[Xmca-l] Re: As of 2020, the American Century is Over

[Helena Worthen]

I assume it’s OK to share this around, right?

Thanks — H

Helena Worthen
h <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://helenaworthen.wordpress.com/__;!!Mih3wA!SspywBIFcsbvZrozxcSwYQMoReSdEl2oT1CZxUMa6XOZuCsQTR0QxmypkNCKHnV37tsGtw$ >elenaworthen@gmail.com







> On Apr 22, 2020, at 8:53 PM, Andy Blunden <andyb@marxists.org> wrote:
> 
> A short supplement. 
> Apart from the ABC, I rely on my wonderful American friends. One of these, M., lives in Brooklyn and has worked all his life in the NY hospital system, and I sent him my first draft for comment. His voluminous reply was presaged "I disagreed with much of it ..." including his opinion that the American Century was over in January 2017 and that he thought things would go back to normal once the pandemic was over. I held my ground on those two issues, but thankfully he was able to correct a number of errors resulting from the fact that I live a world away from America. M. is the most erudite and critical person I have ever known, so I am always sure of my sources when M. has checked them for me.
> 
> Andy
> Andy Blunden
> Hegel for Social Movements [brill.com] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://brill.com/view/title/54574__;!!Mih3wA!St0ZG0_KDAbW0pB4x8rPtZi_5fqPmB7qfSkLqfcUBE2r10cBdRUcVtsG1YtzTcSXHn8n3g$>
> Home Page [ethicalpolitics.org] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm__;!!Mih3wA!St0ZG0_KDAbW0pB4x8rPtZi_5fqPmB7qfSkLqfcUBE2r10cBdRUcVtsG1YtzTcTRmdMdrQ$>
> On 23/04/2020 11:21 am, Andy Blunden wrote:
>> Anthony, I mainly rely on the ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation), widely accepted as the most trusted source of news and analysis in Australia, run by professional journalists, and independent of Rupert Murdoch. The NYT has a pay wall and CNN is not available here.
>> 
>> As Alfredo notes, it is no news to anyone here that reality is in the eye of the beholder, and the world's experience with the tolerance of Americans for Trump is the greatest evidence of this truism one could ask for.
>> 
>> My perceptions are conditioned by living in a country which had its first cases about the same time as America and we were in an exponential rise doubling every 3.5 days, like New York, in early March, but wonder or wonders our Prime Minister, who is one of the handful of Trump-admirers in Australian politics - changed!! Apart from some rather vindicative exclusions of foreign workers and casuals from the economic survival package, he has given ideal leadership, possibly because he immediately created a new body called the "National Cabinet" which included all the state Premiers (majority Labor) and collaborated with stakeholders rather than legislating or issuing orders. All decisions have been made collaboratively and in public. The result was that trust in government has been magically restored and we are down to single figures of new cases per day. Our hospitals are quiet places.
>> It is an open question whether Scott Morrison will "win" the next election; that will depend on how he acts as restrictions are lifted, I imagine, but that is absolutely the last criterion on which he will be judged by the Australian people and history. (c.f. Winston Churchill).
>> When I have made errors in judgment over the past months, it has always been my consistent underestimation of the tolerance of Americans for lies and stupidity. But that will not stop me from continuing to make the same mistake and remaining optimistic for the future. Though I agree with Mike: there will be suffering.
>> 
>> Andy
>> Andy Blunden
>> Hegel for Social Movements [brill.com] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://brill.com/view/title/54574__;!!Mih3wA!UdbPxUu2xrRvkqJFMkhqvGcbnH0KIgpgfOlvzVVzRHnIO0tF08x45tk0WNZyheKsosRa4Q$>
>> Home Page [ethicalpolitics.org] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm__;!!Mih3wA!UdbPxUu2xrRvkqJFMkhqvGcbnH0KIgpgfOlvzVVzRHnIO0tF08x45tk0WNZyheIJtVMF7w$>
>> On 23/04/2020 4:02 am, Anthony Barra wrote:
>>> Andy,
>>> 
>>> Unless someone beats me to it, I will annotate this article when time allows -- not as a fact-check or correction, but from an occluded view. 
>>> 
>>> Thank you for writing it; it is an excellent answer to the question, "what might the view from abroad look like, if reliant primarily on the New York Times and CNN?" (i.e., similar to the view domestically, under same conditions) 
>>> 
>>> This is not an insult nor critique -- as you know from our offline exchanges. It just is what it is; I have my blind spots too (we are all human).
>>> 
>>> Cheers ~
>>> Anthony
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 7:33 AM Andy Blunden <andyb@marxists.org <mailto:andyb@marxists.org>> wrote:
>>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/pdfs/American-Century.pdf__;!!Mih3wA!SspywBIFcsbvZrozxcSwYQMoReSdEl2oT1CZxUMa6XOZuCsQTR0QxmypkNCKHnXIsfRNlQ$  [ethicalpolitics.org] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/pdfs/American-Century.pdf__;!!Mih3wA!RX_kT308fV5J979vU0HnZwn3N_ILxa76WV811I3K7Q1lByCHw_H-2IpA6g71m_ZdQvTjgA$>
>>> Andy
>>> -- 
>>> Andy Blunden
>>> Hegel for Social Movements [brill.com] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://brill.com/view/title/54574__;!!Mih3wA!RX_kT308fV5J979vU0HnZwn3N_ILxa76WV811I3K7Q1lByCHw_H-2IpA6g71m_bmjhN_kw$>
>>> Home Page [ethicalpolitics.org] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm__;!!Mih3wA!RX_kT308fV5J979vU0HnZwn3N_ILxa76WV811I3K7Q1lByCHw_H-2IpA6g71m_aKuyy5Zw$>
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