How did the United States get here, with literally half of a major political party clinically deluded? And what comes next? My next column recommendation is a January 12, 2021 piece by Garry Kasparov, the famed Russian chess champion.
I'm not usually a huge fan of Kasparov's columns, as I feel that he's often guilty of a kind of Margaret-Mead-in-Samoa naivete and self-presumed expertise when it comes to U.S. culture. What I find refreshing about Kasparov's writing, however, is that he doesn't treat the U.S. as if it has some Kryptonian invulnerability to fascism and idiocy. He sees America as any other country-in-a-mess.
Kasparov's blunt warnings certainly carry more heft after the January 6 insurrection. I'm going to quote a paragraph here that I think hits everything on the head. "Garry Kasparov: What Happens Next" was published by CNN on January 12.
"Hemingway wrote in 'For Whom the Bell Tolls': 'There are many who do not know they are fascists, but will find it out when the time comes.' The time has come, and we are finding them out. Fortuitously, they are inclined to boast of their transgressions on Instagram and from the Senate floor, which makes them easy to find."
In his column, Kasparov mentions a couple of recent surveys that I'll address in a future "Popular Delusions and Madness of Crowds" entry. Based on these new surveys, Americans are more deluded than I give them credit for. As I like to chant before nodding off to sleep:
There are no solutions for popular delusions.
Bob Dietz
January 15, 2021
