse 9. Who is the white robed multitude? .
Link? 
Thanks @godofwine, this looks great 
Goddamn that was a public execution lmao. Also fuck Newt Gingrich from now until eternity
Goddamn that was a public execution lmao. Also fuck Newt Gingrich from now until eternity
New York Times Magazine this Sunday Aug. 18th has illuminating articles, well worth reading, noting this month's 400 year benchmark of the year 1619 when the first captive Africans were brought to America and how Black labor built America and made the U.S. the richest nation of the cac countries.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/sugar-slave-trade-slavery.html
Conservatives rail against New York Times project on America’s sordid slave past
An uproar over a New York Times series that explores the nation's sordid slave legacy, and the rich and varied contributions of black Americans.
https://thinkprogress.org/african-americans-at-the-heart-of-american-history-the-countrys-euro-centrists-push-back-hard-b4576be3ec1c/
In a sweeping and ambitious journalistic project, the New York Times on Sunday launched its 1619 series, reframing the American story around a single, pivotal historical event: the arrival to America 400 years ago this month of the first enslaved Africans.
The premise of the groundbreaking initiative unveiled in the pages of the Sunday magazine is that the arrival of these captured Africans was the defining moment of American history.
Their bondage, enforced servitude, and struggle for equality became the leitmotif of our national narrative. The contributions of black Americans, the series posits, is the cornerstone on which the nation’s rich cultural legacy was built.
Needless to say, conservatives — many of whom can probably safely be considered
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Video is timestamped, begins with an interview with the project's creator.
Sad to say most of the peeps on this board will not watch the informative, thought provoking video posted above, but hypothetically if it were a Nicki Minaj ass-to-mouth sex video, that would get 300,000 views.
Meanwhile back in the reality based world the woman professor featured in the 1619 project video above talks about medical experimentation on enslaved Black people. The book below by Harriet Washington covers the entire AmeriKKKan cac debauchery & criminality.
Medical Apartheid
The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
The world was outraged at Adolph Hitler's NAZI doctors who conducted cruel & unhuman medical and scientific experiments on unwilling captives, however such cruel & unhuman medical and scientific experiments were a daily part of the Black experience in AmeriKKKa for hundreds of years
As the late Judge Bruce Wright said -"The Black man who is always smiling hasn't been told the truth."
“Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present.” by Harriet Washington.
The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today.
A new report by the American Cancer society shows that African-Americans are still more likely than any other group to develop and die of cancer. The study states that socio-economic factors play the largest role in this disparity - African Americans have less access to health care and information, and are less likely to get screening and medical treatment. Well, a new book offers one answer into why black Americans deeply mistrust American medicine.
“Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present” is the first and only comprehensive history of medical experimentation, abuse and neglect of African Americans. The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It begins with the earliest encounters of blacks and the medical establishment during slavery, looks at how eugenics and social Darwinism was used to justify medical experiments conducted by the government and the military - and offers new details about the infamous Tuskegee Experiments that began in the 1930’s.
“Medical Apartheid” also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today. With us now is the Author of the book - Harriet Washington. She is a medical writer and editor -- and a visiting Scholar at DePaul University School of Law.
Watch the 4 part 30 minute video below
“Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present.” by Harriet Washington.
The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today.
A new report by the American Cancer society shows that African-Americans are still more likely than any other group to develop and die of cancer. The study states that socio-economic factors play the largest role in this disparity - African Americans have less access to health care and information, and are less likely to get screening and medical treatment. Well, a new book offers one answer into why black Americans deeply mistrust American medicine.
“Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present” is the first and only comprehensive history of medical experimentation, abuse and neglect of African Americans. The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It begins with the earliest encounters of blacks and the medical establishment during slavery, looks at how eugenics and social Darwinism was used to justify medical experiments conducted by the government and the military - and offers new details about the infamous Tuskegee Experiments that began in the 1930’s.
“Medical Apartheid” also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today. With us now is the Author of the book - Harriet Washington. She is a medical writer and editor -- and a visiting Scholar at DePaul University School of Law.
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Meanwhile back in the reality based world the woman professor featured in the 1619 project video above talks about medical experimentation on enslaved Black people. The book below by Harriet Washington covers the entire AmeriKKKan cac debauchery & criminality.
Medical Apartheid
The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
The world was outraged at Adolph Hitler's NAZI doctors who conducted cruel & unhuman medical and scientific experiments on unwilling captives, however such cruel & unhuman medical and scientific experiments were a daily part of the Black experience in AmeriKKKa for hundreds of years
As the late Judge Bruce Wright said -"The Black man who is always smiling hasn't been told the truth."
“Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present.” by Harriet Washington.
The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today.
A new report by the American Cancer society shows that African-Americans are still more likely than any other group to develop and die of cancer. The study states that socio-economic factors play the largest role in this disparity - African Americans have less access to health care and information, and are less likely to get screening and medical treatment. Well, a new book offers one answer into why black Americans deeply mistrust American medicine.
“Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present” is the first and only comprehensive history of medical experimentation, abuse and neglect of African Americans. The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It begins with the earliest encounters of blacks and the medical establishment during slavery, looks at how eugenics and social Darwinism was used to justify medical experiments conducted by the government and the military - and offers new details about the infamous Tuskegee Experiments that began in the 1930’s.
“Medical Apartheid” also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today. With us now is the Author of the book - Harriet Washington. She is a medical writer and editor -- and a visiting Scholar at DePaul University School of Law.
Watch the 4 part 30 minute video below
A former slave, John Brown, described the experiment done on him by his master, Dr. Thomas Hamilton of Georgia. Brown described being made to sit naked on the top of a burning pit on a stool as part of Dr. Hamilton’s experiment. The temperature reached 100 degrees and Brown passed, then the supposedly good doctor stood by to determine how deep black skin blistered by observing Brown’s hands and feet. Before Brown passed there were many other experiments performed on him by his master as well. (Carnell, 2014)
2. Experiments on Sick Slaves
Not only were slave owners conducting #experiments on slaves, but hospitals were doing it as well. In the 1850s, Dr. T. Stillman placed an ad for “sick Negroes” and slave masters were happy to hand over any ill or elderly slaves who could no longer work. During this time, it was viewed as a win-win situation, especially if slave owners were actually able to get back sick slaves who had been healed. But, if the slaves were not able to return and died the hospital paid for their burial. The slaves were given no rights or legal rights.
3. Doses of Toxic Plutonium and Uranium Given to Blacks
In 1945, there was a black truck driver named Ebb Cade who was in an accident. Almost all of Cade’s bones were broken during the accident. While he was being treated at the hospital he was given a toxic dose of plutonium. Before the plutonium destroyed Cade’s body, he must have heard about the experiment and escaped from the hospital. He didn’t know it but he was the first to be given the deadly dosage— but he was not the last. There were many African-American guinea pigs who followed behind him, and these blacks were either injected with uranium or plutonium as part of a radiation experiment. Former Secretary of Energy Hazel O’Leary declassified information on government experiments on unsuspecting African-Americans.
Download read eBook
Download listen audio book
2. Experiments on Sick Slaves
Not only were slave owners conducting #experiments on slaves, but hospitals were doing it as well. In the 1850s, Dr. T. Stillman placed an ad for “sick Negroes” and slave masters were happy to hand over any ill or elderly slaves who could no longer work. During this time, it was viewed as a win-win situation, especially if slave owners were actually able to get back sick slaves who had been healed. But, if the slaves were not able to return and died the hospital paid for their burial. The slaves were given no rights or legal rights.
3. Doses of Toxic Plutonium and Uranium Given to Blacks
In 1945, there was a black truck driver named Ebb Cade who was in an accident. Almost all of Cade’s bones were broken during the accident. While he was being treated at the hospital he was given a toxic dose of plutonium. Before the plutonium destroyed Cade’s body, he must have heard about the experiment and escaped from the hospital. He didn’t know it but he was the first to be given the deadly dosage— but he was not the last. There were many African-American guinea pigs who followed behind him, and these blacks were either injected with uranium or plutonium as part of a radiation experiment. Former Secretary of Energy Hazel O’Leary declassified information on government experiments on unsuspecting African-Americans.
Download read eBook
Code:
https://mega.nz/#!jgdElCLS!2Oo_OlJZoYO5YfsNrXIp2Nyb48-WkqZvWH5Zvsj_7DMDownload listen audio book
Code:
https://mega.nz/#!fx9iTQBD!xRMOckA3kE9q1neJeCruQ5jt7J8YU_NFjHSEygBItyw“Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present.” by Harriet Washington.
The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today.
A new report by the American Cancer society shows that African-Americans are still more likely than any other group to develop and die of cancer. The study states that socio-economic factors play the largest role in this disparity - African Americans have less access to health care and information, and are less likely to get screening and medical treatment. Well, a new book offers one answer into why black Americans deeply mistrust American medicine.
“Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present” is the first and only comprehensive history of medical experimentation, abuse and neglect of African Americans. The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It begins with the earliest encounters of blacks and the medical establishment during slavery, looks at how eugenics and social Darwinism was used to justify medical experiments conducted by the government and the military - and offers new details about the infamous Tuskegee Experiments that began in the 1930’s.
“Medical Apartheid” also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today. With us now is the Author of the book - Harriet Washington. She is a medical writer and editor -- and a visiting Scholar at DePaul University School of Law.
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Thanks for the additional information. Most on this board are indeed not equipped to think, let alone think objectively. Your post is welcome and I received the information.
Thanks!
Thanks!
NO THINKING REQUIRED when you just click play on youtube.
And like MOST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, this board deals most comfortbly with issues that fit preconceived ideas. Information we accept easily usually reinforces what is already believed to be true; sometimes information just makes you smarter.
Ease up with the snarky shit - you'll get a reputation...
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Have a seat, son.
The things you fear are not a factor in whatever I do.
You mentioned 'we'... That nullifies your position on anything and I dismiss anything that comes after it. G'day, m8.
The 1st try...93yrs earlier didn't work out so well for the colonizers..Yur teachers prolly didn't teach it, know bout it or even want to talk bout it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Miguel_de_Gualdape
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Miguel_de_Gualdape
GLOBAL "we", as in people of the world.
No fear here. You showed your true colors with the "Most on this board are indeed not equipped to think".
And this mumbo-jumbo; "The things you fear are not a factor in whatever I do."
It's more like you're sounding like A WHITER SHADE OF PALE to most on this board.
~cheerio
Sad to say most of the peeps on this board will not watch the informative, thought provoking video posted above, but hypothetically if it were a Nicki Minaj ass-to-mouth sex video, that would get 300,000 views.
Meanwhile back in the reality based world the woman professor featured in the 1619 project video above talks about medical experimentation on enslaved Black people. The book below by Harriet Washington covers the entire AmeriKKKan cac debauchery & criminality.
Medical Apartheid
The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
The world was outraged at Adolph Hitler's NAZI doctors who conducted cruel & unhuman medical and scientific experiments on unwilling captives, however such cruel & unhuman medical and scientific experiments were a daily part of the Black experience in AmeriKKKa for hundreds of years
As the late Judge Bruce Wright said -"The Black man who is always smiling hasn't been told the truth."
“Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present.” by Harriet Washington.
The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today.
A new report by the American Cancer society shows that African-Americans are still more likely than any other group to develop and die of cancer. The study states that socio-economic factors play the largest role in this disparity - African Americans have less access to health care and information, and are less likely to get screening and medical treatment. Well, a new book offers one answer into why black Americans deeply mistrust American medicine.
“Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present” is the first and only comprehensive history of medical experimentation, abuse and neglect of African Americans. The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It begins with the earliest encounters of blacks and the medical establishment during slavery, looks at how eugenics and social Darwinism was used to justify medical experiments conducted by the government and the military - and offers new details about the infamous Tuskegee Experiments that began in the 1930’s.
“Medical Apartheid” also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today. With us now is the Author of the book - Harriet Washington. She is a medical writer and editor -- and a visiting Scholar at DePaul University School of Law.
Watch the 4 part 30 minute video below
A former slave, John Brown, described the experiment done on him by his master, Dr. Thomas Hamilton of Georgia. Brown described being made to sit naked on the top of a burning pit on a stool as part of Dr. Hamilton’s experiment. The temperature reached 100 degrees and Brown passed, then the supposedly good doctor stood by to determine how deep black skin blistered by observing Brown’s hands and feet. Before Brown passed there were many other experiments performed on him by his master as well. (Carnell, 2014)
2. Experiments on Sick Slaves
Not only were slave owners conducting #experiments on slaves, but hospitals were doing it as well. In the 1850s, Dr. T. Stillman placed an ad for “sick Negroes” and slave masters were happy to hand over any ill or elderly slaves who could no longer work. During this time, it was viewed as a win-win situation, especially if slave owners were actually able to get back sick slaves who had been healed. But, if the slaves were not able to return and died the hospital paid for their burial. The slaves were given no rights or legal rights.
3. Doses of Toxic Plutonium and Uranium Given to Blacks
In 1945, there was a black truck driver named Ebb Cade who was in an accident. Almost all of Cade’s bones were broken during the accident. While he was being treated at the hospital he was given a toxic dose of plutonium. Before the plutonium destroyed Cade’s body, he must have heard about the experiment and escaped from the hospital. He didn’t know it but he was the first to be given the deadly dosage— but he was not the last. There were many African-American guinea pigs who followed behind him, and these blacks were either injected with uranium or plutonium as part of a radiation experiment. Former Secretary of Energy Hazel O’Leary declassified information on government experiments on unsuspecting African-Americans.
Download read eBook
Code:https://mega.nz/#!jgdElCLS!2Oo_OlJZoYO5YfsNrXIp2Nyb48-WkqZvWH5Zvsj_7DM
Download listen audio book
Code:https://mega.nz/#!fx9iTQBD!xRMOckA3kE9q1neJeCruQ5jt7J8YU_NFjHSEygBItyw
“Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present.” by Harriet Washington.
The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today.
A new report by the American Cancer society shows that African-Americans are still more likely than any other group to develop and die of cancer. The study states that socio-economic factors play the largest role in this disparity - African Americans have less access to health care and information, and are less likely to get screening and medical treatment. Well, a new book offers one answer into why black Americans deeply mistrust American medicine.
“Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present” is the first and only comprehensive history of medical experimentation, abuse and neglect of African Americans. The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It begins with the earliest encounters of blacks and the medical establishment during slavery, looks at how eugenics and social Darwinism was used to justify medical experiments conducted by the government and the military - and offers new details about the infamous Tuskegee Experiments that began in the 1930’s.
“Medical Apartheid” also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today. With us now is the Author of the book - Harriet Washington. She is a medical writer and editor -- and a visiting Scholar at DePaul University School of Law.
</p></td>
Appreciate the info
many many thanks for this post and the others you have out there.
OR
OR
Sub
Thanks @godofwine, this looks great
Goddamn that was a public execution lmao. Also fuck Newt Gingrich from now until eternity
What happened with the USA? How come there is so much hate between the democrats and republicans? Was there a trigger or is it something that was already going on for a long time (but due to social media it's more widespread and visible)?
I argue with both conservative and liberal friends about this exact subject often. Both sides are racing away from each other as fast as they can, but the reasons for it aren’t the same.
The trigger was not social media. It was actually this man.
No, that is not a stock photo of a generic white man. It’s former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
Before Trump or McConnell or Ted Cruz, Pelosi or AOC or Bernie, there was Newt MFing Gingrich.
Since the US functionally has a two party system, both parties once knew the only way to govern was through a method that now is viewed as abhorrent: compromise. While the parties often disagreed, there was a loyalty to the institution of the US Government over party affiliation.
Believe it or not, there was a time when the US political parties were not the tribal messes they are now. Nixon, a Republican, wasn’t ousted by Democrats. It was his own party that forced him out of office. Granted, they paid the price for it. Democrats controlled House and Senate, and maintained that control for many years. It looked like Republicans would never win again.
But, during that time, the parties worked together. A party couldn’t always count on their representatives voting on party lines 100% of the time, and so the understanding was that if you needed something done, you reached across the aisle, because both sides were working towards the same goal, albeit in different ways.
Then along came ole Mr. Gingrich. He had a theory, that politics was not about governing for the people. It was a war for power that needed to be won, and the Republican Party wasn’t nasty enough to win it.
“One of the great problems we have in the Republican Party is that we don’t encourage you to be nasty. We encourage you to be neat, obedient, and loyal, and faithful, and all those Boy Scout words, which would be great around the campfire but are lousy in politics.
-Newt Gingrich
^Newt speaking to West Georgia College. He later stole all their Christmas presents, to teach them a lesson on trickle down economics
Newt identified a hole in US politics. Previously, it was believed you needed to have good ideas to win elections. He disproved that by showing legislators don’t need to legislate to win seats…they needed to make people afraid of an enemy. And that’s what he did. He flung insults, he picked fights, he pushed conspiracy theories against his Democratic and Republican colleagues alike. If he could stop the whole government machine from functioning, he knew the American people would throw it out the window.
“His idea was to build toward a national election where people were so disgusted by Washington and the way it was operating that they would throw the ins out and bring the outs in.”
-Norm Ornstein
Democrats were tyrannical socialists bent on destroying the American way of life. Republicans who worked with Democrats were traitors in the war for seats in Congress. He picked fights with both sides. Those fights were reported on by the media, rare dramas in the dull political landscape. This raised Gingrich’s profile further. The more outlandish his accusations, the more colorful his insults, the more coverage he received and the more his plan worked.
In the 90s and 2000s, this…
became this…
Compromise was no longer an effective form of government. It was now being considered lost ground in the political war. As Gingrich gained power, Republicans began to realize that his strategy was working. The more Americans were willing to believe that Democrats were out to destroy what they held dear, the more Republicans won elections. Conservatives willing to reach cross the aisle to work with their colleagues were getting forced out and replaced by ideologues who viewed their opponents not as colleagues, but as Gingrich did; as the enemy.
Republicans regained the House, which they hadn’t held in 40 years, and the Senate, which they only had for 6 of the previous 40. Since Newt Gingrich was elected, Republicans have held the House for 20 of 26 years, and the Senate for 16 years during the same frame.
Democrats started to realize what was happening too late. And let’s be real, they still don’t totally understand though. Ideas don’t matter in elections. As Jeff Daniel’s character Will McAvoy asked in The Newsroom, “if liberals are so fucking smart, how come they lose so goddam always?”
^If you follow politics, watch it. Just trust me.
It’s because emotions matter, and Newt Gingrich made people afraid of monsters called Democrats. But the Democrats are starting to figure that out. That’s why Bernie, an unknown in 2012 to all but the most politically-focused, has become such a left-wing force. It’s why Warren has made such a name for herself with her “win the fight” attitude. It’s why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez handily unseated Joe Crowley. Democrats were still trying to govern the old way, and they just kept losing. So now they’re electing people who will fight back against the Republicans in more or less the same way. Conservatives may hate AOC, but she’s a devil of their own design, the next step for Democrats in this new, sick political arms race.
^It’s why liberals celebrated this picture like it was a sarcastic Mona Lisa.
Now, 66% of Republicans and 50% of Democrats don’t just disagree with each other, they believe the opposite parties policies are an actual threat to the nation.
That’s how we got here. Not because people argued more on social media, or we opened ourselves up to fake news. It’s because this sumbitch had the idea to make his fellow Americans the enemy.
A lot of the comments have added different elements that have also impacted discourse in the US, and I don’t disagree. Newt Gingrich wasn’t the first to try this strategy, and he also didn’t exist in a vacuum. I’m not dismissing the numerous people and trends that all pushed things in the direction where we currently are. I wanted to point out who I felt had the greatest individual impact.