Life is political. Don’t bury your head in the sand.
If you haven’t noticed that a lot of things in your life are political, I feel sorry for your lack of grasp on reality. The taxes you pay are political. The laws you have to follow are political. Decisions on how your kids go to school are political. How you work (you payment, your job- and personal safety) - guess what, it’s political. If the CDC will protect you against the next pandemic, if the FDA will protect you against being poisoned - it is all political.
Tune out reality at your own risk. You should have paid attention to this ages ago.
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You had an upvote until the doomerism. Now is the time, it’s never too late.
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Our political situation is currently quite extreme, read up on fascism specifically the “legal stage” of fascism
Politics is life.
You might as well ask to avoid gravity.
If you’re one of the folks that didn’t vote, then please feel guilty for the absolute moron you got. Regards, Europe.
the answer heavily depends.
Do you want to be politically informed and able to make accurate statements about things that are actively happening? Great, better cut some hours at your job and take up a research position for politics in your spare time.
Do you want to be politically uninformed and yet still say shit about things you aren’t familiar with, haven’t researched and do not understand? Great, take more hours at your job, make shit up, listen to what weird internet people who are totally trust worthy and not running a grift at all (trust me bro) are saying online because it makes you feel better about yourself.
Do you want neither of these? Being uninformed is perfectly ok and reasonable, if you approach it with the correct attitude, you cannot hold an opinion on something you are not familiar with, it’s as simple as that. Refer to science and the establishment for most things, because, after all, they haven’t fucking exploded and killed everyone yet, so they must be doing something right.
TL;DR this is my personal opinion, informed by years of consuming political content, and my general interest in sociology and psychology so take this with the correct amount of concern. I would ignore pretty much anything and everything coming from the political right, it’s either bullshit, a lie, or AI generated these days. Very, very rarely do they actually manage to tell the whole truth.
I would also advise distantly observing the far left, as they tend to do nothing more than yelling, screaming, and bemoaning inconveniences. The general left is a bit better about this. But they also have the “we dont really do anything” problem also
Otherwise, be very careful, be extremely critical of the content/media you consume, and be sure to establish your own independent worldview and political beliefs, you don’t have to have identical beliefs to me, or anybody else here, and that’s the beauty of modern western politics. Or maybe find some organizations around you that you can get directly involved in, to make a difference in the lives of people around you.
Yelling at people about things on the internet is one of the least effective ways of doing anything. It’s a great platform for satire, since that’s what satire thrives on, but otherwise, do something else, it’s more productive that way. You need a truly incredible reach to be able to make a difference online.
Excellent response.
I’m trying to limit myself to watching for actual threats to my family. Basically a couple of things. Watching for the same stuff that tipped us off on COVID and watching for camps actually being setup on US soil.
Trying to ignore all the ragebait and most of the news. I think I see manipulation similar to what I saw on the first trump election now targeted left. So, pants on head crazy.
Heads down and try to only pay attention to the important stuff.
I imagine you’ve seen the articles about the federal government buying land in NJ and TX for camps? That was happening before 1/20. Almost immediately after the election that shit started.
I have heard about land being volunteered for use in Texas as a political stunt, have not seen anything about land being purchased for that purpose.
I’m trying to limit myself to watching for actual threats to my family. Basically a couple of things. Watching for the same stuff that tipped us off on COVID and watching for camps actually being setup on US soil.
the best thing you can do is to keep the people around you safe, healthy, and happy. Aside from that staying politically informed on the macro level is going to be beneficial as it will guide you through the landscape more clearly. But unfortunately, that’s the harder part these days.
Heads down and try to only pay attention to the important stuff.
This is pretty much the meta for now. You can’t fight if you aren’t physically or mentally capable.
You get used to a specific tone, and if you hear that tone, based on previous experience, you recognize it is probably bullshit. Then you start to tune out the bullshit, sometimes you might still miss something important, but that happens anyways. Check out what people are saying, if it’s actually true, you can decide if it actually should be a concern to you as an individual. Don’t believe “immigrants are destroying the country” without working with some as equals at a job. Same with other rage bait.
Depends on what you can realistically influence.
Might be worth it to tune to protest news, and also changes in your local area, if there are any.
Doomscrolling the feed will just make you continuously more obsessed with what ultimately screws your mental health to no benefit.
Plenty of good responses. I assume you are foreigner and I will give you one suggestion. Make sure your passport is valid just in case you need to flee the incoming disaster.
If you ain’t doing politics, politics is gonna do you.
Deportations have happened under other presidents as well, so from what I can tell this is all being covered in great detail as part of some media campaign.
https://www.cato.org/blog/deportation-rates-historical-perspective
The anti-DEI motivation seems thoughtless at first, but then when you look at it really it seems the politicians don’t like the CRT and Neo-Marxist ideology associated with DEI. Makes sense, America has never been about Marxism or Communism.
https://newdiscourses.com/2023/04/marxist-roots-of-dei-workshop-all-sessions/
I mean, people should have some resource for legal immigration, but a nation is allowed sovereign control over their immigration policies.
So, the whole reaction on the left seems a tad alarmist maybe, but as others have said keep paying attn but don’t let it consume your life or senses.
Edit meant to use a different term
Oh, hey, look, a misinformed idiot/Nazi supporter!
lol how? Anti-immigration is not inherently racism. All countries have some sort of immigration control.
Edit forget it, i don’t want to want to seem oblivious to the obvious human rights issues here. People deserve legal recourse to immigration, enough said.
You assume the actors in the system act in good faith and that the system’s incentives are well designed. It is not.
What kinds of people want to join the organization responsible for keeping foreigners out? How many of those groups are racists that don’t actually care about the citizenship part? How do you measure the success of this organization?
When you start asking these kinds of questions, you start to see the cracks. Additionally, when you look at US immigration policies compared to other developed countries, they’re quite harsh. I emigrated to Korea. It’s quite easy if I have a college education and some work experience. I benefit Korea’s economy. My Korean friends who want to go to the US have a totally different experience.
Additionally, you need to look at the US’s history with regards to race. See the Japanese internment camps of WW2 or the fire bombing of Tulsa, OK. We don’t necessarily distinguish between actual citizens and foreigners.
You can also look at how illegal immigration is managed in the US. Look at Ron DeSantis in Florida. He spooked illegal immigrants in Florida with his crackdown on immigration. The orange farmers started panicking because there were no workers. The oranges were rotting. Did DeSantis prop up the orange industry and encourage them to hire Americans? The good faith act? Fuck no! He rolled back the crackdown, and the illegal immigrants continued to be used for basically slave labor. America doesn’t want legal immigration. They just want a group with no rights to beat the shit out of when they’re feeling bad and to use for labor that citizens don’t want to do.
Your argument of people behaving in good faith with regards to immigration doesn’t have a lot of evidence to support it when looking at history.
The right thing to do would be to pursue immigration reform first, give time for current illegal immigrants to become legal, crackdown on the employers of illegal immigrants, and then start enforcing immigration law more strongly. But surprise! It ain’t happening.
Of course, my comment assumes you’re trying to argue in good faith, which also may be naive. Let’s see
Please, how many non-Korean politicians are in their congress? Korea is also so ethnically homogeneous, so it’s not even fair to ask that question. I care about civil rights and liberties of minorities, my problem is that America is constantly getting fucked by one type of propaganda or another because it has an actual democracy (in at least the blue and purple states).
Yes, some American southern states actually do systemic racism type things, that’s undeniable if you objectively look at their policies. America, however, is not a monolith.
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Pretending it doesn’t exist hurts the most vulnerable.
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Depends. Are you a rich, white, straight male? You will be fine and can ignore everything. But if you are any shade of brown, an immigrant or belong to any minority group or are female or have loved ones belonging to anyone of these groups, then you should pay attention as they might genuinely be in danger.
Are you a rich, white, straight male?
Good list. Need to add “healthy” to it, too.
Somewhat redundant. He already said “rich.”
A terrible diagnosis can deplete savings rapidly in this shitty country.
okay so perhaps “feeling lucky”
You could also Steve Jobs yourself with a treatable but deadly disease
This is probably my fav comment here because he absolutely could have been saved. What a shame.
I’m not riding his dick. I just think Apple was less awful under his leadership than under Tim Apple. I know the software would be in better shape.
upvoted and downvoted.
I’m not so sure I’d call someone that would have to dip into savings for healthcare all that rich. Well off, maybe.
Rich white dudes have great health insurance.
Before they started killing Jews it was the disabled
Eh, if you are rich you can travel and get socialized medical care in a real country
If the US keeps its current direction of antagonizing any place that isn’t a dictatorial shithole, the OP’s freedom to travel can get restricted very soon.
I keep hearing this “if you’re a straight, white male, you’ll be fine.” I’m a straight “white passing” male (half Cuban, with no Latin origin names).
When people say this, I ask, “what about my friends? What about my family? What about the people I love?” Does that not affect me? Are we supposed to ignore their plight?
I don’t see what we can do to combat Trump short of organizing and fighting back. We all know how good the left are at that.
If you can get out do so and I hate the idea of more guns on the streets but if at this point everyone that’s at risk or has loved ones at risk needs to be armed as much as possible and have a go bag ready to go. If goon squads are coming for ya don’t go quietly with them.
I don’t see what we can do to combat Trump short of organizing and fighting back. We all know how good the left are at that.
How do you think we got anything good at all, ever?
The left lost its way. BLM and Floyd protests were the closest we’ve gotten to the anger the left displayed for the Vietnam war.
Did you just stop reading after the first sentence?
Also, bullshit. You think climate change doesn’t affect us? The damage to NATO? Threatening Greenland?
I get your point that a lot of hate is directed at immigrants and minority groups, but you don’t need to be dismissive to such a large group of people, many of which are on your side.
Don’t try to make extra enemies. No war but class war.
Rich, white, straight, christian male. Given recent events, that second-to-last part is especially important :/
I think rich, white, straight males should also pay attention due to the power that class holds in driving social norms.
Worth noting that iirc the lorax doesn’t actually do anything except speak up for those who needed help and protection. He didn’t win immediately but his efforts weren’t in vain. The lorax (or at least the movie?) shows you many ways you can be a part of changing the world. You dont have to be Ted, you don’t have to be the Lorax, you don’t have to be granny norma, or Ted’s love interest, or the people who spoke up first when Ted planted the tree. All of these people made the world better with their own contribution. You should consider it, though.
The Lorax failed as every single Truffula tree was felled. Then the person who destroyed everything passed the work of rebuilding off to someone else.
It is a great story as a warning, but a terrible example of avoiding destruction.
The movie?
. . . Get out.
Pay attention to “events that actually happen” and “things that people in power say.” Pay far less attention to “kvetching and predicting.”
If you stop paying attention entirely, you’re going to end up with a whole lot of Shocked Pikachu Face in your future.
If you stop paying attention entirely
This is the part which normalization works to accelerate. Every message is crafted to rally supporters and repulse opponents; enough to get one to tune out and stop paying attention. Do it long enough and whatever they want to do will be done without any scrutiny.
This is one of the reasons the consolidation of mainstream independent media is a serious problem.
I read something long ago that I can’t find anymore that said something to the extent of, pay attention to the movement of money, troops and people. I struggle to understand what stuff that the news reports on means, so I like the deeper stories that report on an expert’s opinion of what somebody said means or shows like 60 minutes over the Nightly News. I avoid the bloggers and vloggers since they are not experts on the important topics.
