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Observing American politics feels really strange at the moment (lemm.ee)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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As an outsider (I live in Belgium) it feels very weird and dystopian to see everything happening in American politics with Trump and Musk.

On one side, it's very interesting and almost entertaining; on the other side, it's scary. I can't imagine what it must be like to live in the USA.

Americans, how do you cope? What's your take on the situation?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Try living it. As an American citizen, I have never lived with such a high level of stress and anxiety in my entire life. I am a lifelong student of history (I have a degree in a branch of history), and I KNOW where the kind of government we have now leads, and there are NO positive outcomes for the majority of Americans. Frankly, I don't think the potential outcomes will be good for the Sociopathic Oligarchs either, but they are too blinded by their sick obsession with greed and money to see it.

I don't see us getting out of this without violence.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It's been going on for over a decade, so I'm pretty much used to it by now. Whether it's a Republican or Democrat, a racist homophobe, or an anti-business bureaucrat who believes in taxing the hell out of everyone, every politician is a rich elite that ignores the will of the people and completely mucks up everything. I just accept it. I accept that they're not the King. They're subject to the Sovereign King, God, and will eventually answer to him, just like I will have to.

Also, I've had my own share of issues just finding steady work, so politics is just a background noise when it's shaky where my next meal is coming from.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I smoke a lot of pot. Probably the strangest part is how...I still have to live? I still have to go into work tomorrow, I've still got bills to pay. People just go about their day like nothing is happening. You sit in the office and joke about the ongoing hostile government takeover. Meanwhile, federal employees are getting fucked, trans people are getting erased, they're building fuckin camps down in Guantanamo, people are fuckin starving outside shuttered USAID depots, and I still got work tomorrow. It's like I'm just sitting here waiting for somebody to put a gun in my hands and tell me "the revolution starts now." My local organizations are very focused on making sure people survive right now, which is a very good and noble focus to have, but I haven't really heard of anyone planning something serious to fight back.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I'm from Russia, and I totally get your experience. When the war started, I had to go to work. There is the whole ass war, the government invades other countries under the most batshit pretense possible, people are being conscripted to go die in a ditch, the future just got canceled, and I need to care about my stupid little job, and stupid little rent, and stupid little groceries.
The only thing that helped me getting by head back in place (slightly) was getting the fuck out of there, but even that helped only a bit.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

I've heard people say they've never felt more american than they ever have since the last month. It's a different perspective for everyone. But it does concern me that some people base their entire perspectives on the first ten words they hear, and refuse to think further

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

As a 50something American, it has never been weirder. While I saw this building during most of my life, I didn’t think I would actually live to see Americans voting to get rid of democracy.

But here we are - no longer a functioning democratic republic.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That American Exceptionalism is a real bitch, huh?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Many of us never believed in American Exceptionalism, since we could see this country slipping backwards while the rest of the world continued to progress.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

It feels like American Exceptionalism was only seriously being challenged post-9/11.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Has it ever not been weird, or are people just too young to remember. Like people lost their shit when obama wore a tan suit, or like dijon mustard. He got a nobel peace price while drone striking schools and being in 2 active wars. Bush was maybe a bit smarter than trump, but he was still an idiot son of an asshole. And just overall buffoon, that gor elected twice. I was too young to really care for clinton, but we all know how this went down. But every president you read up is either just a straight up criminal, or a spiteful asshole or both. And the ones who weren't comically evil just got fucked.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

If we don't stop the rich from using the American military to take over the world then pretty soon the rich will come for your country too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Would this be the military that could only reach a standstill in Korea? That lost in Vietnam? That lost in Afghanistan? That ran away scared from Mogadishu? That "won" in Iraq by generating the world's largest collection of terrorists until the blowback lost you two large towers and a smaller one?

That military?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

I think you'll find, as a regular civilian or a VIP in the target country, that you're making a distinction without a difference.

Ask Saddam Hussein's opinion on the US's loss in Iraq or the hundreds of thousands of dead civilians how they feel about winning in Afghanistan.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The one that is only currently setup to drone strike any human on earth yes that one.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

I've got some bad news for you...

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

All of the media about this stuff has felt increasingly like misleading propaganda to me since 2016, and getting an accurate, unbiased, big picture understanding of what is happening seems somewhere between a lot of work and actually impossible with so many people trying so hard to manipulate you. It is like reality television. I try to tune it out as I can but enough gets through.

I'm glad everyone is finally coming around to hating Twitter though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I don’t have a take on the situation; I’m just making sure I stay informed about the news through reputable sources and nonprofit news networks local to me and other places. And I try to combat the situation by boycotting mega corporations every single day by voting with my wallet. By prioritizing mom and pop shops and Etsy stores, we can hurt Donald Trump and his greedy pals.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago (2 children)

For anyone feeling small: Take a stand, join us. Masters are merely men.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Is there a website with this info somewhere? Mostly curious. Still going to share the image.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (3 children)

The no spending/not buying from amazon is hilarious. Not only will people in general not do it, even if they see a dip in profits, they'll have record profits the next day.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

I wonder if ya'll read this before you post. Its a display of unity. Its a warning.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

As a Canadian, I and many others have been boycotting Amazon for over a month.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I don’t understand why people just can’t stop buying shit form Amazon. At some point a few years back, I had had enough. I stopped buying stuff from Amazon. I…didn’t think it was that hard. If anything, I’ll browse Amazon for something vague I’m looking for, find it, search the company names and buy it direct.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Amazon is just straight up bad. I have to be super desperate to buy something from there. Even when it was "good" i mainly used it to find something and compare it, and read reviews. If you do that now, you're an insane person. Amazon video or what it's called is really really bad. They show a lot of shows that you have to click on, to tell you that it's not available in your region. It would be hilarious to just stop using amazon and see Jeffrey losing his shit. But not gonna happen.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Amazon is what I use when the original company doesn't ship to me but I still want their product. Used it like a year ago for a Tribit speaker.

Took over a week to take my payment out which was wild. If ive been through the purchase process the money should already be gone like it is for literally every single other online transaction I have ever done in my entire life.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Yeah, now all of the reviews are bought and paid for anyway. So it’s not even good for that anymore. I really wish people could put in literally the smallest amount of effort to change bad habits. It’s crazy that people just seem addicted to it

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