As Mary Ann said, we stopped thinking of ourselves as citizens and started thinking of ourselves as consumers. Maybe Reagan had something to do with that that or maybe it was when news divisions merged with entertainment divisions at the big 3 networks. Certainly FoxNoise cemented it. Let's hope there are enough people like this man and his late father who see through the illusions. Can we reach 100 million votes for democracy? I think we can.
Okay, that man made me cry Susan. "One grain." Before I sat to read this I was making coffee and feeding my dog and wondering when we would "get our lives back again." It has been close to a decade since "The Gombeen" (as a lovely Irish grandmother called him on a Dingle beach one fine day early in his disassembly of democracy) slithered from his tower. I keep thinking people will wake from their fever-dream and realize what and who he is. I need to make peace that they will not, and this IS our lives now. I used to shore up democracy by voting and writing letters and protesting. It used to be mostly enough. I will keep doing those things of course, but you and the gentle man in the video, have made me wonder how else I can help "hold the beach." Thank you.
Trump’s followers have always reminded me of lemmings. No thought, no reasoning will deter them from destroying our democracy. We the patient ones , must make our voices louder and stick our multitude of grains together.
I'm with you and that guy. It's kind of a terrible option, but distinctly the best one going.
I keep thinking of Plato's ranking of forms of government: he liked benevolent dictatorship best and tyranny worst, critiquing democracy in the middle for its difficulty in getting things done. He lauded the benevolent dictatorship for getting good things done, and condemned the tyranny for getting bad things done.
And in connections with this I think about how the residents of the US have been increasingly successfully an understanding of ourselves as consumers, perhaps critics of the world-- by no means its producers. And this is both false and cements laziness in a meta-ideological framing.
And so Jimmy Carter got scorned in no small part for talking to and with constituents as if they were participants in the making of the nation, and Donald Trump says "I am your guy and only I, I alone will Get It Done! Just give me your votes and money and lie back!"
Democracy IS messy and ours has needed some work since forever. Sometimes, the fundamentalist in me thinks our current challenges have come home to roost because we half-assed it. We allowed slavery to build our unrivaled economy. We denied the vote — and continue to do so. We embraced consumerism over everything. What did we think would happen?
I hear you! I absolutely used to believe that our democracy was impermeable to harm because of our laws and "checks and balances". I belived there was no way people would elect a con man as President. And I believed after Jan 6th, we'd never see the con man in politics again. Wrong, wrong, wrong! To this day, I cannot understand how people can support such a horrible man. I believed most people would see through his lies and are good, decent people. I do not want to submit to the possibility that there might be a lot of people who simply are selfish, don't care about other people and admire the con man's ruthlessness. I prefer to think a lot of his supporters aren't paying close attention and are siding with whomever is the Republican front-runner. I prefer to think a lot of his supporters would not vote for him if they only knew of real threat he posed to our democracy. I think they believe the Republican way will prevail. I wonder if we could get their attention, they would see that Trump is not a representative of mainstream Republicans at all. He promotes himself. He does not represent the country's people. They will eventually see that, right?
And yet... what I think should be, what I think is obvious, is not! It makes me question people and their true nature. I used to think there was more good than bad in the world. I'm not so sure anymore.
I think there is more good but you are right about the whole “Republicans going for whoever is the front runner” and most antagonistic. I wish the primary runners would speak out, besides Christie. It’s sad that decent candidates don’t want to ruin their lives by running and that money and lobbyists basically run our country.
I agree with Joan. I think there are more good people than bad, but we tend to hear about the ones who make incredibly bad decisions because they are the aberration -- and we start to think they're the standard.
I think you are right, and know good/bad isn't binary. What's happened over the last 8+ years has made me question things I thought were indisputable a lot more. I think I need to not take things for granted, which can leave us more vulnerable to bad actors. I feel like we need to be on guard more.
Another aspect of cognitive dissonance may explain why we are where we are today. Thanks to conservative talk-show radio shows, conservative online "newsleterrs"/blogs, and Fox News, who thrive on creating a following by spreading lies & conspiracies, in order to generate discord & hate, in order to keep their audience glued to them to be informed of more of the same. It has dragged people right down into the drain to the sewer. They have been brainwashed into a sea of cognitive dissonance! Meanwhile, those people BELIEVE they have the real story that the rest of us hide from them. They believe they will save our country from ruin. They believe they are religious, law abiding, good people, even as they agree to separating children from parents who enter our country, reducing safety net programs for struggling families, and calling people who destroyed US Capitol property and injured Capitol police fellow patriots. How they see themselves is in conflict with their words and actions. When asked, WWJD, there are crickets.
What is the name of the veteran who made the "If I'm one grain of sand..." statement, and, is that quote HIS, or did he get it from some long ago warrior?
I will never understand the appeal of being in a really stupid brainwashed cult
Or the appeal to vote for some of the most incompetent and unqualified goofballs on the ballot
Only a brainwashed dupe can look at a candidate who flunked out of high school , failed their GED three times , got pregnant as a teen and worked as an escort and think , she’s a patriot
As a grain of sand, pass it on : America has it's faults as it always did. There are ways to improve and we should work on them. However, the idea that we need to make America great again is based on false information (in so many ways). American is doing well in the world right now. My cousin sent this to me today: https://youtu.be/hEIuG4p0Jnc?si=n6Oj656PAzxnqtl_
As Mary Ann said, we stopped thinking of ourselves as citizens and started thinking of ourselves as consumers. Maybe Reagan had something to do with that that or maybe it was when news divisions merged with entertainment divisions at the big 3 networks. Certainly FoxNoise cemented it. Let's hope there are enough people like this man and his late father who see through the illusions. Can we reach 100 million votes for democracy? I think we can.
I think so, too.
I think so, as well.
Okay, that man made me cry Susan. "One grain." Before I sat to read this I was making coffee and feeding my dog and wondering when we would "get our lives back again." It has been close to a decade since "The Gombeen" (as a lovely Irish grandmother called him on a Dingle beach one fine day early in his disassembly of democracy) slithered from his tower. I keep thinking people will wake from their fever-dream and realize what and who he is. I need to make peace that they will not, and this IS our lives now. I used to shore up democracy by voting and writing letters and protesting. It used to be mostly enough. I will keep doing those things of course, but you and the gentle man in the video, have made me wonder how else I can help "hold the beach." Thank you.
I love that phrase, hold the beach. And I’m scratching my head, too. But I’m not tired and I’m not retreating.
We cannot retreat, even if we ARE tired, or have physical limitations. This man made me cry, too--in all the right ways. Thank you, Susan.
Trump’s followers have always reminded me of lemmings. No thought, no reasoning will deter them from destroying our democracy. We the patient ones , must make our voices louder and stick our multitude of grains together.
One voice… it’s all we have.
It must count for something.
Yes
I'm with you and that guy. It's kind of a terrible option, but distinctly the best one going.
I keep thinking of Plato's ranking of forms of government: he liked benevolent dictatorship best and tyranny worst, critiquing democracy in the middle for its difficulty in getting things done. He lauded the benevolent dictatorship for getting good things done, and condemned the tyranny for getting bad things done.
And in connections with this I think about how the residents of the US have been increasingly successfully an understanding of ourselves as consumers, perhaps critics of the world-- by no means its producers. And this is both false and cements laziness in a meta-ideological framing.
And so Jimmy Carter got scorned in no small part for talking to and with constituents as if they were participants in the making of the nation, and Donald Trump says "I am your guy and only I, I alone will Get It Done! Just give me your votes and money and lie back!"
Democracy IS messy and ours has needed some work since forever. Sometimes, the fundamentalist in me thinks our current challenges have come home to roost because we half-assed it. We allowed slavery to build our unrivaled economy. We denied the vote — and continue to do so. We embraced consumerism over everything. What did we think would happen?
I hear you! I absolutely used to believe that our democracy was impermeable to harm because of our laws and "checks and balances". I belived there was no way people would elect a con man as President. And I believed after Jan 6th, we'd never see the con man in politics again. Wrong, wrong, wrong! To this day, I cannot understand how people can support such a horrible man. I believed most people would see through his lies and are good, decent people. I do not want to submit to the possibility that there might be a lot of people who simply are selfish, don't care about other people and admire the con man's ruthlessness. I prefer to think a lot of his supporters aren't paying close attention and are siding with whomever is the Republican front-runner. I prefer to think a lot of his supporters would not vote for him if they only knew of real threat he posed to our democracy. I think they believe the Republican way will prevail. I wonder if we could get their attention, they would see that Trump is not a representative of mainstream Republicans at all. He promotes himself. He does not represent the country's people. They will eventually see that, right?
And yet... what I think should be, what I think is obvious, is not! It makes me question people and their true nature. I used to think there was more good than bad in the world. I'm not so sure anymore.
I think there is more good but you are right about the whole “Republicans going for whoever is the front runner” and most antagonistic. I wish the primary runners would speak out, besides Christie. It’s sad that decent candidates don’t want to ruin their lives by running and that money and lobbyists basically run our country.
I agree with Joan. I think there are more good people than bad, but we tend to hear about the ones who make incredibly bad decisions because they are the aberration -- and we start to think they're the standard.
I think you are right, and know good/bad isn't binary. What's happened over the last 8+ years has made me question things I thought were indisputable a lot more. I think I need to not take things for granted, which can leave us more vulnerable to bad actors. I feel like we need to be on guard more.
I think I have been half listening for years.recently this helped me focus some. Especially in this election year.
Progressives Go to War with AIPAC: “An Extremist Organization That Destabilizes US Democracy”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KfQu7c10eAY&t=35s&pp=ygUaVGhlIGh1bWFuaXN0LiBSZXBvcnQgQWlwYWM%3D
Another aspect of cognitive dissonance may explain why we are where we are today. Thanks to conservative talk-show radio shows, conservative online "newsleterrs"/blogs, and Fox News, who thrive on creating a following by spreading lies & conspiracies, in order to generate discord & hate, in order to keep their audience glued to them to be informed of more of the same. It has dragged people right down into the drain to the sewer. They have been brainwashed into a sea of cognitive dissonance! Meanwhile, those people BELIEVE they have the real story that the rest of us hide from them. They believe they will save our country from ruin. They believe they are religious, law abiding, good people, even as they agree to separating children from parents who enter our country, reducing safety net programs for struggling families, and calling people who destroyed US Capitol property and injured Capitol police fellow patriots. How they see themselves is in conflict with their words and actions. When asked, WWJD, there are crickets.
That might be our best response when the MAGA-type embraces Trump. WWJD?
Powerful, thank you!
Thanks for reading it.
What is the name of the veteran who made the "If I'm one grain of sand..." statement, and, is that quote HIS, or did he get it from some long ago warrior?
I will never understand the appeal of being in a really stupid brainwashed cult
Or the appeal to vote for some of the most incompetent and unqualified goofballs on the ballot
Only a brainwashed dupe can look at a candidate who flunked out of high school , failed their GED three times , got pregnant as a teen and worked as an escort and think , she’s a patriot
Please
She can’t even spell patriot
MAGA desperately wants to be taken seriously
And it really ruins their day when people don’t
As a grain of sand, pass it on : America has it's faults as it always did. There are ways to improve and we should work on them. However, the idea that we need to make America great again is based on false information (in so many ways). American is doing well in the world right now. My cousin sent this to me today: https://youtu.be/hEIuG4p0Jnc?si=n6Oj656PAzxnqtl_
Oh thank you!