Against Nostalgia

Why political nostalgia is destructive, and the attitudes we should foster instead.

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This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with accurate closed captions (not auto-generated).

"Do you want your teddy bear? If you are on the Right, you probably do. All around your enemies celebrate their endless triumphs over you. They steal your wealth, trans your children, and scream for your death. You can do nothing, because they control all the levers of power, and lust to use them violently against you. The sky darkens. You tell yourself that tomorrow might be better, but you do not see how. The natural reaction of most is to turn inward—to hug that worn stuffed animal and try to sleep. And, as you drift off, to reflect on how good it used to be, with an inchoate hope that someday we can return to those sweet days, of 1985, or 1955, or 1925. You are nostalgic!" . . .

[WiseGuyGene]

Self-delusion is hardly restricted to commies. There's a time and place for a little nostalgia, but now is not the time, and anyway nostalgia ain't what it used to be.

[standTrueNorthStrongandFree]

Hmm.. Not bad. Two truths (givens): though "things were better before, on every axis", "we cannot go back". So yes, we'll have to find our way forward "by destroying our enemy", while "learning from the past". I'll buy that.

[in.der.welt.sein.]

A lot of overlaps here with the Frankfurt school. Adorno too argued against political nostalgia.

[BBQQueen]

"Without memory and without the re-enactment of what is remembered, our sense of reality, and with it our self-confidence, would be shattered." Hannah Arendt "The Human Condition"

[isaackellogg]

“Fruitlessly dissipating our energies.” Call it what it is—mental/social/political masturbation.

[SvetlanaVladimirova]

As Russian film director Tarkovsky said, "Nostalgia is a desire to return to one's childhood." He was, I think, at least partly right,

[LynetteTheMadScientist]

You say that the Left encourages nostalgia among the Right because it’s toothless and impotent, but then criticize tradwives as being nostalgic. You’ve conveniently ignored the fact that the Left vehemently HATES the tradwive movement and is actively shaming it. Their vitriol suggests the tradwives are on the right track

[hemanhimen]

Nostalgia is true and practiced by everyone. Therefore we should embrace it.

Anti-nostalgia is adopting a leftist frame. Like back when we were libertarians.