Meanwhile, back in Deplorable-land...

[trdsf]

I didn't want to post this piece of wingnut depravity in the McCain thread.

One of the candidates in the upcoming Senate Republican primary in Arizona went on Twitter Saturday morning and complained that McCain timed announcing he was discontinuing treatment just to hurt her campaign.  When he died a few hours later, she blamed the "fake media" for her own tweet and (notably) completely failed to apologize.

Sometimes, one facepalm isn't enough:


Poor Arizona... on the R side, they've got this self-absorbed sociopath, racist felon Joe Arpaio, and Martha "Trump Trump Trump Trump I'm so Trumpy Trumpity Trump Trump Trump" McSally.  On the plus side for Arizona, all of them trail Kirsten Synema in the polls.

[Unbeliever]

I face-palmed so hard I gave myself a bloody nose! Gotta remember to hit a bit higher next time...

[Mermaid]

What a piece of trash. That seems to be the thing of the hour, a complete lack of empathy/moral compass coupled with horrifying narcissism.

Just like the president.

[Shiranu]

Unfortunately the president sets the precedent for how other politicians can behave.

If there is one thing that really gets under my skin is people adopting the term fake news into the lexicon. That, along with "TDS", "SJW" and a few other buzzwords of late are a pretty quick indicator that the person probably doesn't know  what they are talking about and are just looking for an excuse to be a dick. The fact that behaviour is becoming mainstream is pathetic.

Unfortunately being a dick works, both for getting attention and, in the case of the "populist" politicians, getting the asshole vote.

[Unbeliever]

Yeah, and there are enough ass-holes to vote them into office.

[Shiranu]

Yeah, and there are enough ass-holes to vote them into office.

A mix of that, but also a mix of decent and normal human beings, since at least the start of my life time, being raised to believe that voting is pointless and all politicians are evil. "We" out number them significantly, but there are so many "neutrals" that would rather get fucked over than admit that just because two candidates suck doesn't make sitting around like a bump on a log morally superior to voting for the lesser of two evils.

I can't help wondering how much of that cynicism comes from the very reasonable act of looking at politicians and seeing how shitty many of them are... and how much of that cynical training was promoted by powers that don't want the public to get out and vote. Keep people ignorant, keep people cynical, keep people hateful and suddenly they become increasingly easy to manipulate.

[Baruch]

What a piece of trash. That seems to be the thing of the hour, a complete lack of empathy/moral compass coupled with horrifying narcissism.

Just like the president.

Fluoride in the water, yes?

[Baruch]

Unfortunately the president sets the precedent for how other politicians can behave.

If there is one thing that really gets under my skin is people adopting the term fake news into the lexicon. That, along with "TDS", "SJW" and a few other buzzwords of late are a pretty quick indicator that the person probably doesn't know  what they are talking about and are just looking for an excuse to be a dick. The fact that behaviour is becoming mainstream is pathetic.

Unfortunately being a dick works, both for getting attention and, in the case of the "populist" politicians, getting the asshole vote.

I still prefer ... "humble meme-farmer in Kekistan".

[Baruch]

A mix of that, but also a mix of decent and normal human beings, since at least the start of my life time, being raised to believe that voting is pointless and all politicians are evil. "We" out number them significantly, but there are so many "neutrals" that would rather get fucked over than admit that just because two candidates suck doesn't make sitting around like a bump on a log morally superior to voting for the lesser of two evils.

I can't help wondering how much of that cynicism comes from the very reasonable act of looking at politicians and seeing how shitty many of them are... and how much of that cynical training was promoted by powers that don't want the public to get out and vote. Keep people ignorant, keep people cynical, keep people hateful and suddenly they become increasingly easy to manipulate.

Voting for lesser of two evils ... Stalin vs Hitler?

Yes, I will probably vote this Fall, wherever possible to terminate the D and R parties.

[Cavebear]

Every time I thing crazy politicians can sink no lower, they do.  I now understand that they always will. 

It is the responsibility of voters to send those people back under the rock they crawled out from under.  It is the responsibility of political parties to sweep their slates clean of such people.  A healthy democracy can withstand a lot of negative pressure from the crazies, but there are limits.

It is time for voters to decide to elect politicians who will be dedicated to making government work, not ones who are dedicated to destroying it.

[Baruch]

Every time I thing crazy politicians can sink no lower, they do.  I now understand that they always will. 

It is the responsibility of voters to send those people back under the rock they crawled out from under.  It is the responsibility of political parties to sweep their slates clean of such people.  A healthy democracy can withstand a lot of negative pressure from the crazies, but there are limits.

It is time for voters to decide to elect politicians who will be dedicated to making government work, not ones who are dedicated to destroying it.

People are dedicated to enriching themselves, before the Big One Comes ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xePee2IqNc

For Europeans, the apocalypse has better culture and correct grammar.

[trdsf]

Yeah, and there are enough ass-holes to vote them into office.

It's not even that.  It's just that we as a society are broadly susceptible to being manipulated, we don't have a strong tradition of educating to a goal of critical thinking rather than rote response, and I suspect there's some leftover evolutionary baggage about deferring to someone who presents as an alpha.  As a group, Americans don't generally respond to nuanced views.  They/we want to hear something definitive, even if it's wrong.  My brother -- who is an intelligent man -- fell for it: the 'drain the swamp' narrative got to him and he tuned into that and tuned out the awful things Trump was saying.  I'm happy to report he's since realized that you don't drain a swamp by adding shit to it.

So it's really not about assholes voting for evil.  Most people aren't assholes.  They're just gullible.  It's much more about people being conned by very carefully designed misinformation campaigns that are specifically meant to appeal on a gut level rather than a brain level -- not, it's worth noting, unlike the way religion gets hold of people.

[Cavebear]

It's not even that.  It's just that we as a society are broadly susceptible to being manipulated, we don't have a strong tradition of educating to a goal of critical thinking rather than rote response, and I suspect there's some leftover evolutionary baggage about deferring to someone who presents as an alpha.  As a group, Americans don't generally respond to nuanced views.  They/we want to hear something definitive, even if it's wrong.  My brother -- who is an intelligent man -- fell for it: the 'drain the swamp' narrative got to him and he tuned into that and tuned out the awful things Trump was saying.  I'm happy to report he's since realized that you don't drain a swamp by adding shit to it.

So it's really not about assholes voting for evil.  Most people aren't assholes.  They're just gullible.  It's much more about people being conned by very carefully designed misinformation campaigns that are specifically meant to appeal on a gut level rather than a brain level -- not, it's worth noting, unlike the way religion gets hold of people.

OK.  But why are so many people so gullible?  It drives me crazy sometimes seeing people support ideas that are not only bad for themselves (because sometimes the "greater good" applies) but bad for the nation and even the world as a whole. 

Do people not know how to even THINK anymore?

I don't give a rat's ass about "alpha" people.  They are usually not planning to do ME or anyone else any good anyway.  They are almost by definition "in it for themselves".  Why would anyone follow a leader like that?

ARGGGHHH!

[Unbeliever]

It is time for voters to decide to elect politicians who will be dedicated to making government work, not ones who are dedicated to destroying it.

The trouble is that you can never really know what a politician will do once in office. They say things during the campaign that sound good, and then do something else once they've gotten elected. We vote for an image that's been shoved in front of us, not a real person.

[Cavebear]

The trouble is that you can never really know what a politician will do once in office. They say things during the campaign that sound good, and then do something else once they've gotten elected. We vote for an image that's been shoved in front of us, not a real person.

Maybe the problem is that too many voters are willing to support a newbie, when what we need is experience.  What company chooses a CEO straight off the street over someone with a resume that can be evaluated?  We do, apparently.  Hope springs eternal and Hope is dumb as a gambler drawing to an inside straight.

I never pay much attention to what a politician says on the campaign trail; I look at what they have done in the past.  The past informs the future.