Liberal Only: It isn't fun being in America right now

[Quetzal]

Preface: This is in the liberal only section. I do not care to hear anything out of anyone right of center. This isn't a discussion or a debate that I want you to be a part of.

It isn't fun being in America right now. Since 2016 things have been different. Maybe I wasn't paying attention before then, but since I have noticed some uncomfortable things.

I can't watch or look at news outlets anymore. Any of them. Every time I do, it turns into an immediate regret as our President has found yet another way to make an *** of himself. Further, he is determined to take America with him. Any sort of summit or gathering with another nation or a group of nations I find myself pleading in my own head "Just... don't lose faith in the American people. We are better than that."

But are we?

Any website you go to, any sort of media that is consumed; it is everywhere. Bigotry, lack of compassion, hatred. It is as common as a Dandelion in April. You can't escape it and it spreads. Collaboration and civil discussion are rare, if you are lucky to find it please tell me where to look.

Perhaps if I unplug for a bit?

Certainly the internet makes it worse than what it is. Well, I live in a small down about an hour south of Washington DC. It isn't any better out there. Trump 2020 bumper stickers are common here. Trump/Pence campaign signs are still on front lawns. NRA catch phrases such as "STAND AND FIGHT" are plastered on any vehicle with a motor.

I drove past the flea market the other day. When my dad was alive, that was one of our favorite things to do. I don't want to go there any more. The biggest attraction is a shed decorated on all sides with "Don't Tread on Me" and, my personal favorite, Confederate Flags with the Nazi emblem in the middle.

What is this? Where did this come from? I can't get away from it. It is everywhere and like cockroaches it doesn't seem to go away. Why is everyone so angry?

I want to believe we are better but I am unsure. We, literally, have Nazi's running for political office. What's worse? There is this pit in my stomach that thinks they just might win.

Now, if you showed me this post in 2015, I would not have believed it. In what world are you dragging this demented fantasy from? Certainly, this isn't the case. A few confederate flags, sure. An occasional racist uncle from two blocks over? Okay, fine. But not like I see it is now.

It feels like the world is moving forward while we are trying our hardest to go back. It really... sucks.

 

[sun rise]

I can't watch or look at news outlets anymore. Any of them.

Me too. I also have a hard time even with online news outlets. Sometimes it's all I can do is to read online headlines..

Bigotry, lack of compassion, hatred. It is as common as a Dandelion in April. You can't escape it and it spreads. Collaboration and civil discussion are rare, if you are lucky to find it please tell me where to look.

I have a list of web sites that report positive stories. There's overlap, of course, just like in the regular media, but I'm uplifted by reading positive news. The Good News Network: Positive Stories 24/7 is one that I go to every day. KarmaTube: Watch. Be Inspired. Act. has a number of very wonderful videos. Here's two more Good News and Positive News: good journalism about good things

I want to believe we are better but I am unsure.

I believe this: One is that human history is not a straight-line of progress but has a lot of back-and-forth. The current era is no different to me. I also see history as illustrating that progress is always opposed by forces that seek to maintain the status quo.

There's also a proverb I quite like "It's always darkest before the dawn.". I believe that's true of the current situation.

 

[Cacotopia]

I get all my news from hearing about it from other people that talk about it. Then search it up and then immediately regret it. Unplugging is bliss until you plug back in.

I have felt this way about america for a little over a decade, that's partially why I live elsewhere.

 

[Cacotopia]

I don't know how you do it, living there now, I can't even entertain the thought of living there again, I doubt I could get hired. How could I explain the 9 year gap in my employment record? Uh well I ran a rat hole of a bar for 3 years then I painted whatever I wanted for 6 years and I sorta made a living off of that...and now I'm in Murica saving to leave for as long as possible again cause I despise the political environment this country has sunken deep into.

 

[idav]

I know the news is pretty negative and a lot of Trump stuff is constantly covered. However a change is a coming.

It has taken us 40 years to get the ERA accepted to this level. It takes 38 states to ratify the equal rights amendment which was just ratified by the 37th state. Sad it takes this long but I have hope especially since the majority of Americans were willing to vote for a woman President which is quite significant.

 

[exchemist]

Preface: This is in the liberal only section. I do not care to hear anything out of anyone right of center. This isn't a discussion or a debate that I want you to be a part of.

It isn't fun being in America right now. Since 2016 things have been different. Maybe I wasn't paying attention before then, but since I have noticed some uncomfortable things.

I can't watch or look at news outlets anymore. Any of them. Every time I do, it turns into an immediate regret as our President has found yet another way to make an *** of himself. Further, he is determined to take America with him. Any sort of summit or gathering with another nation or a group of nations I find myself pleading in my own head "Just... don't lose faith in the American people. We are better than that."

But are we?

Any website you go to, any sort of media that is consumed; it is everywhere. Bigotry, lack of compassion, hatred. It is as common as a Dandelion in April. You can't escape it and it spreads. Collaboration and civil discussion are rare, if you are lucky to find it please tell me where to look.

Perhaps if I unplug for a bit?

Certainly the internet makes it worse than what it is. Well, I live in a small down about an hour south of Washington DC. It isn't any better out there. Trump 2020 bumper stickers are common here. Trump/Pence campaign signs are still on front lawns. NRA catch phrases such as "STAND AND FIGHT" are plastered on any vehicle with a motor.

I drove past the flea market the other day. When my dad was alive, that was one of our favorite things to do. I don't want to go there any more. The biggest attraction is a shed decorated on all sides with "Don't Tread on Me" and, my personal favorite, Confederate Flags with the Nazi emblem in the middle.

What is this? Where did this come from? I can't get away from it. It is everywhere and like cockroaches it doesn't seem to go away. Why is everyone so angry?

I want to believe we are better but I am unsure. We, literally, have Nazi's running for political office. What's worse? There is this pit in my stomach that thinks they just might win.

Now, if you showed me this post in 2015, I would not have believed it. In what world are you dragging this demented fantasy from? Certainly, this isn't the case. A few confederate flags, sure. An occasional racist uncle from two blocks over? Okay, fine. But not like I see it is now.

It feels like the world is moving forward while we are trying our hardest to go back. It really... sucks.

It strikes me the battle in the US Culture Wars is really joined, now. The liberals need to win it. They should be helped by demographics as the old rednecks die off. I suspect Trump may be the last throw for the old small-town conservative crypto-racists that he treats as his "base".

What liberal politics needs to do to win, in my view, is to broaden its appeal by dropping the sanctimony and the ghastly fixation with identity politics which are divisive, i.e. antithetical to building a sense of national cohesion or purpose, and are what Bannon's far-right politics draws its strength from. (Hilary Clinton's entitled-seeming campaign attitude summed it up: 'Vote for me because I'm a woman so it's my turn". What a lousy argument.)

What the US also needs to do is to find a way to put Trump and Bannon behind bars. I have not given up hope on that score.

 

[Augustus]

I can't watch or look at news outlets anymore.

Look on the bright side, for this you should be truly thankful.

I cut out 98% of my news consumption and use some of the time to learn things that have a much better chance of actually being true. It was one of the best simple lifestyle changes I've ever made.

Consuming daily news makes you less well informed imo, as being informed requires a) knowing true stuff and b) not knowing false stuff. Consuming daily news media is very problematic for b.

 

[Cacotopia]

It strikes me the battle in the US Culture Wars is really joined, now. The liberals need to win it. They should be helped by demographics as the old rednecks die off. I suspect Trump may be the last throw for the old small-town conservative crypto-racists that he treats as his "base".

What liberal politics needs to do to win, in my view, is to broaden its appeal by dropping the sanctimony and the ghastly fixation with identity politics which are divisive, i.e. antithetical to building a sense of national cohesion or purpose, and are what Bannon's far-right politics draws its strength from. (Hilary Clinton's entitled-seeming campaign attitude summed it up: 'Vote for me because I'm a woman so it's my turn". What a lousy argument.)

What the US also needs to do is to find a way to put Trump and Bannon behind bars. I have not given up hope on that score.

I suspect the rednecks will outscrew the liberals and this environment we live in will turn into Idiocracy with out the stasis chamber.

 

[Polymath257]

My news consumption has decreased significantly since Nov 2016. There is just so little out there that isn't highly polemical. I'll do BBC and The Economist and occasionally some French outlets simply because they actually cover international news, but I don't feel that there is any real coverage of domestic events.

I was in utter shock in 2016 with the realization that there are enough Trump supporters to elect this buffoon. And he still has a 35-40% approval rating. Those numbers alone make me feel like I need to get out of this country to someplace safe. And it angers me that this is how I now feel about this wonderful experiment that is my homeland.

So, yes, news consumption has gone down. But whiskey consumption has gone up.

 

[exchemist]

My news consumption has decreased significantly since Nov 2016. There is just so little out there that isn't highly polemical. I'll do BBC and The Economist and occasionally some French outlets simply because they actually cover international news, but I don't feel that there is any real coverage of domestic events.

I was in utter shock in 2016 with the realization that there are enough Trump supporters to elect this buffoon. And he still has a 35-40% approval rating. Those numbers alone make me feel like I need to get out of this country to someplace safe. And it angers me that this is how I now feel about this wonderful experiment that is my homeland.

So, yes, news consumption has gone down. But whiskey consumption has gone up.

I feel the same way about the Brexit fiasco - the idiots are in charge.

As many commentators have noted, both phenomena spring from alienation of poorer, less educated people from the direction the country was taking - a feeling that the conventional international economic deal was not working for them. The 2008 crash has a lot to do with it, as does the encroachment of alien cultures from different ethnic groups. The absurd levels of remuneration for senior execs, in companies that are not specially well-run and don't pay their people well, adds insult to injury.

In both countries, these groups have voted to make their own lives worse, but they haven't realised it yet. They have been poorly served by the new media, both those that confuse news with entertainment and the internet-based echo-chambers of social media. I don't myself think most politicians are worse than they were. But they way they are reported and the way they make use of the new style media are causing obvious damage to the level of understanding of the voters. So they boot out the sensible people and elect the idiots.

 

[Cacotopia]

You must wonder if there is a grand plan, what if the idiots were to take over for a little while then when they have ruined everything they will with open arms accept a kind of totalitarian type of government.

"Look we tried democracy, and look what you did with it, it's time for the adults to assume command of humanity and fix the the wrong you have committed out of your own ignorance."

 

[Polymath257]

You must wonder if there is a grand plan, what if the idiots were to take over for a little while then when they have ruined everything they will with open arms accept a kind of totalitarian type of government.

"Look we tried democracy, and look what you did with it, it's time for the adults to assume command of humanity and fix the the wrong you have committed out of your own ignorance."

Truthfully, I'm just waiting for the equivalent of a Reichstag fire. Then I am leaving. Hopefully it won't be too late.

 

[Quetzal]

I am happy to see a thread mocking this one. It really drives my point home.

 

[Cacotopia]

Truthfully, I'm just waiting for the equivalent of a Reichstag fire. Then I am leaving. Hopefully it won't be too late.

Get double pages in your passport, policies have changed and consulates no longer provide passport extensions. Err at least in Indonesia, apparently you can do it in the UK. Depends on where you wanna go. Asia is cheap.

 

[Cacotopia]

I am happy to see a thread mocking this one. It really drives my point home.

Can I make an Anarchist only thread to mock everyone? I took a political spectrum test apparently I'm a far left anarchist.

 

[Kangaroo Feathers]

Truthfully, I'm just waiting for the equivalent of a Reichstag fire. Then I am leaving. Hopefully it won't be too late.

I've been predicting it for a while, now.

Sorry, conservative here, but even I think Trump's an absolute garbage fire.

 

[Kangaroo Feathers]

I am happy to see a thread mocking this one. It really drives my point home.

Link?

 

[Quetzal]

Link?

Conservative only. It's a great time to be in America now

 

[Quetzal]

Can I make an Anarchist only thread to mock everyone? I took a political spectrum test apparently I'm a far left anarchist.

Do it!

 

[Cacotopia]

I think the dual party system is a sham anyways, under representing its people since at least a century ago. The people regardless of what party they think they belong are living in an illusion if they think their best interests are being represented. Special interest groups and corporations. America is moderately losing it's identity as a country and taking on the appearance of a conglomerate.