US Politics Thread

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

I disagree with both of you.

It’s much simpler than this.

Social media has made people far more aware of what they don’t have and others do.

And charlatans have exploited this.

That’s all.

Yes, chuck that into the mix too. Twitter being the worst imho.

 

[BlueHammer85]

And also social media has killed ethical standards in journalism. Educated people still look to the credibility of information where as the unwashed are now served up BS that is aligned to what the right wing populist want them to think.

The Internet is a cesspit of information and its deliberately polluted with certain types of information.

yep, seems often good journalism is behind a paywall nowadays, more and more get there news from cesspit twitter and misleading headlines.

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

I disagree with both of you.

It’s much simpler than this.

Social media has made people far more aware of what they don’t have and others do.

And charlatans have exploited this.

That’s all.

I don't see that you're in disagreement with anything I've posted.

The problem is that wealth is inequitably distributed. The Internet is a catalyst. Take away the Internet and unrest slows. Yet the chemical reaction remains. At a certain point, enough energy builds up and you have an explosion - change of government, not necessarily for the better, and not necessarily peaceful, and, ironically, unlikely to address the problem.

 

[Alvin-blue-qhd]

2024 public opinion polls: Chinese outlook on international security

PUBLIC OPINION POLLS CHINESE OUTLOOK ON INTERNATIONAL SECURITY - CISS Reports - Center For International Security And Strategy Tsinghua University

It is a public opinion survey conducted by Tsinghua University.
I post it here. Because a lot of its content is about the United States. I think it fits the atmosphere I feel in real life. (You can use this as a tool to check if your media has lied to you on some issues)

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

I don't see that you're in disagreement with anything I've posted.

The problem is that wealth is inequitably distributed. The Internet is a catalyst. Take away the Internet and unrest slows. Yet the chemical reaction remains. At a certain point, enough energy builds up and you have an explosion - change of government, not necessarily for the better, and not necessarily peaceful, and, ironically, unlikely to address the problem.

Wealth inequality has been around forever.

But there is no rise of Trump without social media IMO.

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

Wealth inequality has been around forever.

But there is no rise of Trump without social media IMO.

Without wealth inequality there is no chemical reaction - there's nothing for the demagogue to accelerate.

WIthout social media, a Trump-like figure would likely take longer to emerge, granted. But social media isn't the problem.

 

[Uncle Wally One Ball]

Without wealth inequality there is no chemical reaction - there's nothing for the demagogue to accelerate.

WIthout social media, a Trump-like figure would likely take longer to emerge, granted. But social media isn't the problem.

It absolutely is. He rose to prominence thanks to a concerted and targeted Russian disinformation campaign spread through social media.

 

[halfcenturyup]

In decades past, primarily white Americans in rust-belt/southern states have relied on well-paying factory jobs in industry: mining, steel working, automobile manufacturing, etc. Graduate from college, get married, get a union job in the local factory and have a good life.

Globalization has largely ended this. And there's been little in the way of government assistance from either party trying to improve the lot of such folk.

Always mistrustful of government and now hurting economically, a lot of Americans are pissed off and just want major change.

Into the mix is the godawful distribution of wealth - a fraction of the populace holds the majority of wealth. Of itself, this is alone is enough to spark massive unrest.

Which is to say, the MAGA folk are by-in-large not well off economically, mistrustful of government, undereducated, religious, and, above all, want change. They're ripe for demagoguery. And Trump delivers a message they want to believe in.

It's a mess - and will take decades to address.

Agree with this, as far as I know what is going on. Seems to me Trump is just a symptom of a serious illness and while everyone is trying to eliminate the symptom there has been little success in dealing with the underlying illness.

I get that dealing with a life threatening symptom is important and can be the first priority (I watch House) but how is the US not going to be a basket case even if Harris defeats Trump, if neither party can deal with what the actual problems are?

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

It absolutely is. He rose to prominence thanks to a concerted and targeted Russian disinformation campaign spread through social media.

2016 was a close race and certainly Russian interference might have tipped the balance. On the other hand, whatever-the-fuck Comey was doing in a misguided and selfish attempt to preserve his reputation probably (IMO) had a larger impact.

At any rate - without social unrest the demagogue has nothing to work with. It's the crippling feeling of hopeless inevitability that you're stuck with no future and that the government isn't doing anything to help that's driving the unrest.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

2016 was a close race and certainly Russian interference might have tipped the balance. On the other hand, whatever-the-fuck Comey was doing probably (IMO) had a larger impact.

At any rate - without social unrest the demagogue has nothing to work with. It's the crippling feeling of hopeless inevitability that you're stuck with no future and that the government isn't doing anything to help that's driving the unrest.

Please explain how a white guy with a $90,000 pick up truck is an oppressed class. In a non-recessionary economy. With low unemployment. I want to hear all about the Running Man-style food riots and the record-high crime rate.

This second paragraph? Come on mate. If you REALLY believe what you wrote, you should be voting for Trump, shouldn’t you?

It is social media that has daily, hourly demonstrated to those who have something that they have less than others. Not nothing — not this no-hope, no-future horseshit — just less. And that’s the cue the demagogue has run with. He’s turned that seething envy into the narrative you’ve written.

Now I’m not saying there aren’t imbalances, and no doubt well-off urb and suburbanites look down on rural bumpkins (Clinton’s “deplorables” comment was what lost her the election IMO, not Comey or Russian interference in the end). But they aren’t life or death for the vast, vast majority of Trump supporters.

You know who I’m worried about? Kids who don’t have internet access at all and therefore can’t do schoolwork, not those that do, and are pissed off because some nerd in Silicon Valley is a billionaire and they aren’t.

Perception is reality, yes. And that perception has been magnified 1000x by constant access to information about the “imbalance” — and then that misconception was levered and amplified by charlatans.