The thing is, we cross the world to crush someone all the time in the interest of the rich and powerful at home. That’s a full feature of the American system, not a bug.

He’s saying the quiet parts out loud. We’ve been the bad guys for at least 70 some years (end of WWII, start of Korean war), if not longer (Mexican-American War), or even longer (original colonization of the US).

It’s from all that accordion-playing he does.

Haha, I couldn’t tell! : )

Well, I was just jesting about Trump, not directing it at you.

But if you want me to break down what I meant, it was in a general sense of “Trump” as in the current president as the subject and “laser-focused” as an adjective for him, similar to how you used it in the post I was replying to. My point being that the man is completely incapable of being laser-focused. Neither of your follow-up examples fit that.

I hope that clarifies. : )

“Trump” and “laser-focused”… most clashing words ever used in one sentence.

So do I. I see voting/electoral reform as the only hope of change short of a literal revolution.

I never thought they would. They would have to be forced to do it by voter initiatives/referenda, like has happened in various cities and states so far, usually with resistance by one or both parties.

I can understand the sentiment. The problem as I see it is that the political duopoly in the US has a complete death grip on the electoral system. One of the very few ways that that can be loosened is via alternative voting methods like ranked-choice, approval, star voting, etc. That’s why if I spend any energy in politics in the future it will be to push these alternatives.

From a politician’s standpoint, it would be scorched earth. Think about it from his perspective: what would that have accomplished? It certainly wouldn’t have ended the DNC as previous DNC email scandals hadn’t. It would have made his fans even more loyal, but would have pissed the rest of the democratic party apparatus. He would have said goodbye to any and all opportunities for being in committees and any cooperation from establishment democrats from then on, possibly have had an intense primary challenge afterward. A lot of libs still blame him for Hillary losing to Trump, even though he didn’t do anything questionable. It was all lose no gain from his perspective.

I agree he’s not president material, but because he’s too old to win now (even though he’s still sharper than either Biden or Trump when they won their elections).

I hear you, but Bernie was in what, his mid-70s, and had pretty much always played by the book as far as I know. Even though I was somewhat disappointed in him after having not only given money but also canvassed for him, several times, I didn’t really expect him to go scorched-earth.

Right, I’m aware of the general history and not debating any of it. What I meant was the democrat establishment back-stabbed his campaign both times, but it sounded like you were blaming him for it.

Bernie stopped running for president after the DNC told him to.

What do you mean by this?

For sure, I think that this is a good evaluation of the situation. Different instances have different cultures and I wish more people would come to that realization and act accordingly. I think that this has been one of the stumbling blocks of federated group discussions like Lemmy so far.

OK, now I understand a little bit better what you were trying to say, and I agree that all the complaining about any particular major instance is pure bandwagon/circlejerking/stereotyping/etc.

In my personal view, lemmy.world is the worst Lemmy instance for a variety of reasons, but I don’t think it’s all .world users or even a majority, so I don’t go around complaining about .world in every thread here like people do about hexbear and lemmygrad.

It’s gotten so bad that, like you said, people are witch-hunting even other instances because they still federate with hexbear and lemmygrad and people think they’re secretly harboring underground users of those instances. It’s McCarthyism all over again.

Sorry, but this sounds like a completely unhinged attempt to blame hexbear for everything that goes wrong anywhere.

The post from Dagwood222 that UnderpantsWeevil was complaining about couldn’t have been more completely opposite to the usual hexbear take. When is the last time that any hexbear user defended democrats like Dagwood222 did?

I can’t think of a single thing. The most important project they’ve undertaken was the ACA, and I don’t know if entrenching health insurance companies permanently and legally into the fabric of our nation is all that much to celebrate.

Yes, and don’t forget that the ACA was modeled after “Romneycare” that Mitt Romney had implemented in MA, which in turn was modeled after a plan from the Heritage foundation. In other words, the ACA was essentially a Republican/conservative plan. The main reason Republicans hate is that it was Obama who implemented it nationwide.

I agree with another commenter who said that left influencers and intellectuals are systematically silenced. The right wing, no matter how extreme, has popular venues to reach people and don’t get cancelled for every slip of the tongue like the left wing gets cancelled. I think it’s all a concerted effort by liberals/capitalists to weaken the left.

I have found this essay helpful in understanding some of this issue: Exiting the Vampire Castle

I am also afraid that many republican voters are too deep in the groupthink to see out of this. Trump can just make up some reason, no matter how flimsy or absurd that their problems are caused by the left and most will believe him.

This really worries me. At this point, he could completely mess up the country and the world (as he’s trying hard to do), do it completely in the open, blame the democrats for the consequences, and his supporters would believe him. I don’t think this will end well.

The music in it goes harder than the cover art!