https://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-trumps-rise-that-no-one-talks-about
its not about red vs blue states. It’s About The Country Vs. The City
A successful propaganda campaign by the owning class.
And a quote from an anonymous mutual:
many people will unfortunately need to learn this the hard way it seems at the expense of those who take the time to see the writing on the wall those ignorant to their exploitation will seldom listen to those who try to tell them how horribly theyre being fucked “if it were really so bad id notice” theyll say “this isnt so bad” theyll say, standing on the peak of the mountain that is dunning-kruger unknowing all we can do is wait, and watch to find out what what it is that throws them into the valley of unfathomable uncertainty in the meantime we must work for each other, for those who do see how good things could be. maybe then, our greener grass will coax them into giving us a fair listen
Because the rich control an overwhelming amount of the media we consume. They are capable of shaping the narrative to their benefit.
And, social media, these days nearly as important, if not more important.
You (very understandably) hear a lot about state-sponsored (especially Russian) astroturfing, but very little about billionaire and company sponsored astroturing, which is very much a thing.
They also successfully killed public education, so literally the citizens are too stupid to understand they’re being conned.
This is the most important part.
And also they push religion hard which is inherently a system of control for the uneducated and exploited.
I was an atheist for the last 20 years and recently converted to Unitarian Universalist.
I would say that in the west, this characterization tends to be true. But I do think there are honest faith communities acting with good intent. Unfortunately, there are few.
Not just control, but Christianity specifically (as well as a few others) is really good because it promises a paradise after you die.
You can get idiot plebes to spend their whole lives dreaming about it all being better after they die, because they were pious and accepted abuse during life.
So, control through fear and hope.
Exactly. The “love thy enemy” nonsense always got me too:
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you
- Mathew 5:44
Think about slavery in history. Christianity was forced upon slaves in US history. Think about current era people working horrible conditions, factories, sweatshops, whatever. What a CONVENIENT verse for the slave owners.
Just be good, do what you’re told, don’t fight back, and love your enemy (exploiter/persecuter). If you do, promise of heaven like you said.
But if you disobey (commit murder, dare I say of the person exploiting you), infinite and eternal torture and suffering in hell.
Also don’t commit suicide, that’s a sin too so straight to hell if you do.
Its just so fucking obvious.
What a CONVENIENT verse for the slave owners.
reminds me of the joke that in another two thousand years, future archeologists will have no idea what is the difference between butt dial and booty call.
and yet here we are with piece of shitty fiction written two thousand years ago, being passed in oral tradition and rewritten and retranslated multiple times, and some morons are trying to use it and force it upon others as a guideline how to live a life in 21st century…
It’s just as good as any modern piety. Mormons, scientology, or any other weird sect or cult that’s emerged in the last 100 years isn’t more substantial to the modern person. I do hold a special place in my heart* for the love has won people.
*this was a joke if you are affiliated with love has won take your crazy ass mother god and stay the fuck away from me
i had to google love has won, but this is funny:
Leader: Amy Carlson (“Mother God”)
i imagine mother god must have pissed lot of people, so yay for feminism 😂
I must’ve fallen through the cracks, because I went through the American education system and I’m not completely stupid.
Probably the exception to the rule. I did as well, and constantly find myself at a loss for how it simply doesn’t occur to most people to stop and think about something for a split second as opposed to just impulsively doing whatever.
It’s more that the system itself just leaves more and more children behind, as passing kids who aren’t actually making the grade has become the norm because parents are abusive and more apt to harass/harangue and schools are pressured with funding to make sure enough kids are graduating. Teachers themselves are left with few options and there’s still bright kids, they’re just waaaaay in the minority compared to the apparently teeming masses of absolute fuckwits.
Also, I’m in my 40’s and when I think of the quality and intelligence of the people I graduated with? Well, maybe it hasn’t gotten that much worse, actually. Because I remember thinking everyone around me was a fucking idiot, tempering that thought as I got older, but now I’ve come back full fucking circle to these people are fucking idiots, raising other idiots.
If kids are dumb today, millennials are on the hook for it, boomers didn’t do this one.
If kids are dumb today, millennials are on the hook for it, boomers didn’t do this one.
The bulk of older teenagers/college kids are from Gen X, not so much from millennials.
Hey, not ALL millennials are on the hook for this one!
For instance, I never found anyone to love me, and have kids with. So THERE! You can’t blame ME for idiots today!
…but also yes. Kids in the 90s, that I went to school with were fucking idiots. Including me.
I always think of the George Carlin saying…
"imagine how stupid the average person is… then realize half of all people are stupider than that. "
…well…
“There’s no educating a smart boy.”
— Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time (Discworld, #26)
GNU Sir Terry
The rich have billions to spend on focus groups so they know exactly which buttons to push so that people vote the way they want.
“I might be rich one day”
Put simply: They’re being lied to. Consistently and perniciously.
The lie is that their vote is going to benefit them somehow. Or that it’s going to hurt someone else exclusively. And, sometimes, it’s both—that it’ll hurt someone else, while bringing a benefit.
In all three cases, the real truth—that they themselves will still suffer—is neatly hidden away.
Because they want to see other people suffer
In the US at least, the systematic demolishing of the education system has led to a vast reduction in overall education and critical thinking skills. This was done on purpose. That, combined with the unexpected boon of the Internet, has led to massive wealth shifting from the many to the few.
You see the results of this change everywhere, especially on the Internet. Lack of basic spelling and grammar skills are just one symptom. All of that is to say that humans are primates and easily trained.
Bexause you have a two party system where both sides are corrupt
Can you really not see the difference between the parties?
Part of the issue is the system of voting is set up so that there can only ever be two parties. Dividing the country up into chunks and then having one winner in each chunk creates a situation where voting third party is a wasted vote. When there are only two options it’s pretty hard to vote for your interests.
In the 90s when New Zealand changed to MMP to led to a proliferation of new parties getting into parliament and the people involved were much much less often old white males. It changed the dynamic completely.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed-member_proportional_representation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_system_of_New_Zealand
Any rational person can see the difference, doesn’t mean he’s wrong. Just because democrats are way better than republicans doesn’t mean they are GOOD. Both parties attract corrupt greedy powermongers. MAGA / GOP just gets the lion’s share.
Because powerful people turned politics from a policy / representation in to politics as an identity. People will almost anything for their two minutes of hate.
religion is a big part of it. how many millions of people only vote for the candidate who promises to criminalize abortion without knowing (or caring about) a single other goddamn thing about the person
I’m going to start a 3rd party. This party is going to be the “Fuck America” party. My party is going to run on the ideals that America is awful, and that trump is not a problem, he’s a symptom. America is the one who overwhelmingly approved of his ideas. I’m going to openly state FUCK GOD, THERE IS NO GOD. I’m going to take the stance of FUCK EVERYBODY. You guys want to argue about if boys and girls and trans should all be allowed to play high school sports together? Ok, here’s what we’re going to do, assholes. Boys and girls and trans can all play on the same teams together now. BUT!!! Every school district will also have one new team. This team won’t have students on it. You want to play basketball with boys and girls and trans, that’s fine, but we’re going to also make you play games against professional athletes who are trying to qualify for the national olympic teams. Why? Because then no matter which high school team you’re on, you lose. Everybody loses. That’s the message here. Equality for all, and fuck all of you because humans are the worst.
Then I hear people argueing about abortions. Can a woman have an abortion, or is it against gods will? You know what? Fuck that! Forced abortions for men. All men will now have their balls smashed by the youtube show Hydrolic Press. We put all your balls into the hydrolic press, and let an industrial size piece of machinery squish them flat. No more babies.
And as for women, we’re going to treat you equally too! No more opening the doors for you, or holding your chair. No more weddings, or divorce. No more considering your opinion on stuff. What? You thought when a bunch of guys get together, we all sit around and consider each others feelings? No. We wrestle each other and punch each other to decide where we’re going to eat that night. Doesn’t matter if your vegan, we’re eating at a place called gut busters meat emporium. Because Steve, with the biggest bicepts broke your nose, and you were too much of a pussy to get up and punch back.
Dogs are now manditory in government. Every government position is now held by a dog, because dogs are better than people, and they’re the only good boys!
…what? Why is everybody staring at me? Oh my god, was I talking outloud?
At first I was going to ask if you were okay.
But then I got to the dogs and realized that I’d like to sign up to your newsletter.
Republicans didn’t start caring about abortion until they decided they could go after the Catholic vote. Even Evangelicals didn’t have a position on it until Republicans started to target them with misinformation about it. Those people think that they literally take screaming babies and putting them into a blender. There’s a video they made in the 80s called “the silent scream” that they used to scare kids with.
Fundamental flaw of the democracy: It assumes that people know what’s the best for them
Informed consent: People are not against exploitation. They just want to switch sides. Why would you vote for something that cripples you once you got rich?
Uninformed consent: They honestly believe they are voting for their own interests.
Indifferent consent: Usually single issue or ideology-driven voter.
¯\_༼ •́ ͜ʖ •̀ ༽_/¯
Generally people tend to focus on one thing and don’t pay any attention to the side effects. Morons want lower taxes for themselves and don’t pay attention to the fact that the wealthy get the most benefit out of conservative cuts or that they just defunded the benefits of having a government like enforced food safety regulations. Or they care about abortion because they buy lies about post birth abortions and ignore everything else. Or they just teally hate immigrants and want to be mad and don’t care that the party of hate works against their other self interests.
Many people are stupid. Like really, really stupid.
looks around
That checks out.
Let’s say I’m an American male. I like football. I like the NY Jets, because I also like to suffer.
I don’t have to read the news, or go to news websites, or listen to news radio, to hear about my Jets. I don’t have to risk accidentally learning about what’s going on in the world watching the 6 o’clock news every evening when all I really want to know is the latest saddening Jets news.
I can listen to podcasts that tell me about jets players health, fantasy picks, gossip, the latest games, and betting strategy. In the offseason my podcasts don’t go off air. I can go to websites where algorithms that have already identified me as a Jets fan bury any news about politics or social issues under a mountain of roster updates and advertisements for beer (because Jets fans need it).
Then it comes time to vote. These democrats all seem to talk about stuff I don’t care about or understand. This Trump guy says he will do stuff. I hate the way things are, but I don’t know why they are that way. Corporate monopolies? Antitrust? Voter suppression? All that shit got buried under Aaron Roger’s passing stats. And Trump wasn’t all that bad when he was president. Certainly better than I feel now, and while I’ll pore over individual player stats to take matchups into account when I set my fantasy football roster I’m not gonna go pore over statistics on the economy or anything. That shit is complicated and boring, and football stats are definitely not. So I never have to risk remembering that Trump was pretty fucking bad.
On Election Day I vote for the guy who says he’ll do stuff, and it’s easy to do it, and it’ll be fast, and I’ll like the outcome. I won’t vote for the party that gave up 30 years ago and whose message is basically “come on guys we’re trying really hard but this governing thing is impossible!”
That’s how, basically. That and bigots.
Tl;dr: Stupid
“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
–Lyndon B. Johnson
