Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
3 Likes
As much as Iâm not happy about all this can we not? My original post specifically asked to not go into âIâm positive it is all horrible.â
So Iâd expected a microscopicly short thread.
art being spawned from it.
Yes, butâŚ
2 Likes
More accurately, he didnât wrap it up.
3 Likes
My apologies. If thatâs the case I have absolutely no business being here.
Hopefully, something will surprise me in the near future.
2 Likes
I can see the point though. Maybe something done on the Mexican side of the border instead? 
2 Likes
I often think this way myself and thereâs a very good chance that youâre right. I often make the mistake of assuming that people are capable of learning from their mistakes. But, by that same token, the Overton Window moves left as well. We have gay marriage. Weâre legalizing weed. Trans rights are even a thing now. Though the police state is becoming stronger, the culture has already moved past Donald Trump, and thatâs arguably more important.
There was a pretty strong backlash to Bush/Cheney, but it was delayed because of 9/11. Unfortunately, Obama ceded a lot of ground by ratifying his predecessorâs policies, and refusing to prosecute people who participated in tortureâand now weâre seeing why it was stupid to allow those precedents to stand.
It may take a shock on the scale of Watergate (adjusted for inflation) to pave the way for reform, but Trump seems uniquely equipped to provide it. I agree with you about the trend line, but we shouldnât take for granted that itâs going to extend into the future indefinitelyâafter a certain point, it may trigger something. History has a way of surprising you.
6 Likes
I donât mean to target you specifically as I see a lot of that sarcastic hur hur hur look how fuckedcthings are going around.
We have the whole rest of the board for that item by item. Can we⌠Not do that here? I know itâs hard because of all the âfuckâs sake NOW WHAT?!â Going on but when all you here is how fucked and bullshit everything is you start to go numb.
5 Likes
One thing I have noticed is that âweâ instinctively know each other now. Something about the small talk, or the way of interactionâŚwe now know there are actual battle lines, and we know whoâs on our side. So while Iâm stressed and grieving and overwhelmed, in day-to-day interactions I have many moments of feeling like âthis person, we are aligned, we will have each otherâs backs if it comes to thatâ. I actually feel less alone in the world, if that makes sense. I now have a tribe.
12 Likes
Which is why Iâm an advocate of simply tuning it out. Heck, a major reason that Trump exists is that other people wanted to demoralize and offend you.
Realistically, you canât do much to influence national politics, and many of the things youâre tempted to try (e.g., confronting people about their views) tend to backfire by causing the opposition to further entrench in their ideology. Think of politics like the weatherâsometimes it rains, but you donât get angry at the atmosphere because youâve learned to expect that. Sometimes, in politics, you get some fascism and xenophobia, and it bothers you because you have an irrational expectation that people are going to be intelligent and conduct their offices with integrity. In fact, if you were born in almost any given time and place since the dawn of civilization, youâd be under the thumb of one despotic ruler or another, with little hope of reprieve. People who lived their entire lives under feudalism managed to cope with it somehowâand they may have even coped with it better, since they werenât raised with rose tinted glasses.
You canât control national politics, but you can control how you react to it. Remember that the events that are going to matter most in your life in the next four years are probably going to have nothing to do with Donald Trump. Likewise, the stuff you do that will matter most to society is probably not going to be related to your involvement in politics. Where your influence is really going to be felt is in the work you do every day, the way you treat your friends and family, and so on.
The problem with getting too sucked into the political theater is that it saps away the energy that you could be devoting to your local environment, where you really do have some influence. If youâre leading your life according to a value system that rejects Trumpism, then youâre already doing something to help. Activism can definitely be part of that, but if all youâre doing is driving yourself to despair by lending too much attention to the onslaught of bad news, then youâre really just undermining yourself.
Things get better, and they get worse, and they better again, and then they get worse. Itâs an emotional roller coaster, but you donât have to ride it.
3 Likes
This seems to be happening in the weirdest places too. A lot of the arty sites I read/post on, despite being mostly non-political are having the same sense of a coming together. Hell, Iâve even seen adapted inauguration memes cropping up on wrestling forums. Things like how even Roman Reigns is a bigger draw than Trump. 
This is actually all extremely cool.
8 Likes
Okay, so one plus is that the idea of American Exceptionalism can never be taken seriously by a grownup ever again. Depending on how long the planet lasts this might be a short term gain.
10 Likes
Mind you, this article is from two years ago.
and the good thing about this is⌠nope⌠sorry @singletona082 for my derail!
3 Likes
I think it is important to rememebr that, as much as we are responsible for our own responses to the hand we are dealt, there really are a lot of folks who very much do have to ride it.
In my case, I have to ride that a recent priority change in environmental assessment on some federally regulated projects may well translate out to me getting less work, about 10% less.
But heck, Iâm not going to get deported. Iâm not likely to have to fight, again, to maintain rights over my own body and my choices, and Iâm really really unlikely to get even harrassed by the police - because Iâm a white american guy, and not of draft age.
I donât have to pay attention, but really, really, really I do.
9 Likes
Yes, and Iâm trying not to come across as indifferent to those for whom the election is a life changing event. The distinction Iâm trying to make is that, yes, you can call congress and raise a stink when the Republicans try to pull something sinister, but those are one-offs. If you organize your life around your values, then every waking hour youâre like a block of sandpaper, subtly wearing away at the cultural underpinnings of racism, authoritarianism, etc.
4 Likes
I read this as âSchwarzenegger is a space lizard or twoâ. I contemplated why he might be two, and assumed it had to do with his size.
6 Likes
7 Likes
Ah but they have had all along. Thatâs the whole idea behind structural racism, structural sexism, not the individual public behavior, but structure that perpetuates the evil, long after the structureâs architects have died of old age.
3 Likes
Okay, hereâs something positive that you might suspect if you were at one of the many Womenâs Marches worldwide or even the Womenâs March: We have many more people who want change than those who only worked on one or two issues had ever suspected.
ETA: and Iâm learning to knit 
9 Likes
there could be two of him?
