I see your point here, but there is a big risk with accelerationism. If we let Trump do whatever he wants unfettered, even if it successfully tanks populism's popularity for a generation, the damage that he causes isn't going to be easy to undo. So it's not like we can just let populism run wild for the next four years and then be done with it forever.
It's funny, because I have long been very opposed to accelerationism. In some ways, one can read this essay as being accelerationist, but I don't quite see it that way. It's not that we should put the pedal to the metal and speed off the cliff, it's that we already are, so instead of delaying the inevitable with roadblocks that will slow but not halt/reverse the process, we might as well rip the band-aid off (to mix metaphors), especially since that may end up being the lesser evil.
I think the current iteration began with the birther movement in 2008 and the Tea Party in 2009. McCain wasn't part of it. Palin wasn't initially, but she became a popular figure in the Tea Party during the Obama years.
I see your point here, but there is a big risk with accelerationism. If we let Trump do whatever he wants unfettered, even if it successfully tanks populism's popularity for a generation, the damage that he causes isn't going to be easy to undo. So it's not like we can just let populism run wild for the next four years and then be done with it forever.
It's funny, because I have long been very opposed to accelerationism. In some ways, one can read this essay as being accelerationist, but I don't quite see it that way. It's not that we should put the pedal to the metal and speed off the cliff, it's that we already are, so instead of delaying the inevitable with roadblocks that will slow but not halt/reverse the process, we might as well rip the band-aid off (to mix metaphors), especially since that may end up being the lesser evil.
When do you think the "new populism" began? Palin and McCain?
I think the current iteration began with the birther movement in 2008 and the Tea Party in 2009. McCain wasn't part of it. Palin wasn't initially, but she became a popular figure in the Tea Party during the Obama years.