Is there any saving grace or future candidate?

[Justsomedude]

I got to thinking about this today. The country is wholly divided and the left and right get along like an old man and a midget. Because we as humans are pretty much stupid as $%#@, the only thing that unites us is a tragedy or common enemy and I remember that clearly on 9-12-2001.

So what would it take (or who) to unite the country? I honestly don't know and can't think of anything. The media would be out in full force trying to dig up the last time a person farted in public if it meant demonizing whoever they felt was a threat if they ran for public office. I also understand that it's impossible to make everyone happy but I remember the days when an election happened, we got a new President and it was back to business the next day and the mud slinging was over, so apparently it's possible to at least get back to that. WTF happened to everyone? Social media is my guess.

[Diver43]

The right of free speech (hate) and social media have pretty much made getting along difficult

[PFD45]

Before I retired a couple of years ago, I noticed that the "fringe" people were pretty much the kooks I saw on tv.
I installed phone systems and each install took anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks. Mostly up and down the east coast and Seattle and Hawaii.
My point is that of all the people (customers)I worked with, I don't remember many that were openly assholes.
Even the teachers I worked around must have sensed that I wasn't the guy invite to an aunty-fay rally and kept it to polite conversation.
I saw what went on in LA and know there will always be aholes but I hope the fact that I've met so few personally means they are just the noisy few.

Oh yeah, and carry.

[breamfisher]

I'm not sure the current world political situation would favor that.

The world situation that favored what you speak of was a WWII to Cold War climate. To my mind, the rancor that we see today started growing in the post-Cold War optimism and the consequent rise of Bill Clinton and that whole situation. I think (just my thoughts) that the lack of obvious external enemies along with the relatively decent economic growth in that time allowed Americans to become more selfish. We were no longer sacrificing for the good of the nation, and economically we didn't have to.

That probably lead to a growth in the more radical elements of the parties.

Plus, the unintended consequences of the internet and the rise of social media. People no longer had to work for information, and I think that led to a loss of critical thinking skills. Now you can find "information" to prove anything.

I remember years ago folks were arguing about vibrating loaded ammo to clean it. Several folks said they were worried about shaking off the coatings on the power that modulate burn rates. I linked an interview with a Hornady ammo developer who said it wasn't an issue because there's no coating, modern powders have the compounds IN the powder grains. The response from a few folks was to the effect of, "I always heard the powder grains had a coating. What does that guy know?" Now imagine if that is more widespread and on other issues?

We're also seeing people's attention spans decreasing. I remember a few folks posting "long articles" that were about 7 paragraphs. How can you adequately explain complex issues in such a short amount of writing? Yeah, some authors drone on, but sometimes you need a multi-page answer.

I'm not sure human minds have are ready for this sort of information overload, yet. And the current 24 hour news cycle doesn't help. In the rush to get the scoop, we get a LOT of incorrect initial reporting.

We really need a common external enemy again, along with a return of critical thinking.

[CPJ 2.0]

Dexter Holland got it right in 2012:


“It'll never be the same, now
'Cause there's nothing left for us to be
Give it up the champions of greed
So come around and have another round on me
Dance f***** dance, let the motherf***** burn, hey!”




Ain’t nothing going to change. Just hang on for the ride. One side is gonna tip hard right, the other hard left. Repeat adinfinitum. With the only difference between the two being one side lets you know what they are planning to do, the other lies about what they are planning to do, but pusses out when it comes down to brass tacks. “We will get em next election cycle! “

[Zee]

Be courteous. Be kind. And have a plan to kill everyone in the room.

[Zsarvashere]

I do not believe there is a "saving grace". I will not go into the how as Bream did, but I will describe what I see. The parties are teams. 95% of the country is a fan of one or the other. Fan boys can never see the wrongs their team commits and can never see the good the other team has. Put on your Jersey, and paint your face and root for your team at all costs. It simply does not matter if what the other team does is good. Oppose it with prejudice we can not let them get a first down. If they say green who gives a poop if green is our favorite color, I now hate green. When your team sucks donkey nuts, just go watch the coaches press conference and he'll tell you how they are making it better just be patient.

People really are herd animals for the most part. Regardless of the autonomy they think they possess they look for their alphas to follow and the alpha is always right.

[Zee]

Everyone here belongs to a herd. Some are just smaller than others.

And numbers don’t count. Determination and resolve do.

Not being an idiot helps some.

[Justsomedude]

Before I retired a couple of years ago, I noticed that the "fringe" people were pretty much the kooks I saw on tv.
I installed phone systems and each install took anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks. Mostly up and down the east coast and Seattle and Hawaii.
My point is that of all the people (customers)I worked with, I don't remember many that were openly assholes.
Even the teachers I worked around must have sensed that I wasn't the guy invite to an aunty-fay rally and kept it to polite conversation.
I saw what went on in LA and know there will always be aholes but I hope the fact that I've met so few personally means they are just the noisy few.

Oh yeah, and carry.

It's been a busy day so I'll try to touch on everyone else's comments when I get a chance, but this brings up a point that I've noticed while working with the general public. It's easy to be an àsshole and hate another person when you're not face to face and it's incredibly easy to talk with someone in person and even have a political or religious disagreement while remaining respectful and thinking how you'd probably still break bread with them. Something about anonymity or just not being in person seems to bring out the animosity in people. It amazes me to see the rage bait posts that people on Facebook make when they hide behind a fake profile.

[Justsomedude]

Be courteous. Be kind. And have a plan to kill everyone in the room.

Straight to the point. Succinct and sweet

[breamfisher]

I do not believe there is a "saving grace". I will not go into the how as Bream did, but I will describe what I see. The parties are teams. 95% of the country is a fan of one or the other. Fan boys can never see the wrongs their team commits and can never see the good the other team has. Put on your Jersey, and paint your face and root for your team at all costs. It simply does not matter if what the other team does is good. Oppose it with prejudice we can not let them get a first down. If they say green who gives a poop if green is our favorite color, I now hate green. When your team sucks donkey nuts, just go watch the coaches press conference and he'll tell you how they are making it better just be patient.

People really are herd animals for the most part. Regardless of the autonomy they think they possess they look for their alphas to follow and the alpha is always right.

A lot of truth there. If both parties are to believe, we've elected Satan in the last 3 elections because that's how both sides cast their opposition.

Which is convenient because you don't need to run on or have actual policy positions. You're running to save the country. Then, once you're in office, all you have to do is keep the opposition from doing anything and punish them.

[Zorba]

There are no "sides" - there's just the Uniparty. Been that way for many decades, its just been exacerbated by smartphones and so called "social media".

[Bigslug]

Because we as humans are pretty much stupid as $%#@, the only thing that unites us is a tragedy or common enemy and I remember that clearly on 9-12-2001.

You pretty much answered your question right there. The primary use for someone we hate is to team up with them to kill someone we hate more or trust less. The primary reason we hate them and they us is we keep trying to regulate each other's lives.

And until we can make enough land to follow Daniel Boone's motto of "if you can see the smoke from your neighbor's chimney, they're too close", that will not change.

[Rugerfan]

It's been a busy day so I'll try to touch on everyone else's comments when I get a chance, but this brings up a point that I've noticed while working with the general public. It's easy to be an àsshole and hate another person when you're not face to face and it's incredibly easy to talk with someone in person and even have a political or religious disagreement while remaining respectful and thinking how you'd probably still break bread with them. Something about anonymity or just not being in person seems to bring out the animosity in people. It amazes me to see the rage bait posts that people on Facebook make when they hide behind a fake profile.
[/quote]


I think the anonymity of social media is a Very large reason for the animosity. Like you said, face-to-face people act very differently.

I also think that MSM thinks the US only consists of a handful of population centers. They totally and purposely ignore the people between the Rockies and the Appalachian Mountains.

[Zsarvashere]

Sometimes you struggle to find the best example of something. You know the perfect analog. Then it falls into your lap.

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