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Friday 288: US Election All week/end edition (pg. 3)
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| Zoso |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sushipunk
You should have had that one first, your taste buds are going to be ruined now :toothless
And good job with Biden  I'm going to thoroughly enjoy the next couple of months of Trump completely melting down and losing his . It's going to be glorious. |
I agree with both. Regarding the latter, I just hope it doesn't with a smooth, peaceful transition of power. As much as part of me would love to see him dragged, kicking and screaming like the toddler he is, from the White House...I just want the show to be over, my friend. |
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| Zoso |
Ars Technica's comments section is on point today, as usual. I love this graphic:
Cheers, you mofos!
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| Sushipunk |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zoso
I agree with both. Regarding the latter, I just hope it doesn't with a smooth, peaceful transition of power. As much as part of me would love to see him dragged, kicking and screaming like the toddler he is, from the White House...I just want the show to be over, my friend. |
Yeah, I can understand that. If I lived in the US, I would be completely ing exhausted by now. |
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| JEO |
| What things do you guys in the US (or anywhere, I guess) expect or hope to change after Trump, though? |
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| Sushipunk |
| quote: | Originally posted by JEO
What things do you guys in the US (or anywhere, I guess) expect or hope to change after Trump, though? |
Well, for starters, it'll be nice to have someone in office that can speak in complete, coherent sentences. |
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| Sykonee |
| quote: | Originally posted by JEO
What things do you guys in the US (or anywhere, I guess) expect or hope to change after Trump, though? |
That's the sad bit of it though, isn't it? It's not like Trump was the cause of a bunch of in the US, just a symptom of many of the underlying issues in that nation. Him becoming President pretty much shined a giant light on it, allowing it to bubble to the surface like worms in the rain. Remember that even though Joe won with a record popular vote, Trump still has around 71 *million* votes himself, also higher than any prior President.
The rot afflicting America remains, and I highly doubt these Democrats are gonna' have the ability to enact much change, especially with a deadlocked Senate still very possible. |
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| Zoso |
| quote: | Originally posted by JEO
What things do you guys in the US (or anywhere, I guess) expect or hope to change after Trump, though? |
I can only answer for myself, personally. So here's what I hope for: a return to both reason and science. The American right is so far right now that you can no longer reason with them. How can you reason with a person whose position is held based, not on reason, but on belief alone? We can only vote them out and hope for the best.
I also hope for the opportunity to restore our presence on the world stage. Not in any sort of Republican "might is right" or military manner, but as in a reason and science-based nation that is ready and willing to contribute to a multitude of issues: climate change; disease research and prevention; a bastion of human rights advocacy; a nation that is a "melting pot" of peoples, beliefs, and countries of origin; a leader on the world stage. I understand that this may sound hopelessly altruistic and maybe even impossibly ironic, but these are some of my hopes.
I can't imagine what it's like to be an American, as looked at and judged by a member of a nation state outside our borders - I simply lack the common frame of reference needed to understand it.
But here is what I can assure you of: living in the South and being a livelong member of a "red state" in the "Bible belt" of the US: we are NOT all just dumb, white, prejudiced asshats. We're not all just dumb, scared right wingers clutching to our "guns and Bibles" as was once parodied. Though I grew up here in the predominantly racist and white Southeast, in a very rural area, I grew up with intelligent, and highly (for the area) educated parents. I was raised in a secular, non-racist home. I was raised to be independent in my thoughts and views. I was raised in the most non-racist environment possible. I was raised to appreciate my fellow humans with both empathy and sympathy. I am, probably, the antithesis of what the world/US perceives as a "white, Southern cracka".
I am fortunate to have grown up in such an environment and with such a family. Most others were not.
In all honesty, I just want us to return, humbled, to the world stage and begin to seriously address issues such as climate change; pandemic disease outbreak; overt racism; police brutality; energy independence based on renewable sources; the return to meaningful space travel and exploration; politics free of declaring another party "the enemy"; and so on.
I know I'm rambling, but I hope that I am making sense, especially rational sense. Let me know how I'm doing, please. |
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| Zoso |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sykonee
That's the sad bit of it though, isn't it? It's not like Trump was the cause of a bunch of in the US, just a symptom of many of the underlying issues in that nation. Him becoming President pretty much shined a giant light on it, allowing it to bubble to the surface like worms in the rain. Remember that even though Joe won with a record popular vote, Trump still has around 71 *million* votes himself, also higher than any prior President.
The rot afflicting America remains, and I highly doubt these Democrats are gonna' have the ability to enact much change, especially with a deadlocked Senate still very possible. |
This...this right here, Jack, is so spot on. As an American, and as a voting citizen of the US...I wish I had some bright and shining beacon of hope to offer as an answer. But, my long distance Internet friend, I can't honestly say that I do have or know the answer. Part of me says, "We can educate and persuade these people"...but the other part of me says, "you cannot reason with a person whose position has not been achieved by reason, but by pure belief/passion alone, absent of all reason." Since you can't reason with them, all you can do is vote them out. That takes time and the "patience of Job" (see the book of Job in the Old Testament for reference) as my employer's CEO likes to say. I will likely never advocate violence as a means of political change. I am not a violent person. I'm a skinny white guy that's never been in a physical altercation, luckily. But part of me fears that patience and voting them out, alone, is not an effective strategy. I don't know that we have the time, as a nation, to survive that means of change. Here's what I can tell you: in my 43 years, I have never been so afraid as I have the last 4 years. Pull up some YouTube videos of Mussolini. Watch his mannerisms. Then watch Trump's speaking style. It's right out of the fascist playbook, even if the speech has no subtitles. The mannerisms alone are sobering enough.
The bottom line: I have no rational idea or explanation as to how we'll deal with those 71 million, Jack. I can only say this: I hope it does not require, literally, another civil war within our nation. |
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| Zoso |
| Oh, and while we are on the subject: I hope to god we stop appointing corrupt, criminal appointees that are the very antithesis of the department or organization they are supposed to head (e.g., putting people that have no desire to preserve or restore our national environments in charge of the EPA). Ad infinitum. :whip: Goddamnit, boys, you're going to get me worked up, lolz. |
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| Sykonee |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zoso
This...this right here, Jack, is so spot on. As an American, and as a voting citizen of the US...I wish I had some bright and shining beacon of hope to offer as an answer. But, my long distance Internet friend, I can't honestly say that I do have or know the answer. Part of me says, "We can educate and persuade these people"...but the other part of me says, "you cannot reason with a person whose position has not been achieved by reason, but by pure belief/passion alone, absent of all reason." Since you can't reason with them, all you can do is vote them out. That takes time and the "patience of Job" (see the book of Job in the Old Testament for reference) as my employer's CEO likes to say. I will likely never advocate violence as a means of political change. I am not a violent person. I'm a skinny white guy that's never been in a physical altercation, luckily. But part of me fears that patience and voting them out, alone, is not an effective strategy. I don't know that we have the time, as a nation, to survive that means of change. Here's what I can tell you: in my 43 years, I have never been so afraid as I have the last 4 years. Pull up some YouTube videos of Mussolini. Watch his mannerisms. Then watch Trump's speaking style. It's right out of the fascist playbook, even if the speech has no subtitles. The mannerisms alone are sobering enough.
The bottom line: I have no rational idea or explanation as to how we'll deal with those 71 million, Jack. I can only say this: I hope it does not require, literally, another civil war within our nation. |
Well, if it's any consolation, look at what happened to Mussolini in the end. And had Trump gotten another four years, it's possible he could have ed things up so badly that the mobs would storm his home and hang him and his family out in the sun to be pissed upon (you KNOW folks are already pre-booking tickets for the Great Grave Urination)
Also, have mine and Jack's TranceCritic days become so aged now, that memories are blended and folks think we're one and the same?:p |
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| Zoso |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sykonee
Well, if it's any consolation, look at what happened to Mussolini in the end. And had Trump gotten another four years, it's possible he could have ed things up so badly that the mobs would storm his home and hang him and his family out in the sun to be pissed upon (you KNOW folks are already pre-booking tickets for the Great Grave Urination)
Also, have mine and Jack's TranceCritic days become so aged now, that memories are blended and folks think we're one and the same?:p |
Oh man...I am so sorry, lol. I honestly made a mistake and misread that, even though it's right there in the quote. :D |
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| Sushipunk |
| In a way, we are all Jack. |
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