I have a neighbor who voted for Trump. He relies on aspects of medicaid, to get insulin, that the GOP have directly targeted for removal from what it will cover. I told him this, he didn't believe me. So I showed him it in writing from a GOP source. He said that Trump will find some way for people like him to get their insulin. They just want this particular way gone because it's a bad method. I even pointed out that there was zero discussion of changing these policies, to make them more sensible, or anything like that, just an outline that they plan on stopping that coverage. He just doubled down that he won't be abandoned, they aren't just getting rid of the coverage, they are getting rid of THAT SPECIFIC WAY OF DOING IT because it is inefficient, or whatever.
If you explained that tariffs would hurt their income, and employment, in a way they understood, they would just assume there was something being cooked up to make sure that didn't happen. Now that all the manufacturing companies, here, are demonstrating that there will be big losses of profit margin, and cutting compensation to workers, they are mad. However, I personally doubt they will stay mad, or mad enough, or that they won't just end up blaming Joe Biden for it.
Before now, these programs didn't get cut because of the checks and balances of our government. They probably think this presidency will be like the 45th. Those protections are gone and a lot of people are going to suffer and die because of it.
Those protections are gone and a lot of people are going to suffer and die because of it.
Yup. We gave all the keys to the kingdom to the crazies and we're about to find out how bad of a choice that was.
And honestly, I couldn't care less how much Americans suffer now. That part of me is gone. We asked for it and now we're going to get it. Time to learn the hard way. Not that we're going to learn.
It doesn't matter how much conservatives suffer from conservative policy. They will ALWAYS find someone to blame but themselves. Hell, there are parts of our country that feel like 3rd world countries when you drive through them that have been voting Republican exclusively for generations and they still don't understand why their lives suck so much.
There are parts of the country who's poverty level, and access to utilities, medical care, etc., literally is third world. Northern WV has a lot of that, for instances. There are whole towns without plumbing, paved roads, electricity, etc. People living in shacks, no education, no reasonable way to leave.
The issue is you can't teach someone who not only doesn't want to learn, they react in opposition to the idea of understanding anything outside of emotional reactions.
That's where cult deprogramming comes into play. There are people who specialize in getting people out of that kind of mindset your argument describes. The rest of us need to do our part and educate, even if it doesn't always have the impact we hope in the moment.
There are people who specialize in getting people out of that kind of mindset your argument describes.
We have enough of those people to do this for the majority of Americans?
The rest of us need to do our part and educate
I love your optimism. But it just won't work. We now know the majority of Americans are ignorant and uninterested in learning, even from mistakes. You can present these people with facts and stats and infallible logic all day long and it won't make a difference.
We gleefully voted in a convicted felon and rapist who ALREADY had a failed presidency and openly talked about being anti-union and anti-worker rights who stated on national television that he had the concept of plans.
It isn't just that we failed a test. We failed the most obvious test we could have possibly been given. This was the most blatant decision we're ever likely to make as a society in our lifetimes. And we utterfly failed.
You don't understand. We ALREADY tried the Trump thing and it failed miserably. We aren't even done living with the negative effects of that experience. We have one of the most poignant examples in history of what creeping fascism/authoritarianism can lead to. There are people still alive today that can tell us about it.
We don't listen. We don't learn.
This was the most blatant decision we’re ever likely to make as a society in our lifetimes so far.
We're doubtful to ever experience a more black and white election than what we just experienced. And we still managed to fail.
You don’t understand. We ALREADY tried the Trump thing and it failed miserably.
I was there. I'm from the 20th century. I remember the videos of college students on our campus running around late at night like chickens with their heads cut off.
We don’t listen. We don’t learn.
We don't with that attitude.
We’re doubtful to ever experience a more black and white election than what we just experienced. And we still managed to fail.
I would love to see the encounter table you're referencing. Rather than assuming things are as bad as they could possibly be, they aren't, I recommend using humor as a coping mechanism. The former, assuming things, plays into accelerationism which falsely, without evidence, claims there is some bottom to how bad things can get. The latter, humor, is enjoyable.
Not sure if you noticed, but the attitude in America is dominated by proud ignorance and failure to discern real data from propaganda.
The people who know better have to educate the people who do not. There are people who aren't trapped in right-wing information silos who are interested in learning. But there have to be people who are willing to teach.
Not yet, but the stage is set for that scenario.
There are worse case scenarios after that one as well unless we work to make things better.
That time is past.
People are always coping. Might as well do it in a way that is enjoyable and doesn't require us to misrepresent our current and approaching circumstances as the worst case scenarios, when there are worse.
I was going to refer you to a doctor who is also a ninja to learn more about using humor to deal with stressful situations. But his website is down. So you get to read these instead.
Wouldn't have helped. Learning isn't what Americans do. Americans like finding things to be mad about and then making decisions based on their emotional responses.
Can't fix stupid without massively improving the public education system, and stupid Americans just elected the guys that ran on deconstructing the public education system.