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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Where can we learn from the mistakes of the past? I had the relatively nasty thought that with outright WW 2-era fascism we at least have a very clearly defined threat ahead of us instead of a grimy slide into kleptocracy that happens not with a bang, but a whimper.
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." -Thomas Edison@Draghinazzo: Honestly, given the historical precedents and what's been going on lately, I'm inclined to believe that humanity, in general, is hard-wired to desire dictatorship and autocracy in bursts or cycles. Much as I hate to admit it, for a terrifying amount of people, Loki was right: we were made to be ruled.
True, there are nations out there that became or remained dictatorships during times where anti-authoritarianism is the prevalent cultural norm, and there are those who fight against totalitarianism even when all seems bleakest. On the whole, though, in terms of global history, I think we're doomed to repeat this song-and-dance roughly every century or so (or until humanity stupids itself into extinction; between the possibilities of global thermonuclear war, natural disasters brought on by climate change, and the starvation and/or genocide of the lower-classes in favor of automation, I could easily see that happening).
Not all Humans Are Bastards, but enough are such that they are fully capable of giving Complete Monsters damn-near-absolute power, while those of us who remain sane in the face of insanity end up becoming real-life Cassandras and Jor-Els (at best; usually, they don't survive the experience). I also don't believe that this is an issue that humankind is ever going to be able to fix without fundamentally changing human nature (and at that point, we may as well be talking cold fusion, time travel, mutant superpowers, and other fantastic impossibilities).
edited 30th Jan '17 9:27:36 PM by TrashJack
"Cynic, n. — A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be." - The Devil's DictionarySomething was just reminded to me on Twitter: Galveston had two hurricanes hit the island where info was outright ignored or withheld.
The National Weather Service ignored warnings from Cuba when the 1900 hurricane was barreling towards the island. It's still the worst natural disaster in US history in regards to loss of life, and Galveston would've been destroyed regardless, they could've save more lives if Cuban reports hadn't been ignored.
The lesser known hurricane which struck in 1943 struck without warning. Luckily, being only a category 1 hurricane and the precautions taken to prevent such a disaster like 1900 (raising the city and building a seawall) prevented the hurricane from being too bad.
In both cases, hubris and not wanting to appear weak ended up with a loss of life.
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have the honor (or lack thereof,) of presenting to you... Lil' Trump.
"He did it."
edited 30th Jan '17 9:28:11 PM by kkhohoho
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TBH, I think in this day and age a lot of people would welcome joining the Qun.
edited 30th Jan '17 9:27:38 PM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedIt really is an excellent post. The reason why I've been hitting the 'fund education' angle so hard here (and sorry if that's bugging anyone) is that I didn't want to buy into the idea that this can't be fixed long-term - that the majority of Trump voters really saw this and went 'Oh, well, no, that's [i]okay[/i].' There's a lot of mental gymnastics going on out there.
Also, I'm reminded of that one FB conversation Tactical Fox posted with some "conservative" talking about how the democrats put the japanese into internment camps.
That comment stuck out to me because it sounds horrible when you put it so plainly like that, but then I realized they won't really be able to lord that over the party or its base after this administration (or they wouldn't if they had any intellectual honesty). Not because it didn't happen and not because it wasn't heinous and cruel, but stuff like the muslim ban, this supposed anti-LGBT measure, and EVERYTHING ELSE this administration will do will in aggregate be several magnitudes worse.
And if at any point we have actual concentration camps (god I hope not), I will have an aneurysm over the people bending over backwards to justify it because at least you can say that it was several decades ago and the democrats have not done anything as awful since. But the GOP is doing this right now.
edited 30th Jan '17 9:35:39 PM by Draghinazzo
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Those words are as empty as your mind, Mankind progressed long enough to see what is right and wrong, even when something repeats, the people of good will do anything to prevent catastrophes like in the past and no matter what kind of government it appears, we will never meant to be ruled, we ARE meant to be free and kind and that's the truth.
Everything seemed so hopeful for a moment, now it seems like everyone in this thread agrees that resistance is pointless. And my Republican father keeps telling me that the media is lying or over-exaggerating, that Trump couldn't possibly do anything illegal because "the constitution will protect us". I wish I had seen this coming five years ago, when I still had a chance to major in something that would make me marketable to immigration boards. I can't believe that I'm going to spend the rest of my life in psuedo-democratic dictatorship and there's no way out.
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The electors choosed him, not the people, he lost the popular vote for a good reason, the people will not let anymore atrocities to be comitted by him, especially for future generations, and no need to deny our spirits in letting Human progress to happen.
edited 30th Jan '17 9:50:18 PM by Luigisan98
The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.![]()
The biomedical research company that I work is mostly left-leaning (I live in suburban northern Boston where Hillary beat Trump 7 to 1), but we have one Trump voter (more accurate to say that she's a Cruz voter, but eh). She reads Breitbart and the Drudge Report, used to talk about how Muslim nations are inherently barbaric, about how Elizabeth Warren was an evil woman who needed to be dethroned, or how Trump would bring back American prestige. Redneck? Nope. She was a former housewife mother-of-two who lives in suburbia. She's also a Ph.D. Education won't buy you compassion.
If the popular vote really mattered, we wouldn't have a GOP government at every level.
edited 30th Jan '17 9:50:06 PM by CrimsonZephyr
"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."Honestly, things are bad now. There's no denying it. Things will only get worse too. But it's not hopeless yet. Resistance is not futile. But it's also foolish to just blithely put faith in humanity and think "oh, things will be fine in the end. America is better than this." Thinking like that — It Can't Happen Here — is a big part of why it happened in the first place.
Disgusted, but not surprised" what gets me are the "average", mild-mannered people who made excuses (and continue to make them, whether it be for their choice of voting for him in the first place, or everything he's done so far just a little over w eek in) and managed to justify voting for him...because of what?"
because they are annoy and want entitledment as the "real" american(which mean everything they are and everything the other are not) they are in love with a projection and for them Trump can do ANYTHING and get away.
if trump is Tv chararter, he will be the fan fic insert: you the one, those who have protagonist central morality and jerkass dissonace with them, the one who dosent own the world nothing(therefore he can do as he please) and nothing can be on for him(therefore you shoudnt judge him at all) if my experience is true(and so far is becoming more true each damn minute) he will try more and more while is fanbase shrink
" Much as I hate to admit it, for a terrifying amount of people, Loki was right: we were made to be ruled."
not really, we want the benevolant tyrant, the one who will guide us to glorious path but it will neve rdo anything bad because he love us so fucking very much, that is why so many look surprise for is incompetence: as far they care, he will take only the bad muslism and the bad mexican...somehow, becuase he is trump, he can do that.
let the fantasy crash in their face it.
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"![]()
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Regardless, no one will stand idle and let atrocities happen under his rule, they won't be as apathetic as the Germans in the Nazi period.
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Things will always turn out to get better, no matter what happens, things will turn out to be OK in the end for Humanity.
edited 30th Jan '17 9:55:56 PM by Luigisan98
The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.

It's really frustrating because we've seen this happen before in different countries. We know where this can go. And we still fell for the same bullshit anyway. "It can't happen here" my ass.
Disgusted, but not surprised