1869 - American Nightmare: Facing the Challenge of Fascism w/ Dr. Henry Giroux

Dr. Henry Giroux, writer, cultural critic, and professor at McMaster University joins us to discuss his latest book, American Nightmare: Facing the Challenge of Fascism, a collection of essays that reckons with the swell of white-supremacy, anti-immigrant policy, and everyday-racism that has taken hold and prospered in our highest offices and permeated our mass culture.

Giroux questions what it would take for Americans to stand up to such injustices and what we're willing to give up before our democracy is rendered unrecognizable. Giroux details how fascism grows incrementally, with people living their daily lives until their basic liberties are taken away. If violence becomes the only resolution to our set of social problems, our neoliberal political landscape becomes inoperable. Our political language is more codified than ever, it's a language that maintains power for political elites in Washington (hence Trump).

Power is not just about domination, it's about resistance. Operating at the local level is the beginning of political education. Bobby DeNiro calling Trump a jerk does nothing to change our politics. Younger generations have lived the consequences of Ronald Reagan's conservatism and their ability to communicate via social media has given hope to an alternative to neoliberalism. The younger generations are offering community spaces and opportunities as tonics to endless capitalism and profit-making. Reforms are limited, but in the most immediate sense, they can save peoples' lives.

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