Michael Moore wields great influence, and his doomsayer pronouncement that “Trump will win” threatens to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, since people will not try to defeat the Republican nominee if they consider his victory already written in stone. It is highly possible that Moore is trying to rouse us to action with his words. Nonetheless, his sort of Cassandra punditry is profoundly unuseful right now, even brattily entitled. (It also smacks of egotistical link-baiting.) Many of us know that to be alive is to keep fighting–for the roofs over our heads, for fair wages, for the right to go and come as we please. Many of us know that the only way to survive is to live as if we can beat gloomy odds even when they seem unbeatable. What we require now is praxis: positive theory, positive action. We need to keep our eyes on the prize, with our sleeves rolled up to win it. These citizens are beautifully doing just that. This is how we defeat Trump and the culture of greed, hatred, and ignorance he represents.
Michael Moore wields great influence, and his doomsayer pronouncement that “Trump will win” threatens to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, since people will not try to defeat the Republican nominee if they consider his victory already written in stone. It is highly possible that Moore is trying to rouse us to action with his words. Nonetheless, his sort of Cassandra punditry is profoundly unuseful right now, even brattily entitled. (It also smacks of egotistical link-baiting.) Many of us know that to be alive is to keep fighting–for the roofs over our heads, for fair wages, for the right to go and come as we please. Many of us know that the only way to survive is to live as if we can beat gloomy odds even when they seem unbeatable. What we require now is praxis: positive theory, positive action. We need to keep our eyes on the prize, with our sleeves rolled up to win it. These citizens are beautifully doing just that. This is how we defeat Trump and the culture of greed, hatred, and ignorance he represents.