this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
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As will be every year after that. It's all downhill from here folks.
Pessimism literally helps nobody, it just makes people more depressed and less likely to do anything about a bad situation. Don't forget that last election had one of the highest young voter turnouts ever recorded, and was by far a huge swing to liberal. Since then the Republican party hasn't even been close to as organised as they were during 2016 and 2020.
Change can and will happen. It already is, albeit slowly and with bumps along the road, just like any progression in society.
Yep. Seriously, keep the faith. And fight the good fight.
You got through to me and changed my perspective. Ty
Pessimism is so addictive. I've struggled with it a ton throughout my life.
Like most bad habits, it's the easier option
I'm glad you have some optimism left in you. I don't.
Trump or that clown Sunak winning your election will have catastrophic effects for my country who's been in full scale war for almost 2 years. All the while the "allies" drag this war out by giving bullshit reasons to not send long range missiles and aircraft (uwu 5-8 months basic proficiency for fighter pilots proficient on a different platform , also known as "if they started even last year, f16s would be flying at least SEAD by now and not relying on a jank adaptor to launch HARM"), and decide that sending 31 Abrams tanks is good enough for a 1200km long frontline.
I had some optimism in March 2022, despite how bad everything looked at the time, it slowly diminished to what it is now by Spring of 2023 when it became clear that goal #1 for our "allies" is NOT to end this war, as quickly as possible, but to bleed russia out, death by a thousand cuts, all with our lives.
rant (cont.)
I can even understand unwillingness to give ATACMS, you don't have a lot of them and need them all to fight Mexican drug cartels or whatever you would use ballistic missiles for in 2023.
You don't even use f16 anymore, and just sold some to Vietnam recently.
There's at least few hundreds Abrams tanks sitting in the desert in dry storage. But no, 31 is all we get.
And the total clownery of political debate where at least two candidates build their platform on being friends with russia and china and stopping all support to Ukraine.
And the total clownery of passing a lend lease act in 2022 and then not using it - trusting Ukraine to win so as to not burden us with returning leased hardware, but not trusting enough to give enough to win.
Straight into that false dichotomy. Pessimism isn't a straight in to critical thinking. I'd say a pessimist is doing the exact opposite really. By not even wanting to try and think of a positive situation they're going full head in the sand instead of working to fix problems.
Nobody's getting shoved into boxcars. Well, unless you're trans, or gay, or the wrong skin color that day (I'm guessing brown first), or if you say something the president doesn't like, or if you're associated with a terrorist organization (by showing up to the wrong protest).
I get your statement but it's really overly violent, and honestly sounds kind of libertarian. More guns & more violence really will not solve anything. If you get violent all you do is justify violent means for your oppressors. In this day and age, there's no winning a fight of violence against the government and groups you disagree with. There's far better alternatives that we have. The benefit of capitalism is that it means the only fucking thing that works against the power structure is to scare them from losing control of their capital. I guarantee en-mass "voting with your wallet", and literal voting, will have a much better effect than arming up.
Also, you're free to call Nazis, Nazis. Nobody is stopping you.
Normally I would agree with you, but with the rise of violent rhetoric being espoused by the likes of Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert. There is a consistent rise on both sides, though one definitely has a markedly larger proportion, saying that violence against voters from the other side of the aisle is justifiable. https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/03/31/rise-in-political-violence-in-united-states-and-damage-to-our-democracy-pub-87584
It would likely be imprudent to think that a social group who can condone the beliefs and behaviors of the likes of neo-Nazis, the KKK, and the Proud Boys, as well as support the active dismantling of historical education that is based in fact and objectivity would be incapable of they themselves succumbing to a mob mentality that led to mass violence. All you have to do is look at the Stanford Prison Experiment to understand just how fast a select group in control of messaging and communication can lead normally rational people down a path of wonton violence for a cause that was not actually their own.
"Voting with your wallet" barely even works anymore with most of the consumer goods being produced by 1 of like 12 companies that form corporate oligopolies over virtually every industry. Voting in the booths "works", but the trend of conservative candidates just refusing to accept that they lost and whipping that same aforementioned group of voters into a tizzy could easily lead to some rather problematic situations that can easily snowball beyond where the unprepared are, well, prepared for.
It probably isn't a bad idea to arm up, whether it is with actual weapons or weaponized knowledge. Knowing how to utilize incendiary devices or kitchen chemistry defensively is not a bad thing for rational, level-headed people to know. I'm not saying "arm up, a war is coming", more like "the Boy Scouts have the motto 'Be Prepared' for a very good reason."
but there well be a brief period where we can swim in late autumn and early spring. so won't that be nice.