Burn it all down

While I'm not big for jumping on the bandwagon...@4inch is a horrible bigot and most of the rest of the clapping seals are some of the most intolerant humans I've ever had the misfortune to encounter.

I'm not sure what you mean by (I.E. "white privilege"). Are you saying you were discriminated against/profiled because you're mostly white?

In that sentence, I was pointing out your attempt to draw out a comment from me, being "white" I had never experienced racism. Well, I'm as white as BHO bubba, right on the 50% mark. So mostly isn't a good word for it. However, my following statement (that you chose not to address) is the point of the response.

The "tolerate liberals" in this forum have (from day one) called me a poor southern white trash, under educated MAGgoT except for 8inch who's favorite name for me is retarded mulatto.

Despite the fact I'm northern educated, upper middle class & never said anything nice about DJT. But because I absolutely do not vote Democrat for any reason and am from Alabama, you and your cohorts assumed a whole bunch and filled in the blanks with bigotry.

I'm not sure what you mean by (I.E. "white privilege"). Are you saying you were discriminated against/profiled because you're mostly white?

Even though I am white, I have experienced profiling. Was trying to fly out of Charles De Gaulle airport and was pulled out of line at baggage check-in and told to wait with no explanation while this person filled all of the lines in front of us with people in line behind us. That was nothing compared to what some have gone through, but enough to know that it sucks regardless.

As far as I can tell we were profiled because we were Americans FWIW. Some think the US is more respected now due to Trump, but I argue that "hated" was a more appropriate word. In all fairness, some French people disliked Americans even before Trump.

"Was just trying to determine if you personally were likely to have dealt with racial profiling" I.E. "white privilege"*

Yes, I've experienced tons of bigotry, mostly here. Mostly in the form of stereotyping from old white dudes that know nothing about me. From 8inch by racial slurs.

I live in rural Alabama and have for most of my adult life. I've seen more bigotry, hate-mongering and prejudice In this forum, from the left, than I've seen in the last 30 years in my county.

@ Va i’ve never spoken to them at all, and they blocked me.

RonKathy blocked us. Absolutely. And they did so upon my very first interaction with them on here.

I even remember what it was. They claimed that the ACA requires doctors to get a complete inventory of firearms from their patients. I said that wasn't true, and bam - blocked.

I've seen nothing since then indicating that they ever say anything worthwhile, though, so it seems I'm not missing anything.

Since then, as you've noticed, RnK blocks everyone that disagrees with them about anything, and have probably blocked more users than anyone else here, usually for next to nothing in the way of conflict.

“I think there is a sense of entitlement and a lack of resilience.”

Not jumping on your kid. I truly believe this is a lot of the demographic VA is referring to. This ain’t your dad’s world. Same way it wasn’t his dad’s world for him.

That being said. The economy switched from manufacturing to service in the 90’s and 00’s. It’s a lot harder for younger people now days.

Was just trying to determine if you personally were likely to have dealt with racial profiling. You don't necessarily need to experience it though to have compassion towards others that have and still are experiencing it.

Part of having an open-mind is to at least try to understand the perspective of others and understanding there will be differences. There was no other intent here. I do find differences fascinating, like the first time I did a Myers-Briggs test with others in a class at work.

Not sure about R&K’s amount of time here. But, I was blocked by them shortly after my first interaction with them. It was a debate over Presidential protection. When Trump made is cameo appearance in front of the church in 2020. I really don’t remember seeing anything from them prior to that. And seeing their views on things. I think I would have noticed them. Needless to say I did not agree with their take. Or they didn’t agree with my take. Bottom line they blocked me at that point.

These free speech folks love it until they receive a rebuttal.

While I'm unsure if VA blocked them, RnK blocks EVERYBODY that he/she/they disagree with or doesn't post something in support of his/hers/their post(s). In the past I'd guess that RnK could only see about 10-20% of the posts in Politics, but your entry into the Forum may have changed that.

It seems I'm in good company, then.

“They see themselves as having lost their position of privilege and want it back.”

Bingo. Or more accurately, they’ve been convinced that their position of privilege has been taken away, or at least eroded by, others who are less deserving of said privilege.

Those “others” have been identified for them by the right wing pundits, politicians and media as pretty much any minority. Immigrants, trans or gay people, brown and black people, Jews, Muslims, “non-Christians” (aka anyone who doesn’t idolize Charlie Kirk) and a host of other targets.

This has been discussed before but since the days of Rush Limbaugh, the right wing propaganda machine has trotted out an endless parade of people to blame for everything they deem as wrong with the country, then targeted them as people that should be hated. Not debated, not engaged in rational conversation, HATED!

Today, that list includes scientists, doctors, educators as well as the usual suspects like minorities and transgender people. Hell, they’ve even convinced their supporters to hate poor people and rape victims.

As for that comes next, I believe the only way to get back to a functional political system is to burn down the way we fund campaigns. We need to reverse the Citizens United decision and take control of who our candidates will be. Right now, there are a half dozen billionaires who spent over $400mm to elect candidates who will give them tax breaks, remove safety and health regulations that cut into their profits and further stifle unions, all in the name of getting more for themselves and less for everyone else.

If anyone who claims to want make America great again really meant that, they would be demanding help for the middle class including improved education, fair wages for workers, healthcare for everyone and an economy based on productivity, not dividends. Sadly, what you voted for was exactly the opposite.

~Scamp

Not all of us are that stupid, Thank God. I am having some seasoning mixed right now and asked the Person who blends our seasoning if it went up do to Tariffs. He said nope.

My son sent me a text message last night.

If you could never live a decade of your life again, what decade would it be?

I havent answered yet, but there is none.

I think there is a sense of entitlement and a lack of resilience.

Part of me wants to tell them "suck it up buttercup"

As Hobbes said, "Life is nasty, brutish, and short."

As for your son thinking he got sold a bill of goods, he is absolutely correct.

And now what?

Did that answer not feed into your world view? Let me elaborate. About 25% of my ancestors were pushed into reservations by the US government. About 25% were the Scandinavian explorers that first sailed into the inlets of this continent. About 25% were brought here in chains from Gambia to work tobacco fields and the last 1/4 is a Scott-irish mix that came here as indentured servants for the price of a boat ride...

@R&C , you are correct . I see people talking about the tariffs . How do you explain with tariffs our inflation rate is so much better than what we had before . We met with our financial planner will tariffs affect us next year NO , people are over them . But by golly president Trump takes regulations off the O&G business . Yesterday we paid 1.99.
That is real numbers . Somehow we have been convinced we need endless amounts of illegal immigrants . We need them to pick produce , make babies and pay my Social Security ….Are we really that stupid ? I will NEVER forget people like Joe Biden , Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Shumer kneeling to George Floyd ….Are we that stupid.

I think some amount of what ever approach you use has to involve understanding. I can understand it to a certain degree in that if I had a choice to grow up in the time I grew up in or now, I would not choose now. Economics wouldn't be the only reason, but it would be a big one.

My concern with discussing this is kind of like trying to discuss why I thought some of the boys my daughters dated in their teen years were bad choices. If I offer advice unsolicited, it would likely have the opposite affect and just push them closer to something I'd rather they avoid. If asked, I could discuss it, but it would be a limited discussion.

IMHO, there are potential similarities in the outcomes of either of these types of conversations. Also similar is that it's likely they eventually realize on their own the error of their ways without my help.

As a kid, I was a planner. I was planning on how I was going to be a millionaire, homeowner, and retired by 50. As you know, rarely do these long range plans execute as expected. What this did do for me is give me a goal and hope. This is just a guess on my part, but the "burn it all down" vibe from your son could just be the lack of hope. That would be the route cause of the problem. If you wanted to try to help, it is MUCH easier to talk to him sharing ideas about having a good plan for the current times than anything involving politics.

I can't recall who, but someone wise said that you cannot control what others do, only what you do. That one idea goes a long way in dealing with people and life in general.

PHX "Apart from being frustrated young men, you've not really defined who falls into the burn it all down camp. Without a deeper population dive or with such a wide aperture it's difficult to answer your question."

I didn't really define it beyond frustrated young men because I don't think it can be narrowed much beyond that. We are talking about a pretty broad swath of the population.

"What do you perceive is driving the supposed burn it down point of view and perhaps more importantly, what are their say, top three issues?"

#1 by far is economics. They believe they should be doing much better than they are and they were promised success if they just worked for it, and think that was all a lie and want to punish the establishment for lying to them.

"Would you put your son into the burn it all down population?"

Yes.

Scott Galloway has a new book out called Notes on Being a Man.

It delves into this topic in depth. He recently appeared on a podcast with Rick Wilson about his book.

You may find it interesting. Check the podcast first and try before you buy ; )

VAB---->What do we tell these "burn it all down" folks, who are mostly frustrated young men? Seems to me we can ignore them, let them figure it out, attempt to reason with them, marginalize them, or even just listen to them?

Apart from being frustrated young men, you've not really defined who falls into the burn it all down camp. Without a deeper population dive or with such a wide aperture it's difficult to answer your question. What do you perceive is driving the supposed burn it down point of view and perhaps more importantly, what are their say, top three issues? Would you put your son into the burn it all down population?

No, not 100%

Some can only learn lessons the hard way on their own, usually over time. Hate to say it, but I think this is one of those cases. At a minimum, I think THEY have to want to talk about it.

Was trying to determine if you were white or not. I couldn't actually tell from the one picture of you.

@mahem: can I help you find something in my profile? Or are you another one looking for something to use against me in my personal life? Plenty of pieces of shit on here willing to try to ruin a person's life over political differences.

So my original post, while lengthy, was cut short a bit because I had to go.

I wanted to ask: where do we go from here? What do we tell these "burn it all down" folks, who are mostly frustrated young men? Seems to me we can ignore them, let them figure it out, attempt to reason with them, marginalize them, or even just listen to them? Their voting power is significant. I don't want to placate or cave to them, but I don't think just ignoring them is useful either.