This lamentation skewers a primary post-truth neoliberal practice of the Anthropocene in America: scourging the scapegoat. Barding the alleged immigration issue with layers of attribution intended to imbrute vast segments of the population has both enflamed ethnocentric prejudice and helped mobilize a resisting local-level relativism. Tension in social relations has heightened. Other provocative practices such as political prevarication, gaslighting, rage-baiting, and the militarization of policing have further aggravated engagement between groups, endangering the common good. An angry persona grieves a brutalized populace, a traumatized citizenry, and the sacrifice of foundational ideals, fearing that psychic numbing may become normalized.
John F. Sherry (2026) studied this question.