World: Giving Thanks for What We’ve Averted

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It’s time for us to look around and realize, with gratitude, not only what we have, but how many terrible outcomes we’ve escaped.

But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.

• Inside the mind of an anti-Paxxer
• Rebelling against Trump is not the same as rebelling against Trumpism.
• The streaming death spiral must end.

What Could Have Been

On Thanksgiving, we tend to express our gratitude for what we already have. We roll out of bed, glad (if we’re so blessed) that we are well and that our home is intact, and then head to the dinner table for a nice meal. Millions of us will do that on Thursday, and this is as it should be. But I want to challenge you to find gratitude for the disasters we’ve escaped over the past few years. This is the thankfulness not for the warm hearth or full belly, but the visceral sense of relief, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, that comes from being shot at and missed.

Secret Signs Show Putin’s Own Henchmen Are Turning on Him

Nearly nine months into Russia’s war against Ukraine, it seems some of Vladimir Putin’s strongmen are laying the groundwork to abandon ship. A human rights group that works closely with Russian inmates and investigates abuses by the security services has reportedly received a flood of calls from members of those same security services desperately trying to flee. Gulagu.net, founded by Vladimir Osechkin, reports that the final straw appears to have been the brutal sledgehammer-execution video released by Russia’s private army last week—a stomach-churning extrajudicial killing that the Kremlin politely averted its eyes from while the Putin-linked businessman thought t

The ancient Stoics were great practitioners of this form of gratitude, in which you supercharge your understanding of life by noting how much worse things could be—and how we are all eventually destined to die. As William B. Irvine noted in his wonderful book A Guide to the Good Life, the Stoics were “cheerful and optimistic about life (even though they made it a point to spend time thinking about all the bad things that could happen to them).”

And so let’s hold our loved ones and be thankful for the moment but also take a quick tour of things that didn’t happen—and realize how fortunate we Americans are at this moment.

• The economy has not collapsed. When the pandemic caught fire in early 2020, there were good reasons to think we would head for not only a downturn, but also a global event on the scale of the Great Depression. Globalization was over, we were warned, and soon we would (in some of the more far-fetched scenarios) be fighting in the streets for everything from food to microchips. Whether this nightmare was forestalled by good policy, a resilient planetary economy, or just dumb luck, it did not happen—and you should be grateful, at least today, that despite inflation and pricey gasoline, we are nowhere near the economic conditions of even the 1970s, much less of the 1930s.
• Speaking of the pandemic: Many of us have emerged from isolation with little fear of serious disease. We are living in a world of such immense scientific know-how that a terrifying new virus that kept us masked and locked away from our workplaces and schools—and families—was blunted by vaccines in a year. Yes, COVID is still with us. So are many other treatable diseases. But if you’re at a dinner table on Thursday with your toddler nephew and elderly grandmother, think for a moment about an alternate universe where you are still FaceTiming while freezer trucks fill with bodies that can’t be sent to overloaded morgues.
• We are not living under an authoritarian government. Only two years ago, our president was an unhinged sociopath who had just lost an election. He was getting briefed by retired generals and pillow magnates about crackpot schemes to declare martial law and seize voting machines. After his defeat, he would call on his followers to protest his loss—and the American nation, for the first time in its history, failed the test of the peaceful transfer of power. The madness did not end there; many of the would-be autocrat’s acolytes ran for office in 2022. Most were defeated. Our liberties—especially those of women and other vulnerable communities—remain in danger, but at least for now, our ability to vote, to criticize our government, and to change unjust laws remains intact.
• Finally, we are not living through World War III. This might seem obvious, but that is because we have simply become accustomed to the shocking fact that a major war is raging in Europe. Think about that for a moment. A nuclear-armed dictatorship is trying to rewrite history and threatening the peace of the entire planet. And yet, steadfast Ukrainian courage on the ground, combined with wise policy in Washington and other NATO capitals, has put Russia on the defensive. Moscow’s army is in a humiliating retreat, and the conflict, for today, remains limited. The containment of the war is little consolation to the people of Ukraine, but as you serve dinner, look out your window at the world around you and note, if only for a moment, that you are not listening for sirens announcing the end of everything you ever knew.

Look, I don’t mean to be morbid (or, heaven forfend, overly dramatic). But this year, in addition to being thankful for what we have, let’s also think for a moment about the many ways that our nation—and world—could have been derailed by immense dangers that have so far been held at bay. This does not mean we live in the best of all worlds. We still must endure sadness and tragedies, both as individuals and as a society. Prominent Americans still attempt to stoke our nascent hatreds; mass shooters still kill our fellow citizens and obliterate our sense of safety. Ignorance and partisan tribalism continue to provide more victims for the pandemic.

Where is my nearest place to watch the World Cup?

England and Wales's biggest cities are ready to step up to the occasion. FEMAIL has gathered some of the best places to watch the matches over the next few weeks. Love Factory, ManchesterAfter their success at screening England's games during Euro 2020, group 4TheFans is back and will be hosting at least three of the nation's games at Love Factory. Tickets at the Manchester venue have already sold out for England's game against the US, but there are a few spaces up for grabs for the Three Lions' matches against Iran and Wales. © Provided by Daily Mail Last year's 4TheFans was held at Event City in Stretford.

Yet America survives, and even thrives. We shouldn’t spend all of our days thinking about disaster, but it makes us better people (and better citizens) if we stop for a moment and realize that we should celebrate not only what we have gained, but also what we have—so far—been spared.

Related:

• Why dictators underestimate liberal democracies.
• America’s strange sweetheart position in the world economy

Today’s News

1. Russia launched a string of attacks on the eastern front of the Donetsk region in Ukraine.
2. Argentina lost its World Cup match to Saudi Arabia, 2–1.
3. The Supreme Court denied Donald Trump’s request to block the release of his tax records to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Dispatches

• The Great Game: Jacob Stern reflects on Lionel Messi’s “sumptuous minimalism” as an athlete; Clint Smith finds the unexpected upside of an off-schedule World Cup.
• Unsettled Territory: Imani Perry, who was awarded the National Book Award last week, writes that “my teenage sons gave me my biggest win.”

Explore all of our newsletters here.

Tucker Carlson Warned of a ‘Diesel Disaster’ That Never Happened

Last month, Fox News star Tucker Carlson sounded the alarm over the dwindling diesel fuel reserves in the United States, warning his millions of viewers that “by the Monday of Thanksgiving week” there would be “no more diesel” and “everything will stop.” Well, it’s been 25 days and not only has the United States not run out of diesel fuel, but it has slightly expanded its reserves while the price of diesel has dropped. During the Oct. 27Well, it’s been 25 days and not only has the United States not run out of diesel fuel, but it has slightly expanded its reserves while the price of diesel has dropped.

Evening Read

© Provided by The Atlantic Cole Wilson / The New York Times / Redux

Who’s Afraid of Masih Alinejad?

By Graeme Wood

When Masih Alinejad, Public Enemy No. 1 of the Islamic Republic of Iran, met me at a hotel in Lower Manhattan, she sat with her back to a ground-floor window. Her frizzy hair was framed in the glass and visible to tourists and office workers walking by—and, it occurred to me but seemingly not to her, to any assassin who might want to take her out. The threat is not theoretical. In July, police arrested Khalid Mehdiyev, of Yonkers, New York, after he was found prowling around Alinejad’s home in Brooklyn with an AK-47 and nearly 100 rounds of ammunition. One year before, the Department of Justice announced that it had thwarted a plot to kidnap Alinejad, take her by sea to Venezuela, and then spirit her to Iran for imprisonment and possible execution. She now lives in hiding, but she told me she doesn’t think about threats to her safety. “I don’t know why. I’m just missing this,” she said, pointing at her head, at the absent neuroanatomical structure that causes normal people to be afraid of being shot dead. “I don’t have this fear.”

EXCLUSIVE: The Block's Shelley Craft shuts down 'fake' auction claims

Shelley Craft, who has been a part of the Channel Nine franchise for 11 years, denies there are 'fake' bidders following claims multi-millionaire purchased the properties as an 'ego boost'.Shelley, who has been a part of the Channel Nine franchise for 11 years, denied there are 'fake' bidders following claims multi-millionaires like Adrian Portelli and Danny Wallis purchased the properties as an 'ego boost'.

Read the full article.

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Culture Break

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P.S.

I realize my somewhat curmudgeonly take on happiness is not for everyone. This is what comes from reading Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius, in high school. I cannot pretend to be a good Stoic; I am far too emotional a person for that. But as a teen in the shallow, plastic 1970s, I found Stoic thinking appealing, and I still do. If you’d like a far warmer and more engaging view on finding greater satisfaction in your daily existence, however, read my colleague Arthur Brooks, who writes the Atlantic column “How to Build a Life.” I have never met Arthur, but I can tell he’s a nicer person than I am, and I read him attentively on everything from marriage to technology. You should too.

The Daily will be back tomorrow with an interview with Bushra Seddique, a young Afghan journalist who fled the Taliban last year and is now an editorial fellow at The Atlantic. After that, we will take a break until Monday, when I will be back here with you. I wish you a lovely—and gratitude-filled—Thanksgiving.

—Tom

Isabel Fattal contributed to this newsletter.