Dostoevsky warned of the strain of nihilism that infects Donald Trump and his movement

[Hortensis]

4. Yes. Many are identifying nihilistic urges in this. Then there's human sacrifice.

Sounds like that should be carrying our notions of what's happening way too far!

But anthropologists studying the patterns common to something like 100 societies that practiced mass human sacrifice -- typically involuntary masquerading as voluntary -- have found that comparing what's been happening in the U.S. checks off box after box. It's on such a large scale here that they believe it's very unlikely that be able to continue for years as it did in much smaller societies, but it could be made to recur when opportunity calls for it.

And why would it? For the same reason as all of them: "to fortify the political and economic power of those societies’ elites."

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/human-sacrifice-ritual-mass-vaccination/621355/

That picture of Dostoevsky's manuscript is remarkable. Thanks.