the downvotes in this thread are gross
Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.
901–910 of 1001 posts
Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.
#902OK, so the transition from Make America Great Again slogan to Make America Decent Again (and Better) reality is inevitable and welcome. It is easy to get overjoyed by results of the U.S. Presidential Election (and some celebration certainly is in order). Uniting the country is definitely a commendable goal, though it is easier said than done. The election results across all levels clearly illustrate just how divided…
Is there really any common ground? My experience talking to the other side during this administration is that they are completely unable and often unwilling to consider any argument or information that conflicts with their views. How do you debate with people who don't care about facts or reason? In addition their leadership appears to be completely unwilling to act and good faith and the rank in file appear unwillin…
> Is there really any common ground?
There can be. On an individual level, where there's mutual trust. At the right time, better not in the heat of this moment.
I remember having a very fruitful discussion with a Trump/Pence supporting friend, somewhere in the middle of Trump's presidential term.
My friend's background as a conservative evangelical is _very_ different from mine. He is a decent and caring man, and I am 100% sure he'd describe me in the same way.
It started with hearing the news together. A few discussion points were Trump's pussy grabbing video, his anti-intellectualism, and the environment. The discussion also meandered through science and religion, religion as a fertile ground for symbolic language and ended up with virtue signaling.
We were able to come to the conclusion that this Trump-evangelicals alliance would damage them for years to come. How it would be better for them to ally with decent people instead, whatever their view on religion.
And here we are...
Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.
#903I don't care if you're liberal or conservative. The problem with Trump is that all of his success has come from lying, cheating, and manipulation. That's all he knows. This was never a simple matter of political differences. This was not normal.
It looks to me like so many are bothered by Trump because he didn't wrap all the lying and cheating and manipulation in a likeable, family-friendly public persona, like the presidents of the past did. He certainly said a lot of outrageous or false things, but policy-wise he didn't really make any horrible decisions.
So many of you want to desperately believe that the abnormal situation in the US can be pinned on one man and that once he's gone everything will go back to normal, or if not the situation will normalize to a certain extent. That just doesn't seem possible.
Trump is just the convenient scapegoat for the disastrous globalisation which hollowed out American industry, for the race but especially class conflicts which were never really settled and for the ultra-aggressive capitalism which creates many more losers than winners and for the two party system which is fundamentally vulnerable to corruption.
Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.
#904OK, so the transition from Make America Great Again slogan to Make America Decent Again (and Better) reality is inevitable and welcome. It is easy to get overjoyed by results of the U.S. Presidential Election (and some celebration certainly is in order). Uniting the country is definitely a commendable goal, though it is easier said than done. The election results across all levels clearly illustrate just how divided…
Anyone read a practical 20 year plan to decrease divisiveness in the US (say, to 1990s levels)? Or: Ignoring funding, what would you do? An example year 1 goal: "Get X million people to watch 10 hours/year of strangers who they would normally not encounter or agree with, and to see them as real people." To do that, produce and televise + stream a long-form TV show, like a version of Braver Angels' Red/Blue Workshops[…
I don’t think this can be done without altering social media algorithms to revert back from the “engagement-maximizing” firehose of vituperative extremist polarizing political sludge they pump into everyone’s feed these days.
Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.
#905What saddens me, is that by the standards of corporate world Trump didn't do anything extraordinary. He was running a country in a style of a mediocre corporate executive. Same type of an executive that, for example, resulted in The Boeing Company suffering losses and having fleets grounded. But nothing special, really. Think "Uber" type of a corporate culture. Or "WeWork". Used to run a country. It is no wonder, the…
It's almost like the roles of government, such as medical access, social security and law enforcement, should not be run as a business
Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.
#906There's a famous optical illusion with a spinning silhouette of a dancer. When you look at it, you'll swear it's spinning in one direction -- say, counter-clockwise. In fact, you'll be so sure it's spinning counter-clockwise, that the idea it could be spinning in the opposite direction will seem impossible to you. But if you stare at it long enough, and intently enough, you can make it spin the other way. I've notice…
The difference is that with the spinning dancer optical illusion, there's never a "wrong" way to view it. This isn't always the case with politics, or any kind of view for that matter. It's important to empathize with people you disagree with, but it's just as important that we start with a foundation of agreed upon facts. In other words, reality isn't a point of view.
Wasn't that OP's key point? Vast majority (if not all) political messages are both true and false, depending on context and personal bias.
Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.
#907There's a famous optical illusion with a spinning silhouette of a dancer. When you look at it, you'll swear it's spinning in one direction -- say, counter-clockwise. In fact, you'll be so sure it's spinning counter-clockwise, that the idea it could be spinning in the opposite direction will seem impossible to you. But if you stare at it long enough, and intently enough, you can make it spin the other way. I've notice…
Honestly, right and left is pretty nonsensical, at least the current beliefs that qualify as right or left. The average person likely has beliefs that would fall on both sides and this incessant need to categorize someone as either left or right just leads to more polarization and more extreme views. When people are told they must be one thing because they have certain views about one issue, meanwhile their views on other issues lean more to the other side. But because of this strange all or nothing paradigm going on, there's no room for common ground or compromise, it's all or nothing one side or the other, you believe one thing, so you must believe all the things or you're on this side or the other.
That's utter nonsense, political spectrums aren't all or nothing, take it or leave it, all inclusive things. A person is capable of having a range of views on different issues that may fall on either side and it's perfectly acceptable for this to be the case.
Politics like everything in life isn't black and white all or nothing, take it or leave it, it'a a bunch of shades of grey like everything else and as with most things the average person, when asked about issues without the context of left or right involved, will likely express views that fall across both sides of the political spectrum.
Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.
#908There's a famous optical illusion with a spinning silhouette of a dancer. When you look at it, you'll swear it's spinning in one direction -- say, counter-clockwise. In fact, you'll be so sure it's spinning counter-clockwise, that the idea it could be spinning in the opposite direction will seem impossible to you. But if you stare at it long enough, and intently enough, you can make it spin the other way. I've notice…
There is an alternative to such polarized views. In many countries, politics is just politics, it happens in the background and is about as heart felt as the weather report. It can be controversial and felt by all sure, but it shouldn't be a lifestyle or ideological platform that the general public use to divide themselves. It's backoffice stuff, for the most part, and I am too busy being friends to really mind what…
Yeah, sorry, but my access to healthcare isn't something as heart felt as the weather report. I either live or die without it.
Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.
#909There's a famous optical illusion with a spinning silhouette of a dancer. When you look at it, you'll swear it's spinning in one direction -- say, counter-clockwise. In fact, you'll be so sure it's spinning counter-clockwise, that the idea it could be spinning in the opposite direction will seem impossible to you. But if you stare at it long enough, and intently enough, you can make it spin the other way. I've notice…
While this might sound reasonable and balanced in most democracies, it's just not applicable to what is/was happening in the US. Regardless of moderate views of individuals, this election was not about economic policies or other debatable differences, this election was about if we can get back to this described discourse level of coexistence, not where one side's chief strategist says it's required to behead scientists for deterrence, any adherence to truth, decency and the general right to exist for minorities was on the table.
Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.
#910There's a famous optical illusion with a spinning silhouette of a dancer. When you look at it, you'll swear it's spinning in one direction -- say, counter-clockwise. In fact, you'll be so sure it's spinning counter-clockwise, that the idea it could be spinning in the opposite direction will seem impossible to you. But if you stare at it long enough, and intently enough, you can make it spin the other way. I've notice…
While this might sound reasonable and balanced in most democracies, it's just not applicable to what is/was happening in the US. Regardless of moderate views of individuals, this election was not about economic policies or other debatable differences, this election was about if we can get back to this described discourse level of coexistence, not where one side's chief strategist says it's required to behead scientis…
You seem to be affected by the exact thing the post you replied to is alleging. As an outsider who reads both sides' arguments all the time, I am convinced that Republicans currently lean towards supporting freedom of speech and personal liberties, civil discourse, equal rights while the Democrats are the exact opposite. They are supporting and defending violent protests, looting, segregation(!), vowed to make lists of Trump supporters to deal with after the election etc. etc. ... Perhaps this is "truth and decency" for some people, but to many it's not.