Random political thought thread.

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Us implies the communal existence with other humans. No man is an island. No Island is an island either, everything is connected to everything else.

First, other than Beau, what do you suggest I should read, write or listen to?

I'm afraid of people. Why shouldn't I be? I think people don't learn from history, because they always think they are "exceptional" in some way and have special norms that mean bad things can't happen. This is a fiction to make people feel better about themselves; it has nothing to do with reality. Any country can become tyrannical and any country can become genocidal, given the right circumstances. I already know that the average American would do nothing in the face of injustice, which means they are exactly the same as the average German in the 30s and 40s. If Trump put Mexicans into concentration camps, most Americans wouldn't care.

I am not afraid of people to the extent of cutting off all contact with them. I make friendships (if only a few). I hold the elevator door open for people. Someone taught me once that sometimes it's a good idea to give other people a chance, and they were right. This has made me more willing to reach out to others. I have learned that perhaps things could be different, and I have appreciated the lesson.

This suggests a loophole here. Yes, people are terrible. Yes, society is terrible. But maybe it doesn't have to be. Maybe we actually could become better. The challenge is that most people are intransigent with regards to thinking about these issues, and this is where I get stuck. People prefer to keep things as they are as long as they still have the have freedom to drink a liter of Sprite every day. This is not just Republicans, many Democrats are like this as well.

 

[The Cat]

First, other than Beau, what do you suggest I should read, write or listen to?

I'm afraid of people. Why shouldn't I be? I think people don't learn from history, because they always think they are "exceptional" in some way and have special norms that mean bad things can't happen. This is a fiction to make people feel better about themselves; it has nothing to do with reality. Any country can become tyrannical and any country can become genocidal, given the right circumstances. I already know that the average American would do nothing in the face of injustice, which means they are exactly the same as the average German in the 30s and 40s. If Trump put Mexicans into concentration camps, most Americans wouldn't care.

I am not afraid of people to the extent of cutting off all contact with them. I make friendships (if only a few). I hold the elevator door open for people. Someone taught me once that sometimes it's a good idea to give other people a chance, and they were right. This has made me more willing to reach out to others. I have learned that perhaps things could be different, and I have appreciated the lesson.

This suggests a loophole here. Yes, people are terrible. Yes, society is terrible. But maybe it doesn't have to be. Maybe we actually could become better. The challenge is that most people are intransigent with regards to thinking about these issues, and this is where I get stuck. People prefer to keep things as they are as long as they still have the have freedom to drink a liter of Sprite every day. This is not just Republicans, many Democrats are like this as well.

I have a healthy respect for people, like everything else in nature any number of things can go awry and they'll turn on you and eat you. That being said I'm restless in social situations and I always expect some shit to pop off because wrong place wrong time is coming to represent more places and times than I enjoy personally, but these are...interesting times.

People for the most part aren't terrible. They're just desperate. People do terribly dramatic things when they're desperate. The human brain likes patterns and people take time to adjust to things. Otherwise they tend to panic. There is on this side of life, no accounting for taste. Caterpillars eat a lot of figurative shit on their way to the chrysalis, so what can you do? Just relax with an ice cold beer my guy, because you might as well y'know? Don't get so caught up in the mythical land of should that you cant find a place in the keystone world, where time only moves in one direction and the world is moving on.

As to what to read, watch, or listen to, Get your Square pants Patrick, because it's time to be a Sponge. The world is a library my friend. Study Religion, Spirituality, Humanities, Mythology, history, and philosophy. Psychology if you like to people watch. The trick is to not miss the forest for the trees. There's lots of stuff out there, too much to just ramble off a list. Read everything you can fiction and non, all of it will give you more perspective and at the end of the day, the wider the perspective, the more you can see for yourself. Given that this life is a scavenger hunt in a labyrinth, I'll tell you this, in any quest you undertake when you go a'seekin' You tend to find what you search for. So my prodigiously perspicatious parakeet pilgrim...What makes you seek the Tower? So to speak? Sometimes what you hope to find and why your searching plays a part in what you find to study pon the way...in other words. Please state the desired outcome of your research, and I'm certain we can find you some touchstones that you find speak to you, because at the end of the day, the external has to get past the guard of the internal. But for now Ive had five hours of sleep in the last 48 and the last thing I ate was spicy pickle slices before noon, so I bid you good evening for now Jules of House Vanderbeek. I await your reply, and remain as always complicatedly yours, RF.

 

[Virtual ghost]

World’s cartoonists on this week’s events

 

[Virtual ghost]

What the IVF fight means for the battle for control of Congress

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

It also shows that the Republicans aren't screwing around. We know what to expect if they win the White House.

 

[Virtual ghost]

France’s war on woke, from the salons to the cinemas

 

[Virtual ghost]

First human case of avian flu in Texas raises alarm

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I have a healthy respect for people, like everything else in nature any number of things can go awry and they'll turn on you and eat you. That being said I'm restless in social situations and I always expect some shit to pop off because wrong place wrong time is coming to represent more places and times than I enjoy personally, but these are...interesting times.

People for the most part aren't terrible. They're just desperate. People do terribly dramatic things when they're desperate. The human brain likes patterns and people take time to adjust to things. Otherwise they tend to panic. There is on this side of life, no accounting for taste. Caterpillars eat a lot of figurative shit on their way to the chrysalis, so what can you do? Just relax with an ice cold beer my guy, because you might as well y'know? Don't get so caught up in the mythical land of should that you cant find a place in the keystone world, where time only moves in one direction and the world is moving on.

As to what to read, watch, or listen to, Get your Square pants Patrick, because it's time to be a Sponge. The world is a library my friend. Study Religion, Spirituality, Humanities, Mythology, history, and philosophy. Psychology if you like to people watch. The trick is to not miss the forest for the trees. There's lots of stuff out there, too much to just ramble off a list. Read everything you can fiction and non, all of it will give you more perspective and at the end of the day, the wider the perspective, the more you can see for yourself. Given that this life is a scavenger hunt in a labyrinth, I'll tell you this, in any quest you undertake when you go a'seekin' You tend to find what you search for. So my prodigiously perspicatious parakeet pilgrim...What makes you seek the Tower? So to speak? Sometimes what you hope to find and why your searching plays a part in what you find to study pon the way...in other words. Please state the desired outcome of your research, and I'm certain we can find you some touchstones that you find speak to you, because at the end of the day, the external has to get past the guard of the internal. But for now Ive had five hours of sleep in the last 48 and the last thing I ate was spicy pickle slices before noon, so I bid you good evening for now Jules of House Vanderbeek. I await your reply, and remain as always complicatedly yours, RF.

I would like to be able to devise powerful protections against black magic. The archives are incomplete. What I call "black magic", could also be described as "social wizardry." There are
many manifestations, but it is best summarized as the ability to command the attention of the crowd, and direct others where desired. It's using words to turn people against other people, or for just attacking them outright.

It doesn't have to be large scale, either; it could be on a web forum, or at a workplace.

The other thing I'd like to find is love, but that is even harder to find.

 

[The Cat]

I would like to be able to devise powerful protections against black magic. The archives are incomplete. What I call "black magic", could also be described as "social wizardry." There are
many manifestations, but it is best summarized as the ability to command the attention of the crowd, and direct others where desired. It's using words to turn people against other people, or for just attacking them outright.

It doesn't have to be large scale, either; it could be on a web forum, or at a workplace.

The other thing I'd like to find is love, but that is even harder to find.

I am the entertainer
And I know just where I stand
Another serenader
And another long-haired band
Today I am your champion
I may have won your hearts
But I know the game, you'll forget my name
And I won't be here in another year
If I don't stay on the charts, oh.

What you call social wizardry is just charisma unchained without proper perspective or due bounds. Remember that every crowd is just an audience without a director.

Never forget that adults are still just a bunch of children who got lucky. Understand this, and you begin to understand how we got here.​

Finding love is one of those things that gets easier to do the more of it you put out there. Relationships of any depth are a lot of work. More work if everyone is out for themselves.

 

[Virtual ghost]

How Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Could Doom Joe Biden

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I walked by one of that fucker's (RFK Jr.) campaign offices in Charlottesville the other day.

It's actually a bummer because I used to have a ton of respect for him. He's been a strong voice in support of conservationism and environmental protections for decades. He was a voice against the Bush II administration's disastrous environmental policy when most democrats were sucking Bush's dick. It's a shame all of his good ideas got overshadowed by the antivax position and I wish he had been able to find a role working within the democratic party.

That said, I don't think he'll move the needle enough to make a difference and I think Biden is going to do better than expected and destroy Trump. I think a lot of high-ranking republicans, including supposed trump supporters, are quietly hoping Trump loses and is finished with politics so they can put up a stronger candidate in 2028.

 

[The Cat]

I walked by one of that fucker's (RFK Jr.) campaign offices in Charlottesville the other day.

It's actually a bummer because I used to have a ton of respect for him. He's been a strong voice in support of conservationism and environmental protections for decades. He was a voice against the Bush II administration's disastrous environmental policy when most democrats were sucking Bush's dick. It's a shame all of his good ideas got overshadowed by the antivax position and I wish he had been able to find a role working within the democratic party.

Yeah. It really sucks. I always knew he was a daffy rich guy, it just sucks because he used to be a daffy rich guy leaning green. Conservation can't afford anymore hits

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Yeah. It really sucks. I always knew he was a daffy rich guy, it just sucks because he used to be a daffy rich guy leaning green. Conservation can't afford anymore hits

It's still a part of his platform, it just sucks that you have to take it alongside the vaccine stuff. He's probably more left than Biden. I guess he could've pulled a Bernie and tried to work for change from within the party, but then again, how well has that really worked for Bernie?

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I walked by one of that fucker's (RFK Jr.) campaign offices in Charlottesville the other day.

It's actually a bummer because I used to have a ton of respect for him. He's been a strong voice in support of conservationism and environmental protections for decades. He was a voice against the Bush II administration's disastrous environmental policy when most democrats were sucking Bush's dick. It's a shame all of his good ideas got overshadowed by the antivax position and I wish he had been able to find a role working within the democratic party.

This kind of thing happens distressingly frequently.

That said, I don't think he'll move the needle enough to make a difference and I think Biden is going to do better than expected and destroy Trump. I think a lot of high-ranking republicans, including supposed trump supporters, are quietly hoping Trump loses and is finished with politics so they can put up a stronger candidate in 2028.

Remember 2015 when many of the people who were supposed to be the Republican front-runners were adopting many Democratic positions? I never hear anyone talk about it, but I remember it.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

This kind of thing happens distressingly frequently.


Remember 2015 when many of the people who were supposed to be the Republican front-runners were adopting many Democratic positions? I never hear anyone talk about it, but I remember it.

I remember some alt-right people saying they legitimately were okay with certain socialized programs as long as it went along with their ethnostate

I've talked to enough trump supporters by now to realize a lot of them only support him for the culture war rhetoric but it you pressed them on economic policy, they should otherwise be supporting the democrats in elections.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I remember some alt-right people saying they legitimately were okay with certain socialized programs as long as it went along with their ethnostate

I've talked to enough trump supporters by now to realize a lot of them only support him for the culture war rhetoric but it you pressed them on economic policy, they should otherwise be supporting the democrats in elections.

I'm thinking about politicians rather than the alt-right.

The latter seems to be true.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I'm thinking about politicians rather than the alt-right.

The latter seems to be true.

Oh yeah. They shut that down really fast. It's too bad, I think some of the best growth and change results from the political parties learning from one another and adopting one another's policies, then modifying them or refining them. Almost like a Hegelian dynamic. When they silo themselves into a very narrow set of policies like the GOP did, it doesn't lead to progress or adaptation. The parties also used to balance out internally, each one had solid factions of progressives, conservatives and moderates. The parties actually had to work to formulate decent policy that benefitted the maximum people. Now there's no growth in the GOP, just stagnation, and it's forced the democrats into a similar spot. Each are just digging their heels in trying to obstruct the other.

 

[The Cat]

If only there were some kind of way to make america...something again...like it used to be...back in the good old days of *insert nostalgia time period here*

Why do we exist here? It isnt linear.

Walk in the path of the prophets brother Bennie.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

If only there were some kind of way to make america...something again...like it used to be...back in the good old days of *insert nostalgia time period here*

That's where the MIDI files come in. That and a flux capacitor so we can stop alternate timeline 2015 Biff Tannen from announcing his candidacy for president.

 

[Virtual ghost]

World’s cartoonists on this week’s events