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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#165876: Jan 9th 2017 at 7:05:15 PM

I think that some people fall under the pressure to be exceptional, for whatever reason. Another form of toxic perfectionism.

Do not obey in advance.
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#165877: Jan 9th 2017 at 7:08:38 PM

You know what's funny? Looking up American Exceptionalism on Wikipedia, I found out that Donald Trump actually doesn't like the term; or at least, he praised Vladimir Putin's piece arguing against it.

RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#165878: Jan 9th 2017 at 7:15:17 PM

Cory Booker is going to testify against Jeff Sessions at his confirmation hearing. Apparently this has never happened before in the history of the Senate.

Serious question - what are the odds of any of Benedict Donald's nominees being successfuly denied confirmation by the Senate?

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
TrashJack Confirmed Doomer from beyond the Despair Event Horizon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Confirmed Doomer
#165879: Jan 9th 2017 at 7:30:35 PM

"Cynic, n. — A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be." - The Devil's Dictionary
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#165880: Jan 9th 2017 at 7:49:53 PM

I don't understand why some people suck up to Putin and Russia.

Do not obey in advance.
JBC31187 Since: Jan, 2015
#165881: Jan 9th 2017 at 7:49:59 PM

I've been thinking about the upcoming Trump horror, and while it's tempting to compare the regime to Hitler, what with Bannon and Putin and all, I think the Confederacy is a better fit. Hitler wanted to Make Germany Great Again, but he actually wanted to make Germany great. So that meant spending money on building projects. Spending money on parks and public spaces. Spending money on people's healthcare.

The Confederacy, on the other hand, was a coalition of the rich and their lackeys. It wan't about the white working class; by the end of the war the South was a police state, where anyone who wasn't in the one percent had to show their papers. The South was shot through with rebellion and riot even as the Union pushed forward. If there was no outside pressure it might have survived, but to grow a state's power you need to spend money and you need to compromise.

CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#165882: Jan 9th 2017 at 7:51:19 PM

American exceptionalism goes all the way back to the Pilgrims. It's part of the package of being founded by religious fundamentalists.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#165884: Jan 9th 2017 at 7:59:26 PM

Hey, it looks like Betsy DeVos's confirmation hearing was just delayed to next week. It would appear that the pressure worked.

If we could just repeat that for every one of Trump's monsters...

edited 9th Jan '17 7:59:32 PM by RBluefish

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#165885: Jan 9th 2017 at 8:05:05 PM

[up] It's nice to know that even if we can't make Trump change course, we (and Trump as well) can make Congressional Republicans change course. I wonder if, by next year, Trump starts calling Congressional Republicans spineless cowards, thus making Trump die-hards vote for Democrats (or not vote at all/vote 3rd party) out of spite?

edited 9th Jan '17 8:05:17 PM by DingoWalley1

RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#165886: Jan 9th 2017 at 8:09:59 PM

I don't know, but either way I think you hit the nail on the head there. We may not be able to control Fuhrer Trump, but we can certainly get on our representatives' cases and hold their feet to the fire.

People have said that their attempted gutting of the ethics committee being blocked by the pressure of the self-styled Resistance is important not only in its direct effects, but in the morale boost that victory immediately gave to said Resistance. It basically said "hey, it worked - keep doing it."

I just really, really hope that Sessions doesn't become AG, even though he probably will. That guy will be an absolute nightmare for civil rights across the board. I mean, this entire thing will be one either way - but Sessions as AG would be another gibbering bogeyman added to said nightmare.

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
JBC31187 Since: Jan, 2015
#165887: Jan 9th 2017 at 8:20:41 PM

I don't know if it's been mentioned here, but I found this spreadsheet to be very helpful. It has a main cause of the week, other important causes, and a list of all current reps and senators.

Also, Flippable and Indivisible.

kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#165888: Jan 9th 2017 at 8:31:43 PM

[up]You know, as much I'd rather be awaiting a Clinton presidency, knowing that everyone and their mothers are standing together to take on Trump still fills me with all kinds of warm fuzzies.smile

BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#165889: Jan 9th 2017 at 8:35:01 PM

I've read about how liberals and conservatives have very different views of even things like basic morality.

For example, conservatives tend to view things in very simplistic cause and effect terms, and believe control and "just following the rules" is enough. Like, if you have sex outside of marriage and don't want the baby, it's your fault. No, you won't get child support or anything. Raise the baby yourself. If the unwanted baby grows up to be a criminal, it's because they chose to be. No, all those people who grew up in the foster care system who disproportionately become criminals chose to be that way. Stop trying to reform those systems - it's their choice, plain and simple. Punish them.

Liberals tend to view things in complex cause and effect chains, where we recognize that A causes B, which causes C, and so on - and we know that telling people to "just follow the rules" is stupidly unrealistic, because they don't. And that working with human nature to shape human behavior is how things will get done.

Conservatives also tend to view things in a strict heirarchy. Certain groups have their "place", and they hate it when people stray out of line. Of course, that's unworkable in the real world, since not all women, not all men, etc. all think the same way - but conservatives think in simple "just do what you're supposed to do, and stay in your role" terms that clash with the human desire for freedom.

The more I learn about the conservative mindset, and see directly how those people think, the more it sickens me.

The thing is, because they have this very specific mindset, they simply will not vote Democrat as long as Democrats' message is "let's be fair and help others". If the Democrats frame their message differently, they may have a chance. But Republicans can keep screwing them over and over again, and even tank the rural economy and ruin rural lives by shutting down social programs that rural people use more than urban people, and they still won't vote Democrat because the Democrats are running from a very different morality system.

However, the kids of those rural people may grow up to be repulsed by what they see around them, and reject that morality system altogether and change to a more realistic one. It'll be a generational change brought on by hitting rock bottom. It's often said that people have to hit rock bottom before they'll realize they fucked up and they need to change.

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#165890: Jan 9th 2017 at 8:43:23 PM

I keep seeing "conservatives" calling out Meryl Streep for supporting a pedophile. Who or what are they on about?

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#165891: Jan 9th 2017 at 8:46:00 PM

Some Pizzagate shit, probably.

These people who are livid with Streep are living in their own, completely separate reality. From the way they tell it, you'd think she went on stage, then screamed incoherently for twenty minutes while strangling a bald eagle and defecating on the flag.

She said that people of other cultures should be respected, journalism is important, and mocking people's disabilities is wrong.

And the right's not having with any of that, apparently.

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#165892: Jan 9th 2017 at 8:48:06 PM

[up] I figured it was Pizzagate, but who is it directed at.

Also, Backpage.com has shut down it's adult section due to "unconstitutional government censorship."

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#165893: Jan 9th 2017 at 8:50:12 PM

A lot of conservatives also genuinely believe that everyone has equal opportunities, or that even if you start in an unfavorable place, if you work super hard eventually you will be acknowledged and move up.

Obviously things aren't that simple, and this viewpoint also means they usually have little sympathy for minorities complaining about prejudice or just plain reject the ideal of institutional oppression. This is something that tends to transcend ethnic and racial lines to a certain extent, since there will always be members of the oppressed group who buy into that rhetoric and believe that it's their own fault they aren't accepted or are in a bad situation.

edited 9th Jan '17 8:51:24 PM by Draghinazzo

RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#165894: Jan 9th 2017 at 8:52:31 PM

[up][up] If I had to guess, I'd say they're saying Hillary is a pedophile, and Streep is supporting her. I can't confirm that, though, because I think if I went onto the kind of sites where these theories propagate then my brain would break from overexposure to unrestricted assholes.

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
Lightysnake Since: May, 2010
PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#165896: Jan 9th 2017 at 9:00:48 PM

It's all about personal strength and self-sufficiency with those people. They think that if you choose to help total strangers who need it, you're only screwing yourself over and enabling them to further poison society with their uselessness, and if those 'useless' people ever make it in this world, they must've done so in an illegitimate and underhanded manner, screwing over anyone in their path to get to the place they're at now.

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#165898: Jan 9th 2017 at 9:03:44 PM

Pizzagate is one of the dumbest things I've heard in politics in a long time, incidentally. I won't go on about it since I don't have much to add that hasn't been said already, but it's real sad that some people still believe it's an actual thing.

edited 9th Jan '17 9:08:45 PM by Draghinazzo

unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#165899: Jan 9th 2017 at 9:03:48 PM

You see, all that is nice, but the real problem with republicans is the self demostred truth, something they pick up for the religious conservative branch is the idea something is truth because it pretty much is as self evident, this is what make them so dense at everything: they know their truth becuase is there and is there because is the truth.

The worst of all this is the alt right who love the idea of FACTS(yes, you should shout this every time, probably in a vaguely nazi acent), everything else is being a cuck or think skin which is also the reason they can be hypocrite since when they whinne is real unlike everyone else.

right now, the republican arent a party, they are a political cult to themselves.

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#165900: Jan 9th 2017 at 9:04:24 PM

[up]x5 Yup. You know, even if we were to grant that this is hypocrisy, it doesn't automatically put Trump's actions (both his mocking the reporter and his insulting Streep on Twitter) in the right.

edited 9th Jan '17 9:05:48 PM by speedyboris


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