I believe that a very significant percentage of the population is composed of what most

[Atticus]

would call "followers". These folks want desperately to be accepted by the majority without regard to what the majority thinks, believes, says or does. Their favorite words might be "Yeah, that's what I think, too!"

What this means, it seems to me, is that much of the popularity of Trump and his MAGA cult is attributable almost entirely to the constant "news coverage". In much of what is selected for broadcasting, it SEEMS that "everyone" agrees that he is a great leader and packed crowds are advertising their willingness to "fight" to put him in power.

Too many, it seems, react to what sickens us with "Me, too!"

We rather routinely see and hear interviews of Trump cultists at his rallies. Where are the interviews of the MAJORITY of pissed off decent folks who want no part of Trump's traitorous insanity? Where are the talking heads willing to call traitorous assholes "traitorous assholes"?

I still recall how disgusted I was when I first heard Rush Limbaugh crow "If you don't know what to think, listen to me---I'll tell you!"

If democracy is destroyed in America, it may have perished in a sea of bobbleheads.

[NoMoreRepugs]

1. U hit it on the head with the LimpBalls quote.

Too many Americans aren’t smart enough or are too lazy to think for themselves.

[NewHendoLib]

2. You described the effectiveness of propaganda and

Why it is the tool of choice for authoritarians.

Also...the country is entertaining itself to death. TV, phone or laptop screens. Way to little critical thinking time, quiet reflection time.

I am not optimistic.

I think there will always be a majority of those who follow - they lack initiative, or courage - or are just subject to fear.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. It's a problem because too many stupid followers do not have a clue how stupid they are

They think they are geniuses for having figured it out:

Covid vaccines are killing millions more people than Covid ever did.

Jan 6 was a trap set up by Pelosi.

Trump is bravely sacrificing himself, his family, and his fortune to save America from WEF globohomos and homegrown drag queens.

They are each so important that the FBI, NSA, BATF, IRS, DMV, Twitter, Facebook, and CNN are all tracking them and hindering them.

[UniqueUserName]

4. I agree with you. But I think that's a feature not a bug

Existence is so complex.

If you can find people that are good, and that you love, best to farm off some of those decisions.

Me and my late hubby would talk about things like that. I told him that I thought that about 10% of the population was just shitty human beings. He told me, "no it's way higher than that."

According to my biology professor, One bad apple does spoil the whole bunch. According to him, the overripe apple releases the chemical that tells all of the other apples to ripen. Before you know it you have a bunch of rotten apples.

I would never have thought that 40% of Voters would vote for Donald Trump. In my county, it's like 80% of the voters voted for him.

But I do get it. Life gets in the way. And you want someone else to process some of the difficulties. I am watching my sister-in-law trying to save her 92-year-old father. There is no fixing old age. It's coming for all of us.

Her father loves me. But he won't suffer having a gay guy look over him.

[Johnny2X2X]

5. Social media

So, to kill time, I've started watching Facebook Reels or Youtube Shorts. Entertaining and mindless fun. But for some reason, I must have watched or liked the wrong videos, so it's a lot of Rightwing stuff fed to my feed right now. Really is remarkable watching it all. So subtle, but a few things I have determined it's reinforcing:

1. Republicans are dominating Democrats in Congress right now. I see constant videos titled, "Watch Jim Jordan make a fool out of AOC..."

2. Elon Musk is a swell guy. Constant videos of him being portrayed in a good light fill my feed on all platforms, it is absolutely an organized effort to rehabilitate his image.

3. Racial violence is everywhere. The videos I am shown reinforce racial violence and strereotypes.

And this is me, an avowed liberal. I can't imagine what conservatives are seeing.

To be fair, my feed also has a lot of videos of people helping the homeless, doing nice things for strangers, and animals doing funny stuff. Mixed in with a ton of fishing and billiards videos, which are two of my hobbies. But this stuff is so insideous and effective even when you're looking for it.

I believe these short videos are really powerful and we're not even talking about them as forms of propaganda yet.

[Atticus]

6. I see the same things on YouTube. I sometimes guiltily click on one to see

"just how stupid are these people?", but mostly I avoid them.

[Johnny2X2X]

7. I find them very slanted

The political content seems to be 90% coing from the Right. I just find it shocking since my entire profile on all social media is geared towards liberal ideology. I think there's a bit of social engineering going on and it seems like Dems might be behind the curve on this.

ANd another component I see is mysogony. So much mysogony in these short videos.

[Sympthsical]

8. The problem is a lack of self-awareness

Within their own narrative, everyone is a brave, independent thinker who would never follow a crowd for the sole purpose of fitting in with their team. They never keep quiet, go along, or enforce conformity within the group. They never follow lockstep with an ideology that leads into all kinds of illogical and inconsistent alleyways. That's what other people do. You know, those dumb people. Over there.

Self-awareness is a lot rarer. If this country valued it, we'd have a lot fewer problems across the board. Not just politics. Think of what social media would look like if people understood what things that come out of their mouths look like to the uninterested observer.

It'd be a pretty neat world.

[UniqueUserName]

9. I still think it's complexity of life

I've been here for nearly six decades.

For five decades I had a body that just would not quit. I could depend on it for everything.

And I watched my husband, my brother, and my mom die.

I am well aware of what that feels like. But I'm not dead yet.

You find yourself negotiating these capricious rules. I've got to pull out $14,000 out of my 401k so that I can get $12,000 in a health insurance subsidy. -----I think I could only take a little bit of you. It's because you're so intense. And that's a good thing.

I think we all should be well and care about everyone's health. But that's not the world that I live in.
‐------
But god! I wish the rain would stop so they could return to my saner mind.