It is mind boggling to me that in the year 2023 we're complaining about porn, LGBT existence, and fucking book content. Isn't this what we were laughing at 20 years ago? About book burnings and how stupid the previous generations were for fearing and banning media that challenged them?
It is mind boggling to me that in the year 2023 we're complaining about porn, LGBT existence, and fucking book content. Isn't this what we were laughing at 20 years ago?
It's easy to forget because of how quickly the cultural zeitgeist shifted when it finally did, but the early 2000s was still very homophobic. Watching pretty much any comedy from that era reminds you of just how common the punchline to jokes was just, "teehee they're gay."
In the early 2000s it was exceptionally common to hear things referred to as “gay” if they were “bad” in some way. Chandler’s “Dad” in friends is one I look back on and shudder. I understand when boomers say things like “things were different back then, but our ability to reflect and do better is what moves our species forward. Not dig in and scream no!
You ever watch Lily Simpson on You Tube, she does analysis of trans characters and their treatment in older media. Her analysis of Chandlers dad actually showed they weren't that bad of a depiction.
Yup been watching Scrubs and while a still funny show a lot of the time, there's still a lot of jokes that make me cringe. I'm sure it's like that for any show in that era.
Scrubs was cringe even when it was fresh
Fair lol.
I think you are missing about whole point of jokes being jokes.
tee-hee it's scared and regressive
Of course. Humor is never used to other out-groups so they can be treated as less. Gay jokes are just good clean fun. Like racist and misogynist jokes. /s
Isn’t this what we were laughing at 20 years ago?
We were laughing, they were seething and planning.
The real impact of the 9/11 attacks: There is direct line from shock and confusion to nationalistic rhetoric and "'OOORAH!"- patriotism to the rise of the Tea Party, the growing influence of the Evangelicals up to the emergence of Trumpism and Qanon.
Don't forget that the CIA armed and trained the militias that would eventually become Al Qaeda. We were the architects of our own demise.
You should watch the documentary show about the duggars and how they’re part of a huge cult that systemically indoctrinates kids, fucks them, and gets them into politics. It’s disgusting. It’s an organized push of quiverfull fundamentalist shit being pushed into law.
Shiny Happy People, for the people wondering what the documentary is called.
Thanks- I had forgotten!
Human nature doesn't change that much over time. Teenage me thought the future would be awesome because people like me would be in power. Adult me knows that people my age and younger are like everyone before them, just younger.
Most of them ARE previous generation.
AD&D is a gateway to Satan worship and witchcraft. /s
... AT&T ?
Biblical Satan, not the real one.
You're selling Comcast short there. They put in the effort, they should get 1st place. Please have their medal ready somewhere between 6am and 2pm on Tuesday, if they don't cancel.
Dungeons and Dragons. Tabletop roleplaying game. Because it featured demons, magic, etc with elaborate books documenting it all, conservatives condemned it.
More context for OP, AD&D is Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, basically it is the second edition of Dungeons and Dragons before they started using the 3E, 3.5E, 4E, 5E nomenclature.
ADHD? Some days, I think it might be…
So, let's get this straight. They're going to take a bunch of dudes, take away their porn, not teach them sexual health, not tech them about consent, strip abortion rights, make women scared to come forward, teach them it was their fault, and do nothing about police ineptitude/corruption. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that it seems like the GOP wants a generation of rape babies. Banking on their future voting bloc?
If I had no context and read your comment I'd think you're describing the Taliban or some other islamofascist government. The GOP has really gone off the deep end.
The gop has really gone off the deep end
"You merely adopted the deep end... I was born I it!"
-The gop
I mean, even with context it's no different.
When you start talking about consent they get uncomfortable and that's just a bridge too far. It's really, really close to accountability, the one thing they hate more than anything else.
rape babies.
Rabies for short.
This is not going to stop porn. All it will do is criminalize the actors, producers, and viewers.
I'm reminded of the drug war, where they took a relatively harmless narcotic used disproportionally by minority populations at the time (Marijuana), and used it to criminalize and imprison large swaths of the population, especially within the black community.
It's no coincidence that most of the folks targeted by this effort are women and sex industry workers, which skew liberal by a large degree. Note I'm not just talking about prostitution or porn actors, but the entire sex industry, including toys and books.
The GOP is scared shitless of the rising power of women in modern society, and being able to criminalize and consequently attack the revenue stream of sex industry workers is a way to blunt it. There's also an element of class warfare involved, as OnlyFans or similar sites are often the most economical way for a young woman to lift herself out of poverty if she has no other marketable skills.
The GOP is scared shitless of the rising power of women in modern society, and being able to criminalize and consequently attack the revenue stream of sex industry workers is a way to blunt it.
I agree that this is a big part of the war on porn. These stuffy prudes are seeing soceal/cultural norms changing before their eyes and they hate it.
I also think they're using it as an angle of attack to undermine online privacy/security in an effort to chill free speech/expression online. It's all about control.
The GOP/Nazi party is where humanity goes to die. Good thing they are in an ever shrinking minority.
A minority that could cheat its way into governance in 2 years. Vote, FFS
The boomer remover aka Covid knocked a bunch of those out- disproportionately in red states.
Shrinking? They increased their seats in the house last election, and now control >50%.
The Republicans party is very much elderly people, uneducated people, and religious people.
The old people are dying, religion is on a steady decline.
The thing is that Republicans show up to vote because their bubble is largely fear driven politics.
They also have gerrymandering on their side, they limit polling places, they unconstitutionally use poll taxes that disproportionately affect minorities, they make voting harder by eliminating vote by mail... In short, they cheat like fuckin crazy and rile up their base to get out and vote.
I would not agree that they're gonna disappear by 2028, but they are waning.
Globally, far right politicians are getting more votes.
GOP will be around for decades or more.
Does anyone understand why the far right is coming back?
It's not coming back, it never left. We're seeing them get more aggressive because they know that the newer generation isn't buying into the ideology as much as previous generations and so their ideals are going to die with them unless they use systemic tools to enforce it.
I'd wager is mainly due to extreme wealth inequality. Pretty easy to rile up desperate people.
When do you feel they were gone?
Everything you’ve said is true. But it was all true in 70s as well. Todays young people aren’t going to remain as progressive - every generation becomes more conservative over time. Hell, baby boomers were hippies. That Karen who votes for Trump and calls the HOA when you forget to take your bins in on time - there’s a good chance she was burning her bra for equal pay when she was in college.
That depends on material conditions. An economic boom doesn’t seem to be on the horizon, and boomers could have turned out very differently without the 80s. Plus, the boomers didn’t have to contend with climate change being obviously real. There are limits to our ecosystem, limits boomers didn’t have to work around, but we do. I don’t think younger people are better than boomers were, but I also don’t think that belief is the only possible source of hope.
They won the overall popular vote for the House by 2.8% in a midterm election with a somewhat unpopular President from the opposite party plus economic turmoil. The standard assumption would be that they'd blow it out. In the 2018 midterms, Democrats won the popular vote for the House by almost 10% under somewhat similar circumstances.
2022 should have been a rout in favor of the Republicans, and every political insider considers 2022 a disaster election for Republicans.
Wouldn't it be nice if these clowns stopped trying to legislate away their hangups and instead sought some fucking therapy?
A mentally unwell population hyped to chase an overblown issue is easier to control. They'll let themselves be exploited as long as the moral panic is hijacking their attention, which is why there is always a new one.
Can we stop blaming this on being “mentally unwell” and recognize these people are assholes? I was suicidal for 18 years, and I managed to never be “unwell” enought to pull the lever for a Republican or to think that policy should only be made for the interests of people like me, so clearly mental wellness isn’t the deciding factor here. Most Nazi voters weren’t mentally ill, and neither are most of these people. They’re deeply, profoundly selfish, not sick.
There wouldn't be a massive media aparatus from TV to social media meant to manipulate and indoctrinate people into conservatives if it was just a matter of people being inherently good or bad. Hell, this is as old as organized religion, which is historically constantly intertwined with power.
It is a matter mental unwellness. It might not be the same type of mental unwellness as yours, but many people out of vulnerability, insecurity, loneliness or nihilism end up becoming prey to manipulative groups. How many times have I heard stories of people who struggle with something in their lives and end up joining a church and pretty much changing completely. Have you never seen anything like that?
Some people spent all their lives being told what to believe and have a hard time even imagining anything else. Some people who are today completely rabid fascists used to be decent and just lost themselves in a rabbit hole for one reason or another. I get that right now even trying to talk them out of it is a nigh impossible effort, but this wasn't an inevitable fate written on their soul. It's a result of widespread propaganda and disinformation that twisted them.
I never said it was fate. Of course propaganda plays a role. All I’m saying is that hate isn’t a mental illness. People are morally responsible for their hate. Lumping people like that in with mentally ill people will make our lives harder, and they’re hard enough already. Associating us with them will make it easier, psychologically, for other people to involuntarily commit us or even kill us (check the stats on police shootings and severe mental illness). I’m not saying people are born to hate. I’m saying we have enough problems, please don’t advocate mixing them in with us. Call hate a “social illness” and treat them that way. We have enough problems.
Fair, "social illness" is a good way to put it.
Fucking therapy? I'm interested
Look up sexual surrogacy. 😉
The death rattles of a dying political party embracing #fascism.
The GOP has lost something like 11 of their last 13 special elections & just keep digging their grave.
If we keep voting Blue, keep doing exactly what we are doing to preserve the USA, the #GOP won't be a national party by 2028.
The fight doesn't end at the ballot box, but it does start there. Everyone needs to vote. Vote in the primaries, vote in the general, vote in local elections, & vote in state & national elections. Make yourself heard, & organize.
This. I don't care if you love your local representatives. If they are ok running as a Republican, vote them out.
I wish there were non republicans running. Usually there's one person running, and they're generally republican. And no - I don't have the time to become a politician.
Yea I hear ya. That was the case in my old township. The same 2 people have been running it for two decades and I can't remember anyone ever challenging them. There are also two other positions that are always blank on the ballot. No idea if those positions are just vacant or someone wins via write-in. I haven't actually looked.
OTOH, maybe it doesn't need to take any time. Just put your name on the ballot as a Democrat. Don't campaign. If you're elected, you can do better than a Republican by just not showing up.
I'm not sure that's true - I mean, presumably some things have to happen for the position or else why have it? I guess in terms of being in a group of legislators that's less true, but town supervisor or dogcatcher or whatever - I'd get elected once, then when there's no one at the meetings or doing whatever needs to be done to IDK, plow the roads or something or no one answers a call to catch a dog - I'd not get elected again, so have I accomplished anything doing that? And I don't like to claim I'll do something and then just never do it, it's even worse to go in knowing I'm never going to do it, but I'd prefer no one to a Republican. Plus, then I become a public individual and lose a lot of privacy rights and am liable to get attack ads etc, even if I'm actually just a "straw candidate" to have a D on the ballot.
I think you grossly underestimate the sheer number of fuckbrains in this country.
It's always incredibly ironic when the party that favors small govt, minimal State, is also the one that loves to make the most bullshit laws curtailing personal freedom.
Not exclusive to the USA, unfortunately.
I'm pretty sure when they say small government they just mean they want a gov that isn't strong enough to keep them from being the assholes they really are.
Because all those "minimal State" parties are usually corporate beaurocracy parties.
Maybe except anarcho-comunists, they are for "no State at all" or direct democracy.
Well, without knowing it, they are for a very strong dictatorial government.
America is losing the fucking plot!
And you just know these guys are the first in line giving some egirl money on their chaturbate
Wouldnt that be illegal under their disired rulings
Doesn't stop em
So, rules for the, not for me situation.
As someone who stood in front of some dude trying to force me to suck his dick (and I fucked off immediately) and getting back assaulted by randoms on the midschool (while dressed) yet I'm still an hetero, biological male...? What the heck is going on? Why on earth I'd start sucking dicks just because I saw some dude naked on screen? That'd be ridiculous, and a demonstration of a severe lack of wit and common sense.
That is like, staring at my own cock would make me gay or something amongst those lines.
But would you do it for a Klondike bar?
When you pry it from my warm, sticky hands...
Or even secretly renting hookers and escorts, even if they are gay or trans.
Don't mind the ladybugs.
Dumb af and would never happen. I'm sure the porn industry has enough money to buy off politicians.
Or interesting information about them
Never say never.
Look you can call me any name in the book. The current where children can easily form para social relationships with what are essentially pornstars and it's extremely easy for teenagers to become sex workers isn't healthy.
I'm not saying Hawley is right but there needs to be some real effort to address this.
Uhhh, porn is definitely addictive... not against banning or removing it, but..
“Addictive” means so many different things to different people at this point, it’s become useless. If you can compare the erotic materials I share with my spouse to heroin with a straight face, I’m not the one with a problem.
Lol, you jump straight up to haroin? Just because you and your wife have a healthy relationship with porn doesn't mean it can't be addictive to other people. If someone has physical withdrawal symptoms from not consuming the thing, it's an addiction.
Like, caffeine is highly addictive, but you wouldn't compare that with haroin.
I absolutely would compare caffeine with heroin when making the point that the term “addiction” has become so broad as to be meaningless.
Being a European, I am seeing extremists of both sides picking at each other.
No normal people left anymore?
The US doesn’t have a left wing party. We have a extreme right wing party, and a center right wing party. This both sides shit is stupid as fuck. “We want to ban gays” is extreme. “We want gay people to have rights” is not
I saw a comment on another post by a European explaining American politics to another European.
"Their left is our right, their right is our far right, and their far right are literal flag waving Nazis."
Accurate.
I was just thinking this. A regressive party and a conservative party.
The sad part is that's the best there is for people on the left out of over 500 Congress people. Yet I still regularly have to listen to morons screech about socialism, communism, "cultural Marxism" etc.
Yes, so far at least the Democrats seem to be far less tolerant of extremists in politics. Maybe that's untrue - but they tend to not be violent or wanting to overthrow the system. Part of it is how you define extremists - I'm more tolerant of people who want to campaign and try to make most any change via the democratic process via voting no matter their position. I'm less interested in those who feel we should invade the capital to try and overrule the outcomes of elections or violently intimidate opponents.
Oh, no, you're spot on. Democrats have actively kept leftists from getting traction in the party. There's a huge age gap between Bernie and AOC with no real progressives in between them. And they're not even that far left.
how you define extremists - I'm more tolerant of people who want to campaign and try to make most any change via the democratic process via voting no matter their position. I'm less interested in those who feel we should invade the capital to try and overrule the outcomes of elections or violently intimidate opponents.
Yes that's the correct approach to define them.
Hmm, I actually disagree that extremists should only be those who want to go outside the system and use violence. I would also find trying to effectively and knowingly go against the 1st amendment extreme too. I think that extremists also need to be kind of at the... extremes of a political spectrum also. In fact, I do find it useful (maybe we need a different term) for a way to talk about if someone is in a very edge AND niche position of their group.
The name "do nothing democrats" is sadly very accurate. They are just letting the right wing extremists walk all over us. I'd like to imagine how much better our political system would be if we simply had an age cap on political positions. Of course the people in power will never vote themselves out though.
You don’t need to be violent if the electoral apparatus is rigged to favor you (the right in American politics—I’m not making this up), but they are anyway. But if the electoral apparatus is rigged against you, if your party can get the most votes consistently and still lose, while your opponents make policy that literally kills people, if you’d still argue that extraelectoral measures are extremist, you’re not advocating democracy, you’re advocating acquiescence. The people of Germany would have been right to rise up against the Nazis (who only got 38% of the vote, btw), yeah? So where’s the line? Which standing up for yourself makes you righteous, and which an extremist?
Not giving guns to children. It's like they don't even want freedom! Everyone knows that more guns equal more freeduhms
Lol did you just do a “BoTh siDes” which leftist extremist have actual political power in the US. Defending people’s freedom to make and consume legal porn is not an extremist take LOL. I’m also European by the way
Oh yes. Extreme Left Wing ideas like: Trans people deserve human rights, We should feed our children, We should forgive college loans to borrowers that are being burdened so heavily with debt they can't start a family or buy homes (and the impact of it on the US Economy), Everyone has the right to vote. Wow....
The US Democrats aren't great, especially from our European perspective, but this is such a stupid enlightened centrist type of shit take. The Democrats after all aren't the one who are banning media and take peoples right away.
You can always tell a disingenuous response with the both sides bullshit.
They pretty much always respond with transphobic shit too
I guess if you're mostly happy with how something is then you've no reason to bring it up.
Nobody is writing long articles, posting tweets or appearing on TV shows to talk about it being quite nice that they can currently go and buy a beer from a shop. But someone could easily decide that they want to rile people up about the easiness of buying beer. And it all goes from there.
I mean we literally did that in the 1920s
I'm usually happy to hear an international perspective of us politics because it can be grounding. But you can't "both sides" your way out of fascism. There is no far left institutional power in the us. Kindly keep your boot licking to yourself
both sides
Except "both sides" are right wing parties
Sure, from a European perspective, but one is center-right and the other is far-right (farther right than any of your parties).
It's just right wing extremists who ruin democracy. Ya know, like Hitler with Germany not too long ago lol.
Says the European who already has most of the things our left wants.
And then votes for right wing parties. Just look at Italy and Poland.
The Italian right-wing party is fairly similar to the American left-wing party.
Another dumbo heard from.
Lol, feck off.
Lots of them, but normal doesn't sell advertisements or make headlines. I see by the downvotes (or whatever Lemmy calls them) that you've been visited by the Reddit groupthink. It feels weird when it happens. Some of us just want everyone to get along...which feels radical in its own way.
Groupthink my ass. How about it's not some idiot conspiracy and he's just straight up wrong? Tough, I know.
Odd, the topic is about a plan for 2025. It is not about two sides bickering at each other.
So weird you brought up a typical conservative argument without anything to prompt it.
It's harder to see where the other side is coming from when you're standing so far apart.
"Normal people," or people anywhere in the middle of the two poles, who can see both sides still are generally pretty quiet now because they get attacked by one side for "sympathizing" with the other. I talk to both extremes daily in my line of work, and it's exhausting to be respectful of either far-directional sentiment all day, every day
both sides
Only one side is banning books, man.
I think you replied to the wrong comment, my guy
Normal people get attacked by both sides until they learn to be quiet.
The far-left purity test alienates many mostly-left people.
You can be pro-choice, pro-women, all for supporting the poor, gay rights and trans rights - but if you dare suggest that maybe trans women shouldn’t be competing against born women in top-level sports, then the vocal left brand you as a transphobic TERF whose opinion isn’t even worth listening to. They would rather fight you over the 2% of things you disagree on, than embrace you for the 98% of values you have in common.
The vocal left want diversity in color, gender and sexuality - but they will not tolerate any diversity in thought or opinion.
No... They want people to be able to be themselves without being hounded by bigots. Somehow not a big going to ask imo. And yes, if you are talking about trans woman and AMAB people in that way and preventing women from joining sports (which has included all levels of sports), yes, you're being transphobic.
This post is a perfect example of alienating people who are almost entirely progressive, because they don’t perfectly toe the left line.
Is the rush you feel from being righteous online really worth the millions of votes it costs the progressive cause?
Yeah, ok bud. Whatever you need to tell yourself is reality.
Are you not self-aware enough to see how brilliantly you are making their point? This is the tyranny of small differences in action; either you're with me 100 percent, or you are cast out as an unclean bigot. This is why the Democrats are losing the working class that would otherwise be their natural allies. People have been yelling this at you for years, but for some reason you are unable to hear it.
Who are you even talking to? This 100% with us or against us shit is bullshit. You can be a Democrat/Progressive and still be a bigot, racist, asshole, etc. If you don't like that label than it's on you to work on or be at peace with. If you go around spouting it on the internet or yelling it at people, prepare for the consequences. That's how life works.
On the other hand, If that label or single issue makes you say "This means I have to vote for a Republican instead" then you're a shitty person who doesn't deserve respect. It's even more appropriate now that MAGA really showed everyone who the GOP was.
This is just like that "if you're not nice to people, it will make them vote for Trump" bullshit that was peddled all over reddit. Usually pushed by right-wing, bad faith dipshits trying to muddy the waters.
Indeed, this is the major problem on the left. It's why there's so much interest online in centrist "anti-woke" discussions and podcasts. But it's also fertile recruiting ground for the far right - if you're excommunicated for the 2% difference and actually, effectively canceled (I mean like a twitter mob actually gets you fired or the like), you're more inclined to go where people support you, and all too often, that's now the far right.
Identitarinasm doesn't lead anywhere good IMO on either side, and we would do well to re-think that on the "loud" part of the left.
It is mind boggling to me that in the year 2023 we're complaining about porn, LGBT existence, and fucking book content. Isn't this what we were laughing at 20 years ago? About book burnings and how stupid the previous generations were for fearing and banning media that challenged them?
It's easy to forget because of how quickly the cultural zeitgeist shifted when it finally did, but the early 2000s was still very homophobic. Watching pretty much any comedy from that era reminds you of just how common the punchline to jokes was just, "teehee they're gay."
In the early 2000s it was exceptionally common to hear things referred to as “gay” if they were “bad” in some way. Chandler’s “Dad” in friends is one I look back on and shudder. I understand when boomers say things like “things were different back then, but our ability to reflect and do better is what moves our species forward. Not dig in and scream no!
You ever watch Lily Simpson on You Tube, she does analysis of trans characters and their treatment in older media. Her analysis of Chandlers dad actually showed they weren't that bad of a depiction.
Yup been watching Scrubs and while a still funny show a lot of the time, there's still a lot of jokes that make me cringe. I'm sure it's like that for any show in that era.
Scrubs was cringe even when it was fresh
Fair lol.
I think you are missing about whole point of jokes being jokes.
tee-hee it's scared and regressive
Of course. Humor is never used to other out-groups so they can be treated as less. Gay jokes are just good clean fun. Like racist and misogynist jokes. /s
We were laughing, they were seething and planning.
The real impact of the 9/11 attacks: There is direct line from shock and confusion to nationalistic rhetoric and "'OOORAH!"- patriotism to the rise of the Tea Party, the growing influence of the Evangelicals up to the emergence of Trumpism and Qanon.
Don't forget that the CIA armed and trained the militias that would eventually become Al Qaeda. We were the architects of our own demise.
You should watch the documentary show about the duggars and how they’re part of a huge cult that systemically indoctrinates kids, fucks them, and gets them into politics. It’s disgusting. It’s an organized push of quiverfull fundamentalist shit being pushed into law.
Shiny Happy People, for the people wondering what the documentary is called.
Thanks- I had forgotten!
Human nature doesn't change that much over time. Teenage me thought the future would be awesome because people like me would be in power. Adult me knows that people my age and younger are like everyone before them, just younger.
Most of them ARE previous generation.
AD&D is a gateway to Satan worship and witchcraft. /s
... AT&T ?
Biblical Satan, not the real one.
You're selling Comcast short there. They put in the effort, they should get 1st place. Please have their medal ready somewhere between 6am and 2pm on Tuesday, if they don't cancel.
Dungeons and Dragons. Tabletop roleplaying game. Because it featured demons, magic, etc with elaborate books documenting it all, conservatives condemned it.
More context for OP, AD&D is Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, basically it is the second edition of Dungeons and Dragons before they started using the 3E, 3.5E, 4E, 5E nomenclature.
ADHD? Some days, I think it might be…
So, let's get this straight. They're going to take a bunch of dudes, take away their porn, not teach them sexual health, not tech them about consent, strip abortion rights, make women scared to come forward, teach them it was their fault, and do nothing about police ineptitude/corruption. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that it seems like the GOP wants a generation of rape babies. Banking on their future voting bloc?
If I had no context and read your comment I'd think you're describing the Taliban or some other islamofascist government. The GOP has really gone off the deep end.
"You merely adopted the deep end... I was born I it!"
-The gop
I mean, even with context it's no different.
When you start talking about consent they get uncomfortable and that's just a bridge too far. It's really, really close to accountability, the one thing they hate more than anything else.
Rabies for short.
This is not going to stop porn. All it will do is criminalize the actors, producers, and viewers.
I'm reminded of the drug war, where they took a relatively harmless narcotic used disproportionally by minority populations at the time (Marijuana), and used it to criminalize and imprison large swaths of the population, especially within the black community.
It's no coincidence that most of the folks targeted by this effort are women and sex industry workers, which skew liberal by a large degree. Note I'm not just talking about prostitution or porn actors, but the entire sex industry, including toys and books.
The GOP is scared shitless of the rising power of women in modern society, and being able to criminalize and consequently attack the revenue stream of sex industry workers is a way to blunt it. There's also an element of class warfare involved, as OnlyFans or similar sites are often the most economical way for a young woman to lift herself out of poverty if she has no other marketable skills.
I agree that this is a big part of the war on porn. These stuffy prudes are seeing soceal/cultural norms changing before their eyes and they hate it.
I also think they're using it as an angle of attack to undermine online privacy/security in an effort to chill free speech/expression online. It's all about control.
The GOP/Nazi party is where humanity goes to die. Good thing they are in an ever shrinking minority.
A minority that could cheat its way into governance in 2 years. Vote, FFS
The boomer remover aka Covid knocked a bunch of those out- disproportionately in red states.
Shrinking? They increased their seats in the house last election, and now control >50%.
The Republicans party is very much elderly people, uneducated people, and religious people.
The old people are dying, religion is on a steady decline.
The thing is that Republicans show up to vote because their bubble is largely fear driven politics.
They also have gerrymandering on their side, they limit polling places, they unconstitutionally use poll taxes that disproportionately affect minorities, they make voting harder by eliminating vote by mail... In short, they cheat like fuckin crazy and rile up their base to get out and vote.
I would not agree that they're gonna disappear by 2028, but they are waning.
Globally, far right politicians are getting more votes.
GOP will be around for decades or more.
Does anyone understand why the far right is coming back?
It's not coming back, it never left. We're seeing them get more aggressive because they know that the newer generation isn't buying into the ideology as much as previous generations and so their ideals are going to die with them unless they use systemic tools to enforce it.
I'd wager is mainly due to extreme wealth inequality. Pretty easy to rile up desperate people.
When do you feel they were gone?
Everything you’ve said is true. But it was all true in 70s as well. Todays young people aren’t going to remain as progressive - every generation becomes more conservative over time. Hell, baby boomers were hippies. That Karen who votes for Trump and calls the HOA when you forget to take your bins in on time - there’s a good chance she was burning her bra for equal pay when she was in college.
That depends on material conditions. An economic boom doesn’t seem to be on the horizon, and boomers could have turned out very differently without the 80s. Plus, the boomers didn’t have to contend with climate change being obviously real. There are limits to our ecosystem, limits boomers didn’t have to work around, but we do. I don’t think younger people are better than boomers were, but I also don’t think that belief is the only possible source of hope.
They won the overall popular vote for the House by 2.8% in a midterm election with a somewhat unpopular President from the opposite party plus economic turmoil. The standard assumption would be that they'd blow it out. In the 2018 midterms, Democrats won the popular vote for the House by almost 10% under somewhat similar circumstances.
2022 should have been a rout in favor of the Republicans, and every political insider considers 2022 a disaster election for Republicans.
Wouldn't it be nice if these clowns stopped trying to legislate away their hangups and instead sought some fucking therapy?
A mentally unwell population hyped to chase an overblown issue is easier to control. They'll let themselves be exploited as long as the moral panic is hijacking their attention, which is why there is always a new one.
Can we stop blaming this on being “mentally unwell” and recognize these people are assholes? I was suicidal for 18 years, and I managed to never be “unwell” enought to pull the lever for a Republican or to think that policy should only be made for the interests of people like me, so clearly mental wellness isn’t the deciding factor here. Most Nazi voters weren’t mentally ill, and neither are most of these people. They’re deeply, profoundly selfish, not sick.
There wouldn't be a massive media aparatus from TV to social media meant to manipulate and indoctrinate people into conservatives if it was just a matter of people being inherently good or bad. Hell, this is as old as organized religion, which is historically constantly intertwined with power.
It is a matter mental unwellness. It might not be the same type of mental unwellness as yours, but many people out of vulnerability, insecurity, loneliness or nihilism end up becoming prey to manipulative groups. How many times have I heard stories of people who struggle with something in their lives and end up joining a church and pretty much changing completely. Have you never seen anything like that?
Some people spent all their lives being told what to believe and have a hard time even imagining anything else. Some people who are today completely rabid fascists used to be decent and just lost themselves in a rabbit hole for one reason or another. I get that right now even trying to talk them out of it is a nigh impossible effort, but this wasn't an inevitable fate written on their soul. It's a result of widespread propaganda and disinformation that twisted them.
I never said it was fate. Of course propaganda plays a role. All I’m saying is that hate isn’t a mental illness. People are morally responsible for their hate. Lumping people like that in with mentally ill people will make our lives harder, and they’re hard enough already. Associating us with them will make it easier, psychologically, for other people to involuntarily commit us or even kill us (check the stats on police shootings and severe mental illness). I’m not saying people are born to hate. I’m saying we have enough problems, please don’t advocate mixing them in with us. Call hate a “social illness” and treat them that way. We have enough problems.
Fair, "social illness" is a good way to put it.
Fucking therapy? I'm interested
Look up sexual surrogacy. 😉
The death rattles of a dying political party embracing #fascism.
The GOP has lost something like 11 of their last 13 special elections & just keep digging their grave.
If we keep voting Blue, keep doing exactly what we are doing to preserve the USA, the #GOP won't be a national party by 2028.
The fight doesn't end at the ballot box, but it does start there. Everyone needs to vote. Vote in the primaries, vote in the general, vote in local elections, & vote in state & national elections. Make yourself heard, & organize.
This. I don't care if you love your local representatives. If they are ok running as a Republican, vote them out.
I wish there were non republicans running. Usually there's one person running, and they're generally republican. And no - I don't have the time to become a politician.
Yea I hear ya. That was the case in my old township. The same 2 people have been running it for two decades and I can't remember anyone ever challenging them. There are also two other positions that are always blank on the ballot. No idea if those positions are just vacant or someone wins via write-in. I haven't actually looked.
OTOH, maybe it doesn't need to take any time. Just put your name on the ballot as a Democrat. Don't campaign. If you're elected, you can do better than a Republican by just not showing up.
I'm not sure that's true - I mean, presumably some things have to happen for the position or else why have it? I guess in terms of being in a group of legislators that's less true, but town supervisor or dogcatcher or whatever - I'd get elected once, then when there's no one at the meetings or doing whatever needs to be done to IDK, plow the roads or something or no one answers a call to catch a dog - I'd not get elected again, so have I accomplished anything doing that? And I don't like to claim I'll do something and then just never do it, it's even worse to go in knowing I'm never going to do it, but I'd prefer no one to a Republican. Plus, then I become a public individual and lose a lot of privacy rights and am liable to get attack ads etc, even if I'm actually just a "straw candidate" to have a D on the ballot.
I think you grossly underestimate the sheer number of fuckbrains in this country.
It's always incredibly ironic when the party that favors small govt, minimal State, is also the one that loves to make the most bullshit laws curtailing personal freedom.
Not exclusive to the USA, unfortunately.
I'm pretty sure when they say small government they just mean they want a gov that isn't strong enough to keep them from being the assholes they really are.
Because all those "minimal State" parties are usually corporate beaurocracy parties.
Maybe except anarcho-comunists, they are for "no State at all" or direct democracy.
Well, without knowing it, they are for a very strong dictatorial government.
America is losing the fucking plot!
And you just know these guys are the first in line giving some egirl money on their chaturbate
Wouldnt that be illegal under their disired rulings
Doesn't stop em
So, rules for the, not for me situation.
As someone who stood in front of some dude trying to force me to suck his dick (and I fucked off immediately) and getting back assaulted by randoms on the midschool (while dressed) yet I'm still an hetero, biological male...? What the heck is going on? Why on earth I'd start sucking dicks just because I saw some dude naked on screen? That'd be ridiculous, and a demonstration of a severe lack of wit and common sense. That is like, staring at my own cock would make me gay or something amongst those lines.
But would you do it for a Klondike bar?
When you pry it from my warm, sticky hands...
Or even secretly renting hookers and escorts, even if they are gay or trans.
Don't mind the ladybugs.
Dumb af and would never happen. I'm sure the porn industry has enough money to buy off politicians.
Or interesting information about them
Never say never.
Look you can call me any name in the book. The current where children can easily form para social relationships with what are essentially pornstars and it's extremely easy for teenagers to become sex workers isn't healthy.
I'm not saying Hawley is right but there needs to be some real effort to address this.
Uhhh, porn is definitely addictive... not against banning or removing it, but..
“Addictive” means so many different things to different people at this point, it’s become useless. If you can compare the erotic materials I share with my spouse to heroin with a straight face, I’m not the one with a problem.
Lol, you jump straight up to haroin? Just because you and your wife have a healthy relationship with porn doesn't mean it can't be addictive to other people. If someone has physical withdrawal symptoms from not consuming the thing, it's an addiction.
Like, caffeine is highly addictive, but you wouldn't compare that with haroin.
I absolutely would compare caffeine with heroin when making the point that the term “addiction” has become so broad as to be meaningless.
Being a European, I am seeing extremists of both sides picking at each other.
No normal people left anymore?
The US doesn’t have a left wing party. We have a extreme right wing party, and a center right wing party. This both sides shit is stupid as fuck. “We want to ban gays” is extreme. “We want gay people to have rights” is not
I saw a comment on another post by a European explaining American politics to another European.
"Their left is our right, their right is our far right, and their far right are literal flag waving Nazis."
Accurate.
I was just thinking this. A regressive party and a conservative party.
💀
Name one left extremist in a position of power.
Go ahead, tell on yourself.
Bernie Sanders and AOC
(This is a joke)
The sad part is that's the best there is for people on the left out of over 500 Congress people. Yet I still regularly have to listen to morons screech about socialism, communism, "cultural Marxism" etc.
Yes, so far at least the Democrats seem to be far less tolerant of extremists in politics. Maybe that's untrue - but they tend to not be violent or wanting to overthrow the system. Part of it is how you define extremists - I'm more tolerant of people who want to campaign and try to make most any change via the democratic process via voting no matter their position. I'm less interested in those who feel we should invade the capital to try and overrule the outcomes of elections or violently intimidate opponents.
Oh, no, you're spot on. Democrats have actively kept leftists from getting traction in the party. There's a huge age gap between Bernie and AOC with no real progressives in between them. And they're not even that far left.
Yes that's the correct approach to define them.
Hmm, I actually disagree that extremists should only be those who want to go outside the system and use violence. I would also find trying to effectively and knowingly go against the 1st amendment extreme too. I think that extremists also need to be kind of at the... extremes of a political spectrum also. In fact, I do find it useful (maybe we need a different term) for a way to talk about if someone is in a very edge AND niche position of their group.
The name "do nothing democrats" is sadly very accurate. They are just letting the right wing extremists walk all over us. I'd like to imagine how much better our political system would be if we simply had an age cap on political positions. Of course the people in power will never vote themselves out though.
You don’t need to be violent if the electoral apparatus is rigged to favor you (the right in American politics—I’m not making this up), but they are anyway. But if the electoral apparatus is rigged against you, if your party can get the most votes consistently and still lose, while your opponents make policy that literally kills people, if you’d still argue that extraelectoral measures are extremist, you’re not advocating democracy, you’re advocating acquiescence. The people of Germany would have been right to rise up against the Nazis (who only got 38% of the vote, btw), yeah? So where’s the line? Which standing up for yourself makes you righteous, and which an extremist?
Not giving guns to children. It's like they don't even want freedom! Everyone knows that more guns equal more freeduhms
Lol did you just do a “BoTh siDes” which leftist extremist have actual political power in the US. Defending people’s freedom to make and consume legal porn is not an extremist take LOL. I’m also European by the way
Oh yes. Extreme Left Wing ideas like: Trans people deserve human rights, We should feed our children, We should forgive college loans to borrowers that are being burdened so heavily with debt they can't start a family or buy homes (and the impact of it on the US Economy), Everyone has the right to vote. Wow....
The US Democrats aren't great, especially from our European perspective, but this is such a stupid enlightened centrist type of shit take. The Democrats after all aren't the one who are banning media and take peoples right away.
You can always tell a disingenuous response with the both sides bullshit.
They pretty much always respond with transphobic shit too
I guess if you're mostly happy with how something is then you've no reason to bring it up.
Nobody is writing long articles, posting tweets or appearing on TV shows to talk about it being quite nice that they can currently go and buy a beer from a shop. But someone could easily decide that they want to rile people up about the easiness of buying beer. And it all goes from there.
I mean we literally did that in the 1920s
I'm usually happy to hear an international perspective of us politics because it can be grounding. But you can't "both sides" your way out of fascism. There is no far left institutional power in the us. Kindly keep your boot licking to yourself
Except "both sides" are right wing parties
Sure, from a European perspective, but one is center-right and the other is far-right (farther right than any of your parties).
It's just right wing extremists who ruin democracy. Ya know, like Hitler with Germany not too long ago lol.
Says the European who already has most of the things our left wants.
And then votes for right wing parties. Just look at Italy and Poland.
The Italian right-wing party is fairly similar to the American left-wing party.
Another dumbo heard from.
Lol, feck off.
Lots of them, but normal doesn't sell advertisements or make headlines. I see by the downvotes (or whatever Lemmy calls them) that you've been visited by the Reddit groupthink. It feels weird when it happens. Some of us just want everyone to get along...which feels radical in its own way.
Groupthink my ass. How about it's not some idiot conspiracy and he's just straight up wrong? Tough, I know.
Odd, the topic is about a plan for 2025. It is not about two sides bickering at each other.
So weird you brought up a typical conservative argument without anything to prompt it.
It's harder to see where the other side is coming from when you're standing so far apart.
"Normal people," or people anywhere in the middle of the two poles, who can see both sides still are generally pretty quiet now because they get attacked by one side for "sympathizing" with the other. I talk to both extremes daily in my line of work, and it's exhausting to be respectful of either far-directional sentiment all day, every day
Only one side is banning books, man.
I think you replied to the wrong comment, my guy
Normal people get attacked by both sides until they learn to be quiet.
The far-left purity test alienates many mostly-left people.
You can be pro-choice, pro-women, all for supporting the poor, gay rights and trans rights - but if you dare suggest that maybe trans women shouldn’t be competing against born women in top-level sports, then the vocal left brand you as a transphobic TERF whose opinion isn’t even worth listening to. They would rather fight you over the 2% of things you disagree on, than embrace you for the 98% of values you have in common.
The vocal left want diversity in color, gender and sexuality - but they will not tolerate any diversity in thought or opinion.
No... They want people to be able to be themselves without being hounded by bigots. Somehow not a big going to ask imo. And yes, if you are talking about trans woman and AMAB people in that way and preventing women from joining sports (which has included all levels of sports), yes, you're being transphobic.
This post is a perfect example of alienating people who are almost entirely progressive, because they don’t perfectly toe the left line.
Is the rush you feel from being righteous online really worth the millions of votes it costs the progressive cause?
Yeah, ok bud. Whatever you need to tell yourself is reality.
Are you not self-aware enough to see how brilliantly you are making their point? This is the tyranny of small differences in action; either you're with me 100 percent, or you are cast out as an unclean bigot. This is why the Democrats are losing the working class that would otherwise be their natural allies. People have been yelling this at you for years, but for some reason you are unable to hear it.
Who are you even talking to? This 100% with us or against us shit is bullshit. You can be a Democrat/Progressive and still be a bigot, racist, asshole, etc. If you don't like that label than it's on you to work on or be at peace with. If you go around spouting it on the internet or yelling it at people, prepare for the consequences. That's how life works.
On the other hand, If that label or single issue makes you say "This means I have to vote for a Republican instead" then you're a shitty person who doesn't deserve respect. It's even more appropriate now that MAGA really showed everyone who the GOP was.
This is just like that "if you're not nice to people, it will make them vote for Trump" bullshit that was peddled all over reddit. Usually pushed by right-wing, bad faith dipshits trying to muddy the waters.
Indeed, this is the major problem on the left. It's why there's so much interest online in centrist "anti-woke" discussions and podcasts. But it's also fertile recruiting ground for the far right - if you're excommunicated for the 2% difference and actually, effectively canceled (I mean like a twitter mob actually gets you fired or the like), you're more inclined to go where people support you, and all too often, that's now the far right.
Identitarinasm doesn't lead anywhere good IMO on either side, and we would do well to re-think that on the "loud" part of the left.
I love how your downvotes illustrate your point; such sweet irony.
You overly dramatic fools just want to be the victim so bad.