I agree with you. Outside of sarcasm, I’m tempted to apply this version of the word:

“We’ll give you a fair trial, followed by a first-class hanging.” –Sheriff Cobb in Silverado

I don’t think violence is really the right answer to this mess, but I have to keep telling myself that. The hardest thing about facing down awful and destructive people isn’t winning, it’s not becoming them in the process.

To be fair, Trumpists have no idea how to actual govern, so to them, everything probably is an emergency.

The fact that you’re asking the question means you’ve made a lot of progress already. Give yourself real credit for wanting to be a better person. A lot of people don’t ever reach that point.

I’m working on the same things myself and I don’t think there are any simple or complete solutions. All you can do is keep in mind where you want to be, look at where you are, and try to get a little closer all the time.

You can’t control how you feel, but you can control what you do about it. Don’t act on your anger. Treat everyone as if they are a decent person, even if you don’t really think they are. You don’t have to enable them or accept the destructive things they do, but show kindness when you can and show sorrow, instead of anger, when you can’t.

Do this for yourself. Even if nothing else changes, it will change you. And over time, it will have a positive effect on other people, even if you often won’t know.

I feel the same way about it. There was a time when reddit, at least large parts of it, was a fairly decent place. That gradually changed, for a lot of different reason, until it became the mess it is now.

Lemmy feels more like the early reddit, before everyone gave up on real interactions and basic civility. We have our own problems, but the decentralized model tends to work in our favor instead of against us. Any given community, or even site, can still go to hell if the participants want it to and the moderators/admins allow it. The difference is that other communities and sites are not automatically dragged down along with it.

I think it also helps that a lot of the folks here have seen things go wrong, on reddit and elsewhere, and want to do better. There is a world of difference between skepticism and cynicism. So far, we seem to be mostly coming down on the right side of that. It’s amazing how much better things are when you treat others as human beings and don’t assume that nothing really matters.

I attended the rally in Madison today. It was a large and enthusiastic crowd, estimated at over 15,000. There was a lot of anger, but it was all directed toward positive ends. The protest was peaceful and non-destructive.

I have to give credit to the State Troopers who provided security for the event. They got right everything the police in LA have gotten wrong. Our police were pleasant, helpful, and low-key.

There was a good lineup of speakers. One of was a reporter and author named John Nichols who has written several books with Bernie Sanders. He arranged for Bernie to speak to the rally by phone.

I left feeling more positive than I have for quite a while. It’s easy to feel helpless, and the authoritarians are doing their best to promote that feeling. Being part of a huge crowd with a common goal makes fixing this mess seem possible.

I do think hating Trump has diagnostic value. It’s a strong indication of anit-sociopathic tendencies.

Understandably, people keep bringing up these obvious contradictions in GOP positions. The problem is that none of their supporters care. Inconsistency and outright hypocrisy are perfectly fine. They have no real values or principles, so they can’t violate them. What matters is that the right people are being hurt.

Let’s always be careful to differentiate ourselves based on meaningless characteristics, like when we were born. That’s nothing like differentiating based on race or gender.

The oligarchs want our attention focused on each other, not on them. Our only hope is to work across those lines.

No, they are not. False equivalence just takes the focus off the people who really are responsible. Trump, his enablers, and his supporters created this disaster.

A lot of useless Democrats failed to stand up and try to stop it. They have much to answer for, but they are in a different category.

It would have been nice if he’d already been slowing the nominees over their lack of qualifications and their fascist ideologies.

Don’t fall for the simple explanation. Both answers are true. The objectives are all about greed and betrayal, but the means are still heavily driven by incompetence. Just because someone is a criminal does not make them a competent criminal.

Stupid malice is still malice.

I don’t think that acting like third-rate Republicans is going to help us beat the Republicans.

Thank you for the kind words! I’ve been thinking a lot about the defenses I hear whenever someone is told they’re being lied to. I’m not sure there is a way to overcome that, but I feel like the usual responses from our side tend to be overly complicated.

The Democratic Party desperately needs to be disrupted. Their social agenda is generally decent, but they don’t seem willing to really push for it. Their economic agenda has mutated to where they support the oligarchs over the workers every time. They are still a lot better than the Republicans, when that’s the only choice, but we deserve better choices. And we can have them. Hogg is not only doing the right thing for the general public, he is also doing the right thing for the Democratic Party. And by that I mean the Party, not the people running the Party.

Don’t threaten me with a good time.

If there were any trust in the DNC to preserve, this would be a different discussion. They look after the interests of Democratic incumbents, not Democratic voters. Hogg is doing the right thing and I hope he succeeds.

You’re probably right about that. I find it hard to judge where the fine line between malice and incompetence will fall.

I agree with you. I’m an American and it makes me want to boycott American goods.

In practice, I am trying to reduce the amount of business I do with large American companies. They’re the ones who put Trump into power. I feel better supporting local businesses anyway.

We may yet see a Buy Canadian movement in the US.

Exactly. The Democrats have their own issues, but there is a difference between a candle and a burning house and the difference does matter.