• gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    There’s a blind side in America when it comes to acknowledging the primary role of racism and white supremacy that drives Trump’s base and the right-wing ecosystem

    The only “blind side” that I’ve observed since Trump entered politics is from journalists and media corporations that continuously bend over backwards to give him the benefit of the doubt, while doing literally the opposite for people on the other side of the spectrum like Sanders or AOC.

    • iltoroargento@lemmy.sdf.org
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      10 months ago

      Same. Even those who vote for him and his like and then disingenuously claim ignorance of racism and bigotry will actually acknowledge it behind closed doors and say it’s “strategic”.

      Which is the dumbest shit I’ve heard.

        • iltoroargento@lemmy.sdf.org
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          10 months ago

          I mean, that goal sounds pretty dumb to me. So that’s where I’m coming from as it being the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard.

          It’s like these people never emotionally matured past toddlers.

    • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I think it’s telling that Chuck Todd called Sanders supporters “brownshirts” but didn’t say anything close to that about the January 6 insurrectionists.

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      That’s because Republicans played the long con.

      They pretended to Champion fairness for so long, claimed that they were being unfairly discriminated against and that the media how do liberal bias. The result is that is now the media is too afraid to criticize the right for fearing that the liberal media stick will be used to hit them again.

      It was never about ensuring an equal dialogue, it was about coming up with a standard where no matter what the right wing does, whatever the Democrats do has to be as good or as bad, regardless of what it is.

      That’s how you get “both sides are the same!” Nonsense

  • matchphoenix@feddit.uk
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    10 months ago

    When Donald Trump - the undisputed Republican frontrunner - is running to be president to avoid jail time and general responsibility for his crimes, you know this country is in trouble.

    • whatisallthis@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      Politics in America is basically just like everything else. It’s just a brand people adhere to regardless of who works there. It’s the fast food of government.

      If you like McDonalds better than Burger King, that’s where you’re gonna go. You don’t care who the manager of the McDonalds is. It doesn’t impact your decision.

      That’s American politics now.

  • DirkMcCallahan@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    The headline implies that they’re indifferent to the country’s welfare, but in reality, they’re actively hostile to it. They’re fine wrecking the economy if it makes them richer and/or leads to a Biden defeat in 2024. They’re fine destroying public education if it lets them be “anti-woke” or push more people towards charter schools (thus further giving a leg up to people from rich backgrounds). They’re fine ignoring the climate catastrophe if it makes their rich donors and dumbass voters happy.

    • csh83669@programming.dev
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      10 months ago

      That sounds like indifference to me. They are “fine” with wrecking stuff, but that’s not their goal. Their goal is more power, more money, more… whatever. They are 100% indifferent to the countries welfare. At least that’s what it feels like to me. It’s definitely still bad, as indifference to other peoples suffering is a pretty crappy way to be.

  • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Starting with a test on basic constitutional rights would be a start. It’ll be nice if politicians actually know basic 5th grade material like this.

    Then we can move on to other tests to weed out the old and decrepit. Memory test. Drivers test. If they can walk a mile.

    And lastly a test asking them basic things. For example: How much does a sandwich cost? If they say $0.50 or $600 dollars, we know they’re not fit.

    • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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      10 months ago

      The problem isn’t that they don’t know things. It’s that they don’t care.

    • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      To be honest, all those tests plus a net worth requirement under 1 million (including their home value) would be nice too.

      We need people who actually know what it’s like to live like everyone else.

      • FlexibleToast@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I know I’m upper middle class, but $1 million sounds too low these days. Especially if you want someone highly educated. I just had a state university education and military experience and with the rate I’m saving for retirement I’m protected to be more than that $1 million. I’m not trying to brag, I’m trying to say that I hope the people running the country would be better educated and more qualified than me.

        • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Just an example number. That’s still really high compared to the median net worth of the US being $141,000. And the 90th percentile household wealth was 1.4 million in 2020.

          • FlexibleToast@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Yes, but I do want the people running the country to be in the top 10 percentile at least as far as qualifications go. Which doesn’t always translate to wealth, but has a pretty strong correlation.

      • orclev@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        1 million might be a tad on the low side. If you own a nice 3 bedroom 2 bath family home depending on location that could be $500k or even $700k all on its own. It doesn’t take much to get to 1 million from there. Toss in a couple nice but not fancy cars and that’s another $50k easily if not $100k, then the value of all your other possessions, and maybe a decent retirement account and you’re basically there.

        2 million on the other hand, and that’s well into “rich” territory (but sadly barely even moves the needle of the ultra wealthy like the Koch brothers or Jeff Bezos).

    • SCB@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      How much a sandwich costs depends entirely on where you’re buying the sandwich, though.

      Ask someone from Rochester New York and someone from New York City how much a sandwich costs, and you’re going to get wildly different answers, and that’s the same state

  • harpuajim@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    They don’t even understand the concept of the first amendment…

  • FluffyPotato@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    Like I’m not American but is one party really more corrupt there? Like wanting to kill minorities is not corruption, that’s just normal evil shit. Don’t both parties basically pilfer the economy, do massive amounts of insider trading and sell the US to corpos on a daily basis? That’s at least the impression I have gotten. Like one party is absolutely more comically evil though.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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      10 months ago

      One party does it far more than the other, but largely yes. The democratic party does have a progressive wing that wants to fix these things, but they don’t have the power to do so yet. The Republicans don’t.

    • Whirlybird
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      10 months ago

      Like wanting to kill minorities is not corruption, that’s just normal evil shit.

      There’s no party that wants to kill minorities though.

      Both sides are corrupt, both are useless, and both are just playing their die hard supporter base like a fiddle. Both sides actions are pushing the other sides supporters further and further to the fringes.

      • FluffyPotato@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        Didn’t that homelander looking guy in florida pass some laws that make medical treatment for trans people illegal and that cops can just steal kids from trans parents?

        • Whirlybird
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          10 months ago

          No. “Gender affirming” surgery and unapproved use of puberty blockers for minors got banned. No medical treatment was made illegal.

          Places like California (iirc) made it so the government can take your kid off you if they say they’re trans and you won’t put them on experimental puberty blockers. That’s much worse.

          No one is taking kids from trans adults, unless of course those adults are trying to surgically mutilate their kids or stunt their development with unapproved drugs, in which case they should be taken from them. The likelihood of a parent having actual gender dysphoria also having a kid with gender dysphoria is so small that it’s virtually impossible. Most “trans kids” are that way at their parents request. See Megan fox and Charlize Theron for example, or any coloured hair trans person who just happens to also have a “trans kid”.

          • FluffyPotato@lemm.ee
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            10 months ago

            Huh? Puberty blockers aren’t experimental or unapproved, I can’t find any source that claims that. I guess they didn’t ban trans stuff related healthcare for adults, just made it a lot harder to access.

            Also you are right, it wasn’t just trans parents, it was any parent, even if they aren’t in that state. That’s actually worse than I remembered.

            Personally I don’t trust politicians making medical decisions for people. Especially if it’s to make it harder to access healthcare for some minority group that seems like some evil shit. Like if some politician made it so that gay people need to pass a literacy test to get cancer treatment that would obviously be for one reason.

            Oh and I can’t find anyone allowing gender affirming surgery for kids so double banning it seems like nothing more than posturing.

            • Whirlybird
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              10 months ago

              Puberty blockers have not been approved for use with “gender dysphoria”. They have only been approved for precocious puberty and for chemical castration of sex offenders. Using them to stop puberty for sometimes 10+ years is completely experimental and there have been zero long term studies on the effects. We already know there are some massive permanent side effects such as complete loss of sex drive and inability to orgasm, infertility, lower bone density leading to early onset osteoporosis and other bone condition, lack of physical development in genitals/height/etc, lack of mental development, among others. None of these are reversible.

              What you remembered was wrong about taking kids from their parents. Like I said, it’s the other way around - places have made it so the government can take your kids if you don’t give them “gender affirming” care. That’s horrible and wrong.

              “Gender affirming” stuff isn’t health care. It’s akin to getting breast implants. It’s elective surgery. No one is denying actual health care to minorities.

              If you can’t find anyone offering “gender affirming surgery” to minors then you’ve got your head in the sand, or you’re being disingenuous. A quick google will give you hundreds of links about <18 year olds getting mastectomies. And again - if it “doesn’t happen” then why are the LGBTQ+ activists so violently against making it illegal to do it?

              • FluffyPotato@lemm.ee
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                10 months ago
                1. Like any medical organization I looked up has approved puberty blockers for trans stuff so again, I can’t find any place that says its not approved or experimental. As for the side effects like half of those seem made up as I can’t find any source that claims that. Stunted development and lack of bone density was the only one I could find a medical source for. Bone density loss is temporary since you regain in when taking any sex hormones. I found a claim for stunted mental development and one study for it too but kids on puberty blockers seem to catch up to kids not on puberty blockers after a year or two so that is also irrelevant. Stunted penile development seems like the only non fully reversible part. Height actually has the opposite effect funnily enough: hormones actually stop growth, not induce it so if you don’t get any sex hormones at all you end up looking like slender an. As for infertility: kids are not fertile, fertility develops during puberty because of sex hormones and it seems to develop normally after getting off puberty blockers at least according to medical sources. The inability to orgasm seems to be made up as there doesn’t seem to be a source for it. So in conclusion: one of those is irreversible, a smaller dick, not exactly life altering consequences.

                2. No, it seems florida is taking kids, if you can find a source to contest this I can look at it but that is accurate.

                3. Gender affirming care is absolutely healthcare, at least according to medical sources. Like something credible that claims otherwise and I’ll have a look but from what I can find that’s just wrong.

                4. There are lone and extreme examples of minors receiving gender affirming care but the general practice for hormones or surgery is 18 and up from what I can find. Even in your example it’s someone who is 18. Also a mastectomy is not always a gender affirming treatment, you can get both breast enlargement and reduction as a minor with your parents permission and that has been the case since forever.

                If you make a bunch of unfounded claims without credible sources I’m going to ignore it the next time since all your claims seem provably false but it takes 20x longer to disprove them.

    • DigitalTraveler42@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I don’t see the democrats trying to end democracy, dumbass, Trump and DeSantis both want to be dictators very badly.

      • Whirlybird
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        10 months ago

        I don’t see the democrats trying to end democracy

        How exactly are Republicans trying to “end democracy”? I see the Democrats criminally prosecuting political rivals at opportune times.

      • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        You’re right that they don’t want to end democracy. A case can be made, however, that they just want the power and control to do what they want to do as well which is usually just enough small potatoes to keep voters happy while still lining the pockets of THEIR rich friends.

        The times they’ve had control of the senate and house with a democratic president has amounted to nothing big or great for codifying some human rights (roe v wade) or even passing some major reforms for the country.

        I’m guessing the OP has all that mind when they made their comment and they aren’t exactly wrong. However, I don’t know what the right answer is because humans are so corruptable, but the democrats are the lesser of two evils currently.

        • Wodge@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          they just want the power and control to do what they want to do

          This is literally the point of a representative democracy.

          • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Please don’t cherry pick a tiny statement in an entire explanation of thinking and present it as a “gotcha”.

            Look, I voted democrat, but anyone arguing that they are also not corrupt is a moron. They are waaaaaay LESS corrupt, but they’re still corrupt and they haven’t made big moves that they could when they have had the power.

            • SmoothIsFast@citizensgaming.com
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              10 months ago

              To be fair, they haven’t really had much actual power recently, we never really have enough dems in the house and senate to actually get things pushed through without bipartisan support which know won’t come for anything that benefits the people. While there are definitely corrupt people in the democrats, as a whole their inaction ties more to stalled efforts which needed bipartisan support vs. not trying to push for changes. When you know you won’t get enough traction to get something done do you waste resources there or try and find something that’s workable.

              • MomoTimeToDie@sh.itjust.works
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                10 months ago

                While there are definitely corrupt people in the democrats, as a whole their inaction ties more to stalled efforts which needed bipartisan support vs. not trying to push for changes

                And yet they still manage to force their shit through

        • ElleChaise@kbin.social
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          10 months ago

          It’s sad that we’re in an era where any accountability at all is considered hostility to party. Even nuanced, well thought out takes get shit on. It’s as if everybody wants to be subjected to worse and worse times. We all need to realise that the flaws of the corporate Democrat world are holding us back, and no that is not to suggest the crimes of corporate Democrats are comparable to those of the virtual entirety of current Republican leaders who are actively trying to dismantle the system itself, but status quo politicians of any party have got to get put in check or we’re only going to continue to suffer as a whole.

          • orclev@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Fundamentally the problem is literally voting. Specifically first past the post voting. There is no viable mechanism to have more than two parties in a first past the post voting system and with only two parties you’re forced into voting against someone rather than for someone. Both parties oppose proportional voting systems specifically because they know it would weaken them, although only the GOP has specifically banned ranked choice voting in state and county elections.

            The very first step (but certainly not the last) in fixing our democracy must be to replace first past the post with some kind of proportional voting system. That is the only way we’ll get more political parties that better reflect the actual desires and opinions of the American public which in turn will help curb corruption in the political parties.

          • pinkdrunkenelephants@sopuli.xyz
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            10 months ago

            You’re missing the point. Allowing credence to criticizing the Democrats undermines their ability to take up Republican seats in Congress, which is what people need to avoid the fucking Trumptards taking over and killing everyone else.

            I agree it’s stupid and we need a third party, but this is what other people want. They’re probably not wrong.

    • FlexibleToast@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Correct, they aren’t. They’re not great, but they didn’t try to overturn a free and fair election and then protect the people that orchestrated it.