(February 8, 2017 at 4:18 pm)Khemikal Wrote: Well, obviously, plenty of average people are racist shitlords.....but, to be fair, that doesn't prevent them from arriving at collective wisdom in other areas, if it did, we'd be in a sad state today.
I'm not sure why you think I'm suffering from any sort of admiration for Trump, I'm simply suggesting that he spoke to something people wanted to hear, whether they lie to pollsters (and themselves) about it or not, lol. That his message...as terrible as it may be to believe, resonated with those people more stongly than clintons. It wasn;t as if she didn;t have one, it wasn;t as if ther were no choices to be had, or even a choice not to participate. A significant portion of americans -wanted- this...they liked what they heard. He didn't invent american bigotry and xenophobia, he just plugged in....accidentally, intentionally, it hardly matters now.
I'm not suggesting that the majority of people voted for Trump because they are racist. I think that is one of the liberal mistakes about the election. I'm saying that Trump benefited from a long running conservative smear campaign against Obama, the Clintons, politicians in general and the government specifically and that Trump had nothing to do with this. He merely stepped in and benefited from a disinformation strategy.
My wife and I spent a month in the US just prior to the election (I'm Canadian) on a road trip. I specifically played dumb and asked everyone I ran into about their thoughts. From cab drivers to waiters to gas station attendants to property owners to boat owners to Hotel management etc.. I ran into lots of average people (the kind who don't post obsessively on the internet
) and here is a sampling of what I heard as they "explained" to me why the system was dirty and needed Trump.The Clintons are the most corrupt people on earth. (Most common belief I ran into)
"House of Cards" is based on the Clintons and the Clintons have had people killed who oppose them
The Clinton foundation is a money making scam and the Clintons draw money directly from this "charity"
Obama caused the financial meltdown
Obama caused the current massive unemployment
More than 50% of Americans live off welfare and that just can't continue
Obama is the cause of all the current racial tensions in the US
The "liberal" lifestyle is destroying the moral fabric of society
The media is all liberal and are working against the interests of America
Hillary caused Bengazi because she hates America
etc...
Almost every single person I ran into believed one or more of the above nonsensical ideas with none of it having to do with racism or sexism. I realize that this is anecdotal, but many polls show frighteningly large numbers of people believing clearly false information like that above. This is what won Trump the election IMO. The populace was primed for an outsider based on a completely false version of reality. Trump did help (and continues to help) in creating these false narratives (like the unemployment rate being around 40%) but Trump did not do this as a strategy while knowing the actual truth. He's not that smart. I think he actually believes the same nonsense that those who voted for him believe.
If god was real he wouldn't need middle men to explain his wants or do his bidding.
