Embrace the power of and. OFC it's racism and misogyny, very simply so....and also other things. Real concerns that, for them, buttress those innate and compelling rationalizations. Less nuance than neurosis, lol.

If white people are doing poorly it's proof of their beliefs. If white people are doing well it's only the elite race traitors..and thus further proof of their beliefs.

"They're eating the cats, they're eating the dogs" proved a more effective message than "Let me help you buy your first house."
-Gary Shteyngart

65% of americans or amerian families, if we prefer, already own homes - and they're still struggling. The percentage in white america is higher. That was read as a giveaway to blacks and hispanics.

“Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect: like a man, who hath thought of a good repartee when the discourse is changed, or the company parted; or like a physician, who hath found out an infallible medicine, after the patient is dead.”
― Jonathan Swift

Listening to the news this morning, an analyst pointed out that while interest rates took the elevator up, they will be taking the stairs coming down. Progress is similar, backlashes are easier, faster, and more severe than the baby steps moving things forward. During hard times, the appetite for progressive solutions will dim, and regressive solutions will have the upper hand. But aside from that, I suspect we are seeing the end of an age of myth, in which many cherished beliefs such as meritocracy and fundamental fairness are failing and falling apart. I suspect that the abandonment of experts and the embrace of conspiracies and liars is simply one aspect of the breakdown of our core myths. About 20 years ago I predicted that the U.S. was in its final years, as prior to the 20th century, our country was flush with resources, and could use that advantage to position itself ahead of others in the world. Now that advantage is gone, and we must compete on more even terms. We can no longer shelter overpaid workers against the competition from slave labor in the third world. We can no longer simply outproduce other nations or outspend our problems.

Not that I'm a pessimist, but we face the breakdown of some fundamental pillars of Western society. The age of imperialism is over. The age of Western dominance is over. Our institutions are failing. Our myths are breaking down. Basic human social processes which guided our behavior are falling away. Globablization is as much of a bane as a boon. And we are facing ethical challenges from the advance of technology that we aren't equipped to deal with.

(November 7, 2024 at 1:11 pm)Nanny Wrote: I truly can't understand how anyone could look at the bucket that is Trump and say, I like that.

We may not like hearing this, but Trump is a very skilled populist and also great at exhibiting power and leadership. He answers to no one, and will say whatever is on his mind, and doesn't falter in feuds with other people. If people don't care about social justice issues and are disgruntled with this current "wokeist" culture (and with big government, and elites, and Jews, and so on), they are going to find Trump very appealing and worth all the effort needed to support and vote for (even if some may not even like him as a person).

Trump opened the door to people feeling comfortable sharing their views...the ones they used to only share with their closest circle.

It's now fine to be an out and proud piece of shit.

My only hope is that Trump doesn't last four years because I think Vance is weak without being propped up by the loudest of loudmouths.

We'll see. As it stands, I plan to work a little harder on my introvert lifestyle. If I could figure out how, I would never leave my house again...I am almost there.

I am so fucking disappointed with America at this point that I would gladly take back my sucker and loser status as a Veteran. I hate people at this point.

Not going to be depressed about it...but I am pissed. What a clusterfuck.

The biggest suck is that when shit hits the fan, it will not only take the ones that asked for it and deserve it.

/end rant

(November 7, 2024 at 1:11 pm)Nanny Wrote: The NYT speculates that the backlash against "elites" is the reason for the result. The gulf between college educated elites and high school diplomaed is reflected in the Trump win. The Times excoriates the elite class for not seeing how education affects social class.

"That great sucking sound you heard was the redistribution of respect. People who climbed the academic ladder were feted with accolades, while those who didn’t were rendered invisible. The situation was particularly hard on boys. By high school two-thirds of the students in the top 10 percent of the class are girls, while about two-thirds of the students in the bottom decile are boys. Schools are not set up for male success; that has lifelong personal, and now national, consequences.

Society worked as a vast segregation system, elevating the academically gifted above everybody else. Before long, the diploma divide became the most important chasm in American life. High school graduates die nine years sooner than college-educated people. They die of opioid overdoses at six times the rate. They marry less and divorce more and are more likely to have a child out of wedlock. They are more likely to be obese. A recent American Enterprise Institute study found that 24 percent of people who graduated from high school at most have no close friends. They are less likely than college grads to visit public spaces or join community groups and sports leagues. They don’t speak in the right social justice jargon or hold the sort of luxury beliefs that are markers of public virtue."

The opioid crisis was engineered by a wealthy big pharma family. Just because there's overlap between the wealthy and the educated doesn't mean people with college degrees are somehow responsible for the the health problems of people who didn't go to college. It's the educated who conducted the studies that reveal this. If there are effective ways of improving the outcomes for the less educated, it will be more educated people who figure it out.

The divide is unfortunate, it's a shame that people who don't get degrees have poorer outcomes, but the main reason people get degrees is to try to have better outcomes for themselves and their families. They're not collectively committing some kind of moral outrage because it works.

I definitely didn't see the majority of latino men voting for Trump after the MSG comic flap.

(November 7, 2024 at 2:18 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: I am so fucking disappointed with America at this point that I would gladly take back my sucker and loser status as a Veteran.  I hate people at this point.

On Tuesday, the American electorate spat in our faces.