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Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)


Simon

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How do people here who did not vote for Trump or the Republicans, and who look upon the acceleration of hypercapitalism and the rise of fascism throughout the Western world, go about maintaining courage and hope?  Are there specific strategies that you use, or philosophies that give you strength? 

You mean scotch?

 

Fascists deal in fear, they have to sell fear constantly. Not caving to fear, even of real things, is a good start.

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How do you go about doing that? 

The common responses to fear are fight, flight, or freeze.

 

Doing any of these three simply because one is afraid might get a good result, but might not, because one has no time to think.

 

But, much of what we fear is not so immediate.

 

Choose your response wisely, choose it not because you are afraid, but because it is the best response available to you.

 

If you fight, find how to fight effectively. If you flee, flee because you must. If you stay, stay because you know it is safe to do so.

 

Fear gives us impetus to act, but should not inform our actions. It is an engine, not a steering wheel.

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Assuming a balance means that someone will eventually actually be tipping the boat. Each case should be taken as they are.

 

For example, on gun control, the furthest push was during the Reagan era, almost everything else has been a rollback since then. The last ten years has seen CC become a norm far more  than it ever was before, so there is no evidence that the left pushed at all on that front as much as the right.

 

On religious rights, there has been no push except to enforce laws already on the book that tax payers should not foot the bill for religious iconography. That's just pushing for enforcement of laws that have been around forever. Not a significant push.

 

On marriage rights and health care overhaul have been the two biggest pushes, the first because there has always been a tendency for constitutional rights and cultural norms to come at odds, and, being a nation of laws, this tends to cause friction that erodes support for the less savory or invasive cultural norms whose proponents have historically enforced by limiting rights. The latter, health care, occured because the previous system was a disaster that was on the verge of causing serious unrest. The reality that the plan that was used was similar to a Republican plan from the nineties suggests that the current narrative is a bit off.

 

I really don't see what push actually occured other than making marriage rights constitutional, and the health care reform largely reminiscent of an earlier Republican model. And marriage rights don't appear to have taken center stage in this election. Immigration is not, and has never been, something the left is the sole arbiter of in politics, all election time lip service aside. War is something all our presidents since Teddy Roosevelt have been knee deep in.

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The common responses to fear are fight, flight, or freeze.

 

Doing any of these three simply because one is afraid might get a good result, but might not, because one has no time to think.

 

But, much of what we fear is not so immediate.

 

Choose your response wisely, choose it not because you are afraid, but because it is the best response available to you.

 

If you fight, find how to fight effectively. If you flee, flee because you must. If you stay, stay because you know it is safe to do so.

 

Fear gives us impetus to act, but should not inform our actions. It is an engine, not a steering wheel.

 

That would sound perfect if some of the words were mixed up and it was said in Frank Oz's voice.

 

Just sayin'.

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It doesn't matter if she's over-rated or not, really - the point is that yet again our president-elect couldn't shrug off having mean things said about him in a highly public forum (without even using his name) without immediately punching back like the most insecure high school boy there ever was.

 

"Did you see Donald in the stairwell last period? He dropped his books and tore his pants picking them up. What a loser."

 

"Those pants were sabotaged in home ec by Becky! She's jealous of my marks and I think she's mad that I won't go out with her - I know she secretly wants me.  She's the loser!"

 

Please, Mr President - trade in your paper mache  armour for tank quality ceramic composite.

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It doesn't matter if she's over-rated or not, really - the point is that yet again our president-elect couldn't shrug off having mean things said about him in a highly public forum (without even using his name) without immediately punching back like the most insecure high school boy there ever was.

 

"Did you see Donald in the stairwell last period? He dropped his books and tore his pants picking them up. What a loser."

 

"Those pants were sabotaged in home ec by Becky! She's jealous of my marks and I think she's mad that I won't go out with her - I know she secretly wants me.  She's the loser!"

 

Please, Mr President - trade in your paper mache  armour for tank quality ceramic composite.

 

There are times when I think this is the reason we won't have to face a second Trump term:

 

The White House is the biggest public fishbowl in the country.  Everything the president does will be questioned and derided by somebody, and he will be blamed for every perceived ill in the world -- even if he wasn't even born when the incidents in question occurred.

 

Trump is going to have to either develop a much thicker skin or his aides are going to find him under his desk sucking his thumb and whimpering about 'why's everybody always picking on me'.

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His tweets and petty conflicts are designed to distract attention from issues of grave substance, such as the confirmation hearings of his grossly compromised cabinet appointments.

That may be part of it, but he has never before come off as being able to deal with criticism, so I'm willing to bet that plays its role as well.

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And, as much as I hate to defend Trump, there is a real chance some of this is fake news. Some of it appears to have origninated as an erotic story on 4chan.  Besides, I really don't think Trumptylumkins CAN be blackmailed, just because what is already out is what would normally be blackmail material for a politician.  If he had done that stuff in a Russian hotel, he would've been fine with it getting released.

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