President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing a “deliberate destruction of education, science, and history,” wrote Adam Serwer in a scathing analysis for The Atlantic published on Tuesday — and it recalls the “Dark Ages” that followed the fall of the Roman Empire.
“Every week brings fresh examples,” wrote Serwer. For instance, Trump “is threatening colleges and universities with the loss of federal funding if they do not submit to its demands, or even if they do. The engines of American scientific inquiry and ingenuity, such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, are under sustained attack. Historical institutions such as the Smithsonian and artistic ones like the Kennedy Center are being converted into homes for MAGA ideology rather than historical fact and free expression.”
One of the most prominent of these attacks is on Harvard University, which the administration today announced will have all its remaining grants canceled, he said. That matter is currently the focus of legal action as Harvard fights back, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
This purge is already snuffing out free thought across the country, wrote Serwer: “Libraries are losing funding, government-employed scientists are being dismissed from their jobs, educators are being cowed into silence, and researchers are being warned not to broach forbidden subjects. Entire databases of public-health information collected over decades are at risk of vanishing. Any facts that contradict the gospel of Trumpism are treated as heretical.”
The result of all this will be to “undermine Americans’ ability to comprehend the world around us,” he warned. “Like the inquisitors of old, who persecuted Galileo for daring to notice that the sun did not, in fact, revolve around the Earth, they believe that truth-seeking imperils their hold on power.”
And the harm done to America’s ability to conduct basic research to improve our lives and advance technology is hard for lay people to comprehend, he continued.
While private companies do a lot of innovation themselves, he continued, “the research that leads to that invention tends to be a costly gamble — for this reason, the government often takes on the initial risk that private firms cannot.” For instance, “commercial flight, radar, microchips, spaceflight, advanced prosthetics, lactose-free milk, MRI machines — the list of government-supported research triumphs is practically endless.” And even when private companies do their own research, it takes a back seat to profit — after all, “Exxon Mobil knew climate change was real decades ago, and nevertheless used its influence to raise doubt about findings it knew were accurate.”
As the Trump administration burns down America’s capabilities in the pursuit of destroying “forbidden ideas,” Serwer concluded, history could be on track for a grim repeat: it “will dramatically impair the ability to solve problems, prevent disease, design policy, inform the public, and make technological advancements. Like the catastrophic loss of knowledge in Western Europe that followed the fall of Rome, it is a self-inflicted calamity. All that matters to Trumpists is that they can reign unchallenged over the ruins.” 1.7K Comments / 1K
He wants everyone as stupid as he is.
I wish soldiers fighting for our freedoms would take on a different connotation. I wish it meant something.
Spoilers: The soldiers were never “fighting for our freedoms”. They were fighting to pay off their personal debts and - particularly in the special forces - go on drug-fueled murder sprees in between binging and fucking prostitutes all over the world. If they served long enough without suffering a debilitating injury, they could make the jump to the private sector where the pay was way better and the jobs were much easier.
In the end, the US military is just a jobs training program for mercenary fuck bois. It is not some kind of Knights of the Round Table for liberal democracy.
So this “article” (that I couldn’t read on my own without downloading their app) is just explaining a better article from The Atlantic? Why even post this trash, why not post the actual article from The Atlantic?
And why are all the comments discussing this like it’s not trash with a bullshit, clickbait headline? Is Lemmy all bots now, too?
why not post the
actuallink to the archive.is unpaywalled version of the article from The Atlantic?Much better idea!
I totally agree. If anyone has a way of filtering this stuff out, please share.
It’s what fascism looks like. The arts and sciences are among the first things to go.
How much has this to do with Michelle and Barak Obama studying at Harvard? Why is no other university involved?
Alternate title: “The Atlantic publishes a story about MAGA that everyone with a brain knew for at least eight years.”
Welcome to the party.
To be fair, The Atlantic has been much better at addressing these issues than the rest of MSM, but still not far enough.
I mean, the dumbing down of America has been discussed since before “no child left behind”
Will Trump make things worse on that front? How could he not?
Or, “Poorly written article quotes Atlantic article but adds almost nothing”
Removed by mod
What sort of world is this where the leader of a country can get up and more or less say “I’m going to ruin everything and send citizens to a foreign prison without trial” and they’re allowed to carry on
You’ve just learnt the frailty of institutions, law means nothing if those who are tasked to uphold it forego their duties.
This is why an educated, politically active population is the only real safeguard against institutional decay and tyranny.Luckily for the fascists the Americans are lazy idiots.
This one, quite literally. This is not new for humanity even in the slightest.
An unjust one, sure, but a world that definitely exists and has existed for thousands of years
I grew up with Reagan and Thatcher on the telly and there was always something bestial beneath the surface layer of civility. Maybe Trump merely shed the pretence.
Sure did.
As much as Trump may make us yearn for the return of civility, let’s never forget it was never more than a blanket laid over oppression, exploitation, and dehumanization.
It’s too late for America. You can’t save a country when half of its citizens want to burn it to the ground.
The best outcome is the left reorients and rebuilds systems independent from the federal government, either by focusing on the state and local level or through interstate compacts.
If the US falls apart, it will be a bloody civil war. The only winner will be competing world powers. Of which, only the EU is really a beacon of light of enlightened values. In no way is that a good outcome for US citizens or the world. What is needed is a concerted effort to evolve the US from where it is. Two parties is not really a functional democracy. Law is bought and sold, and there is massive inequality.
The only way to save America is to divide it into separate unions.
That way them red states can bask in their poverty.
I really do want to see Alabama, Kentucky, and Mississippi have to try and survive without California or New York as their sugar daddies.
Sugar daddies get something in return. What does Alabama do for New York and California besides some sibling joke material?
However it divides up, I want to be on the side that has scientists and vaccines
Well that wouldn’t be the US anymore, it would be two new nations.
But otherwise I agree. The main question is how do we angle for an amicable divorce and who gets the dog and house (purple states).
You’ve answered your own question. Both sides enthusiastically call to the purple states, and whichever side they go to, that’s who they’ve chosen.
C’mere Michigan! You’re such a good boy Michigan, we love you! Who’s a good state‽
I work for an R1 university and have had multiple siblings gleefully claim that where I work is a cult that needs to be shut down. They don’t even have enough empathy to wish me well in my life.
i’m doing graduate work at the NIH and whewwwwwww the magas in the extended family think I work in the seventh circle of hell for satan
Hello fellow Knight (in someone’s service)
Knights In Science’s Service
Love it
R1?
It’s a classification system. Basically the bigger universities that do the bigger research and bring in the bigger research money.
These are idiots.
The only way the left will get anything done is by abandoning the democratic party
You can if you arm up and start extinguishing the goddamn Nazi pieces of shit
That’ll save a lot of people in the short term so it’s certainly worth doing. But that still won’t save the United States of America, any more than it would have been possible to save the German Reich, the Kingdom of Italy, or the Greater Japanese Empire.
It’s too late for America. You can’t save a country when half of its citizens want to burn it to the ground.
Yeah.
… yeah…
One third of the country.
I’m sorry but I disagree, I think we can make it through. It’s not going to be easy but if we unite and fight together we can stop this madness. If we split up it’s going to screw all the Democrats and normal people who are stuck living in red states for reasons such as can’t afford to move.
What is the basis of your disagreement? I have hoped for this outcome for my entire adult life but things have only gotten worse and more hateful during that time. There simply is no interest from the right and even much of the center to fight against this. It’s time to let go and realize we can’t save everyone. If they want to fight for local autonomy we can support them. If they want to flee we can welcome them.
But what we can’t do is continue down the same path of the last 15 years. We can’t have a national government that 50% of the time wants to continue the status quo and 50% of the time wants to go on a violent rampage against itself and the people of this country. That just can’t work, and I don’t see a path to a place where it can. We need to build something new for the people who haven’t lost their minds as best we can and let the lunatics self-destruct if that’s what they want to do.
Things have gotten worse on the internet.
There is an entire population of people that don’t live perpetually online…you know? The place that gives a platform to the loudest most annoying people?
Whatever. I really only ever comment because sometimes I like writing.
Live in your pretend land.
if we unite and fight together we can stop this madness.
well sure but that’s like saying if Superman shows up he can make the GOP behave
so far there hasn’t even been a note worthy march and those seem to have died down now
There’s going to be huge protests on June 14. I believe protests are just one component. I think what people should be doing is trying to beat the pillars of support that are holding Trump up. For example boycotting his top donors, educating people on things like media literacy and trying to reach people who are not informed on what’s going on. Getting his poll numbers way down especially among Republicans would have a big impact on stopping him.
The Economic boycotts against those fascist allies (including Target) are working and should be continued. The next step of the revolution requires targeted lone-wolf hits, as well as generic counter-attacks against ICE and other soldiers on our streets. #FreeLuigi
looking forward to this for the sake of everyone!!
What they need to be doing is arming up and visiting Fox News, right wing influencers, Heritage Foundation offices, MAGA souvenir shop owners, Salem Media outlets, Baptist churches, etc
Democrats
heres the reason its too late.
Either advocate violence or shut up. No other option exists.
May I introduce your barbaric uncivilized ass to the ideas of “voting” and “education”
That didn’t work for the past 70 years and it hasn’t worked on overthrowing any fascist organization ever. Why do you think you would suddenly work now?
and here again i find myself unsure of what to say in the face of something i’ve been warning against for years
“I told you so”?
it feels unhelpful, but at this point that’s all i have left. basically saying “now do you know who to listen to?”
I’m almost at the point of pulling up a lawn chair, cracking open a beer, and wearing a shirt that says “Told ya so” while I waste away in the sun.
Enjoy that lawn chair and beer while you can, we’re probably a year or so away from everyone who didn’t vote for Trump being either bussed off to the death camps or drafted as cannon fodder in the war for Greenland and Canada.
I don’t get whisked off, I die in a 30 minute firefight screaming obscenities and lobbing molotovs.
I’m at this point, too. I’m more a supporter than a leader personally. I’d join a local riot in a heartbeat. Short of that, I’ve been stocking up on knives and researching combat techniques. Getting a gun and some defensive gear are my next to-dos.
This guy was first picked during dodge ball!
I know, I know, r/iamverybadass
but consider the alternative. Die on your doorstep lit up like a gunpowder Christmas tree, or be tortured and beaten to death for years in a concentration camp?
…shootout
Sorry, I should have specified that I made the same declaration when all this shit started. I agree completely and do think that is a signal of someone badass! No sarcasm intended!
I’d go to those wars. Seems like they’d appreciate me more as a defecting troop than my current government cares about me as a vet.
You said it. Never had a bad time in Canada and I’d like to see Greenland one day!
I’m going to Alcatraz
Alcatraz means pelican
Man I fuckin hate birds
Did the previous comment further incense your ire toward birds?
It just reminded me of the smouldering hatred within
I’ll take the draft, I’d happily lay down my rifle and surrender.
A podcaster who used to make a podcast called Common Sense stopped because he felt he had said everything he believed and there wasn’t any point in making new shows.
He did one recently which basically said “well it happened just like I expected, but I didn’t expect it would be so sudden”.
(At least, that’s what I took from it…)
Is that the Dan Carlin one?
That’s right. He’s still making his excellent history podcast, Hardcore History, at his traditional relaxed pace. 😆
and it recalls the “Dark Ages” that followed the fall of the Roman Empire
This is unfair to the Romans. They struggled through multiple economic and migratory/military crises to keep their state alive and saved it from destruction several times before entropy finally took its course. Even after Rome “fell”, people maintained the appearance of continuity. What they did not do at any time is deliberately take a hammer to everything. Trump is much more like Pol Pot than Odoacer.
Yeah but they caused their economic collapse themselves. Their monetary policy was awful (spoiler : it’s the same americans currently have)
Holy shit you’re right. He is like Pol Pot.
Please keep in mind that America backed Pol Pot as the head of state through that 1975 to 1979 genocide and for over a decade after.
Cool history lesson, but why is that related to what’s currently happening?
that they love to committ war crimes in the name of ideological victories seems pretty relevant
I agree with funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works. Running cover for despotic regimes seems to be a pattern that 20th and 21st century American history is shot full of.
Anyone with eyes was hip to this 6 months ago at the latest. Some media dude writing it up changes nothing. This isn’t a revelation.
What happened to traitors back in the Dark Ages? Asking for 8 billion friends…
Can we Order 65 this traitor before he Order 66 us?
