Having dinner with people/friends has proved to be an interesting and harrowing adventure at times.
The ones with very severe TDS admit with a serious tone to watching Rachel Maddow . Actually only one person who I rarely see. Soon to become really rare.
After a bit of yelling and their listing of Trumps crimes, I emphatically tell them I feel the same about the dems lying . They are shocked of course that I would disagree with them.
I mention the border, DEI, supporting Iran, lying about Biden’s cognitive decline, gaslighting us about Covid, the squad and the list could go on.
We then agree to disagree and talk about the grandkids .
We probably won’t see those people for a while but that okay too .
Well received narrative this beautiful Sunday morning in Olinda, Brasil.
I recall reading Ms. Balls piece in the Newsweek rag about how the 2020 election was manipulated " for the greater good" to preserve " their democracy."
We are not a democracy. We are a Constitutional Republic.
The inside the beltway UniParty blob and it's unaccountable federal government bureaucrats will not go silently into the night. And the Pavlovian lap dog legacy media will continue to fan the flames of Leftist propaganda.
While I believe, as you opine, a drift has occurred toward individual thinking and rejection of the continuity of government lies , cover ups and deceit, November 5th will not end quietly.
I will be watching and listening to the US news the morning of November 6. The sun will come up. Beyond that, well, we shall see. Could be a dark night.
Thanks, Gene. I agree that post-election life in the U.S. is unlikely to be calm; so much is at stake from both side’s perspectives. My prayer is that everyone who values peace will let their higher selves lead.🙏🏻
But have enough woken up? How many non citizens will in fact cast votes? How many new voters are there who were anointed with citizenship in the past two years SOLELY for this moment? And sorry to be a Debbie Downer but what comes next if the filibuster disappears and with it the strongest guardrail and bulwark against pretty much absolute power? I would see a steep decline in military enlistment and a much unsafer world ( or one where American essentially forfeits it's sovereignty and the globalists fill the void: how that works vis a vis China cannot be predicted but predicting nukes in Iran unless Israel Acts very quickly is easy to predict). and here's one more negative thought: what if Trump wins and lawfare is invoked to prevent him from taking office? Then what?
I admire your optimism, but unless, as Leah said, “…we remain a society in which people are free to seek and share information, to trade ideas and opinions, to debate facts and what they mean uninhibited by authorities or elites behind curtains…”
I believe the Dems have made their intentions pretty clear to the contrary. Their self-professed plans include limiting the 1st and 2nd Amendments, packing SCOTUS, appointing more “activist” judges at every level of the system, ensuring that MSM remains an American version of Pravda, demonetizing/debanking political opponents on alternative media, such as Substack, YouTube, etc.
It’s really hard to “wake up” when you’ve been given a big dose of ambien.
Thanks, Leah. Your description of that journey is apt and helped me process what I have seen in reverse. To me, algorithmic echo chambers have been presenting the "stream/river" of folks leaving the transformed right, waking up to a world of compassion and generosity. These folks have experienced equally jarring encounters from within their previously safe conservative space. Experiences of accusation, exaggeration, demonization, and surprising unkindness.
I propose an alternative interpretation of your and my experiences. The majority of folks do indeed rightfully sense that they are living within a rigged system. Power and money have coalesced (as they always will over time, requiring vigilance and recurring reform). People are primed to find the villain. Opportunists are happy to oblige, taking advantage of our human bias for narratives to make sense of a complex world. For a while, we live happily in this new "wider reality," until our new guide - now competing with numerous copy cats finally jumps the shark in an effort to retain listeners/readers/eyeballs. We recoil in disgust and find the oppositional narrative which - in our state of shock - seems to explain what we'd been missing.
I was a happy conservative for most of my life, attracted to the logic and clarity of Bill Buckley and George Will. The attraction died when I saw things like the dis-ingenuousness of Rush Limbaugh, twisting philosophically valid concepts to create contempt for others, stir tribal instincts, and cash in on the emotional storm. The culture wars arose from this kind of media malpractice (on both sides) and it became a war of escalation, brought to its natural peak by Trump and the pandemic.
The political parties have fanned the flames, having been taken over by their extreme wings. MAGA is not the solution to some nefarious plot to take over the world, it is just the extreme opposite reaction to the excesses of progressivism pushed by a small minority on the other side. These minorities have taken advantage of the structures built by the duopoly (partisan primaries, gerrymandered districts, gutted parliamentary rules) to shout down the moderate majority of Americans. The drama now is whether that majority will allow itself to be recruited by the unbridled passions of the extremists (which will end badly) or will save our fragile experiment by finding its own voice and reforming the political system along the way.
I’m with you on the basic necessity of reforming the system to make it less susceptible to corruption and capture in the tech era. I suspect we’d have somewhat different ideas for what, precisely, it needs or how to do that. But I’m curious about your perception of MAGA as “extreme”—what specifically about the movement to Make America Great Again strikes you as extreme?
My analysis assumes what I mean by MAGA is a small minority of the country (the narrow tail of the bell curve on the right). So it is a kind of "all-in" MAGA which would include all the following. Having questions or concerns about any of these individually wouldn't qualify as radical, but enthusiastically embracing all of them would, I think, put one into the extremist minority.
- Buys-in to claims of mass fraud in 2020 election
- Interprets January 6 as a peaceful, justified protest and/or believes it is primarily driven by false flag operatives
- Believes the effort to deliver a Covid vaccine was rife with bad-faith actions including regulators and pharma companies knowingly killing people
- Believes Covid itself was probably a set-up to allow massive government intervention
- Believes the Democrats/Deep State is a highly coordinated effort to force progressive ideology on the country and subvert democracy
- Believes replacement theory is a valid analysis of the reasons for border policies and immigration crisis
- Views Donald Trump as divinely ordained to save the country
Hasn't looked into it but is open to believing, if the evidence is solid enough. For context, my friend has been an "anti-vaxxer" (aka vaccine safety skeptic/medical freedom advocate) for 30+ years—since well before that smear was invented to stigmatize people into silence/compliance. So... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Well, we agree on wanting to see solid evidence. What passes for that seems to demonstrate that, in the end, we believe what we want to believe - accepting things that affirm our prior belief and rejecting what does not. Every once in a while, the system breaks and a person finds themselves seeking cognitive dissonance by trying the other path. And we're back to my initial response.
Having dinner with people/friends has proved to be an interesting and harrowing adventure at times.
The ones with very severe TDS admit with a serious tone to watching Rachel Maddow . Actually only one person who I rarely see. Soon to become really rare.
After a bit of yelling and their listing of Trumps crimes, I emphatically tell them I feel the same about the dems lying . They are shocked of course that I would disagree with them.
I mention the border, DEI, supporting Iran, lying about Biden’s cognitive decline, gaslighting us about Covid, the squad and the list could go on.
We then agree to disagree and talk about the grandkids .
We probably won’t see those people for a while but that okay too .
One of the things I miss about the good ol’ days is having easy friendships across the political divide. Sigh.
Beautiful! Leah is cooking with gas, friends.
You’re always good for a laugh.😆😘🥰
😂👍
Wonderful ❤️
LH-
Well received narrative this beautiful Sunday morning in Olinda, Brasil.
I recall reading Ms. Balls piece in the Newsweek rag about how the 2020 election was manipulated " for the greater good" to preserve " their democracy."
We are not a democracy. We are a Constitutional Republic.
The inside the beltway UniParty blob and it's unaccountable federal government bureaucrats will not go silently into the night. And the Pavlovian lap dog legacy media will continue to fan the flames of Leftist propaganda.
While I believe, as you opine, a drift has occurred toward individual thinking and rejection of the continuity of government lies , cover ups and deceit, November 5th will not end quietly.
I will be watching and listening to the US news the morning of November 6. The sun will come up. Beyond that, well, we shall see. Could be a dark night.
V/r,
Marine Gene
Thanks, Gene. I agree that post-election life in the U.S. is unlikely to be calm; so much is at stake from both side’s perspectives. My prayer is that everyone who values peace will let their higher selves lead.🙏🏻
Perfectly written. On the money.
But have enough woken up? How many non citizens will in fact cast votes? How many new voters are there who were anointed with citizenship in the past two years SOLELY for this moment? And sorry to be a Debbie Downer but what comes next if the filibuster disappears and with it the strongest guardrail and bulwark against pretty much absolute power? I would see a steep decline in military enlistment and a much unsafer world ( or one where American essentially forfeits it's sovereignty and the globalists fill the void: how that works vis a vis China cannot be predicted but predicting nukes in Iran unless Israel Acts very quickly is easy to predict). and here's one more negative thought: what if Trump wins and lawfare is invoked to prevent him from taking office? Then what?
People will wake up one way or another. The left has lost its way and by boot or by brains, the majority will awaken.
I admire your optimism, but unless, as Leah said, “…we remain a society in which people are free to seek and share information, to trade ideas and opinions, to debate facts and what they mean uninhibited by authorities or elites behind curtains…”
I believe the Dems have made their intentions pretty clear to the contrary. Their self-professed plans include limiting the 1st and 2nd Amendments, packing SCOTUS, appointing more “activist” judges at every level of the system, ensuring that MSM remains an American version of Pravda, demonetizing/debanking political opponents on alternative media, such as Substack, YouTube, etc.
It’s really hard to “wake up” when you’ve been given a big dose of ambien.
If Trump wins the Justice Department gets a house cleaning, that should quell the lawfare. Especially if the Rs take the Senate.
I agree that waking up is happening but moving toward Trump is certainly not the answer. He does not represent truth or justice.
A lot of people are moving towards the team now gathered around him.
Are you suggesting the other candidate does represent truth and justice?
Thanks, Leah. Your description of that journey is apt and helped me process what I have seen in reverse. To me, algorithmic echo chambers have been presenting the "stream/river" of folks leaving the transformed right, waking up to a world of compassion and generosity. These folks have experienced equally jarring encounters from within their previously safe conservative space. Experiences of accusation, exaggeration, demonization, and surprising unkindness.
I propose an alternative interpretation of your and my experiences. The majority of folks do indeed rightfully sense that they are living within a rigged system. Power and money have coalesced (as they always will over time, requiring vigilance and recurring reform). People are primed to find the villain. Opportunists are happy to oblige, taking advantage of our human bias for narratives to make sense of a complex world. For a while, we live happily in this new "wider reality," until our new guide - now competing with numerous copy cats finally jumps the shark in an effort to retain listeners/readers/eyeballs. We recoil in disgust and find the oppositional narrative which - in our state of shock - seems to explain what we'd been missing.
I was a happy conservative for most of my life, attracted to the logic and clarity of Bill Buckley and George Will. The attraction died when I saw things like the dis-ingenuousness of Rush Limbaugh, twisting philosophically valid concepts to create contempt for others, stir tribal instincts, and cash in on the emotional storm. The culture wars arose from this kind of media malpractice (on both sides) and it became a war of escalation, brought to its natural peak by Trump and the pandemic.
The political parties have fanned the flames, having been taken over by their extreme wings. MAGA is not the solution to some nefarious plot to take over the world, it is just the extreme opposite reaction to the excesses of progressivism pushed by a small minority on the other side. These minorities have taken advantage of the structures built by the duopoly (partisan primaries, gerrymandered districts, gutted parliamentary rules) to shout down the moderate majority of Americans. The drama now is whether that majority will allow itself to be recruited by the unbridled passions of the extremists (which will end badly) or will save our fragile experiment by finding its own voice and reforming the political system along the way.
I’m with you on the basic necessity of reforming the system to make it less susceptible to corruption and capture in the tech era. I suspect we’d have somewhat different ideas for what, precisely, it needs or how to do that. But I’m curious about your perception of MAGA as “extreme”—what specifically about the movement to Make America Great Again strikes you as extreme?
My analysis assumes what I mean by MAGA is a small minority of the country (the narrow tail of the bell curve on the right). So it is a kind of "all-in" MAGA which would include all the following. Having questions or concerns about any of these individually wouldn't qualify as radical, but enthusiastically embracing all of them would, I think, put one into the extremist minority.
- Buys-in to claims of mass fraud in 2020 election
- Interprets January 6 as a peaceful, justified protest and/or believes it is primarily driven by false flag operatives
- Believes the effort to deliver a Covid vaccine was rife with bad-faith actions including regulators and pharma companies knowingly killing people
- Believes Covid itself was probably a set-up to allow massive government intervention
- Believes the Democrats/Deep State is a highly coordinated effort to force progressive ideology on the country and subvert democracy
- Believes replacement theory is a valid analysis of the reasons for border policies and immigration crisis
- Views Donald Trump as divinely ordained to save the country
Hmmm. What if someone believes, say, five out of seven? (Asking for a friend.)
LOL - Can't claim it's that scientific. How does the friend feel about chem trails?
Hasn't looked into it but is open to believing, if the evidence is solid enough. For context, my friend has been an "anti-vaxxer" (aka vaccine safety skeptic/medical freedom advocate) for 30+ years—since well before that smear was invented to stigmatize people into silence/compliance. So... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Well, we agree on wanting to see solid evidence. What passes for that seems to demonstrate that, in the end, we believe what we want to believe - accepting things that affirm our prior belief and rejecting what does not. Every once in a while, the system breaks and a person finds themselves seeking cognitive dissonance by trying the other path. And we're back to my initial response.