this feels exactly like how I imagine it felt to live during the war on terror, right down to everyone having the same defiant, aggrieved pride in the stupidest ideas imaginable. I'd settle for a thousand pronoun circles rather than this bullshit
Comments
Log in with your Bluesky account to leave a comment
Nah this is much worse. There's been twenty years of police militarization, vast increases in the scope of the surveillance state, erosion of rule of law, and normalization of fascism. This is much worse.
It's better now in that you at least have *some* dissenting voices (in the W era you had Janeane Garofalo and that was IT) but it's worse in that they're not even trying to pretend any of this is motivated by a plan or any sort of ideal other than HEY YOU, FUCK YOU
During the W era, Republicans at least pretended to have some "moral principles", although they were AWFUL "moral principles" (e.g.: "if you're gay, you deserve to be punished because God hates you")
Now the only thing holding the Republican Party together is "we want to own the libs, at any cost".
There is not even an attempt to claim moral high ground on the right any more. Just endless cruelty for cruelty's sake. Retribution & revenge for denying King Donald the throne for 4 years. A campaign of paybacks against those who dared ask for human rights.
Yeah. This is both much worse and (and this is really something) much much stupider. Yeah the other was USA cult and what not but we weren’t bringing back measles and invading Canada. War on Terror was evil but it was competent.
Yeah this is something else entirely. There had always been right wing cranks on the radio but it was radio. Actual policy took place in a shared reality. They tried not to get caught lying. Rumsfeld wasn’t texting war plans to Quayle on sky pager
it’s very similar. GWOT-era culture, even in northeastern blue states, was marked by this weird sort of self-censorship where people repressed any ideas that could’ve been considered truly radical or subversive to the USA. there was just a much more subtle, professional sheen to everything
the other difference is that, while the working class was obviously continuing to suffer through neoliberalism, the middle class was largely kept content through cheap credit and consumer goods. there was paranoia about terrorism but basically no attacks on US soil for the rest of the decade
and because the wars are fought so far away by a “volunteer” army, even a lot of the bourgeois liberal/left commentary on the war and reduced civil liberties was focused more on “this is going to fuck us over at some future point.” the 2000s were the fucking around, now we’re living the finding out
so the difference is in degree not kind. bush and obama shredded the bill of rights and expanded the surveillance state but used it more quietly and selectively. trump is sort of the accelerated endpoint of GWOT ideology—fascism under the guise of “national security” while CEOs raid the government
It was something else, everyone collectively lost their minds. I had the police drag me into a jail cell after a protest leading up to the Iraq War, while saying Saddam was the next Hitler and he was preparing to march on Europe. Ever since then I considered the tactical sacrifice of 💣FOX news.
Things are much worse now, but on the plus side more people seem to be aware of how war crimey it’s all getting this time around. Post 9/11 both sides of the political spectrum had such massive warboners that “don’t torture people” was a beyond the pale radical political stance to take.
in some ways its a little better, in most ways it's a lot worse. the one consolation i have is that, if america does go to war again, the protests would be significantly bigger than the iraq war protests and they wouldnt immediately get the entire western world onside
I was 13 and all ideas to the left of NPR (which itself was highly suspect) were brutally suppressed or self-censored— I was called a “terrorist” for apparently being rude in school
There are echoes but I agree w the takes that the left now is more visible and the criticism less taboo
At least with the War on Terror you could point to an origin for the American madness that made sense. Terrorists knocked over the twins towers and nearly wiped out the White House. We didn't know how to react and lost our minds. Okay, that's understandable.
Here? This is a reaction to the government asking business to shut down for a month five years ago, UNDER THE ORDERS OF THE GUY WHO TOOK GRIEVANCE WITH THAT SAME REQUEST. It's insanity. It's spite.
It's way bleaker now, as even Bush didn't try anything with the alien enemies act, and a lot of his steam was lost when he started going after Social Security. Now there's more public and private support. Before was joking about "homo-mexuals"
Now it's exporting dissidents to labor camps.
hate to be a party pooper, but this is worse. I was a senior in high school during 9-11, so I was very politically active and aware, and I can say for sure that this. is. worse.
there's a Boston Legal episode where the main characters are arguing more than usual because I think the Democratic one said something about 9\11, and the Republican one flips out in a way that is really excessive, but then I remember that was fairly common at the time actually even from real people
I've almost died from septic shock so bad I vividly hallucinated for about three days, and was also around for the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Not sure which felt more unreal.
the aesthetics are worse in terms of tackiness now, but the emotion of feeling alien to the majority of Americans because you have a conscience is very similar.
also, the general feeling of powerlessness because the (ostensible) opposition party is useless
main difference is that there was still a firewall between what the (still wrong) conservative elite believed and the batshit lunacy they pushed on the rank-and-file, now there isn’t, so you get complete psychos believing in Jewish space lasers
It was lonelier. Fewer people online dissenting, people irl were buying the fear. I remember witnessing 911 and thinking we're gonna do another Vietnam over this and it's gonna be stupid as fuck, disgusted by Bush's speech, being nearly only person in a packed room not yelling "glass the ragheads"
I became determined to never live in the world these rich assholes and their chud fanclub want to create, one way or another. I'm less lonely now, at least more are paying attention, but still not enough
After so many arguments and literal fistfights, when the wars predictably turned into disasters and public opinion finally shifted I didn't feel vindicated, just angry and disillusioned with the society I was raised to believe in. All the platitudes of 90s childhood so much trite bullshit
I want to say this time feels worse than back then but I'm actually not so sure. People were being secretly flown to other countries and tortured, they were (and still are) imprisoned without charge, there were war crimes in Iraq - a war started on false pretenses - it was horrible.
I lived through it, and this is much worse. At its height the actual danger posed to the average American or their lives was minimal; the bad stuff happened to other people far away, and domestically there was no real fear that Bush might not leave office after his second term.
i was in elementary school when 9/11 happened so i absolutely remember it, and things are FAR WORSE now lmao, except less blatant public islamophobia funny enough
Comments
Now the only thing holding the Republican Party together is "we want to own the libs, at any cost".
This cruelty is horrifyingly different.
It's just "you are subhuman filth and we will eradicate you and your kind from the Earth for the glory of America".
These days it's just 10,000 two-bit nobodies convinced they're the Aristotle of our time.
At least back then it was just 10 idiots with radio shows.
There are echoes but I agree w the takes that the left now is more visible and the criticism less taboo
Now it's exporting dissidents to labor camps.
also, the general feeling of powerlessness because the (ostensible) opposition party is useless
And telling the public to believe such things with the white house seal of approval.
Much much worse
Although the W admin certainly paved the way for this new crop of fascists.
But this is worse. Way worse. For everyone.
they even have the carls jrs ads with titties again its so 2004 up in this place