“The lessons of history” – John Elledge

“The world of 2024 is not that of 1941. But you don’t have to look far among the extremely online today to come up with examples of people whose far right politics, one suspects, comes from a similar source: a broken personal life, or professional failure, or a baffled rage that money or success has not brought the popularity or respect they so crave. I could list a dozen of them; so, I imagine, could you. This is not a sufficient condition – many of us have managed to fail in one sphere or another, without feeling the need to avenge ourselves on an entire class of humanity – but nonetheless, one of the recurring themes amongst those who’ve spent the last few years sliding towards the far right is quite how disappointed they seem”

https://jonn.substack.com/p/the-lessons-of-history