While it can be pleasant to think that you and your household is an island, conventional wisdom and actual life experience would show that it’s simply not true. This becomes particularly visible whenever there is a major or minor election or just when the local intersection gets some slightly more complicated rule applied to it.
Someone asked “What's something current day America needs to understand?” and people shared their examples. So get comfortable as you read through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own thoughts in the comments below.

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YOUR OPINIONS AND FEELINGS ARE LITERALLY NOT THE SAME AS ACTUAL ESTABLISHED FACTS.
They’re just not.
F*****g IRKS me. The pure confidence some of you have saying whatever you feel like, and believing that deserves the same platforms as actual educated experts.
A lot of these seem directed towards MAGA. I do wish they’d tell us more about how trump is going to “save” the economy when tons of actual economists say the opposite.
Like before, Trump is going to improve the economy by saying he did. Since they believe anything he says, that will be sufficient.
Load More Replies...During the InfoWars trial the judge kept having to demonstrate that what people knew for a FACT was the issue. Alex Jones kept trying to weasel out of it by saying he "sincerely believed" this or that. That's how these people operate. Facts and reality don't matter, it's just what they feel and believe.
That goes for the right and left because there is no shortage of "educated experts" from both sides that allow their personal ideals and emotions to influence their opinions and guide their reporting
I was wrong once. I thought I had made a mistake - but, of course, I hadn't.
Load More Replies...I think that counts not only for the US though, and yeah every big enough moverment has their fair share of "experts" in talking BS
This was true before Ronnie Raygun, I'm old enough to remember that far back. Yanks have always been full of themselves, ignorantly believing "they know best" despite scores of countries actually knowing better. Including developing countries.
It's the "you think you're better than me" crowd. People who are sensitive about their lack of intelligence or schooling, so they hate and resent smart/educated people, while they equate education with liberalism. A LOT can be explained this attitude. Trump got elected because of "you think you're better than me".
Knowledge is not elitism and not trusting experts will literally k*ll us all.
The anti science Evangelical Christians and the New Age antivaxers are a whole class of ignorance unto themselves.
"They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I'll tell you what they don’t want: They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. Thats against their interests. " --Carlin So billionaires likes Musk, Thiel, Murdoch started calling these experts as "elitists" who look down upon others. They are literal billionaires and they call others elitists.
Every once in a while I wish I were stupid, or even average. I wouldn’t actually want that though.
Load More Replies...The problem though is that too many educated experts have sold out to whomever is paying the most.
Using the phrase "too many" makes the statement meaningless as to scale. One would be too many.
Load More Replies...This is the result of religious cults. The cults tell their ignorant followers that "being religious makes them smarter". And regardless of whether they are too ignorant to be aware of their ignorance, or actually smart enough to know they are ignorant, both say it to make themselves feel better.
It's also the result of politics, which has become cultish on both sides of the aisle in the US.
Load More Replies...The Smithsonian Museums are free, just so Americans can educate themselves. I went on a tour with my mom and we learned this interesting fact.
You are not temporarily embarrassed millionaires.
You are closer to being homeless than to being a millionaire.
A poor white person has more in common with a poor black person than with a rich white person.
Class solidarity above all else.
But the billionaires will take care of us. They're for the poor man. YEAH RIGHT.
There was a study where someone told a yank, "You have one dollar, but you can't keep it. Do you give it to a person poorer than yourself or richer than yourself?" The majority of yanks said they'd give it to the richer person.
Once freedoms are lost they are likely gone for good. A democracy is not guaranteed and is fragile. It takes checks and balances to make sure there is no overstep. Unchecked power will destroy this experiment called the United States of America.
During the Boris Yelstin years when communism was slowly falling, the Russian oligarchs stepped in to make everything private and loot as much of the public wealth as possible. Then Putin came in and got the oligrachs under his thumb. In the US it started with "Trickle Down Economics" and now literal billionaires are about to do something far more worse. As Carlin said " rights aren't rights if someone can take them away. They are temporary privileges". That theory is about to be tested, again.
Maybe we should start calling american billionaires oligarchs. Maybe then people will finally understand they're only looking out for themselves and their wealthy friends.
Load More Replies...MAGAs have just undone what their parents, grandparents & great grandparents spent years setting up protections for our rights. And they just trashed them. They should be ashamed. My uncle has a nice pension due to his union but rails about people taking advantage. And then was surprised when he found my sister doesn't have a pension.
Their parents and grandparents kicked this off by putting Nixon and Raygun in office.
Load More Replies...I thought the line: "land of the free" was deliberately written to be hard to reach as a reminder that freedom is hard to obtain🤷🏻♀️
I like the idea, but it was actually a difficult to sing "show off" piece that was adapted for its current purpose.
Load More Replies...They've been destroying these freedoms for so long. The war on terrorism took a lot, for example.
We need a new Revolution. However, it doesn't have to be violent. Unfortunately, it may have to involve spilling some blood.
People who say that seem to assume that the blood in question won't belong to themselves, or anyone they care about.
Load More Replies...They'll call it preserving freedom just like Ron DeSantis. And what stinks is people actually believe them.
Russia is not a friend of Republican nor Democratic party nor the people of that matter. The goal of Russian state is to cause chaos and polarization within US. Well, this goes to anywhere in the world. Divide and conquer.
The goal of Russia is to cause chaos and polarization EVERYWHERE. It's proven to be linked to some independence movements within Spain as well
The truth is they were offered assistance but independence movements were smart enough not to take up the offer. In Spain what worries me is the russian olegachs getting golden visas and buying up business and power. I live on the Costa del Sol.......
Load More Replies...Trump will never understand this. He thinks he is smarter than anyone.
Russia is definitely helping the Republicans though. They have multiple right-wing representatives, media and influencers on their payroll. They have been proven to have financial ties with Trump and the NRA. There is direct proof of Russian interference in previous elections, and massive bot activity in favor of republican talking points has been traced back to Russian bot farms. So, no, this is definitely not a "both sides" thing.
10 pounds of c**p in a 5 pound bag. Intimidate, attack, be defeated. Rinse and repeat. Not the people, the people are lovely, the regime is sketchy. Edit: Lookin at you Vlad the Impaired.
Most of them support Putin. They're the worst people on earth.
Load More Replies...Especially the nakey pics of Melania-They're loving it!
Load More Replies...After the end of Cold War 1, why didn't the US and Russia actually become allies? It's a genuine question and there will be a genuine answer..
It wasn't in the interest of American big business - a poor and disorganised Russia was just another market place to them. Until the oligarchs started appropriating the assets there wasn't that much cash slopping around.
Load More Replies...Too bad I’ll never get to visit. I’d love to see the Kremlin, but I’m not taking any chances. Same with North Korea. No thanks.
No doubt you mean Eric Burdon. But at this point, he's even older than Donny. How is he going to start a war?
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Social media is not your friend.
I no longer use my Twitter/X account - gone to Blusky - and have never had a Facebook account and never will.
i have deleted facebook several times...i LOATHE it...only joined for marketplace and got fed up with all the other bullshiiit that comes with it.....never again!!
Load More Replies...And the AI algorithms they use to track and analyze your interests are creating a massive hate group in the country.
I'm almost never on Facebook (the only social media site I have any account in) anymore, since it's so freakin toxic.
Even BP is becoming evil. Pay us for other people's work, or we won't let you know how any of it ends.
I miss Usenet. No corporations, no coding to try and trick people with fake ads, and genuine free speech (not silenced when you criticize a government, rightwingnuts or corporations).
The importance of education.
Yes! And screw the people who call it “indoctrination”… Book smarts said bye bye to them a long time ago (street smarts too).
As long as it's not "that book" I thing they believe that every knowledge and facts comes from the devil?
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Social media is designed to get you to engage with it and use it. It is not a source of news. It is a source of propaganda.
I enjoy social media. Video games are addictive, have a deeply sexist and violent culture. Choose your entertainment, be cautious, and remember to turn it off someitmes.
Video games have been proven not to cause violence in real life. They can be used to treat mental health conditions, provide a healthy outlet, and can build friendships across the globe. Social media is proven to be predatory, divisive, addictive, and bad for mental health.
Load More Replies...That's a little alarmist. I would say that it *can* be a source of propaganda. It is definitely designed to keep you on their website/app longer, so that they can either 1) show you more ads or paid content; or 2) collect more data about what you are viewing (which they then sell to other companies). So, of course it's far from benign. But as long as you are careful who you follow and listen to on social media, you can protect yourself from most propaganda.
You disagree, then repeat the point. If you click pro-maga content, you'll be shown MORE promaga content. They won't show you the opposite of what you like. So whether the algorithm is intended to propagandise or not, the result will be that you will be bombarded with propaganda
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The politicians/party you vote for are not immune to criticism. If anything, you should hold your own politicians to a higher standard. They’re supposed to represent you, not the other way around.
Rhetoric isn't representation. Don't reelect someone who didn't deliver on the promises made to get your vote the last time.
We!ve been in a "lesser of two evils" position for a long time. If you have some magical way to fix that, let us know.
Load More Replies...Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely
Load More Replies...But it's not just politicians. It's idea's in general. Everyone divides themselves into groups, and then presumes that everything said by a member of that group is beyond question, and anyone who does is "the enemy" That I, or anyone disagrees with a statement, opinion or claim of fact made by someone calling themselves a "liberal" (or black/gay/trans/female et al) doesn't mean i hate them. It doesn't make me racist, sexist, phobic or a trump simp....it just means i DISAGREE with the findings being presented. People have controted themselves into a reality where the presumption is everything is "with" or "against" too many are incapable of being objective, to examine the how and why they've arrived at the "beliefs" they claim to have, or why they support those they do.
Can I guess you are a USA er, with only 2 parties, when the rest of the world has multiple parties who have to compromise and usually make centrist decisions to remain in power
Load More Replies...Why is it that every politician, after leaving office, ends up being millionaires?
dont know why you were downvoted...here's a plus from me.
Load More Replies...In the UK they make a lot of the Party Manifestos issued a few days before the vote. Parties get it tight if they fail a promise contained within. Consequently parties are particular to have their leader 'keep their hands clean' during election campaigns and NOT make any promises - they always say they're 'working on the manifesto' and to 'wait and see what's in it' Backbenchers are wheeled out to tell and sell the lies. No one, except weirdos like me, read party manifestos. So even within them there are only a few things actually 'promised' Making the distinction is important and, of course, made as difficult as possible. They are deceitful even when being truthful..
They do not get it tight. This is why the tories were in power for over a decade. Tony Blair hasn't yet been tried for war crimes. They do what they want.
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How important it is to follow the global news to understand what can hit home. For example, most economies had high inflation after covid, not just the Biden administration.
That circles back to the "education" point. An ignorant and incurious population won't look, and won't understand it when told.
In high school they need ed to teach how to recognize the signs of how an authoritarian leader comes to power. Trump will be the major topic if we ever return to democracy after his four years.
Load More Replies...The first 2 years of almost every Presidential term is influenced by the previous president policy.
Yup. Other countries were hit with inflation before the US did but somehow Biden gets blamed for it. Lol
Not "somehow". Explicit lies intended to undermine his presidency.
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That we no longer live in a country that was established for the people, by the people. It is a business, and has been run into the ground. Good luck everyone, may the odds be ever in your favor.
It has always been for the rich. Most of the founding fathers were fairly wealthy land owners. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are two examples; they owned large plantations.
The US was a very good idea. And we did a lot of things pretty well at first, compared to how the rest of the world was still working at the time. The problem is... we got complacent and arrogant. We assumed that we were the best in the world at everything, and we refused to change. So, our democratic republic turned into a fascist oligarchy, while other countries chose to evolve into social democracies instead. They learned, they changed, they improved. We did not.
Well, it is most definitely by the billionaires for the billionaires now.
Yes, America is no longer a Government of the people, for the people and by the people. It is now a Government of the wealthy for the wealthy and by the wealthy.
That's what it always has been. The revolution was staged by wealthy white land owners, and the country they set up afterwards was structured for them. When this country started, only white land owning men were allowed to vote. Every inch away from that toward equity and equality has been bitterly resisted, and is always under relentless attack trying to claw back those improvements.
Load More Replies...Can't comment on Forrest because of the downvotes, but he is at least partially right. I mean, "land of the free", that must have been super cynical for the slaves in the 18/19th century.
And be prepared that any attempt to ensure that those who greatly benefit from our capitalistic system pay for the privilege of their success WILL call you a socialist.
Yeah, we'd kinda like that "on average" to not mean "after we're all dead". If the dictatorship lasts until 2075, that's not going to do us much good.
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We are *very* dependent on what happens in the rest of the world.
Americans seem to want to believe we can put up the walls and forget about the rest of the world. But from the temperature of the ocean to the price of semiconductors, what happens across the world affects us. Instability in countries across the world affects us. We're the world's biggest economy, everything we do has international implications and those go both ways.
We do not get to opt out. Any attempt is just surrendering control.
And we can't control what the rest of the world does. It's not all about the USA. Every country has its own reality apart from ours.
That's why diplomacy, negotiation and -ultimately- "soft power" is so important. The US had a massive goodwill capital to spend after WW2 and run a very effective PR machine until the Bush era. Then, they squandered it all over BS wars based on faked claims, unchecked capitalism and ultimately straight up fascist vibes.
Load More Replies...Think of it like our most precious resource, water. The snow falling today in ID was once snowpack in the Himalayas, zipping around in ocean currents, resting at the bottom of a fjord and so on. It is all connected and we would be wise to work towards a global economy for good that ensures access to clean water for all, as just the bare minimum right. We humans need to change the way we see our role in the world. Unfortunately, I have more faith in a mass extinction event pushing us forward than some mass enlightenment of our species.
Scary how quickly things could fall apart here and people are oblivious to it.
So we need to prepare for the worst - societal collapse, economic collapse, ecological collapse.
Load More Replies...We once grew strong by disconnecting from the rest of the world. Now we grow weak by doing the same.
With the rise of BRICS being the largest trade group in the world and the potential for the US to be withdrawn from international agreements and groups under the new president it is entirely possible that the US's influence will wane significantly in the next 50 years..
That those who do not learn from their history are doomed to repeat it.
Americans do not learn the true history of America. It is completely whitewashed to make the white ruling class look good.
Some of us do, because some of us care, and some of us have a passion and love for history. The problem is that the idiots who do not learn from history outnumber us. And this is intentional. It started in 1967, when the Republican administration at the time chose to pass laws requiring standardized testing over actual education. We changed from 'teaching children to think' to 'teaching children to obey'. And the modern US is the result, exactly what they wanted. Ignorant people, easy to manipulate, while them what has the gold makes the rules.
Load More Replies...History, the truth of it, is deliberately hidden. I grew up when WW1 and WW2 veterans were around in large numbers. We were taight nothing about wither of those wars at school. Now that there's no one to contradict the accepted version they DO teach it at school. It's not that they are taught lies, but what they are taught is incomplete. If the kids knew more they'd realise these wars were MUCH worse than they imagined and they would know the true effect it had on those who were involved..
Just look how Hitler came to power and Trump. How long before he tries to perpetuate himself in power. Of course to save merika from the evil antis.
He has said, in public, more than once, that if reelected then Americans "wouldn't have to worry about voting again". And then they went and voted him in.
Load More Replies...Well the US has always stated that 'they won the war' (WWII) - but now they're Germany 1935
The only history that people remember enough to try to avoid it happening again, is recent history. But anything further back than 20 or 30 years is doomed to be repeated, I think. Just as one example, look how a lot of the mistakes of the so-called Spanish Flu circa 1918-1920 came to pass again 100 years later during the pandemic.
and those who do learn from history are doomed to watch those who didn't learn repeat it
The earth is 4.8 billion years old so suppose a technologically advanced society came around every hundred million years or so thats about 48 or so that we would never know existed. Yes I think history is very much cyclical. Just my laymans opinion. Could be wrong, dont care. Im here right now thats all Im worried about lol
Any technologically advanced society 100 million years ago would have left unmistakable traces in the geological record. Just like how 100 million years from now there will be geological evidence of the trillions of tons of plastic waste we have.
Load More Replies...Those who do not learn from history can still manage a 3.0 if they ace their other subjects.
Current day political situation isn't that far off from the 20's of the last century, I would bet we see another major war in the 30's and 40's
Just because someone is different doesn't mean they are an enemy.
And the advancement of systemically oppressed and historically underprivileged people is not a threat to your well being, only your overprivilage. Quit whining because you're scared of having to work as hard as the rest of us.
I would bet that most of the people who voted for Trump out of fear of Hispanic immigrants coming in to rape their wives and daughters have never met an immigrant nor experienced any kind of a negative or violent action from a Hispanic person. Hispanics made up 1/3 of my customers and they were the nicest customers I had.
That's true. But you'll also never find enemies among people who think the same as you and act the same as you. People can only be enemies if they are different.
That you need to do your research BEFORE the election, not after.
Trump supporters were asked if they thought Trump was too authoritarian. The most common answer was "What's an authoritarian?"
Project 2025 I worry for all the young non-white and not straight people out there. You are looking at extreme hatred from this group. I forgot about the young girls. Matt Gaetz is the Attorney General nominee.
Eventually Gaetz turned out to be too toxic for the GOP
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Voting in your local elections is more important than voting for president. Want that police reform? Education funding spread out? Someone in congress who wants to put on term limits? Local elections.
The high school in the small rural town I live in was rated a couple years ago as being the worst high school in the nation. The town 70% re-elected the same conservative idiots for schoolboard.
We are battling back against the MAGA crazies who are on the school board "for the kids", when in reality at least ONE of them is trying to exact revenge against staff who corrected their kids' behavior. We got an official reprimand against them from the majority of the board for acting as a "board of one". Financial oversight, great..ensuring predators are not affecting kids, awesome.. open and nefarious "investigations" and a "we're gunning for you" mentality??? HELL no.
That's something the Rebublicans done right for decades. They got elected into schoolboards, municipal goverments, courts, state senates or being governors.
"Done right," in the sense of achieving their goal of getting into power. But for decades, the Republicans have been working on dismantling the public schools. It seems to be part of the larger goal of dismantling the government.
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America needs to understand that empathy and open dialogue are key to bridging divides, not just picking sides.
Well that is true for any country. The art of agreeing to disagree has been lost.
Unfortunately, the phrase "agree to disagree" has been taken over by the worst possible people as their excuse for using lies and hate speech.
Load More Replies...I agree, but that's been very difficult when politicians and pundits on radio & TV have been stirring up anger so much over the past ~10 years. And that anger is infecting people on both sides of the fence. Name calling and personal attacks aren't going to accomplish anything except exacerbate the divide between people. A lot of people (on both sides) also feel that "the other side" are aiming to either take away freedoms that they hold dear, or turn their world into something they don't recognize. But there are ways to fight for what you want without actual *fighting*. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening in the US any time soon. We've been headed for a civil war for so long, I don't see it as a question of "if" it'll happen, but "when".
One side recognizes reality, and attempts to modify it. The other side is living in a carefully crafted and sold reality-free zone, where something seen with their own eyes will be dismissed as false. Bothsiderism helps the fascists and undermines the civil.
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Equality doesn’t mean someone else is getting more or special rights than you. Also that people need to mind their own business and focus on themselves instead and let people live their lives.
Some people seem to think that equal rights somehow means less rights for them? It's not a pie were are talking about here.
Equality means to them that they have lost the right to look down on and mistreat others.
Load More Replies...If you're talking about equality of outcomes that's exactly what it means. Equality of outcomes means that there is a presumption that everything should have "equal representation" on it's face. If you have a company with 100 workers, half must be female, 13 have to be black, 17 have to be hispanic, 5 have to be asian....and then there needs to be some division of LQTBQ in there too....but is that overall? Or is that within those racial demographics? Again, is it overall, or is it meant to be representation defined by each letter of the acronym? Are they the most qualified people? Doesn't matter! Quota's to hit. What about a male athlete who invokes "self identification" and switches to the female team, going from one of the worst male athletes in the game, to the top of the female side? Whole bunch of female athletes sure feel like they're losing something substantial there. Pointing out those discrepancies isn't an attempt to erode equality....it's in pursuit of it.
"Those who are accustomed to privilege often believe that equality is oppression." - Howard Brenneman
Exactly. I support feminism because women have historically been treated like second-class citizens, or worse. It's reasonable and understandable that they now want to control things and replace men as the dominant sex. Just don't insult my intelligence by telling me that feminism is still about equality. It used to be, but now it's about power.
Load More Replies...Christians are mind controlled to believe they have the only true religion and the only true morals. Therefore they become righteous tyrants. Couple that with political power and we have the resulting Trump authoritarian rule.
Christians aren't the only ones. Try publishing a picture of Allah and see what happens.
Load More Replies...Equality also doesn't mean you have the right to never be questioned or criticized. It doesn't mean your made-up, cherry-picked stats have to be treated as facts. It doesn't mean people have to respect you, or take your nonsense seriously. Someone needs to explain to trans people what equality actually is.
You can't vote away economic forces. The post ww2 economy is gone for very explainable reasons. Coal mining and steel plant jobs are going away for very explainable reasons. Nobody is at fault. Nobody has stolen anything. People want to vote away having to adapt to the future and this is simply not the way.
Individual people made all decisions to move these industries overseas and individals made the decisions not to stop them or at least remedy the consequences all in the name of money, stupidity and laziness. The individual responsiblity of these leaders should be researched andreveald to the general public. Not to punish them but to finally learn something from the past.
It's been revealed, in broad strokes and in detail, dozens of times times dozens of people. And the audience shrugs, and picks the $9.50 piece of cráp made in China over the $10.00 item made domestically. The people most hurt by it still revere ronnie raygun, even though he kicked off the "incentivize companies to outsource to foreign countries and close American factories" mad dash to the bottom.
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How to listen, and that words mean exactly what they mean not what you feel they mean.
You heave 2 ears and 1 mouth - twice as much listening than talking...
This one should be closer to the top. My fellow Americans aren't listening to one another at all lately. Just constant division, and a lot of it is not even logical. People disagree about some things just out of spite because they don't wanna have anything in common with "the other side".
I once read something along the line of 'you can't hear what you don't know'. Language is, most of the time for most conversations, the brain of one person throwing a dart in the direction of 'vocabulary for subject a' and person b interpreting based on throwing a dart at their 'vocabulary that sounds like what I just heard'. There does not necessarily exist an overlap. At all. Communication is hard. It's okay to feel like you have to really try. Most of the time, that's true! But that doesn't make not-trying okay.
This is great message for bored panda. People here need to listen and not just scream evil, white, racist, sexiest, maga who want a dictator.
We listen very closely to Donald Trump and his worshippers, and we hear evil, white, racist, sexiest, maga who want a dictator. Try listening to why we think that.
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How government works. How power is divided, how rules are made and enforced, how the court system works, and how each of these institutions can be manipulated to disproportionately benefit one side or another.
And its mainstream media is not at al liberal. They treated Trump with kid gloves.
Load More Replies...America is governed by the Golden Rule - "He who has the gold sets the rules."
It can be hard to recognize propaganda and disinformation.
Yes, social media plays an interesting role there, too. You can find ‘proof’ of virtually any claim. And yet people are more convinced than ever that only they ‘know the truth’.
That is why I read multiple news sources. AP, Reuters, BBC, Der Spiegel. Bloomberg is great as well. The only people who are unaware that FOX News is a right wing propaganda outlet are the people who only watch FOX.
Load More Replies...Unions are NOT Evil. They benefit the worker not the employers. That's why they don't want you to join one.
Propagada can be completely factual, but inaccurate because of what it emphasizes or leaves out
I learned to tell the difference between op-ed, tabloid and real news when I was young. Not a difficult skillset to learn.
In 5th grade in a public school on the Gulf Coast of Texas we were given a page of statements. We had to indicate if each one was opinion or fact. 5th grade!
Load More Replies...No. The yank problem is they act like teenagers believing the first rumour they hear instead of keeping their mouths shut and checking facts. Smart people check multiple sources (some OUTSIDE the country, not just inside), AND listen to those they disagree with so they know how the other side thinks.
Tariffs.
Or how the economy works in general. It should be taught in elementary school first. But the people in power are not interested in voters seeing through their big words. And unfortunately its true in most of the countries in the world.
I've never seen a constant stream of outright lies that are easily proven false after a click or two in the run up to an election in any other western country. America will be a third world dictatorship in a couple of months time. Any respect from leaders of other countries has gone and the rest of the world just thinks the American people are bigoted and awful. The people got a pass last time as no-one truly knows what they'll get when they vote for someone but to vote for him again has proven the truth about the values of the people
Load More Replies...I..can't..wait.. until the MAGA crazies find out what a high tariff will do to a product they purchase and that no, Mexico, China, etc.. will not be paying more...YOU will. And Biden will be on the beach, no blame assigned.
You think prices are high now, wait until the tariffs kick in. But it will make billionaires more money, which is now the number one function they believe government is for.
Tariff - an 18th Century economic gimmick trying to fix 21st Century problems.
That one can be against violence and still be fine with defending themselves.
Martial artists are typically like this (myself included). I don't go out seeking a fight, but if I'm attacked, it's better to have the knowledge on how to protect myself.
I not only carry a weapon, I lobbied to get the law passed (and working on certification as a trainer). And EVERYONE I teach gets the same message "tools 1-5 are deescalation"
Load More Replies...Nothing wrong with defending yourself. You have every right to fight back.
There is something wrong with picking up a weapon and going out looking for an excuse to use it. Here in the UK, you're not allowed to carry *anything* with the intent of using it as a weapon. Also here in the UK, you are allowed to use any reasonable force using any implement which comes to hand if you need to defend yourself.
Load More Replies...Leaving this house with an illegally held weapon to actively seek out trouble and then shoot unarmed people - seems not to be a crime in the US..
If those people are attacking you go ahead and shoot them.
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That's being Christian isn't the be all end all of every Americans lives.
Unfortunately all too often it is the cause of much misery and inequality. Dumbing down education for example. Removing books from public libraries, ensuring women don't have autonomy over their bodies etc.
When my rich devout Catholic aunt passed away, she left most of her money to the Catholic church. As if they need it.
Load More Replies...I think the only true Christian in this country is Jimmy Carter. But if you want to see a real demon, look into the eyes of Kenneth Copeland. This man is truly evil!
The United States id NOT a Christian nation - it's just a nation with a lot of Christians in it.
Most of us don't think so. It's just that our political system can be manipulated using the 3% +1 system. You need just 3% of your parties base plus 1 and you can win a primary. Thus being your parties candidate. This is why it's important to vote in primary elections. Trouble is most people don't or can't.
Nearly all the sexual predators in yankland are cisgender heterosexual christian males.
America needs to understand that we’re more divided than ever, and listening to each other, even when we disagree, is the only way forward.
I have yet to meet a conservative who has an open mind to an opposing view. It is their mental programming, like a member of Scientology is programmed to avoid all exposure to any views critical of their cult.
You have now. This year I voted for Democratic candidates at the national level for the first time since I started voting in 1980. Also, if that doesn't get me down voted this probably will, but Abe Hartman is right about many liberals being just as closed minded.
Load More Replies...I become depressed when listening to racists and morons. Tuning them out works better.
I'm sorry but I think only a revolution to change the status quo will be the only solution in the end.
How in the flying Hell do you propose to do that when half the population isn't listening?
True democracy is about discussing our differing points of view. The second we dismiss each other, we open the door to awful things.
I think we (The United States) were more divided when we were actually divided.
But let's remember that at least one sitting elected official has called for another secession...so it's probably a pretty tight race.
Load More Replies...Polarisation. I used to complain you couldn't get a f*g paper between the parties. No real choice. Still true - except now they've all moved further to the right, ended progressiveness and now barely conceal their hatred for Muslims - who are treated the way Jews used to be. We learn nothing..
Jews don't go around telling people they're the final truth, that no other religion is valid, and all non-believers should be exterminated. They don't murder women who dare to show their face or talk to a man. They don't slaughter people who published a picture of their religion's founder. They don't murder thousands by flying planes into buildings. They don't murder their children because they loved the wrong person. They don't use children or hospital patients as human shields. Jews didn't, and don't deserve the treatment given to them. Muslims do.
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Real solutions to the most important problems are almost always slow, frustrating, complicated, long term, unsexy. By the time they have worked people aren't even happy about it because they forgot about the problem. If someone arrives with a bunch of simple satisfying solutions to all problems they're ignorant or conning you.
Reminds me of the 'Millenium Bug' People are saying now that it was a panic over nothing. No planes fell out of the sky, banking system didn't crash etc. Of course this was entirely due to years of hard work by thousands of people across the world to prevent those very things from happening. This is what makes people think Global Warming is a hoax - they would need the world to be literally on fire before they believed it..
Tariffs raise consumer prices.
Import/export tariffs also harm overall economic performance, worsening industrial competiveness and frankly everything. Trade wars are bad for everyone's business. No-one wins: everyone loses.
Which is why the biggest loser in the US is imposing them. One of the biggest failed businessmen in the country is now going to destroy what little most people have.
Load More Replies...Are you listening MAGA? Who the hell you gonna blame when you are paying even MORE for good and services?
Perhaps they will blame the people who voted for the man who said he'd bring down grocery prices by putting a federal tax on food imports, thus increasing the price paid for imported food by Americans (trade tariffs are basically a form of taxation).
Load More Replies...Of course they do. If Donny doesn't know that, he's an ignorant fool. If he does know, he's a liar.
The Rapist Trump knows that promising import taxes gains votes in the USA. Sad but true. I'm not sure anything else matters to him.
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Keeping a democracy requires work and participation, lest you would rather have no voice any longer. Apathy is going to destroy this country.
Single-party dictatorship is now established. The only thing left for them to do is tie up loose ends.
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Other people matter too.
"Which can be found in any of several states, like solid, liquid, gas or plasma. Of course there are also super solids, Bose-Einstein condensates. fermionic condensates, neutron-degenerate matter and let me tell you about quark-gluon plasma!" - Doctor Doe's Chemical Kitchen
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We are being manipulated by foreign enemies to hate each other. No other military in the world comes close to our power. China and Russia both know this, so they are using online armies to enrage us online. Sadly, it’s working and could have catastrophic consequences if our simmering fury ever boils over into widespread violence.
Yuri Bezmenov(defected Soviet journalist) actually gave an interview in the 80's describing how Russia will turn the US population against each other even more. He said it would take about 25-40 years for that goal to be complete. Social media accelerated the process.
Er, yeah, only: 40 years ago was 1984... The plan worked to schedule, I’d say.
Load More Replies...While countries do always try to interfere with each other, blaming all your problems on "foreign" interference is exactly what dictators and corrupt governments across the world do to shift attention. There are plenty of powerful people within the US perfectly happy to stoke hatred and division because it gets them more money and power.
Unfortunatelly, no Chinese or Russian influence is necessary for the people to turn on each other. They might add some tinder here and there, but the sparks and tons of fuel to sustain the fire are already there.
Yeah, but that just shows how easy it is for a foreign power to spread gasoline all over those embers.
Load More Replies...After Trump won the election traffic on Twitter and other social media sites dropped drastically. It has been determined much of the traffic had been Russian and Chinese AI bots programmed to create misinformation in favor of Trump. Russian state TV is cheering Trump's choices for his security cabinet.
I have had so, so, so many discussions about this online. Last time it was over some outrageous post about a woman being pregnant, and her saying ‘can’t wait to see if it’s a girl or an abortion!’. In one fell swoop, this was attributed to ‘typical’ feminist, leftist and pro-choice mindsets. Which is of course utter bollocks. And yet every time I tried to point out this was very much not how the average feminist/leftist/pro-choicer thinks, and that these ‘extreme’ versions of movements are not representative of most people, I was either accused of lying or just ‘wrong’ and ‘a moron’. It’s stupid to make an enemy of half your own population, a nation is only as strong as it is divided, and yet half the time the reaction to that is ‘all those leftists/rightists can f**k off, I don’t want unity with scum like that’. It’s definitely going to have catastrophic consequences at some point.
Domestic enemies too. Moscow Mitch needed no outside influences to drive his crusade for single-party dictatorship.
From where I'm sat on the right hand side of the Atlantic, Mitch McConnell appears to have had no loyalty other than to himself and the US Republican party. I've read that the Kremlin "turned" Trump in the 1980s, but McConnell - well, he's not working for foreign interests, that at least seems certain.
Load More Replies...The "foreign" enemies all live and work in the USA. Who is responsible for the high cost of health care in the USA, the USA is. Who is responsible for the lack of workers unions and low wages in the USA, the USA is. Who owns the UN? Who controls the Internet? The USA does.
Sadly humans don't need much prodding to do this. Too much credit is given to foreign powers on this front. People already hated each other. KKK, the American Nazi Party (going strong whilst Communists were hounded) racial segregation, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Incels etc..
Taxes.
I’m an American living in Europe for 8 years, I’m repeatedly told how nice it must be to have free schools, healthcare, transport, etc.
We have all this because we pay around 40-50% income tax & 21% sales tax where I live.
It all comes back to taxes.
(PS… most of these aren’t free, just heavily subsidized and made affordable).
40%-50% income tax? Seriously? Here in the UK, the first £12570 of income is untaxed. The next band, up to £50270, is taxed at 20%. It's only income above £57270 which attracts 40% tax. And we have free health care. One reason we can afford it is that the NHS has huge purchasing power so can do good deals with the firms that supply medicines and medical equipment. Meanwhile in the USA, the medical industry is all about maximising profit so d**g prices are sky-high.
And the "Insurance" industry contributes absolutely nothing, and siphons off a piece of every dollar that moves in the system. They're nothing but parasites, and the vast majority of people never notice.
Load More Replies...Wow sounds really hard to have affordable things. I mean, we may not have such high taxes, but between taxes and the specific type of cultural capitalism we have here, things are NOT affordable. It's an absurd idea to be upset about high taxes to make things affordable for everyone, when the alternative is the same things being completely unaffordable by most of us. Cmon. I'm not saying it's ideal, it's not. But clearly education and healthcare and food and housing that is doable is better than a minority of folks who find it affordable and the rest incapable of accessing these crucial resources.
I think they are talking more on the lines of how people wan tthose things free/affordable, but don't want taxes to go up.
Load More Replies...Yes, this is the difference between FREE and FREE AT THE POINT OF USE. So instead of being unable to afford healthcare due to no insurance (because you're sick and lost your job) you can still get all the treatment you need and get back to work without bankruptcy. In the UK you pay something called 'National Insurance' which covers healthcare, pensions, sickness and unemployment benefits and top-up benefits for low paid. It's substantially cheaper than the cheapest health insurance with no 'co-pay' or waiting for approval on d***s/treatments. No getting dumped on the sidewalk by the hospital either..
Everything needs paying for. If people didn't pay taxes, then you'd have no paved roads, no street lighting, no police, no public schools, no fire fighters, no armed forces to protect the country. You'd have to fend for yourself in every regard. If everyone pays a *little* more tax, then everyone can have health care. For some reason, this idea is called "communism" by some Americans, despite the "communistic" nature of the US armed forces, for example...
Load More Replies...Again politicians keep spouting how bad taxes are. Then all people want to do is complain about the roads, the schools and how bad any government service is.
If the taxes I pay are helping us, then I don't care how much I get taxed. Currently, my taxes are mostly used for bombs and prisons.
Do you have free education? Free dentist for people under 22 years old? Do you get paid for going to collage?
It would be nice to know which European country OP lives in. Also as an American citizen, they are required to pay Federal and State taxes on top of what they currently pay.
And as our Danish exchange student's parents told me when I said I admired their social programs..."you have to watch them (politicians) EVERY minute"...sigh...so much for us (US) having such a system.
Just because your government is doing it and not you, doesn’t mean you can ignore it.
It’s odd that you say ‘we are more divided than ever’ (so you know it’s a bad thing) and then, ‘the enemy is not only our own government but some of fellows Americans as well.’ No, it isn’t. Your actual enemies *want* you to think they’re your enemies, and that’s exactly why you’re so divided. Please, please stop dehumanising half your own population - at heart, you’ll find most of you actually want the same basic things.
Load More Replies...Remember: even with Trump in power, Democracy triumphed on January 6th.
Inignore things I can't change. I'm not responsible for the crimes of people i never met or voted for.
Just suck it up and face it: we are now living in the shittiest, real-world MGS game ever. We got Armstrong from Revengeance as our new president, he's just more orange and less nanomachiney than the game character. We got the malfunctioning Colonel talking about the purple worm in slack-jaw space (fvcking sh!tty AI and its sh!ttier hallucinations), information suppression, a government that does nothing but lie to our faces every chance it gets. We DON'T get the kick-a*s Gears, cyborgs, or nanomachines, though. There ain't a damn thing we can do about it but hope we can just keep surviving, somehow.
The power of genuine empathy and open dialogue. A little more willingness to listen and to consider perspectives outside our own experiences could really help bridge divides, reduce misunderstandings, and ultimately foster stronger communities.
Problem is, the overwhelming view these days is ‘why should I listen to his views if he doesn’t listen to mine?’. Which of course gets us all nowhere, but it certainly does make our actual enemies happy.
Voting is important. Dedicating time out of your day to understanding the issues is important. It's also okay if you don't have time to understand everything, and it's okay if you don't vote on everything and only vote on what you do understand. But voting matters.
I always wondered, why do Americans vote on business (ie. working) day. It almost seems like it is supposed to make it harder for a working class to vote.
yes...that's exactly why. Oh and add to that the locations to vote require transportation and there is virtually no public transportation outside of major cities. Also, the requirement that you have a street address blocks a lot of voters as does the way the voting booths are structured and requiring a drivers license when some people don't have one
Load More Replies...ADJ you hit the nail on the head with a ten pound hammer. Suppress the vote.
Sadly, there is no longer a difference between the parties. Put a Dem and a Repub in a bag, shake it up and only thing that falls out is donation checks. USED to be, if you earned an hourly wage Democrat was the vote you gave. NOT ANY MORE.
There were seven presidential candidates on the ballot this year in my state, more in others.
Load More Replies...This should be titled "43 things everyone needs to understand". There are very few things that apply explicitly to Americans and ignorance and misinformation can be found everywhere.
Whoa...I think BP actually went a full 2 weeks before posting this latest "America bad" listicle
This list reads like a list of things that Americans think Americans need to know about - not so much "America bad", more "Americans trying to teach Americans".
Load More Replies...I'm honestly scared because they appointed Health Secretary an antivaxxer nutjob and my spineless country has never had serious health control in the borders so we're going to be the entry door for illnesses that were almost eradicated.
I have to admit I'm at a loss as to why the Nazis want to reestablish and spread deadly diseases that had been nearly eradicated. But they've been arguing for it long enough to make it clear that it's intentional, and not just a side effect of some other goal.
Load More Replies...That ship has sailed. There are a whole new batch of BS ideas to quarrel with.
Load More Replies...I'd add: your casual attitude towards guns is sickening. These are incredibly dangerous, lethal weapons: yet you can just stick one in your pocket and go to McDonald's
One thing Americans seem to have a mental block about - active shooter drills in schools shouldn't be accepted as normal. Cannot and will not ever understand the American obsession with guns. And when there's a mass shooting? All run out and buy MORE guns! It just short-circuits my brain. No guns = no mass shootings. It really, truly isn't rocket science.
What a condescending article. Most of the people I voted for, including for the presidency lost, but that's democracy. We aren't on the verge of a hellscape. Republicans will overreach (just like the Biden administration) and then they will lose power. I've been voting for thirty years, we haven't careened off a cliff yet.
This should be titled "43 things everyone needs to understand". There are very few things that apply explicitly to Americans and ignorance and misinformation can be found everywhere.
Whoa...I think BP actually went a full 2 weeks before posting this latest "America bad" listicle
This list reads like a list of things that Americans think Americans need to know about - not so much "America bad", more "Americans trying to teach Americans".
Load More Replies...I'm honestly scared because they appointed Health Secretary an antivaxxer nutjob and my spineless country has never had serious health control in the borders so we're going to be the entry door for illnesses that were almost eradicated.
I have to admit I'm at a loss as to why the Nazis want to reestablish and spread deadly diseases that had been nearly eradicated. But they've been arguing for it long enough to make it clear that it's intentional, and not just a side effect of some other goal.
Load More Replies...That ship has sailed. There are a whole new batch of BS ideas to quarrel with.
Load More Replies...I'd add: your casual attitude towards guns is sickening. These are incredibly dangerous, lethal weapons: yet you can just stick one in your pocket and go to McDonald's
One thing Americans seem to have a mental block about - active shooter drills in schools shouldn't be accepted as normal. Cannot and will not ever understand the American obsession with guns. And when there's a mass shooting? All run out and buy MORE guns! It just short-circuits my brain. No guns = no mass shootings. It really, truly isn't rocket science.
What a condescending article. Most of the people I voted for, including for the presidency lost, but that's democracy. We aren't on the verge of a hellscape. Republicans will overreach (just like the Biden administration) and then they will lose power. I've been voting for thirty years, we haven't careened off a cliff yet.
