US Elections 2020

Started by dsanchez, August 29, 2020, 00:34:10

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Ulrich

A Scottish newspaper asked their readers via FB for a comment about Trump's presidency, using only 3 words. A friend of mine commented: "male cattle manure".  :lol:
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

SueC

Very apt. :lol:  You know, my usual theory is that you can grow really nice flowers in BS - friends and I who've been through enough childhood trauma to end up with complex PTSD seem to have grown a lot of flowers out of it all, and ended up with extra compassion and gratitude and caring about justice and really really seeing and feeling the beautiful things about life and the universe rather than taking them for granted.  But in this case, I'm not sure if the theory is holding.  There's just so much insanity.

On the plus side of course, we've had the counter-reactions and people galvanised together for decency and justice, such as the international women's marches in response to those "pussy-grabbing" attitudes, and Black Lives Matter becoming more and more supported by white people around the world... a friend of mine who actually marched in the original civil rights movement and met Rosa Parks said to me that the difference when she marched with her daughter in BLM in the US this year was that they weren't getting spat upon and jeered by bystanders, but got a lot of support, and this makes her hopeful.

On the other hand, when bullies run the classroom, they enable other bullies and give permission for disgusting behaviour to become the "new normal" - and sadly, that's also something we're seeing.  It's so inconceivable to me how someone who would not be considered to be of good enough character to teach children can end up getting such enthusiastic and widespread support to run a whole nation and wreak havoc upon the world.  However, I read an interesting take on this in the Guardian overnight:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/05/trump-narcissm-us-election-president

QuoteIt's strangely apt that such a raging narcissist should function as a distorted mirror to so many, one in which they see their own fantasies reflected back at them. Whether he actually is a billionaire or not has never been important: since the 1980s he has presented himself as the cartoon image of one – Daddy Warbucks crossed with a particularly rubbish Bond villain – and people see what they want to see. His white working-class supporters saw in him their own aggrievement at not being accepted by elites who rigged the game; the elites saw a fellow plutocrat who would protect their fortunes. Before this election I often heard people talk anxiously about how, even if Trump lost, "Trumpism" wouldn't go away.

But what even is Trumpism? The man has never had any moral code beyond closing the deal, and these days barely seems capable of maintaining a thought to the end of a sentence: the idea that he has the desire let alone the wherewithal to construct an ideology is like assuming that monkey on the typewriter is writing Hamlet. Read any thinkpiece and "Trumpism" is boiled down to nativism, showmanship and lying, all of which can be more accurately summed up as "being a racist grifter". In Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and his Followers, John W Dean and Bob Altemeyer rightly say that Trumpism is not about Trump at all, but about his followers and their own psychological predispositions. They look at him and see what they want to see: themselves.

I guess it's back to microcosm versus macrocosm, and the dysfunctionality of people's homes reflecting in the wider social institutions.  If you think it's normal and acceptable to act in dysfunctional ways towards the people in your own family, you're going to think it's normal and acceptable to do that anywhere else you've got power and opportunity.  So clearly, people who are bullies themselves are going to think nothing is wrong with this.  But the thing that really flabbergasts me is the people who just look past it - who think that all of that is unimportant, so long as they can vote for someone of their preferred political party...

I've got to say, I don't think people in Australia, the US or the UK have had anyone inspirational to vote for in their last elections (for PM/President anyway) - the offerings seem to become increasingly dire.  So I do think that our democracies are broken - the people going for the "representative" positions don't actually represent us, they represent corporate interests etc.  All three countries share a two-party political duopoly, and as far as I know, none of the three do proportional representation (Australia and the US don't anyway) and this just entrenches the duopoly.  So voting for a "representative" becomes like shopping at a supermarket - the illusion of a lot of choice, but actually so much rubbish that isn't good for you or the community or the planet at all, and very little that is.

Part of the problem I think is that decent people aren't generally drawn to politics.  But when they are, and if they survive all the BS, then this can be really heartening - look at Jacinda Ardern in NZ.  How I wish we could be annexed by NZ, and get her instead of the trolls we have in power...

Regardless of how depressing all of this is, I do think it's more important than ever for ordinary citizens to not just take this kind of rubbish, but take grass-roots action.  We do have voices, if only we will use them.
SueC is time travelling

SueC











...some nice photos from The Guardian's headlines today. :)

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dsanchez

2023.11.22 Lima
2023.11.27 Montevideo

dsanchez

2023.11.22 Lima
2023.11.27 Montevideo

Ulrich

Good news:
Both CNN and FoxNews report that Biden is winning.

Better news:
Trump lost. 
:lol:
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

dsanchez

2023.11.22 Lima
2023.11.27 Montevideo

Ulrich

Words fail me...
so...
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

SueC











...just a few nice photos from the last 24h.  I ♥ the "Make America THINK again" on the back of the T-shirt in the 4th photo...

First Dog's summary:



from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/08/its-president-biden-what-a-relief-for-the-whole-world

There's important things that need to happen instead of "business as usual" - this article discusses some of them:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/07/trump-defeat-election
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MeltingMan

Quote from: Adam LopezAs an American, I wish our media was half as good as this. Good work Australia

En cette nation [Russie] qui n'a pas eu de théoriciens et de démagogues,
les pires ferments de destruction ont apparu. (J. Péladan)

SueC

"Good" reporting?  Not from this mob; they spend half their lives trying to shore up the fossil fuel industry, and pretending climate change isn't real.  This is the kind of media that's a problem for our democracy - tied to commercial interests and distorting stories, and trying to feed them back to the uneducated population as fact to influence the vote.

As an Australian, I can recommend our independent ABC, although of course the right-wingers think they are a left-wing conspiracy - the way psychological projection usually goes - accuse the other side of the things you're actually doing yourself - like the Resident Rump's shrill squeals of "they stole the election" while he's trying to stop democratic processes from occurring, and starting dozens of lawsuits.

And gaslighting and reinventing the truth are some of the oldest tricks in the playbook of a narcissist

In Australia, we have a number-cruncher called Anthony Green who does a running analysis of all our national elections on the ABC, and has been in that role for decades.  This past week he's been applying his talents and impartiality to the US election.  He's highly educational - really explains the nitty-gritty to people who don't actually find electoral procedure and statistics riveting (AKA most of the population) - and is beloved and trusted by many Australians.  When Anthony gives his verdict on how an election has gone, he couches it in statistical probability - after explaining the way that works to people.  Nice, objective mathematical nerdery - which is so much more Zen than the wildly emotional, screechy, non-facts-based shock jocks who populate our commercial channels and radio.

The mathematicians say Joe Biden has won this one - wear it, conspiracy theorists.  (But they won't.  Not if it's not the outcome they wanted.)

In more amusing news - does anyone remember the time an Australian comedian from Chaser actually got into APEC while impersonating Osama bin Laden?  :lol:

Here's a fun article from the Chaser on the US election:

QuoteAMERICA PASSES HISTORY TEST

America has today scraped a pass on their collective history exam, after narrowly gaining a 51% correct score on who should be their next President.

Though initially answering a) 'The fascist', Americans were then seen to cross out their answer and instead circle b) 'The guy who isn't perfect but at least he's not a fascist'.

The low grade has come as a surprise to many, who say America really should have got an A in this, given it's their favourite topic. "God they never shut up about it, you know how they came in and saved the day during World War 2 with their democracy and freedom, beating down the angry shouty fascist leader who led by dividing the country against minority groups. It's literally the same exam all over again, but somehow this time they almost forgot the answer."

The result is particularly troubling for the section of the class who didn't pull their part in the group project, the over 45-white-male demographic, who overwhelmingly chose the wrong answer. "Literally these guys' whole personality for the last 40 odd years has been based around studying World War history and boring everybody they meet with the ins and outs of how the Americans defeated the Nazis," sighed one exacerbated teacher. "How the hell they all managed to then walk into the exam room and so confidently select the wrong answer, I'll never know. They're almost as bad as my civil war students. Those idiots still haven't realised the south lost."

from https://chaser.com.au/world/america-passes-history-test/

You might also like:

https://chaser.com.au/world/trump-steps-down-to-spend-more-time-with-his-daughter/

https://chaser.com.au/world/comrade-biden-signals-to-begin-the-slaughter-of-billionaires/

:lol:
SueC is time travelling

word_on_a_wing

I agree Sue, we are very fortunate to have the ABC in Australia... very good quality news reporting. 👍
"Where the flesh meets the spirit world,
Where the traffic is thin..."

dsanchez

2023.11.22 Lima
2023.11.27 Montevideo

SueC

SueC is time travelling

MeltingMan

En cette nation [Russie] qui n'a pas eu de théoriciens et de démagogues,
les pires ferments de destruction ont apparu. (J. Péladan)