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Read lots of history. Humans have not changed in thousands of years. Though the details of our current problems may be new, the underlying motivations and mechanisms are the same as the have always been. And despite all of our problems, the trend line of humanity is moving in the right direction. Try to remember that progress is not linear. Rather, it is a constant pattern of three steps forward, two steps back.
That's funny, because I have studied history and the idea of "progress" being inevitable is an article of faith by people who happened to live in times where technology changes quickly. As you point out, society is much more sticky.
Human history features century-long periods of stagnation and decline. That's the norm. And there is no reason to think that can't happen again.
I also want to point out that successful social movements are often aligned with the interests of capital. For example feminism expands the labor force. I think the role of capital's acquiescence or encouragement is an often overlooked engine of social "progress" in the West.
I guess what I'm saying is History can be comforting, so long as you ignore philosophy.
it's interesting you point out successful social movements are often aligned with capital, as the major totalitarian thing today, action against illegal immigrants, is action against expanding the labor force. it gets society invested in giving capital power though
At the same time, blaming immigrants for issues garners support to gain office, being seen to do something about immigrants maintains that support so you can stay in office. In office, you can make sweeping changes accross the country that take from lower classes and bolster the rich and their industries.
In case its not clear this is exactly what Trump has done. They've managed to rile up stupid lower class americans (it isnt hard in todays deepfake, AI, social media addicted society) by fomenting hate and racism, gaining a nearly impenetrable base of voters to gain power and use it tp further fuck the planet, the majority, and those very same voters
Finally, depleting the labour force and causing strife for lower class Americans can easily be framed as the fault of immigrants or Joe Bidens weak economy inherited by Trump, the issues they are being very visible about "fixing"
Reading history gives me so much comfort, I can't recommend it enough.