You have grossly misread the situation. We unfortunately have a two party system, meaning it is inherently an evil vs lesser evil system, it’s inherently an us vs them system.
None of the candidates are qualified or good. So at the bare minimum I’m going to vote for the one that isn’t parroting Hitler.
This is correct. One's "identity" (religious, ethnic, sexual, &c.) doesn't matter except that once you're "other," you're "the enemy" and at risk of state-sponsored violence.
It's also useless to try and measure how close we are to disaster according to criteria, like, "oh, he's parroting Hitler," or "he's calling enemies 'vermin'". That's not the point.
Historian Ian Kershaw observed that Hitler's speeches and his persona as "Führer" encouraged people to act on their own to achieve the goals that Hitler expressed. Kershaw identified this as "working toward the Führer".
Hitler stated goals and provided guidelines, and then he either appointed specific individuals to ensure that his goals were realized, or he let government bureaucrats and Nazi Party officials figure it out themselves.
We're seeing this again with Trump and the Republicans. It is a form of stochastic terrorism: using mass media to provoke random acts of ideologically motivated violence that are statistically predictable, but individually unpredictable.
It's not that we're "getting to the point" of disaster. We're already there. If you doubt that, ask yourself: will the Republicans return to normality, to sanity, after the next election? There are no signs whatsoever that they will.
@VE3RWJ Know something strange? I watch both left and right media. They're different positions on issues, of course, but the extremists on both sides say similar things. They both call each other nazis, fascists, and Hitler. They both say the other party, if elected, will end democracy. They both claim the other side will weaponize the government to go after them, if they win. Someone should make a super-cut of them parroting each other.
The #MAGA party continues to parrot & propagate #Putin talking points and to further #Russia's goals by doing their work. Putin has brazenly said in public how the #Trumplicans are helping him & how he will win over #Ukraine because the US will give up. Not only will this help Russia but it also helps #China. I never thought I'd see the day when we'd kowtow to Russia and China.
Are you in America? Because right now, in America, wr have literally two choices: shitheel Hitler or old establishment.
I would LOVE it if we had viable third party candidates or ranked choice shit. But we don’t. So yeah I’m going to throw all my weight behind the candidate who ISN’T parroting shitheel nationalist rhetoric.
Your complaints against Biden are valid and worth discussing… but it’s stupid and irresponsible to suggest that pointing out the fascistic tendencies of conservatives is the fault of the democrats.
wr have literally two choices: shitheel Hitler or old establishment.
Even from here it’s pretty easy to see that those are not two mutually exclusive things.
I would LOVE it if we had viable third party candidates
But you don’t, do you? Do you think it’s some coincidence or “Act Of God” that you don’t?
So yeah I’m going to throw all my weight behind the candidate who ISN’T parroting shitheel nationalist rhetoric.
If that makes you sleep better at night, be my guest. Hell, if I was a USian I’d probably do the same.
Your complaints against Biden are valid and worth discussing…
Biden is not the problem - it’s the political establishment people like him (and Trump plus the rest of them) represent. That’s the problem - and voting is not going to fix that.
We’re talking about post-war Germany. Are CDU and SDF, both parties that have ruled Germany after World War 2, far-right? The rise of modern German far right is way after Germany accepted refugees in 2015. You’re just showing that anyone you don’t agree with is fascist by shoehorning after the fact examples that you miscontrue to fit your bias. If this is a court of law, it will not go down well for you. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say it seems to me you have no idea about international politics or politics in general. Come back when you know more.
Riiiiight… white supremacist settler-colonialism and fascism are totally not so intimately and indelibly linked that it’s almost impossible to tell where one starts and the other ends, eh Clyde?
Palestine did agree initially, but then there was a civil war among Palestinians afterwards. If you actually know history you would know, but instead you keep parroting the same talking points.
But Hamas derailed that at the last minute with their attack.
Oh, of course… it’s all the Palestinians’ fault, right? And if Jewish people would just have stopped with their nasty “Jewish-Bolshevism” Hitler wouldn’t have been forced into perpetrating the Holocaust, right?
Well now, as I suspected, so you weren’t aware that Israel was going to give up settlements in West Bank, as demanded by Saudi Arabia as part of the deal? If you just get out of your naive lefty bubble, you would know. And it seems to me that you’re not acknowledging Hamas as a terror group despite taking foreign nationals as hostages? Am I reading that right? I never blamed Palestinians. Are you aware that Hamas does not mean Palestinians?
It is easy for someone to parse complicated and tangled mess with simple narrative and bitesize without seeing the full picture, because the average human brain-- stil unevolved from our lizard ancestors-- could not cope with massive amount of information and resort to heuristics. Go watch the video explaining the run up before Hamas attack, when Israel and Saudi were about sign a deal, part of which Israel was going to give up occupied settlements. Or if it is tldr for you, here is a9 minute run down.
Oh, I’m very familiar with Eco’s little list - it’s a perfectly flawed and dangerous misunderstanding of what fascism really is. But liberals love it because Eco treats fascism as some kind of aberration to liberals’ precious little classical liberal nation-state - which is why people like you cannot recognize it when it is literally staring you in the face.
Eco and other’s have overlap on what they consider to be fascist. Is Germany militaristic and ultranationalist after World War 2 despite budget cuts on the military and taboo if one proclaims to be nationalist? They allowed Turkish migrants after World War 2 to fill labour shortage. How does that even sound fascist to you? You just want to call anyone you don’t like fascist. Because for you it is easy to stereotype because it doesn’t involve much thinking.
Slavoj Zizek is perfectly relevant. Because the left has a certain naivete and blindspot with their worldview, which he has commented upon.
This is the power of propaganda. Not even the CEO cares about making money for shareholders. They care because it makes them more money.
But corporations will pay money to “think tanks” who provide “studies” that show people are really motivated by pizza parties. Then they publish those “studies” in industry magazines, newsletters, etc. Then the widestream media picks it up and reports it as truth. Other companies like what it says and start to parrot it.
And then we have conversations about it like there is ANY validity to it at all. We shouldn’t even be talking about this.
I notice that countless rubes use social media for their daily two minutes of hate. They have endless Goldsteins to shake their fists at, like obedient proles. Like parrots, the other proles chime in and shake their fists and shout at the evil Goldstein of the day.
The Party creates Godlstein. The Party created the two minutes of hate. It' is a show. It is a distraction scam. But the proles believe it is real.
In the meantime the proles love Big Brother, and kneel before him in adulation. None of them realize that their savior is their master.
As long as you spend your energy hating Goldstein you will never be a threat to big brother. But you call yourselves revolutionaries!
One time I went to a party where the host lived with a parrot, and I spent most of the evening talking to the parrot because I didn't want them to feel left out and also they were one of the most interesting people there
I saw a poll on one of the popular Mac-focused sites that showed overwhelming support for the idea that Apple made the correct call on closing the security hole that allowed a third-party company to profit from selling access to iMessage. That's unsurprising.
But just about everywhere else I've seen, comments are filled with vitriol toward Apple, including parroting Beeper's bonkers take that Apple is actually endangering users by preventing Beeper from their unauthorized use and sale of access to anyone with $1.99.
According to one story I’ve read, Nancy Reagan was always ‘meh’ on abortion, but because it was a big deal to the Party she was happy to parrot the hard line. However, when she learned that embryonic stem cells could help with Ronnie’s dementia she had a ‘change of heart’ and became ‘progressive.’ If it isn’t true for Nancy, I’m sure it is true for plenty of hardcore GOPs who absolutley believe that all abortion is murder except for the one that benefits them.
I mean the other 2 countries, Canada and Mexico, how similar are both of them to United States?? Both countries have a similar economy and democracy etc, and I think those two countries share things like supermarkets, stores, etc. I suppose the cultural differences are not a lot, that is very nice.
I’ve been fortunate to spend some time traveling down the west coast and into the south west then to the east of the US. I’ve also been lucky enough to travel through the west to the east in both Canada and the US too. Outside of New York I’ve not really made it to the east coast though.
Big differences are in some areas like city versus rural but as others have stated the borders don’t mean as much of a difference like opposite coasts within a country does. Geography certainly does seem to be more important.
Provincial /State boundaries can be a difference in some cases but more for the big cities versus the rural areas that share the borders.
Like the US in Canada the divide is often rural versus city, then primary industries beyond the French vs the English.
One big difference I did pick up in my US business trips is for large factories or businesses to be located in small town USA when in Canada the city centers would be the normal place for those types of industry. The rural Canadian areas are much more reliant on resource harvesting and tourism. They often hold their nose about tourism in some cases as a necessary evil. They really don’t want hordes coming to ruin it all.
I will say the absolute vastness of the US southwest made me realize there’s a lot of territory to try to unit and it’s a bigger job in the US with the sheer numbers and then the differences being boiled down to 2 major groups politically that have a real say.
In Canada we have 5 main political parties and then on the provincal level they can be pretty different from each other. Eventually we will end up with just 2 parties with enough elections but that will not be in my lifetime thankfully.
I think the biggest things for me are the terror of the US gun violence that just seems to be waiting around every corner depending on who you talk to or the need to gather arms to take on the government is a daily need. I’ve seen just a few packing weapons and I’m not sure I trust their ability to be a good guy if the need was to arise.
Unfortunately the mass shootings daily in the US are the few times a week reality and are pretty great for gun sales I suspect. Then followed by being bankrupted by US health insurance costs or a lack of it and being ill in the US system. The cost of drugs seems pretty insane too.
I’ll take the feelings of mostly being safe in Canada but others would disagree with this much like many would say the same thing about violence in Mexico. Canadian Healthcare is slow but you won’t be financially ruined by it yet.
Media is pretty different depending on your leanings. We can be pretty overpowered by the US media machine. Canadians can often know more general info than Americans about their own country and history at times. Canadians struggle to know more about Canadian history than US history.
The rage filled entertainment news of the US is not as common here but we get so much of a diet of US media our folks at times will parrot the same US talking points without realizing it doesn’t apply to many Canadian situations. When the vaccine objectors started protesting, they were fighting for US constitutional rights within Canada. They didn’t understand the right for Manitoba to join Canada wasn’t the same right as the US’s declarations.
Unfortunately these idiots have taken on flying Canadian flags all the time like our US cousins, becoming a hijack of our reserved flag waving as their identity. It’s ruined the previous typical flag waving we would do for Canada day and sporting events. We are not at nationalist as our southern neighbours. The rest of us look at these idiots with disdain and do not want to be associated with them. It’s almost at the same level as those that fly rebel flags in the US.
I’ve been fortunate to meet some wonderful people in Canada, Mexico, and the US. The geography of these countries can be quite stunning in areas without a doubt.
There are many differences but there are great similarites on a individual level. To paraphrase what George Carlin said, people individually can be fantastic but it’s a problem when they start to group up and when it’s 2 3 7 10 14 then you can start to get real problems.
The heating bill is a great example. It was hugely unpopular, but it passed and nobody talks about it anymore.
I think you are missing the actual point here: The heating bill wasn't unpopular per se. It was made so by a massive propaganda campaign in the media full of lies. And it isn't talked about anymore because the propaganda has moved on to the next lie. And after that comes the next.
And nobody cares about reality. Not today, not in 2 years. People that fall for every single lie today, will fall for lies in two years. They are not suddenly developing the ability to discern reality from what right wing tabloids and their favorite facebook group tell them.
also:
There is also plenty of time for a scandal and Merz has done a few of them already
What scandal do you expect? He did openly lie again and again, he parroted right-extremist's talking points again and again. He loudly advocated for reducing AfD votes and then is basically their biggest advertiser. He also threatend everyone cooperating with them with exclusion from the party and then excused and indirectly indorsed cooperation with the AfD. Just yesterday we got a report about Merz asking the government nicely for money from the climate transformation fund he got scrapped by sueing two days after the court ruling just for laughs and giggles. And the whole CDU has moved to full scale obstructionism for the sake of obstructionism. Yet Merz and his party get votes for it. There is no magical scandal of an opposiiton party that will change those voters minds. That would require them to have the power to do and fuck up anything. Are you expecting Merz to ritually sacrifice some children in public?
Republicans currently hold a trifecta in New Hampshire, with GOP majorities in the House and Senate and a Republican occupying the governor’s mansion. But control of the House — the largest in the country with 400 members — sits on a knife’s edge. There are 198 Republicans and 195 Democrats, three independents, and four...
It’s very telling they they’re floundering on this and can’t get consistent messaging. The party has fallen apart in most meaningful ways. The Republican Party of 2012 would’ve had analyst and strategist approved talking points given to every Republican to parrot. They’d have a consistent national campaign of bullshit.
Not only are the strategists being ignored, I think a lot of them have flat out left since 2016. If they weren’t far right to start, there’s a good chance they’ve been disgusted and quit.
This isn’t to say we should be complacent. A wounded animal is the most dangerous. But they are wounded, and a few good attacks will end them.
Because things aren’t black and white and reality is all sorts of shades of gray. Most Taiwanese don’t care one way or the other, they just want to live in peace. You constantly see this in the polls and the votes. If the Taiwanese people’s priority was independence, then the vote wouldn’t be so split. This is the reason the DPP hasn’t declared independence, it’s simply not what most Taiwanese people want.
Surprisingly, most Taiwanese are interested in their own well being. This is why the KMT won so many seats last election. This is why Tsai is stepping down. When they threaten Taiwanese people’s well being, shockingly the Taiwanese vote against them. Again, they neither want independence nor submission to China.
Thus, we see the votes EXACTLY AS WE WOULD EXPECT CONSIDERING THE SITUATION. They keep splitting the parties so neither side can make a declaration one way or the other.
As an outside observer, I ask one simple question. Why is it so hard for you to realize that what I said is the truth and not what western media parrots. Why do you believe the black and white issues that your propaganda keeps claiming even in the face of irrefutable evidence.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) took a swipe at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s ® standing in the GOP presidential primary during a debate Thursday on Fox News....
I do still laugh and laugh at all the con never-trumpers that were lecturing those of us on the left that DeSADIST was going to be the natural choice for the GOP, that their completely insane party was done with John Barron, and so on, and that they just wanted donnie without the baggage, as if their howler monkey base were actually interested in anything like policy.
They just want someone that will believably parrot the very worst bilge they hear on hate radio and Faux and who appears to be a “strong man” to these brainiacs. DeSADIST is definitely evil, but he’s not what those addled with FauxBrain want as far as playing the part of someone they believe will hurt the people they hate so much.
So much for the “independents” and/or “never-trumpers” and their views on DeSADIST.
#Netherlands#Left#FarRight: "The Dutch left, in particular the center-left, has responded to this diminishing share of the vote by developing an anxious style of electoral politics — equally shaken by and in awe of the successes of (far) right juggernauts. It has failed to hear the wake-up call to rebuild and recalibrate its own ideology. In spite of two decades of diminishing electoral returns, the (center-) left has not pursued a consistent effort to shift the terms of the political debate or regrow its share of the vote.
Last week’s election did nothing to reverse this trend — nor does it seem like anything will change soon. While the victory by Geert Wilders’s right-wing extremist Party for Freedom (PVV) suggests a major reshuffling of the Dutch political landscape, its gains mostly came from people who already voted for the (center-) right. Gains and losses for other parties, too, predominantly came from voters within their own political families or closely adjacent groups in the leaky center.
Over the past two decades, left-wing parties pursued fruitless strategies of parroting more “palatable” versions of far-right, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim rhetoric in an effort to win back (mostly mythical) blue-collar voters supposed to have been “lost” to the populist right. In other moods, the PvdA presented itself as a responsible and capable party willing to do the dirty work of governing, courting nominally progressive voters in the center.
GL-PvdA leader Timmermans gave one of the clearest expressions of that anxious style in the lead-up to last week’s election when he argued, as a guest on a popular podcast, that while he would like to be like Bernie Sanders, in order to win, he must act like Joe Biden."
This football coach from the ivy leagues has the audacity to pretend to know what military service is like without having educated himself at the bare minimum nor actually serving to provide a serious opinion on the matter.
I remember when McCain was the last living member of the legislative branch to have served or had family (his son) actively serving in the military. I fully agree with you, when this shitstain decided to make a remark like that, it needs brought up that he is wholly ignorant about the US military and is just parroting the party line in some kind of weak ass political jab. He’s a fuckstick, and so are his voters.
There isn’t really much peer reviewed evidence suggesting vaping is significantly harmful in a tobacco harm reduction context, though. It’s all supportive of vaping, that’s why it’s been embraced by many medical organisations across much of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The amount of tobacco harm prevention vaping is doing in places like Kuwait right now, where up to 50% of males smoke, is fucking incredible. Australia’s blindness on this issue is a farce. They, like most western governments, are addicted to tobacco tax. It’s 4% of our overall tax income. That’s a proportion of all taxation in our economy, including all the land, property, goods, services taxes. An entire 4% of it comes just from perpetuating tobacco sales. Financially conservative governments aren’t giving that away for free. Internally they’re like “we’ll worry about addressing the leading cause of preventable death when we get voted in for another term, otherwise it won’t work out for us politically”. That’s why we have a nation of Labor state premiers that almost unilaterally support sensible ecig regulation, yet the federal health minister from the same political party has this curious unexplained blindspot on the issue and just parrots big pharma talking points about nicotine, while nicorette isn’t even kept behind the counter.
Now they get suicide nets and we get three jobs and a side hustle. That’s so disingenuous and just because fash lite party said it doesn’t make it okay to parrot it.
I‘ve not related to something this much in a long time. I‘ve been treated as a traitor for this so often all over my life. I can’t believe that someone actually has a theory about this that is not esoteric in some way.
Then, in August of 2017, shortly after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, I found myself in a heated disagreement with someone of similar political views but who was definitely not autistic. I felt like they were parroting party politics without seeing how they were contributing to racism. They thought that I was “causing division” by not following party lines.
This reminds me of how the author of A Field Guide to Earthlings argues that allistics create knowledge through social construction. Basically, truth is whatever everyone agrees is truth.
[Dis]ability
Yessss! Abilty
This is being published as a theory and not as a fact. Autistic people are invited to share their thoughts and engage with this theory, even if to disprove it.
I feel that statement. After being attacked for having a different perspective on matters my entire life, sharing these viewpoints comes with the fear of being attacked as a malicious actor or moral failings rather than being sincere about a possible perspective that is up for respectable discussion. Thus, we have to preface it with a disclaimer to have a voice while helping to avoid “retaliation” for whatever value or norm we unknowingly violated.
It’s also worth noting that many, many autistic people just answered, “I’m who I am,” “I’m me,” or “I don’t know who I am.”
I have theories about why many autistic people struggle to put words to who they are. Some of that could be that they do not experience identity the same way that the world describes identity, and so they struggle to understand themselves within the neurotypical context. Others may have been shamed and over-therapized and gaslighted to the extent that they have never had permission to explore their passions and truly meet their authentic selves.
😢
Many autistics who loved their identity communities– professional, religious, racial, LGBTQ+, etc.–were shunned from them for not being a “team player” or for “causing division.”
Ugh, the story of my life! So, then the issue becomes trying to learn what sincere comments I can or cannot make . What happens, depending on the situation, is that I will either restrain myself too much and avoid making helpful contributions for fear of upsetting someone, or lose a lot of caution and really upset people to the point that they see and treat me as someone that needs punishment.
Autistic people may air their grievances with problems within an identity to which they belong, setting the stage for the other person to confirm if they share the same values. For example, a Christian autistic may express their discontent at the church’s focus on prosperity and financial “blessings” as being a reflection of greed or of contributing to morality being associated with financial privilege.
This person gets it!! We’re pointing out contradictions and establishing that we are not okay with that hypocrisy.
They monitor and adjust their own behavior– publicly– and often ask others to hold them accountable.
Yes!! Please, just tell me directly what I did that upset you. I have a lot of trouble with passive aggressive behaviors. I will either think you’re in a bad mood and just help you feel better, or I will think you’re a manipulative jerk. Neither of these will help me figure out and reduce what upset you.
What a great article. I found it validating, educational, and helpful with my own self-awareness. Thanks for sharing!
Young voters explain why they’re bailing on Biden — and whether they’d come back (www.nbcnews.com)
Spoderman (lemmy.world)
Panera founder says employees today aren't motivated by the idea of making money for shareholders: 'Nobody cares' (www.businessinsider.in)
How it works (startrek.website)
Because this is totally somthing that actually happens am I right guys (midwest.social)
how similar are other North American countries to USA??
I mean the other 2 countries, Canada and Mexico, how similar are both of them to United States?? Both countries have a similar economy and democracy etc, and I think those two countries share things like supermarkets, stores, etc. I suppose the cultural differences are not a lot, that is very nice.
Olaf Scholz: The most unpopular German chancellor ever (www.dw.com)
Republicans in New Hampshire Want to Ban Abortion After 15 ... Days | That’s just one day after at-home tests can confirm a pregnancy (www.rollingstone.com)
Republicans currently hold a trifecta in New Hampshire, with GOP majorities in the House and Senate and a Republican occupying the governor’s mansion. But control of the House — the largest in the country with 400 members — sits on a knife’s edge. There are 198 Republicans and 195 Democrats, three independents, and four...
Think of Hong Kong when you vote, Taiwan president says (www.japantimes.co.jp)
'Look at Hong Kong and think of Taiwan,' Tsai Ing-wen said. 'We don't want Hong Kong-style peace. We want dignified peace.'
Newsom to DeSantis: ‘When are you going to drop out’ and give Haley a shot at beating Trump? (thehill.com)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) took a swipe at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s ® standing in the GOP presidential primary during a debate Thursday on Fox News....
After blocking hundreds of promotions, Tuberville said the US has 'the weakest military than we've probably had in my lifetime' (www.businessinsider.com)
Tuberville failed to mention that he's personally prevented hundreds of officers from being promoted because he disagrees with a 2022 Pentagon policy.
Vaping: Australia to ban disposable vape imports from January (www.bbc.com)
Three-year cruise canceled weeks before shoving off, after one woman sold her apartment to join unique voyage (www.foxbusiness.com)
Passengers who booked trips have been told refunds will be issued in monthly installments...
this must be the best thing I've read in ages. (neuroclastic.com)
I‘ve not related to something this much in a long time. I‘ve been treated as a traitor for this so often all over my life. I can’t believe that someone actually has a theory about this that is not esoteric in some way.