Probably the same people who were googling why Biden wasn't on the ticket on election day 🙄
It took centuries for the Roman Republic to fall. At some point in time, they were past the point of no return without themselves even realizing it.
I think we are in that position now. We have been on the decline for more than a decade now, and have had several opportunities to correct or reverse course, but the wrong decision is made at every opportunity because it's far easier for powerful influential people to increase their power, wealth and status at the expense of everyone else and suffer no consequences for doing so than it is for them to sacrifice their own power, wealth, and status for the benefit of the collective. Are we past the point of no return? I'd say an argument could be made for either yes or no, but we are undeniably closer to the precipice than we have ever been as a nation since the Civil War (which never truly ended).
My theory is that the type of person who falls for conspiracy nonsense is the same type of person who also succumbs to solipsism. They have a core belief that they are the protagonist of their own story, and their story can't be plain, humdrum, or boring like their daily lives had been up until the moment they "uncovered" the grand plot to deceive the world. Acknowledgement of the fact that they are not special or somehow inherently different from any other individual is psychic death, so they retreat into safe spaces and echo chambers that validate them, which make them easy targets for pseudoscience and quasi-religious beliefs.
Conspiracy allows them to indulge in the fantasy of grandiosity, while also introducing them to a community of like-minded people who will welcome them and their beliefs, and never challenge them. That makes it all the more difficult for them to break out of the spell, even when presented evidence that runs contrary to what they believe.
Best comment of the thread so far 😂
I never would have guessed, but that makes a lot of sense now. I'm on board with the theory that it's a big tax scam of some sort.
I used to see American flags come out on or during the week of Independence Day or Veteran's Day or something similar where it was not unusual for people to put their national pride on display. That stopped happening when some people took it too far after 9/11 and started making patriotism into their whole identity and used it as a smokescreen for their overt bigotry. Now it's almost seen as a tacky or gaudy thing to do and I get why.
But yeah, if someone has a full-blown flagpole installed on their front lawn, they are 100% virtue signaling. Big MAGA-weirdo vibes.
I think that's what pushed it from unusual to over the top for me. I knew this community would get a laugh.
Water might be an issue as well. We rely a lot on the Sierras but I think we also buy a lot of what we use from Colorado and have it piped here.
I understand the desire of people who don't want to see accusations like this be used as a political weapon, but the pendulum is swinging too far in the opposite direction here. Trump is using his status as a political candidate and now president-elect to sidestep the judicial process entirely.
It's one thing to say you can be president even from a prison cell if the electorate so wills it. It's another to say that because he was voted to be president, we can't even put him up for a trial to determine guilt or innocence by a jury of his peers.
And now we'll probably never know the answer to that.
Yeah, you're right, but you also conveniently cut out the second half of my sentence where I specifically mentioned being turned away for emissions. Context matters.
This is a great example of the importance of teaching people critical thinking skills.
If you stop to analyze what was written in this sensationalized post rather than acting on your emotions, the first question that should come into mind is "who stopped them?". There are no checkpoints between Oregon and California where cars are turned away from crossing state lines due to emissions. In fact, that would probably violate federal free travel laws which would supercede any stupid law like that.
Next, consider the source. Is this person trustworthy? Did they provide ample citations to reputable journalistic outlets that verified the factuality of the claims? If not, they may be trying to deceive you with falsehoods or have an ulterior motive for misrepresenting the facts. At best they are repeating claims that they've heard from others and anything they report on should be taken with a grain of salt.
This post doesn't hold up to the slightest amount of scrutiny, but people get fooled every day by crap like this. My advice is that if you hear something that sounds outrageous or too good to be true, stop and think carefully about it for a few minutes, or maybe just wait for another source to report it. Saves you a lot of stress and protects you from endlessly doomscrolling.
In this political environment, when the corporations are the kingmakers, you can't afford to not be a corporatist. Democrats and Republicans are both very pro-business, but big business likes the Republicans better because they are completely mask-off about letting them do whatever they like, while the Dems have to pretend they care about stuff like regulations to appease their voters.
Bernie, or someone like him, is essentially fighting an uphill battle. You can't take money from corporations, while simultaneously having to defend yourself from far-right extremist slander and the DNC actively trying to sabotage you so they can replace you with a corporatist. Meanwhile, Trump can be the big tent and get everybody in bed with him because the right will clearly stoop to any level to win and businesses have no scruples about who sits in the chair as long as they get a return on their investment.
It's frustrating. Maddening. We are completely screwed for the foreseeable future unless Trump manages to fuck up even worse than he did in his first term or a grassroots left wing movement really gets going in time for the next election, presuming the institution of voting isn't completely ratfucked or dismantled by then.