this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2024
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No Stupid Questions

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I highly doubt the left will do anything uncivil. How can they win back the country? Is it too late?

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[–] [email protected] 84 points 3 hours ago (6 children)

Democracy is just the tyranny of the majority.

I think that most of the Americans want this, even if people on the outside do not understand. So in that sense they are right now winning back their country, as confusing as it might sound.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 minutes ago

That's what the Germans thought in 1933

[–] [email protected] 1 points 27 minutes ago

vote against this and save us all from this idiocy.

Nope. There was just more people lined up to vote for more idiocy. We failed the world. I’d say I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’ll help. This is America.

America needs to focus on decentralizing power. That way, when the other side wins, they can't do much damage. Biggest problem America faces is too much centralized control.

[–] [email protected] 55 points 3 hours ago (5 children)

Normally in Democracy the majority or popular vote wins, however due to the electoral college America has, it doesnt necessarily mean the majority voted for the winner. This was the case for Bush, and some other moments in the past.

[–] [email protected] 89 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

FYI: it looks like Trump is going to win the popular vote on this one as well.

[–] [email protected] 88 points 3 hours ago (7 children)

How in the fuck.

Like what drives a majority of Americans to vote for a demented toddler. It's insane.

As a kid I always wondered how on Earth did Hitler ever make anyone follow himself, how did those people not realise. Turns out a majority of people are just fucking morons.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 16 minutes ago

American politics isnt about choosing the best candidate its about choosing the one u hate least. The dems spent too much time playing identity politics that they forgot to play actuall politics.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 hours ago

I keep trying to tell you people. I will make a post about something regarding how to interact with other people. And the message is simple. Treat everyone around you as if they were mentally retarded. And only adjust your behavior for the majority that show you resistance.

YOU will always look like an asshole. How could you not? If you have to explain the concept of what a spoon is to 100 people, and only 3 people look at you with contempt, it means 97 of those people needed to be explained what a spoon is. Maybe they learned something. But to those 3 people you just came off as talking down on them, as if they were idiots. But the vast majority it was justified. Those 3 people will always see you as an asshole though.

And now look around. For 8 years we have had a racist, who said in no uncertain terms, that he hates immigrants, and foregners. He hates women. He hates trans. He hates blacks. He hates everybody besides the guy in the mirror, and the guy who he can con to make money.

You've seen this over and over and over and over. And yet, according to cnn polls, if those can be trusted, trump scored higher with latino voters in 2024 than Biden did in 2020. He polled comparable numbers with blacks in Texas as Obama did in 2012. Not higher. Not saying that. But I'm saying it was roughly the same.

The same guy who's famous for showing discrimination towards black tenants in the 1970s, is the same guy black people in Texas today trusted with their vote in 2024.

You see, maybe I just approach things differently. I have a working memory. I was just a child when the central park 5 was a story in the 80s. I still know trump took out a full page ad, and basically called for their freedom to be taken away forever. I remember that. I remember it feeling wrong. I'm white. So my family, and every adult I asked said that criminals get whats coming to them. I couldn't get anyone to answer HOW they knew they were criminals. Just that they were.

And so as I grew up, I began seeing more and more that popular opinion isn't always right. And then I started seeing it's almost never right, because 95% of people aren't thinking. They aren't challenging. They're following. So they're an idiot. But they might also be following someone who doesn't have their best interests in mind.

And that's what's happened here. An entire nation who's shown they don't care for anyone. I can't even say they only care about themself, because they don't. They have no self respect.

But in doing this for as many years as I have, I can't spot an individual lie on every instance. Some lies may get past me. But I can see right through a person who's full of shit.

And what I saw is that Harris was doing a double edged sword. She was doing everything she felt NEEDED to be done, but she wasn't true to herself. She made the decisions she felt were productive to make, rather than the decisions she felt was right.

But on the other side, trump is a straight up conman snake oil salesman. He's doing everything he can to not be caught. He made literally every worst possible move you COULD make. From both a moral, and a politically productive standpoint, he made every move the worst move. And he just won the presidency for it.

Maybe now you guys will listen to me when I tell you that I'm surrounded by morons. All day every day. Instead of accusing me of being a narcissist, maybe you'll see that I'm a guy that SHOULD be of average intelligence. Instead though, I'm surrounded by herds of morons who I'm honestly surprised don't require velcro shoes. Not the laces. I mean velcro bottoms, and an earth surface made of velcro. Just so they don't fall down so much.

I genuinely feel that the world around me is seperated by three groups. The morons who struggle with basic math. The rich who exploit them to get richer. And the moderately intelligent who assume they're a majority, when they're more like 5% of society.

This is why I have depression. It's not seasonal or biological depression. It's the fact that I can see it's not my life that sucks. It's Earth that sucks. The whole thing is just those in power exerting their power on everyone. You don't have a say. You have a master. And all these things like sports, and comic books, and movies, and music, are all just tools to amass wealth among the wealthy.

Your entire existence on this planet is to be used as a tool to perform labor, and then use your compensation to enrich the wealthy.

Buy local. Fuck walmart. Go out to the farmlands to buy your groceries. One out of two adult men will develop cancer. You think if they cared about you, that would be true? Your family loves you. Your friends love you. Corporations don't give a shit if you live or die. They wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire.

But they all get together and jerk each other off. They make sure their buddies get the high paying positions. CEOs. Presidents. And then they laugh that you have to work overtime on Christmas. Normally Christmas would be time and a half. But since it's already overtime, it already IS time and a half! And they laugh and laugh. Then your boss will try to convince you that you're all one big family. Fuck. Off.

Anyone who falls for it is a moron. Which as we've discussed are in plentiful supply.

This is the world we voted for. The American people CHOSE this. Project 25 now has a green light. They control the presidency, the senate, all given thumbs up by the popular vote, as they loosened their belts, dropped their pants, and bent over for this. This is what they WANTED.

Eat shit America. Eat shit, choke, and die.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (2 children)

Yep and the slow gutting of the education system isn't making it any better.

You have an entire generation coming of voting age who are rabid Trump supporters. They don't care about policies or democracy or public institutions. They don't care about healthcare, social securities, or the stability of the economy.

They don't care about any of the things that have been built up through generations. They lack critical thinking ability.

The recipe works. If you make dumb kids they will vote for dumb people. It works so well that part of the future plan for a trump presidency is to get rid of the department of education. Solidifying the Republican party indefinitely.

Without critical thinking and with mass media it's so easy to say every problem that people deal with is because the "other side" made it so. Even if the other side has been doing everything possible to achieve the opposite.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Blaming young people is up their with blaming immigrants and "gays" ect for [insert topic]. I would be very surprised if this was the case.

I think it's a little more nuanced.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

They don't blame young people. They blame lack of education.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

You sure about that?

You have an entire generation coming of voting age who are rabid Trump supporters.

It goes on.

Anecodtally (at this point, this is all these discussions are), I think that Apathy, fear campaigns or outright money and campaigns ect become powerful levers where voting is non-mandatory.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 hours ago

Americans aren't special. They're just as vulnerable to fascism as anybody else.

The MAGATs might as well be wearing brownshirts and saluting like Mussolini.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

For all practical purposes, about 30% of people are unfeeling morons - basically psychopaths. That’s the number that consistently opposes abortion, for instance. Add to that all the dumbasses who don’t know any better (the undecideds on any extremely obvious moral issue), et voila. That’s how you get slavery, nationalism, genocide, theocracy, you name it.

Unless people are willing to screen for psychopathy and remove it from the gene pool, the human species will keep fucking around until it finds out. Might be nuclear apocalypse or environmental collapse, but at this rate it’s inevitable.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 minutes ago

Can we please not start arguing in favor of eugenics?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 hours ago

I used to think Ukrainian politicians were fucking clowns. I guess we got outclowned.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

Non mandatory voting wouldnt help, being that its more susceptible to eroding a merit process from campaigns of fear or otherwise.

[–] TranquilTurbulence 3 points 2 hours ago

The rise of the NSDAP has been studied quite a bit. Also, the psychological aspects are really interesting. Basically normal people can make all of this possible as long as the conditions are just right.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 hour ago

And I was so loving Lina Khan's FTC, asking other things...

[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Whether it's 48 or 52 % is an immaterial difference. Every other American who voted, voted for Trump. The rest don't seem to care either way. He has very broad popular assent and is as popular as Harris give or take a margin of error.

Everyone is lasered-focused on the EC because it makes all the difference for the practicalities, but if one is to make a broad judgement of whether Trump won fair and square the answer is "yeah, mostly". Further proof is the fact that the House is probably going to be his as well.

Americans now bear the collective responsibility for the horrors of the next 4(+?) years. Do not make the mistake of blaming the popular will of outright fascism on institutional failures, because institutions didn't force half of Americans to vote for the fascist, again.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 hours ago

I'll wait 72 hours before settling with it, in case any shenanigans were involved. I expect it's legitimate, but I want that window open if it's needed.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Trump is winning the popular vote by a pretty decent margin. The electoral college isn't the issue here.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

They haven't finished counting that's why. Rural areas are faster to count and skew conservative.

A republican hasn't won the popular vote in 20 years. Trump is projected to win but like last time he'll lose the popular vote and win by virtue of the electoral college.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

All the projections I'm seeing him show him almost certainly winning the popular vote. There's a gap of 6 million votes and almost every state is over 90% reported in. That gap is going to likely shrink a bit, but unfortunately it almost certainly won't be enough for him to even lose the popular vote.

Lets face it, we're (assuming you're american) apparently just a country of facists. It looks like GOP is going to have majority in both houses too so here comes project 2025 I guess.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 hours ago

Sorry bud, not a yank. You have my sympathies though.

If it turns out that he does indeed win the popular vote then yeah I'm sorry for your loss. A nest of at least 50% fascists or fascist enablers.

Heart aches for those that did their civic duty and yet have to suffer the repercussions :(

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 hours ago

I believe the states responsible for those silly outcomes have since passed laws to prevent it happening again.

Could be wrong, but I listened to a podcast last week with an American professor who's pretty much written the book, explaining the history of the Electoral College and how it really works. I'm sure he said those states since fixed those loopholes.

Either way, the damage is done today. Another four years of stupidity in charge.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 hours ago

No, there is a concerted effort by conservatives to use voter suppression to subvert the will of the majority in the US.

conservatives are clawing back the country right now by hook and by crook.

can't go on forever, but I don't know which is going to last longer: the country or the aging frightened conservatives willing to subvert democracy to hang on to control.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago

Democracy really is the worst form of government, just not as bad as all the others...

Unfortunately in such polarized times like now, even though majority wants this, the ammount of people for which this is unacceptable is only slightly less than "the majority". And besides, I believe a big part of "the majority" is just gullible enough to be persuaded they want this while it actually goes against their interests

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I think that most of the Americans want this

Maybe, but none of the facts directly support this.

There have been large campaigns to disenfranchise several types of voters for decades in the country. The Electoral College was designed to be unfair to appease Slave states. Voter turnout is abysmal, only about 35% of eligible citizens vote. Out of those turnout is usually around the same percentage. The highest turnout recently was 2020 only because mail in voting was expanded so dramatically, and even then it was only 67% of registered voters, so it was still only 67% of that original 37% of eligible voters. So with the highest recent turnout, we're looking at about 25% of eligible citizens actually voting.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I believe that the 67% number for the 2020 election is of eligible voters and not registered voters. While turnout is low, it's not 25% low.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

It was ~67% of eligible voters that were registered to vote. Over 94% of registered voters actually voted.