General Discussion
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(17,570 posts)N_E_1 for Tennis
(9,593 posts)Baltimike
(4,126 posts)and it is high time we stop pretending they're not being hacked.
bamagal62
(3,218 posts)yesterday. Were fortunate we had all those mail in ballots. They werent prepared for that. If not for covid, in many ways, trump might have won. We have to get rid of those machines.
Baltimike
(4,126 posts)But they ALWAYS do when there's a paper trail?
And how is it that these "discrepancies" ONLY ever favor the right wing? In twenty YEARS, they only favor them.
It is time to stop castigating the people who have been pointing this out for a while.
Edwcraig
(287 posts)ananda
(28,783 posts)The way our media works is a huge problem,
particularly in the rural areas.
Look at hatetalk radio, the way Sinclair has
taken over tv markets and forces employees
to spout lies and propaganda.
Even the way supposedly decent cable news
channels like CNN and MSNBC normalize
horrendous policies and actions or else
water things down in both sidesism.
Since when has news just been the news?
sammythecat
(3,568 posts)And the likelihood of them ever changing is just about zero.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,147 posts)ananda
(28,783 posts)However, I don't think all 70 million Trump
voters were white supremacists. Of course,
a large number were, but what about the
rest?
Is the illusion of power an aphrodisiac to
people who have been bullied or discriminated
against, thought of as less than, and/or raised
by authoritarian parents?
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,147 posts)and that our electoral system is built on and meant to uphold white supremacy, and without a critical approach to the systems we all participate in, we will continue to uphold white supremacy. I dont mean that individual voters are white supremacists.
Iggo
(47,487 posts)The system is racist.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,147 posts)Iggo
(47,487 posts)Still doing it, really. It never ends.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,147 posts)BarackTheVote
(938 posts)You dont need to be waving a Confederate Flag and spewing racial slurs to be a white supremacist. You dont even have to realize youre upholding white supremacy, or holding views that benefit white supremacy; its a passive thing for a lot of white people and takes an active self-examination to root out its influences in your life.
You might not wear a white hood, but you might think, Theyre right, if there are more immigrants from Mexico, it will be harder for Americans (white people) to find jobs, or Thats true, Black neighborhoods do have more crime (areas with deep-rooted poverty have more crime), we need more cops there to control it (them), or Why should I have to contribute part of my taxes to help failing schools, or provide social welfare (in Black neighborhoods), they should take responsibility for their own decisions (not even considering that it wasnt their decision to be born into generational poverty). All of these views for many people have the ring not of white supremacy, but of common sense, and its pernicious.
And heaven help you if you try to call it out on some people, even in the gentlest termsthey seem to just circle their ideological wagons, insist theyre not racist and maybe even lob at you that YOURE the racist because you recognize that white privileged is a thing that, you know, exists. Yes, they do have a persecution complex, yes, that does make them far more susceptible to falling for a big tough daddy like Trumpbut the thing that they feel like theyre being persecuted by is PC police who really just want everybody to be respectful of one another like people are in a, you know, civilized society. They feel persecuted because maybe they told a black joke that one time and people didnt laugh and maybe they even got called out on it. Meanwhile, actual persecution with dire consequences is happening to BIPOC all the time.
Anyway. In answer to the question, its racism. Also, misogyny. And homophobia.
ananda
(28,783 posts)and particularly virulent and dangerous when
attached to racism and all the other isms as well...
but perhaps the range of the vote can hold
other energies as well, such as religious
zealotry, greed, and just plain being attracted
to the illusory power of the bully.
BarackTheVote
(938 posts)Its long been observed that Evangelicals latched onto abortion as a wedge issue because it was no longer viable for them to openly support Jim Crow legislation.
Avarice is often tied not just to wanting to accumulate wealth for yourself, but keeping others from acquiring what COULD be yours, in this case, maintaining the generational poverty of minority communities.
And power and bullying are very much tied to feelings of superiority toward marginalized individualsremember the quote about how if you can convince the worst white man hes better than the best Black man, he wont notice that youre robbing him blind?
The authoritarian mentality NEEDS an other, and here, the most convenient others are Black people, Latinos, and Muslims.
ananda
(28,783 posts)White voters sometimes use other issues to disguise
their supremacism.
Another way is to use their so-called christianity as
a crutch for martyrdom, feeling persecuted by
what they term the minority religions which want
to take over.
Give me a big fucking break!
Klaralven
(7,510 posts)The social media driven groups on the far right and far left will not disband. Things may cool off a bit over the winter, but I expect next summer to be just as hot as this one was.
It will be interesting to see whether vaccine versus no vaccine becomes the new mask versus no mask marker of political alignment.
Towlie
(5,308 posts)Also, half of the population have an I.Q. below 100.
Demsrule86
(68,352 posts)but the electoral college and Senate system that will make it impossible to move left. We need a 50 state strategy which involves winning Statewide and nationally.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)bluestarone
(16,722 posts)1) Religion it's the GOD told me crowd. THEY will hear NOTHING else!!! you just cannot talk to these CRAZIES!! 2) Right wing crowd. These people were ALWAYS against being forced by Gov. to do things. (wear a mask for Christ sake) RUSSIA perfect storm BULLSHIT! This ALL has to be addressed in the next four years!!
SMC22307
(8,088 posts)Many vote solely along party lines. Many view elections as sports with their team winning being the most important thing. Decades of right-wing brainwashing keep people voting for Republicans -- God, Gays and Guns is not unique to this year's election. We're a nation of bullies -- we saw that during eight miserable years of Bush/Cheney. Why do you think that would change with Drumpf?
Lock him up.
(6,874 posts)Total votes = 146,668,047 in a country of over 330,000,000 citizens? https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-population/
How many don't care about politics? Or can't vote because too many requirements?
cachukis
(2,201 posts)Fox News is up to five times more likely to use the word hate in its programming than its main competitors, according to our new study of how cable news channels use language.
Fox particularly uses the term when explaining opposition to Donald Trump. His opponents are said to hate Trump, his values and his followers.