gimmesometruth27 said:

lastexitlondon said:

Social media and hunting in packs ruin rational thinking. I'm not American but world wide communication is at a low. In a world with many ways to communicate. If we tried to treat people like we would like to be treated it would help everyone 

there is a whole political party here that wants to take rights away from women and lgbtq community. i will never, ever treat those people the way i would want to be treated, because they are actually harming people. fuck them.

I think broad statements like this are why we can;t come together.  If you 100% agree with the current LBGT+ narrative or 100% agree with the GOP backlash then I just think you arent a critical thinker. 

Not you...the general you.

Same for abortion. Which is what I think you mean when you say women's rights.  

The GOP is the problem. There is no doubt about that. The dems aren't perfect for sure but there is no way around blaming the GOP/Magat mentality for the divide right now.

Tuberville rant...live TV
Comer rant....live TV
tRump rant....live TV

I get what you are saying but the GOP isn't being misunderstood or overblown. They are straight up gaslighting their constituents.

cincybearcat said:

gimmesometruth27 said:

lastexitlondon said:

Social media and hunting in packs ruin rational thinking. I'm not American but world wide communication is at a low. In a world with many ways to communicate. If we tried to treat people like we would like to be treated it would help everyone 

there is a whole political party here that wants to take rights away from women and lgbtq community. i will never, ever treat those people the way i would want to be treated, because they are actually harming people. fuck them.

I think broad statements like this are why we can;t come together.  If you 100% agree with the current LBGT+ narrative or 100% agree with the GOP backlash then I just think you arent a critical thinker. 

Not you...the general you.

Same for abortion. Which is what I think you mean when you say women's rights.  

Broad statements out of of random people in discussions with other random people may not help. But it's nothing compared to the amount of outraged being generated by the media that so many people consume.

Indifference said:

Its not possible at all IMO - this forum is a good example of an echo chamber where dissenting opinions go to die.  Its sad.  You can tell me I'm wrong but then your proving my point.

Dissenting opinions only die if you let them die.

gimmesometruth27 said:

lastexitlondon said:

Social media and hunting in packs ruin rational thinking. I'm not American but world wide communication is at a low. In a world with many ways to communicate. If we tried to treat people like we would like to be treated it would help everyone 

there is a whole political party here that wants to take rights away from women and lgbtq community. i will never, ever treat those people the way i would want to be treated, because they are actually harming people. fuck them.

Gladly we don't have that here. So that's a problem i don't come into contact with.

brianlux said:

Thanks all for thoughtful answers here. 
What I'm coming away with here is a reflection of something I hate to admit which is that deep division in this country (and possible other countries) is at this point in history so heavily ingrained there is little hope (but maybe there's always some hope) of finding common ground (if there even is such a thing) and learning to work together for the good. 
On a personal note, I have immersed myself in various pro-environmental and social justice efforts for most of my adult life (with its seeds going back as far as high school), have seen improvements in some areas, but generally have come to the conclusion that our environmental and political climates simply continues to erode.  My apologies for the negativity.  I'm just being honest.  Five decades of giving a shit... for what?  Sometimes I wonder.

So anyway, unless I can come up with something more positive to say, I'll let this thread find its own way.  Good luck to us all.

I think we are seeing the boundary of free speech. Why should we let these outlets spew hateful fake bullshit and create their own bullshit universe? It's like our 2nd amendment problem. People misinterpret and politicians raise millions then we end up fucking killing each other.

And we can also thank Citizens United.

brianlux said:

Gern Blansten said:

brianlux said:

Thanks all for thoughtful answers here. 
What I'm coming away with here is a reflection of something I hate to admit which is that deep division in this country (and possible other countries) is at this point in history so heavily ingrained there is little hope (but maybe there's always some hope) of finding common ground (if there even is such a thing) and learning to work together for the good. 
On a personal note, I have immersed myself in various pro-environmental and social justice efforts for most of my adult life (with its seeds going back as far as high school), have seen improvements in some areas, but generally have come to the conclusion that our environmental and political climates simply continues to erode.  My apologies for the negativity.  I'm just being honest.  Five decades of giving a shit... for what?  Sometimes I wonder.

So anyway, unless I can come up with something more positive to say, I'll let this thread find its own way.  Good luck to us all.

I think we are seeing the boundary of free speech. Why should we let these outlets spew hateful fake bullshit and create their own bullshit universe? It's like our 2nd amendment problem. People misinterpret and politicians raise millions then we end up fucking killing each other.

And we can also thank Citizens United.

Wait till ChatGPT takes over the show.  Then we'll really be royally fucked.

tRump will never die...he'll live in ChatGPT forever

I'd like to pose a question: how divided ARE we, really? I mean "we" as everyone. Millions upon millions. There will always be polar
opposites. But the vast, vast majority fall into the middle. as always, the extremes tend to be the loudest, no matter the side (MTG, AOC, etc). 

AMT is not a good barometer for real life. This is literally the only place I discuss politics to this extent. If someone I know/care about starts spouting off about something I disagree with, knowing full well it won't end well (especially if there's alcohol involved), I shut it down. No winner, no loser. Just quit the game. 

we keep getting TOLD how divided we are. by whom? the media. why? they profit off the division, as do the politicians they say are causing it (they are both at fault). i'd like to think about 70-85% of us are not divided at all, at least not to the extent we're told we are. 

there has always been violence in this world; political, domestic, random, etc. That will literally never go away. how much of that violence wouldn't happen without the constant barrage of hateful bullshit coming out of the mouths of the people we are paying to tell us (media) and the people we pay to change it (politicians)?

we give those who influence us the most way too much power. 


SSS

Stay informed
Shut out the noise
Shut off the news

HughFreakingDillon said:

I'd like to pose a question: how divided ARE we, really? I mean "we" as everyone. Millions upon millions. There will always be polar
opposites. But the vast, vast majority fall into the middle. as always, the extremes tend to be the loudest, no matter the side (MTG, AOC, etc). 

AMT is not a good barometer for real life. This is literally the only place I discuss politics to this extent. If someone I know/care about starts spouting off about something I disagree with, knowing full well it won't end well (especially if there's alcohol involved), I shut it down. No winner, no loser. Just quit the game. 

we keep getting TOLD how divided we are. by whom? the media. why? they profit off the division, as do the politicians they say are causing it (they are both at fault). i'd like to think about 70-85% of us are not divided at all, at least not to the extent we're told we are. 

there has always been violence in this world; political, domestic, random, etc. That will literally never go away. how much of that violence wouldn't happen without the constant barrage of hateful bullshit coming out of the mouths of the people we are paying to tell us (media) and the people we pay to change it (politicians)?

we give those who influence us the most way too much power. 


SSS

Stay informed
Shut out the noise
Shut off the news

To your point, many of the millions...well probably most of the millions are not that different. They don't care about Bud Light's advertising, they're not obsessed with hating Trump/Biden/Pelosi/MSNBC/FOX. They do care about inflation, shooting sprees, and fentanyl, but who they blame and what to do about it probably comes down to nuanced difference. However, in a sense, they don't count. If they're not dug in on one party/side and not looking to be outraged, they're difficult to cater/market to.

So it plays out as if we are that divided...and AMT effectively becomes a barometer for real life in terms of the outcomes of who is elected and why (well not exactly; we lean way more left).

That all said, I'm not both-sidings it. For example, I think AOC and MTG is a false equivalency. One is one of the further left congressmembers. The other is not just one of the further right but she's a professional gaslighter and outrage weaponizer. For some reason, outrage media comes from the right far more than the left. I'm not exactly sure why. People on the left are not above being greedy or corrupt and pre-MAGA, it seems that both parties were roughly as likely to be just that in terms of electeds. But right-wing outrage has been a bigger seller going back to Rush. This isn't a both-sides problem. It's a right-wing problem and it's profitable enough that it's not about to change.