Arendt on totalitarian followers: They show “cynical or bored indifference in the face of death or other personal catastrophes” & turn to a “passionate inclination toward the most abstract notions as guides for life.”
Journalism’s response to the totalitarian tendency to claim the agenda for abstract notions should always be to return to real-life concerns: If it does not affect health & well-being of citizens & their families & communities it is a propagandistic feint.
So when the far-right talks cancel culture, journalism should report jobs. When they talk guns we should report on the pandemic. When they talk abortion we should report on schools.
Originally tweeted by Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) on February 15, 2021.
I would suggest that journalists are also inclined to think that the assault on our democratic government and civilized political behavior would be considered “abstract” notions in that equation. But they aren’t. With the decades of indoctrination into libertarian individualism, anti-government ideology and racism, I don’t see the new American totalitarians delivering much in the way of material goods to average people. Certainly not people of color or immigrants. They would be worst of all possible worlds.