Isolation

 

Hannah Arendt, in The Origins of Totalitarianism, argues that the power of dictatorships and fascist movements depends on isolating individuals. Similar patterns can be observed in earlier historical crises. In the early twentieth century, the Spanish flu spread rapidly in ways that differed from earlier, more localized outbreaks of disease. While past plagues often traveled along trade routes such as the Silk Road and remained regionally contained, the Black Death demonstrated how disease could become continental in scale. These events offer a useful point of comparison.

In more recent times, the isolation and loneliness experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic revived some of the same conditions that contributed to the rise of fascism in the twentieth century. Technological displacement has also played a role, creating a sense of hopelessness not seen since the upheavals associated with the Luddites and the industrial transformation of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Today, this displacement fuels a longing for a mythical “golden age”—an imagined Eden that reflects a form of collective delusion.

The central issue is not hope itself, but how frustration and hopelessness can transform into resentment. People may begin to blame others for their perceived failures, fostering a sense of entitlement that can fuel extremist ideologies such as white supremacy. In the United States, the election of the first African American president intensified these tensions among some segments of the population, contributing to a backlash that helped bring a crude and openly racist figure to power. At the same time, Russia’s insecurity and desire to revive its status as a great empire culminated in its claims over Ukraine, exploiting global instability.

Many in the United States have struggled to come to terms with these changes, as reflected in the reelection of a leader widely criticized for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The persistence of white supremacist ideologies has contributed to political instability, echoing dynamics reminiscent of the early twentieth century.