News/Current Events, discussion (Bullets, Ballots & Bombs)

[rublev]

wtf america

[shyan]

Guys...

[jrisk]

i have never been this anxious in my life

[BIGBEE]

Lot of racist people in my country still. Wish i could fall asleep

[UnwashedMolasses]

Really. It's the end of social optimism in America. No more pretending that most people are good people who want everyone to love each other. No more pretending that the bigoted and ignorant are a minority in our country. I really believed. We're probably about to see a Republican-controlled executive, legislature, and SCOTUS. God help us.

[Stolsdos]

the white working class of america has spoken

[meatjacket]

its not funny anymore

[BIGBEE]

America fucking sucks

[Cowboy]

"I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

[Stolsdos]

biggest issue here besides social policy regression is climate change. It is so far gone now, even with Hillary as president it was unlikely to be fixed, but now... shit's fucked

[ramdomthought]

worst part is being in a suddenly Swing State and Not Knocking On Enough Doors

[ramseames]

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from= ... D&view=12h

where do we think this lands

[CheerUpBrokeBoy]

as much as this sucks so incredibly fucking hard please try not to feed any "fuck america", "fuck republicans" or any kind of "fuck ______" sentiment, we don't need any more division

edit: my mom just reminded me that reagan was elected when she was in college and think about all that's happened since then, all the progression and change and tolerance. we'll be okay

[nevergreen]

god fucking dammit

[rublev]

everyone said he couldn't do it. everyone said he was unqualified. no experience. "he lacks the right skills... the talent!" commentators shouted

but now i too think ed balls will win strictly come dancing

(sorry)

[rublev]

some interesting numbers

[WussWayne]

Kanye 2020 doesn't seem so implausible now

[iralanwitnuk]

A local news channel said that people started chanting when Trump won any state like it was a football game, and people rolled the Toomer's Corner trees at Auburn University to celebrate the Trump win (people roll the trees when they win a football game). I'm at a loss for words.



Edit: they roll toilet paper on the trees. Sorry for the confusion

[jrisk]

[CheerUpBrokeBoy]

no yeah reagan was a monster, my point being that in the big picture we've made huge leaps and bounds in progress and tolerance since then and we'll continue to do so after trump's gone (not to mention reagan could've easily started a nuclear war and didn't), as long as we work hard and be the best citizens we can be we can look back on this as a stumble on the inevitable path to a better future.

i'm saying this as someone who recognizes my own privilege – i've been incredibly blessed to not have my future threatened too specifically by a trump presidency, my fear but also my hope and optimism are for those marginalized people who will suffer the most because of this

and i don't know man i'm really fucking angry and searching for some meaning or something to blame but i feel like i can't do that without demonizing someone (non-college educated voters, red states, white women voters, latino republicans, the south, etc.) and it feels really wrong and unhealthy and exactly the kind of feeling that leads to something like a trump election

[jujumaster]

So do you lot over there get to hear some actual methods of policy implementation now then? or just more empty phrases and whooping?

[eufemism]

Don't know why people are surprised


Everyone that didn't completely have their heads in the clouds has BEEN knowing middle class America is racist


They were just waiting for someone that would make it okay to be racist and discriminate

[Copeland]

People are surprised because of the poll predictions. As I've found out very recently, the incompetence of pollsters didn't apply to just Brexit but to the overall science of polling. It most likely had a direct influence in the low voter turnout in swing states. Every one of them need to resign.

[adiabatic]

[ramseames]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/wha ... nts-makes/

Good polls were well within a reasonable margin of error

In the last few weeks it really tightened up and anyone who didn't vote out of a sense of complacency should feel very guilty

[pirxthepilot]

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/ ... mp/8014712

millennial non-engagement/lethargy.. pretty depressing

[bels]

Can we set up a brexit/trump blame bingo card?

disenfranchised millenials / disenfranchised white working class / political elites / epistemological nihilism / complacent liberals /

[oucho]

It does seem very difficult for politicians to run a campaign based on policy at the moment. Although he lost, one thing I really noticed about Owen Smith in his one debate with Corbyn was the three buzzword-y sentences he had and the way he tried to repeat them at every opportunity. It seems like this is the only way to get a message through to people. I feel like it's the result of increasingly efficient marketing techniques from businesses combined with the effect of the internet. Obviously branding has become incredibly important over the last 50-100 years and people are finding ever more efficient ways to communicate what a company does, combined with the way we use the internet it feels like the way politicians/newspapers/companies have to communicate with people now has been boiled down to this weird insubstantial thing. It's clear, especially when you look at fashion brands, that using the right words has a much bigger effect than whatever you are actually doing. Even if it's led by clickbait and businesses politicians end up being dragged into the same way of communicating because it's the most efficient way, and they have to compete with all the other noise out there as well as their opponents.

[oucho]

Words combined with symbols and photography prime you to look at the clothes from a certain perspective. There is almost no situation today where you have to sell something exclusively through words. Every time you buy something online you are buying because of so many reasons other than the actual item of clothing. This is obvious, but I don't think we realise the extent to which this is true. I'm not saying you could have a fashion brand that only describes what it does with 0 pictures, although that immediately seems like a really cool concept.

[pirxthepilot]

edit: was going to talk about ballard and psychopathologies (esp 'why i want to fuck ronald reagan) but eh.

so, pre-election i got involved in a scheme where you text mid-western millennials to encourage them to turn out to vote. after hundreds of text exchanges i am able to confirm that millennials are reasonably good at coming up with linguistic variants on 'eat a dick'