I'm wondering about the group of doomscrollers who for the past two years have predicted, with dead certainty in their voices, that Trump was going to abolish elections and we would never have another one. I imagine they have put that in the amnesia hole.
In one sense, doomscrolling has a certain progressive element - waking people up, calling for action. But in a larger sense, it is a calll to wallow in despair, a sort of "I'm smarter than you" theme which becomes its own purpose. And there it is radically reactionary.
I'm all about prophecy - about the Elijahs and Isaiah's among us who are visited by the word and the vision, and see the larger harms, the larger vices. But the story of Jonah is also in the set - the prophet who could not accept that his warning was heeded. Who fell in love with his own negativity.
And that combination of narcissism and the death drive leads to certain bad things. Don't do it, I sez. I haven’t admittedly received this word from the burning bush, but probably from my Mom, encouraging me after Church league baseball practice. Good enough for me.
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