The Monster Within
Political inaction, American exceptionalism, and the fear of change
I’ve been spending a lot of time on Twitter lately, mostly to my detriment. Interspersed with the gruesome images of mass murder in Palestine — nightmares that will never leave me so long as I live — is an insidious whisper from other Americans.
One year out from the election, many liberals are attempting to scold the rest of us into voting for a man who refuses to call for a ceasefire, who is waiving public knowledge of his arms deals with Israel, and who has parroted false stories of beheaded babies to villainize the Palestinian people.
The narrative is much the same from all these commentators: vote for Biden or things will be worse. Vote for Biden or you’re supporting Trump. Vote for Biden or you’re a terrorist. Ignore his support for genocide and his refusal to call for peace; instead, project even more catastrophic potentialities onto another candidate without questioning why you need to vote for either. Some of these scolds have even gone so far as to state that voting for Biden is not an endorsement of his policies, which is, quite frankly, a bizarre claim.
In other words, as George Orwell writes in 1984: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
