It's always so easy to blame women, isn't it?

William Lindsey :toad:

@gooba42 I'm all for precision in our use of language.

Trojan Duck

@wdlindsy Yep, you are, at least you have consumed enough of the Kool-Aid to be part of the Beltway Borg. But don't worry. I have unfollowed you, so you won't have any more of my cognitive dissonance-inducing questions soiling your hermetic worldview.

William Lindsey :toad:

@Pettet50 Yes, and over 74,000,000 Americans cast their votes for Trump. I don't think we should take our eyes away from that fact.

William Lindsey :toad:

@todwest It's interesting, isn't it, how social media permit us to know people we have never even met and don't know in the flesh, and sum them up in neat, dismissable categories?

ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him)

@wdlindsy I don't think it's productive to tell people their economic pain is imagined, though. Like, yes, there is disinformation, absolutely, and we have to combat that. But another part of it is that inflation rate decreasing doesn't mean things are any more affordable, esp if your wage hasn't kept up (but that was the Dem line). More jobs, yes, but lots of them are gig economy jobs w/no security. On and on.

Dems tend to sweep inconvenient facts under the rug.

William Lindsey :toad:

@phaedral He's clearly the face of over 74,000,000 million of us, or why else would those 74,000,000+ choose to vote for him, knowing who he is?

William Lindsey :toad:

@TCatInReality I think the fact that white men are overwhelmingly Trump's base of support should be front and center in our analysis of what's happening in the US right now.

William Lindsey :toad:

@humanhorseshoes For sure.

William Lindsey :toad:

@vashafer Yes, I agree.

Franklington

@wdlindsy The best article I’ve read about American society

William Lindsey :toad:

@chiraag I think that overlooking the key — and huge — role that disinformation and propaganda, much of it emanating from hostile groups intent on deceiving and dividind us, would be naive and unhelpful. If we really want to understand what's going on right now….

But some of us choose to misunderstand, dont' we, as we love taking pot shots against groups we imagine we have down — the "Dems," e.g.?

William Lindsey :toad:

@Franklington His commentary is always really powerful, I find.

Robert Link

@wdlindsy "They" don't "know who he is." "They" think Biden stole 2020, "they" think Trump is a successful business man (8 years of tv prove this.) "They" think and know all sorts of things you and I don't. He's not the face of any of these people, he's the mask and blindfold "they" have been seduced into wearing.

This probably won't correct itself during what is left of my life time. I cannot say I am undismayed. But I will not take my eye off of the basic goodness in us all.

ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him)

@wdlindsy Again, I acknowledged that there is misinformation, absolutely! But the facts I just laid out are just that, facts. And refusing to address those things builds up resentment and anger. We can't just attribute everything to misinformation when there *is* real pain and anxiety.

Progressives and leftists have been screaming about this in the media for at least a decade (namely, the 2016 election cycle) and we've been ignored. Look how that turned out.

William Lindsey :toad:

@phaedral Yes, I'd agree that a lot of us who chose to vote for Trump will be in for a rude awakening. At the same time, I'd argue that we have an obligation — to ourselves, first and foremost — to seek the truth, to seek good sources of information, to consume media and news critically (and self-critically).

William Lindsey :toad:

@chiraag Where you're obviously interested in using the election results to mount attacks on people you see as centrist Democrats — and that term is far from describing me — I'm not interested at all in tearing apart the fragile alliances that bind those of us trying to push hard against a rapacious and powerful right.

I intend to keep my focus on that threat and to use my energy against it. If you want to make other choices, I wish you good luck with them.

Danetteb 🕊️🐦‍🔥⚓️🕯️🪷

@wdlindsy so. Much. This.

William Lindsey :toad:

@Danetteb I agree — good commentary.

ಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him)

@wdlindsy Look, I *want* the Dems to kick the GOP's butt because the GOP is a bunch of open fascists. But the strategy they've been using (they campaigned more with Liz Cheney than with *any other surrogate*) is failing. If you're not allowed to criticize your alliance when they keep fucking up, when *are* you allowed to criticize them?

Friends don't let friends lose to fascists.

Robert Link

@wdlindsy I agree about that obligation! I think the ability to fulfill it is somewhat a matter of privilege, that is, not everyone is blessed with the intellect and experience to learn crap detection. (https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/crap-detection-101-3227013.php)