Reflections on 2024 and Thoughts on Making It Through 2025

Last year at this time on my Substack I declared 2023 to be "the year reality died." This year proved my pessimism, as Donald Trump was elected president due to millions perceiving an economic downturn that wasn't there, rising immigration as it was falling, and spikes in crime as it was decreasing. Narratives and memes are the coin of the realm now. With the rise of generative AI we are facing a future where all discourse is going to be reduced to computer-generated slop being slung about ad infinitum. Elon Musk buying the presidency is a sign that the tech overlords are running the show now, both economically and politically. Even more than when Thatcher said it, There Is No Alternative. 

In the midst of this collective insanity I have been trying to stick to the core, as Lao Tzu says. I resolved last year to keep a log of the books I read and films I watched, and actually kept it up. These logs have allowed me to retain more insights, and be a little more intentional in my habits. I read fifty-six books of varying lengths and quality. I decided not to count the films, but I engaged in little projects, like sequentially viewing all of the films of Wes Anderson and David Lynch. This gave me far greater insights into both of them. 

In terms of my book reading, here's a mini-awards show:

Best Old Novel I Read For The First Time in 2024

John Williams: Stoner

Best New Novel in 2024 that I Read in 2024

Taffy Brodesser-Akner, The Long Island Compromise

Most Engaging Re-Read of a Book I Had Read Before That I Re-read in 2024

Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

Best New History Books I Read in 2024

Beverly Gage, G-Man and John Ganz, When the Clock Broke

Best Old History Book I First Read in 2024

Walter Johnson, Soul By Soul

Best Genre Fiction I Read For the First Time in 2024

Joe Hill, Heart-Shaped Box

Best Genre Fiction I Re-Read in 2024

Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander

Book I Read For the First Time in 2024 that Made the Biggest Impact

Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

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As a child I first really started digging into history by reading the medieval Europe book in a world history for kids series. This book gave me an interest in the fall of the Roman Empire and the early medieval period that I carry to this day. I was fascinated by the monks who managed to keep learning going amidst the complete collapse of society. Being a nerdy, pious child misfit, these monks were the kinds of heroes I aspired to be. I've been thinking a lot about that recently, since it feels like we are enduring a massive barbarian invasion of our collective culture. In 2025 I have resolved to keep reading, to take the time to read complex and difficult texts, and to spend more of my time in the world of books than in the online world on a daily basis. 

For that reason I almost feel stupid to be writing this all down online. After all, I intentionally wrote my own film log for myself instead of putting it all on Letterboxd and kept my book log private instead of joining Goodreads. I guess I am doing so to encourage all of us to lean into our own inner lives in the coming year, rather than trapping our psyches in the constant game of comparison and clout-chasing demanded by social media. The internet has its good uses, ones that were more apparent to me in the time of the blogosphere when I first started doing all of this. Back then it felt like I was getting to share ideas and form community when I logged on, instead of being consumed by rage and resentment. If we could somehow return to that version of the internet I feel our lives would be much better.

Since the election I have been asking myself if I am giving in to the temptations of quietism, effectively giving up on engaging with the world rather than fighting for a better one. I am realizing that I can actually undergo a kind of "inner migration" that will make my capacity to resist what's coming stronger. In the coming year I have resolved to keep my mind sharp, to think rather than react, and to trust my mental instincts honed through decades of contemplation over whatever narratives are being spewed by the online hive mind. We are headed into the fire, it is time to steel ourselves if we want to survive. 

Dread And Loathing In America

Feeling the spirit of the good Dr. Thompson tonight

I'm in the mood to get a bit more personal here. Yesterday I felt myself suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of dread about political life in America.

Much, but not all of it, has to do with the rise of the Trump phenomenon.  Ever since the late 80s I've viewed him as the avatar of America's post-Reagan vulgarity.  He has always represented a corrupt and selfish values system utterly corrosive in its search for fame and lucre.  He has now added to it racism, sexism, and noxious nationalism. His flacks assault journalists and his fans sucker punch protestors, but more people vote for him. He lies constantly, his mouth an open sewer of bigoted mendacity, but more people vote for him. He uses time in a presidential debate to talk about his dick size, and more people vote for him.  It is dawning on me that the vulgarity Trump has so long represented has a lot of fans, and they vote.

I also just don't understand these people. Perhaps the kid I worked with detasseling in the corn fields of Nebraska in high school who joked about nuking Mexico is a Trump voter now. I sure as shit didn't understand people like him when I was surrounded by them, either. Hell, it's part of the reason I fled my hometown. And please spare me the talk of Trumpism as the angst of the dispossessed. Plenty working and middle class folks who've fallen on hard times, both white and not, have avoided blaming their plight on immigrants.

I can't stop thinking about the fact that there is a significant chunk of this country, including prominent elected officials like Chris Christie, who actually support Trump. Celebrities and athletes have started endorsing him publicly. When Trumps speaks he just talks out of his ass, and the only coherent things he says are hateful garbage. Who is impressed by this? As far as I can tell, a large number of Americans are political nihilists. Even if Trump gets slaughtered in the general election, they'll still be around, waiting for some other demagogue to rally them.

For beneath this I see two major reckonings. The first is the unresolved consequences of 9/11. The response to that attack included an unnecessary war in Iraq, and generally the United States has failed to win a lasting victory against Islamist terror. As with Vietnam, the sense of defeat and wounded nationalism leaves many vulnerable to narratives of national renewal through violence. Reagan exploited it then, Trump exploits it now. The other major reckoning is with the economic shift of the last forty years, which has left the rich richer, the middle class shrinking, and the poor in desperate straights. Neither party has adequately responded.  The Republicans have doubled down on the very policies contributing to income inequality, while Democrats have been too chickenshit and weak to move the needle the other way. The failure to change this problem though normal means makes it easy for a man like Trump to flourish, and things aren't getting any better.

Beyond the rise of Trumpism, I despair at what's being done to education in this country. Public higher education is being gutted even worse than before. Even in flush times states are slashing budgets because schools are being starved of funds by governors hell-bent on protecting the wealthy from taxation. States like Louisiana and Kansas are making drastic cut-backs at all levels of education, and in Illinois some schools might not be able to stay open until the end of the academic year due to a budget impasse. Netflix billionaires give their money to education "reform" initiatives aiming to further limit and degrade teachers. When I was an academic and now that I am teacher I feel like I am part of a group of people who is absolutely loathed by the powers that be.

It doesn't matter who's elected president, tinpot tyrants like Sam Brownback and Bruce Rauner will keep gutting education so rich people can buy another yacht. There doesn't seem to be any way to stop the Republican juggernaut on the local or state level. The Democrats are too weak, and the post-Citizens' United reality means big money can make a huge impact, and that money is usually coming from conservative ideologues.

My dread and loathing keeps welling up. Young black people are murdered by the police, and despite the massive movements in protest, it keeps happening.  State legislatures vote to legalize discrimination against gay people, and call it "freedom of religion." A fascist demagogue approaches the presidency, and most people treat it as humorous as much as anything else. Some day I fear my daughters will take me to task for having brought them into such a world.