I have a lot of concerns and worries about the future of democracy in America, but I won't go there. To your questions.
>>ever going to the US again.
Coming here now seems like a terrible idea, but ever is a long time. You've come here before and things have been crazier than this before (see, "Perspective" below). I do have worries that we are on an inexorable slide, but that's
probably unlikely and I am prone to worry about such things.
I think of it like passing through a cultural bottleneck. Inside the bottleneck, where we are now, the pressure is super high. On the other side, less so. The open question is how far into the bottleneck are we and what will the other side look like? Will we come out looking more like Denmark or Poland or something new altogether?
Covid: yes, total sh## show. Even without our president being anti-mask and anti-lockdown, there are a lot of people whipping up conspiracy theories who would be working triple time right now if Clinton were in office and passing a national mask law. I can't even imagine.
Elections.
Yes, apparently that is the best we can do. Astounding for a country with the incredible creative and productive capacity of the USA, but here we are. Of all the things that worry me about what's happening right now, the one that most concerns me is something that would result in seriously questioning the legitimacy of the elections. If that happens, regardless of the winner, the result will be horrible. The country will explode. The recent riots will be nothing. I expect a lot of unrest regardless of who wins. If Trump loses, it will be the craziest transition in history. If Trump loses and tries to question the result, it could get really bad. If Trump wins, there will be mass demonstrations. I don't see an outcome without some madness in November. I would definitely not plan travel to the US during that period.
BLM.
Speaking personally, I had long vaguely meant to read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nahisi Coates. If not for the protests, I doubt I would ever have gotten around to it. But because of all this, I did and now, I wish everyone would read it. I think a lot of us who live complacently in overwhelmingly white areas and who have had the privilege of not thinking much about race have finally been forced to reflect a bit more deeply. For me, that's been a good thing. The protests in my area were peaceful affairs and the local sheriff was been exemplary from Day One.
There's an interesting interview with Ta-Nahisi Coates where he says he is more optimistic than he has been in a long time. His father, an activist in the 1970s, said he never dreamed that in his life he would see white people marching in large numbers in support of black people. There is a lot happening here that is positive if you look beyond all the media sensationalism and political rhetoric.
https://www.vox.com/2020/6/5/21279530/ta-nehisi-coates-ezra-klein-show-george-floyd-police-brutality-trump-bidenRiots.
Obviously that's not good. But again, I've been able to live far from the madding crowds and just pretty much not think about these issues. I never thought of that as a great privilege, but I see that differently now. I'm not sure I would have been forced to look at that without the unrest. Of course, I was not personally harmed in any way, so it's easy for me to say that.
Perspective.
Compare this to 1967 to 1970. No major national figures have been assassinated. The Army Math Research Center was not bombed. The troops that cleared Lafayette Square did not fire on the crowd and kill students like at Orangeburg, Jackson State and Kent State (you've probably only heard of Kent State, "Four dead in Ohio," because at Kent State the National Guard made the mistake of shooting *white* kids). At least as far as we know, the FBI is not actively blackmailing BLM leaders and trying to get them to commit suicide (a la MLK). The cities are burning, but nothing like during the Long Hot Summer.
A refresher course...
Orangeburg Massacre (28 students injured, three fatally when state police fire upon the crowd)
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/orangeburg-massacre/Jackson State killings (12 students injured, two fatally when police open fire)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_State_killingsKent State shootings (13 shot, four fatally)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootingsAMRC Bombing (building destroyed, one person killed... by "peace" activists)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Hall_bombingFBI attempting to blackmail MLK, possibly hoping he would commit suicide, but as a minimum leave the public stage
https://www.insider.com/fbi-martin-luther-king-report-tapes-orgies-suicide-2019-5A bit out of the 1967-1970 time period, but on August 28, 1963, MLK gave the famous "I have a dream speech." Two days later, the FBI Chief of Domestic Intelligence,
William Sullivan wrote a memo that said: "We must mark him now, if we have not done so before, as the most dangerous Negro of the future in this Nation from the standpoint of communism, the Negro and national security."
Long hot summer of 1967, major riots across the country with major sections of Newark and Detroit burned
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long,_hot_summer_of_1967And some imagesThis, by the way, is where we get the phrase "When the looting starts, the shooting starts." Trump didn't coin that phrase. It was Miami police chief Walter E. Headley in 1967.
I hope we come out of this better, but Covid is the wrinkle that makes it all crazier.
