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Doomscrolling

The long road to civil disobedience
by
April 2022, no. 441

Our Own Worst Enemy: The assault from within on modern democracy by Tom Nichols

Oxford University Press, £18.99 hb, 256 pp

Doomscrolling

The long road to civil disobedience
by
April 2022, no. 441
Outside the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, on 6 January 2021 (Wikimedia Commons)
Outside the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, on 6 January 2021 (Wikimedia Commons)

The reverberations from 6 January 2021 continue. On that day, two thousand or more protesters stormed the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, intending to overturn the formal ballot electing Joe Biden as president of the United States. Waving phones, livestreaming their moves, some called for the execution of politicians, notably Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. For the first time, a Confederate flag was waved on the floor of the Congress, while a man wearing horns and waving a ‘Q sent me’ sign became the global image of the invasion. The mob was eventually pushed out of the building, but five people died during or after the assault, and four police officers caught in the mêlée later suicided.

Glyn Davis reviews 'Our Own Worst Enemy: The assault from within on modern democracy' by Tom Nichols

Our Own Worst Enemy: The assault from within on modern democracy

by Tom Nichols

Oxford University Press, £18.99 hb, 256 pp

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Comment (1)

  • Never mind Abraham Lincoln: Plato foreshadowed the problem of demagoguery. An ill-informed populace suffering a spiritual malaise is easily manipulated by anyone with the wherewithal to play to their simple prejudices and pleasures. It's not in that sense complicated or to do with the many variables of the voting system.
    Posted by Patrick Hockey
    22 April 2022

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