Is America Headed Towards a Civil War?

Gaslit Nation

News, Politics, Society & Culture

4.7 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2023

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With political violence on the rise in America, along with disinformation, mainstream propaganda and the consolidation of media under conservative ownership, the scapegoating of LGBTQ+ people, women, and nonwhite people, and the weaponization of government in several Republican-led states, are we headed towards a civil war?

In this week's episode, Andrea interviews Jeff Sharlet, the author of the new book Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War. Sharlet is also the author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, that launched the must-watch Netflix series of the same name, that takes viewers into the dark heart of corruption known as the National Prayer Breakfast, and how it's used as a tool for the extreme religious right to consolidate power. In Undertow, Sharlet takes readers on a cross-country roadtrip to show how we're in a slow-motion civil war, and provides ways to confront this dangerous crossroads, including lessons from Civil Rights leader and artist Harry Belafonte.

Sharlet is the New York Times best-selling author or editor of eight books. His writing and photography have appeared in many publications, including Vanity Fair, for which he is a contributing editor; the New York Times Magazine; GQ; Esquire; Harper’s; and VQR, for which he is an editor at large. He currently teaches the art of writing as a professor at Dartmouth College. In our bonus episode, out later this week for Patreon subscribers at the Truth-teller level or higher, Sharlet takes the Gaslit Nation Self-Care Q&A to share what art, music, books, and documentaries and other cultural resources that he recommends to help process the times we live in. We will share a free excerpt of that for all listeners wherever you get your podcasts.

We'll be back with an all new Gaslit Nation episode next week, along with our regular Q&A bonus episode for Patreon subscribers. For supporters at the Democracy Defender level and higher, submit your questions to be answered in an upcoming bonus episode. Thank you to everyone who supports Gaslit Nation and keeps our show going! To join our community of listeners, sign up at Patreon.com/Gaslit

Transcript

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0:00.0	This interview with Jeff Charlotte was recorded shortly before the death of the
0:06.8	sinker and civil rights leader Harry Belafonte and references the impact of his
0:11.1	work. They clip here about to hear as Harry Belafonte reading the statement of
0:15.3	the cultural contingent at the March of Washington in 1963 which he helped
0:20.4	organize.
0:23.8	The statement to read on behalf of the cultural contingent and it says,
0:30.0	Lord, the names that I've just read to you endorse this statement. We are here to
0:36.2	bear witness to what we know. We know that this country America to which we are
0:42.2	committed and which we love aspires to become that country in which all men are
0:48.0	free. We also know that freedom is not license. Everyone in a democracy ought
0:55.6	to be free to vote but no one has the license to oppress or demoralize another.
1:02.4	We also know or we would not be here that the American Negro has endured for
1:09.0	many generations in this country which he helped to build the most intolerable
1:14.1	injustices. To be a Negro in this country means several unpleasant things. In the
1:21.3	deep South it often means that he is prevented from exercising his right to
1:26.2	vote by all manner of intimidation up to and including death. This fact of
1:33.7	intimidation is a great weight in the life of any Negro and though it varies in
1:39.6	degree it never varies in intent which is simply to limit to demoralize and to
1:46.6	keep in subservient status more than 20 million Negro people. We are here
1:53.1	therefore to protest this evil and to make known a resolve and to make known our
2:00.5	resolve to do everything we can possibly do to bring it to an end. As artists and
2:06.7	as human beings we rejoice in the knowledge that human experience has no color and
	...

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