1. A few thoughts on Ralph Waldo Emerson, American secessionist politics, and the cultural roots of the anti-Vaxxer movement. Bear with me.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
2. There's silly debate as to whether anti-Vaxxers are "left" or "right" -- silly because movement clearly crosses political spectrum
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Replying to @HeerJeet
3. So rather than talk about "left" or "right" let's consider the pervasive cultural myths that created breeding ground for anti-vaxxers.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
4. Key to the anti-vaxxer phenomenon are cultural myths with deep roots in USA: Emersonian individualism & the right so secede from society
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Replying to @HeerJeet
5. I'm using Emerson as a touchstone because I think he most potently articulated this cultural myth, but it has even deeper sources.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
6. Key here is idea that a community of the elect has the right & duty to abandon a corrupt social order & create smaller, better society
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Replying to @HeerJeet
7. This is Calvinism as modified by Whig politics, and given social form on the frontier and philosophic heft by Emerson & Thoreau.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
8. The elect: Winthrop's City Upon a Hill, Jefferson's natural aristocrats, Emerson's self-reliant individuals, Thoreau in Walden.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
9. The elect: the Fourierist farms, Huck and Jim on the raft, the homesteader on the frontier, the hippies in their commune, homeschoolers
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Replying to @HeerJeet
10. It's easy for liberals & leftist to see secessionist politics as purely selfish & reactionary: Confederacy, "white flight", "going Galt"
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11. But we can't fight with Emersonian individualism adequately without dealing with fact that it has attractive side & not just selfish
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Replying to @HeerJeet
12. Emersonian individualism also means thinking for yourself, refusing to accept authority just on society's say, forging a unique self
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Replying to @HeerJeet
13. (Side note: both
@MonicaBPotts &@zunguzungu say I should include Second Great Awakening in this genealogy of ideas).5 replies 4 retweets 8 likes - Show replies
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