The forces of division were willfully sown and bought with the dark money and propaganda of extreme-right antisocial(ist) oligarchs of the U.S. following the popular landslide loss of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election.
That dark money and propaganda demonized governance itself. Recall the statement of the oligarchs’ first dupe that “the most feared words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I am here to help you’”. In other words, “don’t trust the government”. That is what pitted us against one another.
Thank you, Joe. This is what I've been looking for. Voting is a big part of regaining our democracy, but small groups of people in our communities is something we can do to actually participate in governing and regaining democracy in this country.
Looking around at world politics I see the same rise in rightwing extremism following the same path to fascism. It astonishes me that people are choosing extremism over liberalism and tolerance. I guess I've been living in my own bubble all these years.
Snopes has validated what the NYT first reported in June and now validated by other reporting agencies(https://bit.ly/4lSlUmL) that Cheeto’s Defense Department secretly transferred almost $1B earmarked for renovation of nuclear Minuteman missile silos and decided to use it for upgrading Cheeto’s Qatar gift airplane This despite the fact that there are in production 2 Air Force One’s that would be sidelined Once out of office the Orange One would then have the gift airplane for his own personal use
So in essence Cheeto is having the American taxpayers pay for the renovation of his own personal plane while a national security project to upgrade our nuclear defense of the country is put on hold
Mark Epstein, brother to the now dead sex trafficker, was told by Jeffrey that after years of friendship with Cheeto that he was staying away from Cheeto because in his words Cheeto “was a crook” When criminals hang around with each other they each get to know what dirtbags they are The problem for the country the crook happens to be a salacious lowlife
I like this perspective. Another great action that is much needed today. Looks like we should all download this app. I have a feeling it’s going to be really needed in the near future now that they are pressuring media outlets and the larger social platforms. They are already limiting content with the algorithms. I work in tech and know this play well.
I remember reading an article about an experiment in California that brought people together. This group was composed of right and left thinking people who were totally opposed to what the other side believed. The group was lead by the people who had set up the meeting. They had a list of subjects and instead of letting the participants hash it out, they explained each concept and then let them ask questions. By the time the meeting had ended, the group was much closer in their understanding and beliefs on the hot button subjects. I would have loved to have been there and watched the process of understanding and tolerance of one another. How can you have a conversation when one person is only protecting what they believe? The biggest problem is the lack of understanding of the issues at hand and that's what Trump uses to whip the Trumpers into a frenzy. Take the immigration issue. The people who hate the illegals because they believe they are using a citizen's tax money to get money without working for it. Most of the Trumpers are working at non-executive jobs and struggling with day to day bills. What they don't understand is that these illegals don't have a way to access anything without a Social Security number. And the Social Security Department doesn't just issue a number because you've sent in an application. When you have a baby and you want to included that child as a dependent on your tax returns, that child must have a social security number. The Social Security forms are sent at birth to the parents. They complete the forms and return it with a certified copy of the child's birth certificate. Trump tells his supporters he is deporting the criminals and illegals who are taking jobs away from them. What ICE is doing is deporting green card aliens who have applied and have been approved for living in the United States legally. He is doing what Hitler did to the Jews. Trump is inciting hate and a reason for all of his supporters to have a purpose to come together. There in lies the problem, Trump. They believe him because he gives them purpose to hate. He gives them purpose to have a common goal with their neighbors. They are no longer the outcasts, they belong. Bringing people together is the easy part. Having them understand the issues is great. Going back to their community to explain what they've learned is a big problem and will probably not go so well for the person who has participated in the study. That enlightened person will be one against some very angry people. Even going back to their family members would not go well.
Joe, Your writings are informative and interesting, suggesting new perspectives to me, and at times just provide comfort in confirming that there still is some sanity out there. I enjoy the comments from strangers; the constant flow of shared opinions, sometimes consensus, sometimes not. BUT I increasingly feel that our messaging focused on healing the divisions in our society needs to consist, unfortunately, of shorter messages. Often the people who are the most misinformed just won't read paragraphs or chapters. The short messaging that helped create their lack of understand in the first place, with social media proliferating in our society, is, at least for now, the only way to reach many of them. Some will learn to read and enjoy longer treatises. Short messages of sarcasm or hatred won't help; some of these confused individuals can still be reached if our messaging sounds less polarizing.
There are a lot of things we cannot just agree to disagree about. MAGA showed a lot of us what some of our neighbors, friends, and families truly are. No amount of civil conversation is going to let us pretend we haven't seen what they were hiding behind those masks.
Nice thought, but I respectfully disagree.
The forces of division were willfully sown and bought with the dark money and propaganda of extreme-right antisocial(ist) oligarchs of the U.S. following the popular landslide loss of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election.
That dark money and propaganda demonized governance itself. Recall the statement of the oligarchs’ first dupe that “the most feared words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I am here to help you’”. In other words, “don’t trust the government”. That is what pitted us against one another.
Thank you, Joe. This is what I've been looking for. Voting is a big part of regaining our democracy, but small groups of people in our communities is something we can do to actually participate in governing and regaining democracy in this country.
Looking around at world politics I see the same rise in rightwing extremism following the same path to fascism. It astonishes me that people are choosing extremism over liberalism and tolerance. I guess I've been living in my own bubble all these years.
Cheeto’s Personal Needs Over National Defense
Snopes has validated what the NYT first reported in June and now validated by other reporting agencies(https://bit.ly/4lSlUmL) that Cheeto’s Defense Department secretly transferred almost $1B earmarked for renovation of nuclear Minuteman missile silos and decided to use it for upgrading Cheeto’s Qatar gift airplane This despite the fact that there are in production 2 Air Force One’s that would be sidelined Once out of office the Orange One would then have the gift airplane for his own personal use
So in essence Cheeto is having the American taxpayers pay for the renovation of his own personal plane while a national security project to upgrade our nuclear defense of the country is put on hold
Mark Epstein, brother to the now dead sex trafficker, was told by Jeffrey that after years of friendship with Cheeto that he was staying away from Cheeto because in his words Cheeto “was a crook” When criminals hang around with each other they each get to know what dirtbags they are The problem for the country the crook happens to be a salacious lowlife
I like this perspective. Another great action that is much needed today. Looks like we should all download this app. I have a feeling it’s going to be really needed in the near future now that they are pressuring media outlets and the larger social platforms. They are already limiting content with the algorithms. I work in tech and know this play well.
I remember reading an article about an experiment in California that brought people together. This group was composed of right and left thinking people who were totally opposed to what the other side believed. The group was lead by the people who had set up the meeting. They had a list of subjects and instead of letting the participants hash it out, they explained each concept and then let them ask questions. By the time the meeting had ended, the group was much closer in their understanding and beliefs on the hot button subjects. I would have loved to have been there and watched the process of understanding and tolerance of one another. How can you have a conversation when one person is only protecting what they believe? The biggest problem is the lack of understanding of the issues at hand and that's what Trump uses to whip the Trumpers into a frenzy. Take the immigration issue. The people who hate the illegals because they believe they are using a citizen's tax money to get money without working for it. Most of the Trumpers are working at non-executive jobs and struggling with day to day bills. What they don't understand is that these illegals don't have a way to access anything without a Social Security number. And the Social Security Department doesn't just issue a number because you've sent in an application. When you have a baby and you want to included that child as a dependent on your tax returns, that child must have a social security number. The Social Security forms are sent at birth to the parents. They complete the forms and return it with a certified copy of the child's birth certificate. Trump tells his supporters he is deporting the criminals and illegals who are taking jobs away from them. What ICE is doing is deporting green card aliens who have applied and have been approved for living in the United States legally. He is doing what Hitler did to the Jews. Trump is inciting hate and a reason for all of his supporters to have a purpose to come together. There in lies the problem, Trump. They believe him because he gives them purpose to hate. He gives them purpose to have a common goal with their neighbors. They are no longer the outcasts, they belong. Bringing people together is the easy part. Having them understand the issues is great. Going back to their community to explain what they've learned is a big problem and will probably not go so well for the person who has participated in the study. That enlightened person will be one against some very angry people. Even going back to their family members would not go well.
I love this. It just might show us that we have more in common than we have poked to believe.
Joe, Your writings are informative and interesting, suggesting new perspectives to me, and at times just provide comfort in confirming that there still is some sanity out there. I enjoy the comments from strangers; the constant flow of shared opinions, sometimes consensus, sometimes not. BUT I increasingly feel that our messaging focused on healing the divisions in our society needs to consist, unfortunately, of shorter messages. Often the people who are the most misinformed just won't read paragraphs or chapters. The short messaging that helped create their lack of understand in the first place, with social media proliferating in our society, is, at least for now, the only way to reach many of them. Some will learn to read and enjoy longer treatises. Short messages of sarcasm or hatred won't help; some of these confused individuals can still be reached if our messaging sounds less polarizing.
There are a lot of things we cannot just agree to disagree about. MAGA showed a lot of us what some of our neighbors, friends, and families truly are. No amount of civil conversation is going to let us pretend we haven't seen what they were hiding behind those masks.
Read this yesterday.. Still good today. ~Thanks Joe.