AppleTea

Alberta Premium, nice

I liked the bit at the end where the therapist calls him out.

Trying to reach the "I don't do politics" crowd with "harm reduction" doesn't really work as a strategy.

Like, they're already admitting that when something is an unappealing and controversial, they'd rather check out than engage. Going on to explain the gritty strategy for approaching unappealing and controversial politics is just adding more reasons onto the "I don't do politics" pile.

It's a crass comparison, but it would be like if someone said "I don't play MOBAs" and the response was to immediately launch into an explanation of League's current meta-strategy. Don't be surprised when they immediately check out of the conversation. (Yes I know games are frivolous and politics is life and death -- but the people who "don't do politics" don't see it that way)

More than that, nearly all of the "I don't do politics" people are almost certainly never going to see this image. We're in an online forum dedicated to talking about politics. The only people who see this are the people who already choose to spend their personal time on the subject. So ask yourself, is this image really about the people who are checked out of politics? Because, practically (regardless of intent) all this really seems to be is a thought-terminating cliche to throw at anyone who points out that running a "We're the lesser evil candidate!" doesn't actually engage or activate anyone who's already checked out!

The Trump administration should absolutely face consequences for what they've done. But they wont. Both wings of the american political establishment are very keen on the idea that people in power shouldn't face legal consequences for their actions. I'd be shocked if Democrats even consider so much as clearing out ICE.

I'm saying it would be stupid to include voters in those (purely hypothetical) consequences. If we start blaming voters for what those in power do, none of us are innocent. Obama has just as much on his head as Bush -- it would be absurd to transfer that down onto the overall electorate.

Yes yes, so cathartic to imagine. But that's all it is.

Momentary catharsis. You can't build anything out of it, cus if you did, it's ultimately just, "round up all the bad people who disagree with me, let them die, and then everything will be better!" and oops, that's just what Trump is doing

A person's actions make them what they are. If this neighbor is calling ICE on people, sure yeah they're a fascist.

But if all this lady did was vote for Trump, that's not really enough. That's barley one action, from over half a year ago. Less than that, if its not even in a swing state. If people are showing regret after seeing whats been happening, fuck I don't know maybe you grow a bigger coalition with honey than with vinegar.

you and the (probably fake) twitter post demonstrate the most important part of US politics:

It's about making sure the right people suffer. Chuds vote for Trump not because they like him particularly, but because it upsets the liberal in their life. When there are consequences, it's not the role of liberals to meet that suffering with a mutually positive vision for the future, but instead to point and go ner ner you deserve it! And the next time Democrats are in control, it's the liberals duty to ignore all the longstanding problems and suffering that has continued through every administration, and instead point to the stock market and say But the economy is actually good dummy!

And the most important thing is that we never expect our government to do anything but dole out suffering to this or that group of people.

It's when you start including structures within cells that the complexity moves beyond anything we're currently capable of computing.

Self Driving is only safer than people in absolutely pristine road conditions with no inclement weather and no construction. As soon as anything disrupts "normal" road conditions, self driving becomes significantly more dangerous than a human driving.

speaking of an unrelated chip on one's shoulder...

No argument from me. What Constantinople was to Rome, the US is to the British.

People are right to say Dems are different when it comes to domestic policy, but they agree with Republicans on almost all foreign policy decisions. A significant portion of the criticisms Democrat representatives made of the recent Iran bombings amounted to, "Hey, you didn't give us a chance to agree wholeheartedly!"

And most of this "slide into fascism" is just taking foreign policies and applying them domestically. In that sense, Democrats hold a lot of the blame as well.