When I was younger it seemed like most uniformed or blatantly stupid Americans didn't know or care about politics. Now they care a lot, but with the same blind passion they have for a football team or a WrestleMania character.
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Trump turned the every day CSPAN of politics we all had grown to have as background noise on the television into reality tv show/"sports entertainment" that it has become now so he could extend his 15 minutes of fame (power) into infinity, if he could.
When I was younger (80s), politics was for grown-ups. So was football. All I had was wrestling characters. Over time, the guys who wrestled exposed the dirt behind the innocence I once had for the "sport" and it became much like politics is now : The Good, the Bad, and the Extremely Ugly.
The same people who talk about a sports team and say things like "we didn't have good defense". We as if they were in the game or some kind of couch coach!
As a teen Canadian I admired America leading the fight against the spread of Communism. I remember my sympathy for Americans losing JFK & later his brother Robert. In my mid 20s Nixon’s behaviour & impeachment broke the glass ceiling. It will take lots of time for USA to heal itself after Trump!
My wife always says social media let people who felt intimidated by the complexities of government and politics feel like they were smart and that is why we are here. They’ve turned it into football where they don’t care if they win as long as the team they hate loses.
Right? They knew they didn't understand science, economics, foreign policy. They trusted knowledgeable ppl. Politicians also knew what they didn't know and trusted staffers to get them reliable info & break it down for them. Now their own batshitery is all they wanna know & TFG validates both 🤦🏻♀️
You meant “uninformed” but that should be clearly understood
to all your followers. “Uniformed” includes a lot of good Americans that are following the coup very closely.
Perfect analogy.
The same thing happened here 🇬🇧with Boris Johnson,
previously unengaged, non voters, and voters who should have known better, fell for his schtick.
It's a parasocial epidemic we facing. These people believe they have a relationship with their party leaders and they will be reciprocated in some way.
Man, these are as true as any words I've read anytime recently, Randi @rmayemsinger.bsky.social . And I've been saying the same thing for a long time now. So many great and greatly applicable quotes come to mind, but I'll at least start with this one by my ancient philosophical nemesis, Play-doh -
Blow up GOP Majority Leaders Mike Johnson &’s John Thune’s phones:
Johnson Phone: 202-225-2777 John Thune.
Phone: (202) 224-2321 & blow up White House phones too! 1-202-456-1414 (switchboard)
1-202-456-1111 (comments)
As an ageing limey who's read NFL message boards for decades. Even in the earliest days I was struck by how viciously partisan (nasty) politics was with US folks. I've seen forums ban all political chat to survive. It's always been there but much more widespread s/media has hugely amplified it IMO.
And they think they actually know stuff. In fact, they think they have a better handle on things than we do. It’s not just ignorance, it’s the delusion of knowledge that is so hard to penetrate.
This. They were doing WrestleMania while we were doing one of those really sad mid '90s shows in a high school gym with the guys that *used* to be on WrestleMania.
Not passion. It is a cult. Most of my family was pulled in. On the outside, we don't get it. It looks stupid and reckless. Sadly, we are strapped in too.
And unlike in the past, these folks no longer keep their opinions limited to what they read about UFOs and aliens while waiting in the grocery checkout line.
That's the problem. To them politics is not a matter of what is right or wrong with society and how we can improve it. It is simply a matter of "our team" against theirs. They just want to own the libs, but don't even know why.
Oh, they still don't know or care about politics. They just like the guy they saw on the TEEvee who lets them fly their racism & bigotry flag and be as hateful and stupid as they want.
It changed in 2016. Donald was so well known (and regarded) by people who had no idea what a John Kasich or a Jon Huntsman was. Those same people knew & despised his opponent, who they’d been trained to hate after decades of GOP smears. It activated otherwise uninterested fools.
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Especially if you consider Elon his wife and Vance his son, in a political context.
Chris has an empty bed down in Hell just waiting for Don.
(How often does a typo lead to a correctly spelled word that accidentally and/or humorously could fit the premise?)
to all your followers. “Uniformed” includes a lot of good Americans that are following the coup very closely.
The same thing happened here 🇬🇧with Boris Johnson,
previously unengaged, non voters, and voters who should have known better, fell for his schtick.
All that glitters is not gold.
That’s why we’re in this hellscape.
Johnson Phone: 202-225-2777 John Thune.
Phone: (202) 224-2321 & blow up White House phones too! 1-202-456-1414 (switchboard)
1-202-456-1111 (comments)
Harangue Republicans mercilessly.
Here are cute kittens to help temporarily forget about all the horror . 💙🩵💙🩵🐱🐈🐈⬛😻
Fuck WrestleMania. Let's go All In.
In silence more than anything.
The problem here is that they want to win, they want victory at any and all costs. Thats all that is important to them.
Always tell when MAGA’s about to announce a stupid decision… “I’ve done my research”…i.e. Fox-not-the-‘News’ said…