"I believe this election turned out the way it did in no small part because a large number of Americans are now submerged in new factories of lies more insidious than anything Orwell imagined,"

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@skua Yes, I could see that possibility. If so, we would all need to be very concerned about the fact that so much of our food is supplied by the blue state of California, where immigrant labor is absolutely essential (as in the rest of the country) to growing and harvesting food.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@gooba42 Yes, when we set ourselves on this path, we need to be very aware of grim historical precedents. Many of us are low-information voters who haven't troubled to inform ourselves of that grim history.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@PricklyPam Yes, you're right. For many of us, the old adage, None so blind as those who see, is going to be right in front of our noses soon.

[variant488@universeodon.com]

@wdlindsy
Great thread. Thanks.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Variant488 Thank you so much for letting me know it's worthwhile.

[gooba42@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy Every major media outlet ran positively endless "People are worried about X" stories without balancing them with coverage of the facts.

We were told so many times about how anxious people were around crime, inflation, immigration, etc. as though how (misinformed) people felt was the only story.

Reflecting their anxiety and paranoia back at them turns out not to help anything but the media owners.

[lightfiar@med-mastodon.com]

@wdlindsy Well, that's head in the sand--if the Dems are going to be winners, they have to shift gears. It's PRECISELY because Dems failed to genuinely get things done in favor of kowtowing to their 0.1% owner-donors that they lost.

[sewblue@sfba.social]

@wdlindsy I was looking up Project 2025 to better understand what will happen to hubby's government job in Social Security.

I was confronted with dated news articles stating Harris was wrong for saying Trump wasn't going to cut social security following Project 2025, that he had distance himself from the plan. CNN.

She was wrong, but his lies were trusted.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@LightFIAR The Democrats may have shortcomings — they do have shortcomings — but they are not the problem.

Some of us cannot afford to put our heads in the sand right now, or to play dysfunctional games wasting energy on our own allies rather than confronting the threat that looms before us all.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@sewblue There was all sorts of disinformation, almost all of it emanating from pro-Trump, right-wing sources, about Project 2025 in the lead-up to the election. I'm not surprised you found those sources online.

His lies were trusted seems to me to be the salient point.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@gooba42 Yes. If there's history left to write down the road, the role the corporate media have played in leading us down the path to fascism will be front and center in historical analysis. They're beyond shameful.

[lightfiar@med-mastodon.com]

@wdlindsy Well, we see it differently. Pproblems Dems have aren't minor ones--they are profoundly degenerative. Facing the threats looming before us HAS to include reform and strengthening of the Dem party to reflect what people need: healthcare for all, a livable planet, an end to genocide (that I shouldn't even have to write).
Calling such need for reform "dysfunctional games" is in fact part of problem. Things aren't ever going back to the status quo; many of us will be dead within 4 years.

[rogueplayer@mstdn.social]

@wdlindsy

Well, when they decide to move Social Security minimum age to 72, they will have a pool of seniors and the disabled to draw workers from.

[moani@ohai.social]

@wdlindsy “[Trump’s] obsession with the fictitious character Hannibal Lecter seems to be because he conflated insane asylums and refugees seeking asylum.” lol that’s the first time I’ve heard any explanation for the obsession!

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@moani Thanks for sharing it. I had not heard this explanation and am interested to hear it.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@RoguePlayer Well, there's that, for sure!

[ra6bit@infosec.exchange]

@wdlindsy @Nonya_Bidniss Holy hell. I thought people would be repulsed by a Nazi, and just didn’t believe he was one. It turns out they recognized it, they just don’t fear it because they’re not going to be on the receiving end of the hate. They stand to gain from it.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@LightFIAR Once again: no one is saying that Democrats don't have problems and that they don't need to face them. The fact that some of us will be dead within four years ought, in my view, to focus our attention on all those about to be seriously hurt by the new regime. That's where our concern and anger need to focus — not on tearing away at each other.

[lolonurse@ohai.social]

@wdlindsy
FFS!! It's very apparent that most of these people really have limited knowledge & understanding of who Hitler was, & what he & his henchmen aimed to do. They probably think Mussolini was a great guy, too.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@ra6bit @Nonya_Bidniss Yes, I think this is a dynamic fascism always feeds on: it exploits people's rage and ignorance, focusing them on some imagined threat, and gets them to make choices that are directly counter to their self-interest. Then those very same people have to wake up eventually and discover that, in targeting and hurting others, they've hurt themselves, too.