First off, I don’t base my views on “what Americans are like” with what people post online. Just about everyone I know personally has just gone off the deep end it seems.
People I’ve known for decades who were “right of center” have now drifted to the far right. Where they used to support separation of church and state, small government, etc. they now want the government to tax the poor, establish a Christian ethnostate, and are openly talking about “the coming revolution”. Meanwhile, most everyone I’ve known who is leftist wants the government to disarm them, claims to be pro-LGBT but blindly supports any Muslim country and blindly hates Israel, and thinks Joe Biden is the “greatest president EVAR”.
Am I just in a weird bubble where 95% of the people in my life are politically and philosophically dipshits? Does anyone else experience this with people they actually know? I feel like I’m going crazy when I can be talking with a “leftist” about trans rights in Texas and then the very next conversation is about how wholesome they think the average Palestinian is in Gaza. Is there anyone else who’s at least left of center and recognizes that religious zealots in the Middle East want to kill you and shouldn’t be supported and religious zealots in YOUR OWN FUCKING COUNTRY want to kill you and you shouldn’t disarm yourself?
Just what the fuck is going on in this country? There’s so much disinformation and paid trolls that I don’t base these views off what’s online. I just run into the exact same lunacy with nearly everyone I’ve known my whole life.
“Am I just in a weird bubble where 95% of the people in my life are politically and philosophically dipshits?”
Yes. You are absolutely in the wrong places talking to the wrong people. It sounds like it is rubbing off on you.
I think you’re in a bubble of right wing idiots unfortunately (though the Republicans I know have be emboldened since Trump and are finally being who they truly are). I have a lot of those types where I’m from and some that I work with, but the majority of us are fed up with the bullshit of our government and want to see it changed (especially among the millennial and gen z crowd). Unfortunately the older generations are in power and doing whatever they want, so we’re having to deal with the bullshit that the very vocal minority want as opposed to what the majority does.
America is dog shit right now and I couldn’t be less proud of this country, but look at the past presodential election, the majority voted left, despite that our broken government is getting further right anyway.
I hope it’s just a bubble. I do live in a region where if you drive out in the deep rural areas, there’s a non-zero chance that you’ll see a swastika flying on a flag. I’ve just never seen so many people be so “un-American” while claiming to be true patriots.
Ashamed American here. The “center” has been shifting right for decades now. Since before my birth, gaining momentum in the Nixon administration with the advent of work sponsored healthcare.
PAC money has driven politicians to make decisions based on their donors and not the will of the people. This creates a legal bribery system. And as the oft mis-attributed quote goes, “fascism is the marriage of corporations and state.”
The average person is too consumed by making ends meet and trying to find a modicum of substance at the end of the day to be bothered by politics. The others are distracted by the clown show our politicians put on for us.
Only the super wealthy can affect change. https://www.vox.com/2014/4/18/5624310/martin-gilens-testing-theories-of-american-politics-explained
The two party political system and the Electoral College (the representative voting body) ensure this stays in place and that third party votes will only cause one of the main candidates to lose.
I am highly left here. In Europe, I’d probably be considered center-left with a focus on humanitarianism. I consider myself a secular humanist. With that, I stand with the people above all else before party, religion, or heritage. Humans first, then arbitrary affiliations.
Wish I personally knew more people like you. Only three people I know would fit this description.
I wish I knew more people like you as well. We all need support in these times.
Yes the country is very divided because both sides have moved further from the center. I blame MSM and social media for this.
Have they though? I struggle to find positions that the Democrats hold that are to the left of where they’ve been for the last 20-30 years. They are pro-choice, for racial equality, for gay rights, etc. Republicans on the other hand have swung wildly to the far-right.
I wish the Democrats would move left, but I haven’t seen it in my lifetime, they are a party of centrists, for the most part.
I do live in a town with two major colleges for the region. It’s crazy how many “socialists” I’ve met who don’t even know about concepts like UBI. “Tax the rich” doesn’t make you socialist. That’s just the easiest, lowest hanging fruit to figure out.
Huh, it’s been awhile since a post like this, forgot I didn’t have anything in the sidebar/pinned post directing them to a more appropriate community.
This reads as more like venting, for which there’s [email protected]. If you’d like to start a discussion related to politics here, like how political polarization seems to be affecting people, that’s okay, but this veers a ways off from that imo.
Not sure who you’re talking to and interacting with. Had to move from Seattle to the middle of Oklahoma last year for work and none of what you describe is the norm here, meanwhile Seattle is a whooooooole different animal.
Yep captain, every Arab person in Gaza is a zealous transphobe that will go around and lynch all LGBTQIA people, not a racist sentiment at all /s
Fuck off with your Israeli genocidal propaganda
This is exactly what I mean in my post. I’ve been “patient and polite” for decades. And then I see shit like this not just online, but also with leftists I personally know.
As someone who’s actually been to Muslim countries in the Middle East and seen their brand of racism and literal slavery, you have no fucking clue what you’re talking about. Yes actually, I believe that a MUSLIM MAJORITY country is going to mostly be racist, transphobic bigots. Do you have any fucking idea what Muslims in the Middle East are actually like?
Have you ever seen a slave in real life? Have you ever driven past ancient ruins from other religions that were defaced and scrubbed clean? Have you ever been warned “make sure you don’t have any religious material on you” before entering a country? Have you ever had to drive in a convoy with a security detail? Have you ever been near a suicide bombing? Have you ever seen 15 women in full Burqas being lead around and told what to do by a 12 year old boy?
You dipshit “leftists” are sheltered and have no fucking clue just how evil other people can be. Since you’ve got no fucking nuance, I’ll spell it out for you. I do not blindly support Israel. I openly condemn every atrocity they commit. But I can see that if I were gay there’d be only one country in the Middle East that I could feel safe in.
I’ve ranted and vented, and I feel just about done caring about all this. Boomers are going to reap what they’ve sown with the failing economy and climate change destroying their chances at retirement. But you dumbass Millennials and Gen Z who think they know it all are also going to reap what you’ve sown in the future. Learn some history, learn about just how awful every fundamentalist religious culture is. Learn how to use a firearm or flee this country if you want any chance at a happy ending in your life.
Depends on the part of America. At least in MN, most people are generally center. The “loud” ones are the extremists/on polar sides
Both sides are full of horseshit, Democrats, aka Republican-lite, have less of it. That’s the way I vote because that’s the best I can do :(
My theory is micro-plastics have been really starting to effect people. The amount of plastic we are all ingesting is scary.
Your experiences are broadly in line with my experiences as well. The various camps have moved quite far away from each other and there is a huge pressure toward hating whatever the other guy likes, even if the other guy has ideas that align with your goals.
