"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,"

[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.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@lolonurse That could be — a lack of real information about who Hitler was. The other explanation might be that a truly abysmal effect of what Trump is doing to reshape reality for a lot of us is that Hitler is being rehabilitated for many people who ought to know better.

[lolonurse@ohai.social]

@wdlindsy
1984 meets Brave New World, and they encounter the Morlocks & Eloi...

[boardgamer@hear-me.social]

@wdlindsy It's too soon to tell but the fact that the Heritage Foundation is firing its leadership is a good sign. Trump will take the parts of Project 2025 he likes & gut the parts he doesn't. However, I don't think this will be the end of democracy Republicans thwarted his attempts to overturn the elections last time & will do it again. What liberals need to do over the next 4 years is take a hard look at their party & focus on how they can reshape their party to address the working class.

[lolonurse@ohai.social]

@wdlindsy @Variant488
Your threads are always very much appreciated. So is the time you take to do them!

[mos_8502@studio8502.ca]

@wdlindsy @SteveYYC It’s foolishly softhearted to absolve bad character by labeling it curable ignorance.

[oldguycrusty@mastodon.world]

@wdlindsy @Variant488

Yes, thank you.

[darwinwoodka@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy the media can fuck right off

[nazokiyoubinbou@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy I've watched my own parents be slow walked into believing in a world where stuff that a crazy person in a tinfoil hat in a movie wouldn't even say. My mother is pretty gullible, but my father is too smart for this stuff, yet some of it has gotten him too.

I still think critical thinking should be a required skill in schools taught multiple times at multiple levels.

[lightfiar@med-mastodon.com]

@wdlindsy PS--a forensic analysis of WHY dems lost so horribly needs to be part of moving forward. Where we agree--the media are utter SHIT. Including the Trumpington Post that featured a dozen stories a day about the asshole and left Harris with nothing--typical of media. Where we disagree--that the Dems themselves are not living up to their stated claims and images. E.g.,
https://medium.com/the-new-climate/post-us-election-the-contrarian-take-on-climate-2ba24101b2c9

[photoncollector@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy
It mainly turned out the way that it did because of the massive rampant, poverty in the US.
People wrongly thought that Trump might solve it.

Just a moment...

(medium.com)

[midnightwildflower@universeodon.com]

@wdlindsy @lolonurse

I do not know what the general Trump supporter population heard, but I know one person who was well aware of the Hitler comparison (they kept bringing it up). To them, Hitler was a horrible person who killed millions of people, so the comparison to Trump was absurd.

These people have been fed a steady diet of fear, anger, and hatred, all wrapped in the belief that Trump is being victimized by everyone. For those who believe what Hitler did, it probably came across as hysterical fear-mongering.