Readers Have Their Say
Happy Sunday,
This week's newsletter is largely going to be a reader mailbag of responses to the piece last week. In that edition, I wrote about feeling out of step with events and trends back home—there was more of that this week.
I am also going to do some self-promo at the end about recent Nerd Farmer Podcast episodes that are aligned with ongoing themes of the newsletter.
Y’all, I felt honestly gobsmacked watching Charlemagne Charlemagne tha God take on the role of media critic (and the voice of reason) versus a hysterical and defensive Anderson Cooper in this clip. And was equally befuddled to read a transcript of Joe Rogan, of all people, fact checking the former President on his election denial claims. It all feels like a weird dream. The guy that co-hosts the Breakfast Club and the old Fear Factor guy are now among our most impactful political commentators? How do I get off this ride?
Alright here goes.
It's contract season for international teachers and we need to decide this week if we are going to extend for another year here in the Gulf, enter the transfer portal (to steal a term from college football), or return back to the US.
I enjoy my gig here in the Gulf but this isn’t a place where one gets to put down roots. I like where I work and our new admin has been a breath of fresh air but this ain’t our forever home.
Along those lines, I got a long response from a regular reader who had a similar “Let’s go overseas for two years... Oops, I slipped and fell and have been here for half a decade” experience in Europe. He picked up on my discussion about policing and US foreign policy:
We were supposed to be two years, maybe a bit more, in [Redacted]. We wound up being there five and it's continually a 51/49 type of decision to live here instead of there (or elsewhere in the EU), just like it was a 51/49 decision to move there in the first place.
After talking about the factors that led his family to move abroad, he talked about what compelled him to return to the US:
At the same time we're in a place of immense privilege. We can pretty much bail any time we want, which is something that 99% of Americans—including a lot of people I care deeply about- cannot just up and do. And here in the US I'm a middle-aged, upper-middle class White guy. Holy smokes, what could go wrong? (don't jinx me by answering).
So do we have a responsibility to them to stick it out and fight for what's good and just? If everyone just said "screw it, I'm looking out for #1" the world would be a much worse place.
There’s a lot there to chew on. He’s expressing a form of survivor’s guilt.
I get it. I honestly wish I was a better writer and could communicate the sense of relief I feel about not being home and the sense of creeping anxiety I feel when it comes time to return to the states. I have tried to capture it in writing for years but it’s indescribable, like an invisible weight or tax that just hangs over me each June and December, as the time to return approaches.
Another reader picked up on the point I made about the US having an awakening around police violence and abuse in 2020, then choosing to roll over and go back to sleep.
One thing that blows me away is how EVERYONE was against the police for a good three months. We had global anti-police riots! People burned a police station in Minneapolis… I remember that Fox canceled 'Cops' And 'Brooklyn Nine Nine' was put on hold….
Newspapers created special sections with headers like 'America's Racial Reckoning' or 'George Floyd Protests'. My niece told me 'It's not right to post on Instagram right now, it's not a good time.' Scared companies made renewed commitments to DEI and produced statements to that effect.
But as we know, this moment didn’t last. He continued:
Just like Occupy, once over it faded fast. There are still videos on YouTube, 'Best of the Year' photos in magazines. But much harder to capture that moment now, everything felt like change was on the way.
But there was a powerful desire to go back to the Before Times, when we were not in mortal peril from a virus or worried about civic unrest. A protest can be like a party - passionate, involving many, then it's back to work the next day.
He closed by noting the pro-status quo on policing stance the Biden Administration took after entering the Whitehouse and their role in killing momentum around law enforcement reform. And as I noted last week, department budgets nationwide and killings by police are up, up, up since them. These trends are extremely likely to continue under a Harris administration and accelerate under Trump.
One more.
On the other hand, a reader made the case that given the sentiment in the US, what Biden did is actually good politics. He lamented false the media fueled paranoia about violent crime and how it serves as a bipartisan brainworm:
I even see it in family members. My wife, daughter and I went to [Redacted Southern State] to visit family this summer and our sister-in-law couldn't believe that we leave our windows open at night. Aren't we afraid someone is going to break in and murder us in our sleep? I mean, I haven't had that fear since I was 12 - but I lived in [Redacted affluent Seattle burb], so I had nothing to fear in reality. Anyway, this bogeyman bullshit that happens is so infuriating and irritating.
“Bogeyman” really kinda nails it. Arguably America’s most violent ills: militarized & violent policing and our imperialist foreign policy are rooted in fear of “Bogeymen.” It's all fear, fear, fear.
Thanks to those and all the others who wrote this week.
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Some updates from over on the Nerd Farmer Podcast.
I’ve spent the last six months chasing down an expert to come on the show and talk about the civil war in Sudan. I finally landed Dr. Sharifa Zahur, an academic specializing in Middle East history who used to write policy papers for the Pentagon. Her insights on the conflict were eye-opening, and honestly, I think I learned as much from that conversation as anyone has ever taught me on the show.
On a different note, if you’re a voter in Washington State—especially around Tacoma—we put together an audio voters’ guide covering state ballot initiatives, congressional races, and local judges. My guest Evelyn Lopez followed up with an episode on her own podcast, Crossing Division, digging into the state Supreme Court races and proposed charter amendments in Tacoma. If you haven’t voted yet, check them out—they’ll help you cast an informed ballot.
See you next Sunday.
As always, if you have any thoughts or feedback about the newsletter, I welcome it, and I really appreciate it when folks share the newsletter with their friends.