Comments on: A Declaration of Dependence https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2019/10/09/a-declaration-of-dependence/ Culture, Politics, Academia and Other Shiny Objects Fri, 11 Oct 2019 10:45:31 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.15 By: Gabriel Conroy https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2019/10/09/a-declaration-of-dependence/comment-page-1/#comment-73578 Fri, 11 Oct 2019 10:45:31 +0000 https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/?p=3265#comment-73578 I guess I’ll just have to agree to disagree about whether it’s worth harping on the anti-Russia thing. (And I agree that the “template” isn’t subtle about the English crown, but I’m not particularly a fan of that template: https://ordinary-times.com/2014/07/06/declaration-of-dissent/ )

At the same time, I can agree that Mr. Trump’s actions toward Russia, as with so many of his other choices, is shameful.

]]> By: Timothy Burke https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2019/10/09/a-declaration-of-dependence/comment-page-1/#comment-73574 Thu, 10 Oct 2019 18:14:13 +0000 https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/?p=3265#comment-73574 Well, the satirical template here isn’t exactly subtle in its views of the English crown, so I’m kind of sticking to that. But at this point, the dependent, fawning regard of this President for authoritarians, including Putin, is pretty well documented, and there’s certainly a plenitude of evidence of active interest in disrupting or interfering with US (and EU) elections by some portion of the Russian government, if only to keep the US off-balance. (Much as, Cold War panics notwithstanding, there really *was* Russian espionage active in trying to compromise some operations of the US government or to secure important technological information, etc)

]]> By: Gabriel Conroy https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2019/10/09/a-declaration-of-dependence/comment-page-1/#comment-73573 Thu, 10 Oct 2019 11:43:02 +0000 https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/?p=3265#comment-73573 I’m ambivalent about the Russophobia represented by this piece. We in the US have seen it before. We must be at, what, our third or fourth red scare by now?

At the same time, I admit this red scare is different. For one thing, it’s not particularly “red” (not that the original red scares were really about communism, but I suppose that point is open for debate). For another, it’s now the the so-called conservatives and Republicans who are the targets. And of course, it’s not an issue of “subversives in the state department” but imputed and (and sometimes demonstrated and proved), actions and statements by the president.

I guess my comment is mostly an excursion in whataboutism. Which of course is a fallacy, or just lazy reasoning, on my part.

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