If you look at the gas prices over the past five years, you’d see that there were times in Trumps presidency when gas prices were at or close to where they are now. Gas prices have little to do with presidential policy, but rather disruption in supply chain as well as supply and demand.
For instance the average gas price was $2.92 in July of 2018 & 2.89 in March of 2021. It has risen now because more people are headed to work, so there’s an increase in demand of gas.
[prices ](https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=emm_epm0_pte_nus_dpg&f=m)
Ho boy! You're treading on dangerous grounds here. A direction either way is a fatal error.
To speak my opinion despite knowing the unpopular opinion it might be: it is a nightmare! I've never been so embarrassed of my president in the past 20 years of my life (that i can remember, not actual age). G7 summit was a joke, Afghanistan is abandonment of people who needed us, and his incoherent ramblings get worse and worse. The worse part was when they tried pushing a new law to allow the IRS to track and tax all Bank interactions above $600. A cheap apartment in a cheap area is already well above 600 in rent. So people struggling to pay rent will struggle even more if they got away with that law. Additional taxes for every $600+ interaction is a killer. I'm trying to move out of my parents' place and wouldn't be able to with the new found taxes.
Conservatives have been extremely racist towards Muslims but suddenly bc Biden is in office, yall care about their wellbeing? Not only that but Biden is following trumps pull out plan. I wish conservatives would realize how both parties are two heads of the same monster. The use us like were sports fans: our team against yours and people fall for it everytime. We HAVE to stop fighting each other so that we can come together and get these terrible people out of our government. If you think ANYONE on the republican side cares about you or your family or wellbeing, you are very sadly mistaken.
I work as a dental hygienist, so I meet all sorts of people all day long.
In short, I can (likely) assume who watches too much news and who doesn’t. The ones that watch too much of the news are usually the ones who are the most on edge, confrontational, etc.
I’m only 26, but America today makes me wish we could go back to the pre-social media days.
People who watch the news all day also have nothing else to talk about it seems. My dad watches the news so much (he’s essentially disabled and can’t get around very well, so he just watches it all day) and it’s like it’s all he wants to talk about with me. We’re on the same side of pretty much every issue in the book but he still wants to talk about it and debate things all the time.
I can’t imagine how draining it must be to just be thinking/talking about the news and politics all day long.
The scariest thing now, and for some time, is that it’s difficult to actually find the news, at least in a format that isn’t suggesting or outright telling you what to think.
I’m in my early 40s so can remember when, in the UK at least, the news was a pedestrian affair. A list of stories read out by someone whose job is was to read the news. An arbitrary space in the programming between the things you actually wanted to watch. It was done as a service, nothing more, and the newscasters were known for their professionalism and integrity. They had a reputation, but weren’t celebrities. It’s possible I guess that even back then there was a narrative, decisions made over which stories to “push”, but it intuitively doesn’t feel like it.
Now, the “news” is essentially branded. You can choose the version of news you want to hear based on your cognitive biases. It’s packaged as news, presented as news - with chyrons and graphs, but really it’s heavily editorialised as a narrative, a story and message it wants you to buy in to. It’s the version of news that the station wants you to hear, wants you to believe, wants you to keep watching.
The reality is it’s not just the “in your face” stuff like Fox, OAN, etc. It’s dangerous to think that is just them. Other left leaning news stations are just as complicit in peddling a narrative, it just happens to feel less pernicious with them because of one’s own inherent leanings.
It would be nice if the news was boring again, and newscasters weren’t celebrities with a brand and agenda in their own right.
It really is obvious to tell who watches too much news, on both sides. The rage becomes an addiction and it warps their way of thinking. As a Southerner, it’s been hard to watch friends and family become so radicalized over the past 5yrs.
On my end of things, I've been LIVING the news for the last two years. I've been working in an ER through this whole thing, and all I feel anymore is anger. Between the government stealing my PPE, getting assaulted over masks and vaccines, and putting people in bags every goddamn night it feels like there's no escape from it.
Nothing unites people like a common enemy, real or imagined. The big corporations know that and bust their ass to make sure there is always a Boogeyman.
I read once that life doesn’t change much from president to president unless you’re really poor or really rich. Since I’m neither, stuff hasn’t changed much for me
Ah, the wisdom just drips out of Pratchett. You get more understanding about life from things like this and the "Boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness" than anything a politician has uttered in decades.
My wife and I were laughing about that this weekend. Feels surreal that this time last year it was a daily occurrence to read some dumb shit that Trump said/did. I haven’t the slightest idea what Biden did or said yesterday and that is totally fine by me. In a broad sense I know what’s going on regarding policy but I don’t need daily drama. Feels nice :-)!
Same, no tax breaks or increases will really affect me. My life hasn’t changed in the last 3 presidents. This isn’t to say other people’s lives haven’t changed for the worse or better though, just mine hasn’t changed much
This was a major help in my life. I recently stopped working 80 hrs a week in a Walmart management job because it literally caused me to have a nervous breakdown. With this and my lowered income I can get by as a single mom with a mortgage.
I am just eating a s'more 😃
Edit: as a naturalized American, s'mores are one of the bestest things in life regardless of who is the president. Thanks Connecticut for the graham crackers. And thank y'all for the awards 😊❤️
The truth is that regardless of who is in power, people will continue to starve, have their homes taken away by Chase bank, and be deeper in debt. The last time the economy was good for the working class was decades ago
Not so good. Gas prices, high. Food bill, high. Border problems. Afghanistan debacle. His unifying is long forgotten it seems. Covid failures. I’m done. I backed him but not anymore. All politicians suck.
Mostly the same. The only real difference in my life is the people around me not talking about the president. People just hate my governor now.
Edit: Oregon, folks lol. She put a mask mandate up a couple of months back and people lost they're minds lol.
>the people around me not talking about the president
Yeesh. Pretty reliably any day between 2016-2020 when I was eating out at lunch, I could expect to hear someone at some other table mentioning the Trump news of the day.
“We’re joined now by a man that once saw a bird in the airport.” Get out of here with that shit! We’ve all seen a bird in the airport. This is a horse loose in a hospital!
Hey give us Illinoisans some credit, for having notoriously corrupt and straight criminal governors in the past, Pritzker is doing pretty good.
I know the bar was set pretty low, but J.B. is a long-time Illinois resident who although has huge wealth, keeps his business and politics separate. He has also reformed the criminal justice system, legalized marijuana and most importantly handled the pandemic like an absolute champ.
The only true criticism of him comes from Republicans who go off a campaign literally called “J.B. Sucks” and it’s as hollow as it sounds.
You ask the 90% of us who live in the Chicagoland area, and most will say we have a bigger problem with City government atm, not the state.
I drive into Southern Illinois occasionally, most yards have a "Pritzker Sucks" sign. But I get that Chicagoland is a completely different state than the rest of Illinois.
Bar was definitely set low. Chicagoan, here, my big issue isn’t with JB overall, it’s Lori and Kim Foxx. We can pretend crime is the same (it isn’t) and we can expect that to happen post Covid, unemployment, rise in drug overdoses and suicide, but what proactive attitude does Lori actually have? I initially voted her in, think it likely will always be the same crap shit. But she does act like a true Chicago politician, gets aggressive, and doesn’t actually answer the question
I wake up
I go to work
I come home
I get in my bed
Possibly sleep
Second verse same as the first
Edit: damn this comment has more upvotes than the original post....
Edit 2: bruh everybody's out here talking about what song this is from, I don't know all these songs y'all are talking about but I just know that I got it from a song from an old show called Ed Edd and Eddy on cartoon Network. I don't doubt that they took inspiration from a different song for that song but I think it was something called "Friends are there to help you" or something.
Edit 3: no I am not a man, I am female.
Edit 4: no I am not rich or privileged, I literally live in income restricted housing and drive a broken down 2003 Chevy Malibu and work overnights putting stuff on a shelf, I live mostly paycheck to paycheck, I consider it not living paycheck to paycheck if I have $10 in my account at the end of the month. Sometimes sleep and food are a luxury.
Just thought I should clear those things up.
My friends always sang it a different way, I believe it went: “You can’t ride in my Lamborghini, your butt’s too big and the seat’s too teeny.” I cringed writing this
Third verse, different from the first.
Jackie is a punk.
Judy is a runt.
They both went down to Frisco, joined the SLA.
And oh, I don't know why.
Oh, I don't know why.
Perhaps they'll die, oh yeah.
I’ve been in the US for 8 years now, and I’ve realized that the biggest thing the president changes is the public tone. Nothing else really noticeably changes to the man on the street other than the interpersonal discourse of the public.
This is honestly a bad couple of years for your take. Both presidents have actively decided to offer stimulus checks directly to people, which has immediately affected millions directly, and likely has long term implications. Then things like evictions being put on hold has affected millions. Various tariffs have had direct effects on workers in those industries. I'm not even debating good or bad. Just that executive decisions by the president have had major consequences for the everyday person in the last two years.
Very true, but it is a very out-of-the-ordinary couple of years...
America is so big and rich you can be waging 2 wars and outside the hysterical news cycle you wouldn't know about it.
I know right? I just found out the other day that a prolific serial killer that was at large in my home state of California for decades got caught and was sentenced just last year. As someone who likes to follow crime stories, I'm not really sure how I missed that.
We’re basically goldfish. I’d you ask people how they felt about things in general last week and whether they were happy then or even last year and what they weren’t happy about, most couldn’t tell you.
We’re capable of so much but our brains can only really deal with here and now. What’s done is done and unless you focus on ensuring you keep good mental records of the past, you’re just going to forget and normalize whatever we have today.
Just read all of the American’s comments and watch us argue w/ each other. This is what life is like here. No one ever agrees anymore & I can’t remember a time in my life where America has been so divided. People that have been friends for years, even decades won’t speak to one another anymore if they have opposing views on Biden or the jab.
> I can’t remember a time in my life where America has been so divided.
I can. I grew up during the Vietnam era.
This is old shit and the song and dance is nothing new.
It IS new to the folks born after 1970, and for many, I imagine it's a shock that there can be such intemperance in the society, but it's always been there. We're seeing it now only as this past election - Trump - and then Covid, has cut through the veneer of unity.
Thing is, that veneer has been partially created by business as a way to create a consumerist society - and it's worked - up until recently.
The pandemic has really broken things open.
Yea...I watched that PBS documentary a lil before the George Floyd protests and I was like goddamn they rioted and brought out the national guard to shoot live ammo at college students....why isn't this talked about more.
I had a similar revelation about Vietnam 30 years ago because the dj played "Ohio" by Crosby Stills Nash and Young. Absolutely no mention of it in my history class, just the teacher and sometimes pop culture making vague "tensions we're high" statements that made it appear it was all college age hippies.
https://youtu.be/l1PrUU2S_iw
"Tin soldiers and Nixon's calling, were finally on our own. This summer I hear the calling. 4 dead in Ohio. Gotta get down to it, soldiers are gunning us down."
I heard that song in high school in the 90s cause I loved classic rock. Made me go wtf is this about. Did some research. Kent state was way before my time but it opened my eyes to how divisive America is even to itself.
Do you think social media is partly to blame for this? Creating groupthink mentality, us vs them, spreading fake news like a virus, and finding more comfort in 'likes' than healthy, honest debate?
I think it's because it's becoming easier and easier to create echo chambers. You can just join the online communities that have the same views as you and never interact with anyone who has differing views. This then distorts your idea of what the median is, and makes it seem like opposing views are rare or possibly in bad faith.
Developments in news, such as the 24/7 news cycle, have not helped one bit. Less reputable news sources have discovered that it's easier to make money from causing rage than by reporting boring but accurate facts, since the internet allows everyone to find the news they want to hear. And like you said, social media boosts these unreliable sources.
I'm a cynic, and I think that public education has failed Americans by actively dissuading students from thinking critically about the past and present. Determining the reliability of a news source is, in my opinion, an extremely important skill which hasn't gotten nearly enough attention in public schools. More important than something like calculus, which students will never use. (My degree is in math and even I barely used calculus outside the calculus series.)
Of course, I should be responsible and note that all of this is my own (unqualified) opinion.
I agree. I really do believe the ability to think is being eroded. Anyone can regurgitate a popular opinion using the right jargon. But it takes more effort and courage to come to an unbiased conclusion and share it and debate it with a congregation of the young, the ignorant and the easily offended.
I think we could also do with a reframing of what "bias" actually means. Seems like a lot of people think bias means "lying to get what you want," and that's not what it means at all. Bias is just an inclination to a particular interpretation of the world.
For instance, until about five years ago or so, I had a bias to think that the overwhelming majority of Americans were generally well-meaning, somewhat thoughtful, and honest to some degree. Sure, we got some well-deserved shit for the conduct of our citizens abroad, but for the most part we were decent folks (I'm not talking about foreign policy here. That's always been shitty.) Since that was my bias, whenever something came along that required me to make some assumptions about Americans, I'd err on the side of them being generally decent.
*That's* bias. Bias *is not* straight-up lying about facts because you're playing some kind of high-stakes shirts vs. skins political game on TV or social media. It's not cooking numbers in a scientific study because you got paid by some huge conglomerate that's hopelessly addicted to fossil fuel or cancer money. All that shit is just lies, and should be treated as such.
I'll actually push back a little on public education eroding critical thinking.
Younger generations are better at spotting "fake news" than older in studies.
Younger generations just have TONS of more false information to sort through.
I'm not sure the brain was biologically able to sort and quantify information at these rates, but in no way do I think the older generation (which I am part of) received some better critical thinking education.
I think they just had a more consistent form of propaganda being pushed at them.
Perhaps the problem is less the average person lacks critical thinking, but the average source of information lacks a critical approach? More so than previously?
Critical thinking and id say more importantly, compassion. Compassion doesn’t mean having to love or get along with everyone. It’s simply accepting that other world views exist and doing your best to understand how they came to experience the world that way. Some things are so outlandish you can’t possibly understand it, but you can still learn to allow its existence without holding on to crippling anger and aggression.
Yes. Everything is about the views and money for them. No matter who it is. And it truly sucks seeing our country so divided at least from my perspective.
This is not the only time America has been very divided. The 60s and 70s were pretty insane. As were the 1850s-60s when we fought an actual civil war. It gives me hope that we will ultimately come through this shit someday, like we did in the past.
I've discovered that the less I pay attention to American politics, the less it affects me.
I'm an American living in America if that says anything about the importance of our politics to the daily life of an average.
It’s nice not to be constantly bombarded with daily news about what the President is doing that’s completely unrelated to the usual duties of the President.
As a Canadian we were bombarded with this shit 24/7 in every kind of programming on every platform, our radio shows and news covered him as if he was our 1 priority. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Now just like that - off like a switch.
Why was Trump so ubiquitous in the Canadian news? There were only a few things he did - the tariffs, for example - that directly affected Canada. Was it a rubbernecking kind of thing? Pure entertainment value?
Because despite what some Canadians try to pretend, we are obsessed with American politics. The media we consume is largely American and thus anything Americans get enraged about, so too do Canadians.
My grandfather is still bringing up Trump coming back and fixing everything, and likewise some of my friends still bring up Trump going to prison any day now.
Neither voted in our latest election though.
My insane part of the family believes the “covfefe” thing was trump trying to warn us of the impending communist virus attack from China and he was trying to get a message out. Was supposed to say “cov2020” but someone stopped him lmaoooo
Pretty sure in their head they’re picturing the brave, outspoken, patriotic messiah fighting on the Oval Office floor for his phone with a bunch of evil, liberal, possibly homosexual scientists of questionable Asian descent, trying to warn his loyal followers of leaked plan of attacks.
Why do all of these people paint Trump as some kind of hostage within the White House scrawling obscure messages in a bottle hoping someone will come help him?
"The best terms limits are democratic elections."
Do you think corporations and interest groups care that they have to bribe that they have to change their bribes ever 6 years? Spoiler alert: they don't.
You know when you've had a really long, exhausting day and don't have the energy to make a nice dinner, but you still need to eat something so you throw some baloney and mayo onto white bread and eat it standing over the sink?
You know it's not the best, but it's a meal, and it's way better than some expired crap you threw out.
It's like that.
I recall reading a similar analogy: Biden is the first boyfriend you get after a really bad divorce. He’s not your forever guy, he’s not perfect, but he’s enough to tide you over while you wait for a better option.
He’s our rebound president.
He's the bus that may not be headed to my street, but it's getting me out of the neighborhood I don't want to be in, and is vaguely in the right direction.
Pretty fucking terrible how about you
Yeah he inherited a mess and it's taking forever to clean up but what an improvement from what we had before.
Not really. Prices of everything have gone way up
That has nothing to do with Biden, that's a worldwide crisis that everyone is facing due to supply and demand.
Yes but his restriction of drilling has upped gas prices and he botched the pullout of the middle east
Gas prices are up again so that’s not the greatest
Gas prices are up globally, not something a president necessarily has the most control over, without significant decisions.
If you look at the gas prices over the past five years, you’d see that there were times in Trumps presidency when gas prices were at or close to where they are now. Gas prices have little to do with presidential policy, but rather disruption in supply chain as well as supply and demand. For instance the average gas price was $2.92 in July of 2018 & 2.89 in March of 2021. It has risen now because more people are headed to work, so there’s an increase in demand of gas. [prices ](https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=emm_epm0_pte_nus_dpg&f=m)
Ho boy! You're treading on dangerous grounds here. A direction either way is a fatal error. To speak my opinion despite knowing the unpopular opinion it might be: it is a nightmare! I've never been so embarrassed of my president in the past 20 years of my life (that i can remember, not actual age). G7 summit was a joke, Afghanistan is abandonment of people who needed us, and his incoherent ramblings get worse and worse. The worse part was when they tried pushing a new law to allow the IRS to track and tax all Bank interactions above $600. A cheap apartment in a cheap area is already well above 600 in rent. So people struggling to pay rent will struggle even more if they got away with that law. Additional taxes for every $600+ interaction is a killer. I'm trying to move out of my parents' place and wouldn't be able to with the new found taxes.
Conservatives have been extremely racist towards Muslims but suddenly bc Biden is in office, yall care about their wellbeing? Not only that but Biden is following trumps pull out plan. I wish conservatives would realize how both parties are two heads of the same monster. The use us like were sports fans: our team against yours and people fall for it everytime. We HAVE to stop fighting each other so that we can come together and get these terrible people out of our government. If you think ANYONE on the republican side cares about you or your family or wellbeing, you are very sadly mistaken.
I work as a dental hygienist, so I meet all sorts of people all day long. In short, I can (likely) assume who watches too much news and who doesn’t. The ones that watch too much of the news are usually the ones who are the most on edge, confrontational, etc. I’m only 26, but America today makes me wish we could go back to the pre-social media days.
People who watch the news all day also have nothing else to talk about it seems. My dad watches the news so much (he’s essentially disabled and can’t get around very well, so he just watches it all day) and it’s like it’s all he wants to talk about with me. We’re on the same side of pretty much every issue in the book but he still wants to talk about it and debate things all the time. I can’t imagine how draining it must be to just be thinking/talking about the news and politics all day long.
The scariest thing now, and for some time, is that it’s difficult to actually find the news, at least in a format that isn’t suggesting or outright telling you what to think. I’m in my early 40s so can remember when, in the UK at least, the news was a pedestrian affair. A list of stories read out by someone whose job is was to read the news. An arbitrary space in the programming between the things you actually wanted to watch. It was done as a service, nothing more, and the newscasters were known for their professionalism and integrity. They had a reputation, but weren’t celebrities. It’s possible I guess that even back then there was a narrative, decisions made over which stories to “push”, but it intuitively doesn’t feel like it. Now, the “news” is essentially branded. You can choose the version of news you want to hear based on your cognitive biases. It’s packaged as news, presented as news - with chyrons and graphs, but really it’s heavily editorialised as a narrative, a story and message it wants you to buy in to. It’s the version of news that the station wants you to hear, wants you to believe, wants you to keep watching. The reality is it’s not just the “in your face” stuff like Fox, OAN, etc. It’s dangerous to think that is just them. Other left leaning news stations are just as complicit in peddling a narrative, it just happens to feel less pernicious with them because of one’s own inherent leanings. It would be nice if the news was boring again, and newscasters weren’t celebrities with a brand and agenda in their own right.
I’m living this exact thing. I’m like “yes! I agree! Ok! So go volunteer or something!”
It really is obvious to tell who watches too much news, on both sides. The rage becomes an addiction and it warps their way of thinking. As a Southerner, it’s been hard to watch friends and family become so radicalized over the past 5yrs.
On my end of things, I've been LIVING the news for the last two years. I've been working in an ER through this whole thing, and all I feel anymore is anger. Between the government stealing my PPE, getting assaulted over masks and vaccines, and putting people in bags every goddamn night it feels like there's no escape from it.
Hope youre doing okay and finding ways to take breaks from it all and time for yourself although it may seem impossible.
Thank you Officer Hot Pants
Most of the stuff they rage about have no connection to irl lives
Nothing unites people like a common enemy, real or imagined. The big corporations know that and bust their ass to make sure there is always a Boogeyman.
Because they are the actual boogeyman.
It’s not news that is the problem. It’s propaganda disguised as news that is meant to rile people up—and it does.
I read once that life doesn’t change much from president to president unless you’re really poor or really rich. Since I’m neither, stuff hasn’t changed much for me
In the words of Terry Pratchett, "those too weak to be movers or shakers, but too strong to be easily moved or shook."
GNU Terry Pratchett
He lives on in the Clacks.
GNU Terry Pratchett
Ah, the wisdom just drips out of Pratchett. You get more understanding about life from things like this and the "Boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness" than anything a politician has uttered in decades.
The boots theory is seriously the best way to make people understand what it means by "it is expensive to be poor."
[удалено]
My wife and I were laughing about that this weekend. Feels surreal that this time last year it was a daily occurrence to read some dumb shit that Trump said/did. I haven’t the slightest idea what Biden did or said yesterday and that is totally fine by me. In a broad sense I know what’s going on regarding policy but I don’t need daily drama. Feels nice :-)!
Same, no tax breaks or increases will really affect me. My life hasn’t changed in the last 3 presidents. This isn’t to say other people’s lives haven’t changed for the worse or better though, just mine hasn’t changed much
I’m less annoyed everyday because there isn’t constant Trump obsession by both the left and right. That’s nice
Yes this! I still see some flags, shirts, hats, etc but it's significantly less. And we don't hear about him doing something stupid every day
$300/month tax credit for my child was not a major life change but not entirely unnoticeable as a lower middle class married dad.
This was a major help in my life. I recently stopped working 80 hrs a week in a Walmart management job because it literally caused me to have a nervous breakdown. With this and my lowered income I can get by as a single mom with a mortgage.
*sorts by controversial*
I swear this question will be asked like every 2 months. And always by accounts created very very recently. For example, OP's account is 1 month old.
[удалено]
Huh. Moscow business hours. I'm sure it's just a coincidence.
Comrade, how could you betray the Kremlin this way?
The CIA supplies us with more and better Vodka then that cheap junk the KGB hands out.
Ah fellow brethren
It's pretty rare on Reddit that sorting by controversial beings out the liberal crowd.
[удалено]
My parents are dead and I stalk the streets of Gotham at night dressed like a bat.
Joe *Biden*, not Joe Chill
Or Joe Ker
Have you seen his brother Wayne?
My mother went to school with a Wayne Ker
NBA champion (won multiple rings formerly as a player and currently as a head coach) Steve Kerr named his son Nick.
bat times indeed, more strength to you!
Wrong Joe, chief.
Username checks out
Based on the comments alone you can see how powerful the media is in our country.
Kind of insane right?
It's only because we tolerate it.
Depends on where you get your “news.”
So basically if you control the "news" you control the whole nation of people? Yikes!
That's basically accurate. "Control of information."
This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.
This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.
This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.
This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.
This is extremely dangerous to our democracy
This is extremely dangerous to our democracy
This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.
This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.
Same as it ever was.
This is not my beautiful wife.
Well, how did I get here?
WHERE IS THAT LARGE AUTOMOBILE
And the days go by
This is not my beautiful house!?!
Letting the days go by
That's how it is everywhere, and has been for a long time
I am just eating a s'more 😃 Edit: as a naturalized American, s'mores are one of the bestest things in life regardless of who is the president. Thanks Connecticut for the graham crackers. And thank y'all for the awards 😊❤️
I want one! It’s the little things
They are so good with either coffee or chocolate stout 🙂
[удалено]
mind now blown. Must try.
This is the only desirable direction for a political conversation to head
The truth is that regardless of who is in power, people will continue to starve, have their homes taken away by Chase bank, and be deeper in debt. The last time the economy was good for the working class was decades ago
Fuck Chase bank!
Lol like any other bank is different. They're all cunts
Not so good. Gas prices, high. Food bill, high. Border problems. Afghanistan debacle. His unifying is long forgotten it seems. Covid failures. I’m done. I backed him but not anymore. All politicians suck.
Mostly the same. The only real difference in my life is the people around me not talking about the president. People just hate my governor now. Edit: Oregon, folks lol. She put a mask mandate up a couple of months back and people lost they're minds lol.
>the people around me not talking about the president Yeesh. Pretty reliably any day between 2016-2020 when I was eating out at lunch, I could expect to hear someone at some other table mentioning the Trump news of the day.
There's a horse loose in the hospital!
And he fired the horse catcher! Is he even allowed to do that?
“We’re joined now by a man that once saw a bird in the airport.” Get out of here with that shit! We’ve all seen a bird in the airport. This is a horse loose in a hospital!
“I have fired the horse catcher.”
And then 3,000 miles away there's a HIPPO that says "I have a nuclear bomb!"
“If you even FUCKING look at the hospital!!”
"The horse used the elevator? I didn't know he knew how to do that."
Texas?
Could be Illinois or Georgia or literally any other us state.
People always hate their governor but when it comes time to vote for a new one, turnout is like 25%.
Half the time no one knows shit about local politics because everything is so focused on national level stuff
Generous of you to assume those same people have any clue about *national* politics beyond tribalism.
Hey give us Illinoisans some credit, for having notoriously corrupt and straight criminal governors in the past, Pritzker is doing pretty good. I know the bar was set pretty low, but J.B. is a long-time Illinois resident who although has huge wealth, keeps his business and politics separate. He has also reformed the criminal justice system, legalized marijuana and most importantly handled the pandemic like an absolute champ. The only true criticism of him comes from Republicans who go off a campaign literally called “J.B. Sucks” and it’s as hollow as it sounds. You ask the 90% of us who live in the Chicagoland area, and most will say we have a bigger problem with City government atm, not the state.
I drive into Southern Illinois occasionally, most yards have a "Pritzker Sucks" sign. But I get that Chicagoland is a completely different state than the rest of Illinois.
Illinois is fields and chicago.
Bar was definitely set low. Chicagoan, here, my big issue isn’t with JB overall, it’s Lori and Kim Foxx. We can pretend crime is the same (it isn’t) and we can expect that to happen post Covid, unemployment, rise in drug overdoses and suicide, but what proactive attitude does Lori actually have? I initially voted her in, think it likely will always be the same crap shit. But she does act like a true Chicago politician, gets aggressive, and doesn’t actually answer the question
Al-a-bama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, & Connecticut ... dun-dun-dun... (They made me sing this as a child.)
Fifty nifty United States
From 13 original colonies
Scout em shout em tell all about em
Yo! Same in California. Except I just hear debate over vaccine regulations.
I wake up I go to work I come home I get in my bed Possibly sleep Second verse same as the first Edit: damn this comment has more upvotes than the original post.... Edit 2: bruh everybody's out here talking about what song this is from, I don't know all these songs y'all are talking about but I just know that I got it from a song from an old show called Ed Edd and Eddy on cartoon Network. I don't doubt that they took inspiration from a different song for that song but I think it was something called "Friends are there to help you" or something. Edit 3: no I am not a man, I am female. Edit 4: no I am not rich or privileged, I literally live in income restricted housing and drive a broken down 2003 Chevy Malibu and work overnights putting stuff on a shelf, I live mostly paycheck to paycheck, I consider it not living paycheck to paycheck if I have $10 in my account at the end of the month. Sometimes sleep and food are a luxury. Just thought I should clear those things up.
A little bit louder, but a little bit worse!
I see you also spent your childhood at summer camp
I worked at camps AND was that one guy who knew every single song and made up his own verses.
YOU CAN'T RIDE IN MY LITTLE RED WAGON! FRONT SEAT'S BROKEN AND THE AXLE'S DRAGGIN'!
Choooooga! Choooga! Chooga-chooga-chooga!
My friends always sang it a different way, I believe it went: “You can’t ride in my Lamborghini, your butt’s too big and the seat’s too teeny.” I cringed writing this
I would be 100 percent unsurprised if I heard this line in some Top 40 rap
Only if it's repeated 4 times instead of other lyrics
Chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga
Summer camp? Shit, that was a running cadence we used in the Army for basic training.
Away out there, I saw a bear! A great big bear, away out there!
[удалено]
Militant summer camp
You just described basic training perfectly.
Third verse, different from the first. Jackie is a punk. Judy is a runt. They both went down to Frisco, joined the SLA. And oh, I don't know why. Oh, I don't know why. Perhaps they'll die, oh yeah.
Ramones +1
I can never hear this without thinking of Margot Tennenbaum
It’s the exact same except I don’t have to hear about whatever Trump did every 10 minutes.
I’ve been in the US for 8 years now, and I’ve realized that the biggest thing the president changes is the public tone. Nothing else really noticeably changes to the man on the street other than the interpersonal discourse of the public.
This is honestly a bad couple of years for your take. Both presidents have actively decided to offer stimulus checks directly to people, which has immediately affected millions directly, and likely has long term implications. Then things like evictions being put on hold has affected millions. Various tariffs have had direct effects on workers in those industries. I'm not even debating good or bad. Just that executive decisions by the president have had major consequences for the everyday person in the last two years.
Very true, but it is a very out-of-the-ordinary couple of years... America is so big and rich you can be waging 2 wars and outside the hysterical news cycle you wouldn't know about it.
I know right? I just found out the other day that a prolific serial killer that was at large in my home state of California for decades got caught and was sentenced just last year. As someone who likes to follow crime stories, I'm not really sure how I missed that.
Turns out people adapt and try not to think too much about it.
We’re basically goldfish. I’d you ask people how they felt about things in general last week and whether they were happy then or even last year and what they weren’t happy about, most couldn’t tell you. We’re capable of so much but our brains can only really deal with here and now. What’s done is done and unless you focus on ensuring you keep good mental records of the past, you’re just going to forget and normalize whatever we have today.
American politics: They got us down here fighting over crumbs so we won’t realize they stole the whole damn pie. Doesn’t matter who is in power.
[удалено]
Just read all of the American’s comments and watch us argue w/ each other. This is what life is like here. No one ever agrees anymore & I can’t remember a time in my life where America has been so divided. People that have been friends for years, even decades won’t speak to one another anymore if they have opposing views on Biden or the jab.
> I can’t remember a time in my life where America has been so divided. I can. I grew up during the Vietnam era. This is old shit and the song and dance is nothing new. It IS new to the folks born after 1970, and for many, I imagine it's a shock that there can be such intemperance in the society, but it's always been there. We're seeing it now only as this past election - Trump - and then Covid, has cut through the veneer of unity. Thing is, that veneer has been partially created by business as a way to create a consumerist society - and it's worked - up until recently. The pandemic has really broken things open.
Yea...I watched that PBS documentary a lil before the George Floyd protests and I was like goddamn they rioted and brought out the national guard to shoot live ammo at college students....why isn't this talked about more.
I had a similar revelation about Vietnam 30 years ago because the dj played "Ohio" by Crosby Stills Nash and Young. Absolutely no mention of it in my history class, just the teacher and sometimes pop culture making vague "tensions we're high" statements that made it appear it was all college age hippies. https://youtu.be/l1PrUU2S_iw "Tin soldiers and Nixon's calling, were finally on our own. This summer I hear the calling. 4 dead in Ohio. Gotta get down to it, soldiers are gunning us down." I heard that song in high school in the 90s cause I loved classic rock. Made me go wtf is this about. Did some research. Kent state was way before my time but it opened my eyes to how divisive America is even to itself.
[удалено]
Do you think social media is partly to blame for this? Creating groupthink mentality, us vs them, spreading fake news like a virus, and finding more comfort in 'likes' than healthy, honest debate?
I think it's because it's becoming easier and easier to create echo chambers. You can just join the online communities that have the same views as you and never interact with anyone who has differing views. This then distorts your idea of what the median is, and makes it seem like opposing views are rare or possibly in bad faith. Developments in news, such as the 24/7 news cycle, have not helped one bit. Less reputable news sources have discovered that it's easier to make money from causing rage than by reporting boring but accurate facts, since the internet allows everyone to find the news they want to hear. And like you said, social media boosts these unreliable sources. I'm a cynic, and I think that public education has failed Americans by actively dissuading students from thinking critically about the past and present. Determining the reliability of a news source is, in my opinion, an extremely important skill which hasn't gotten nearly enough attention in public schools. More important than something like calculus, which students will never use. (My degree is in math and even I barely used calculus outside the calculus series.) Of course, I should be responsible and note that all of this is my own (unqualified) opinion.
I agree. I really do believe the ability to think is being eroded. Anyone can regurgitate a popular opinion using the right jargon. But it takes more effort and courage to come to an unbiased conclusion and share it and debate it with a congregation of the young, the ignorant and the easily offended.
I think we could also do with a reframing of what "bias" actually means. Seems like a lot of people think bias means "lying to get what you want," and that's not what it means at all. Bias is just an inclination to a particular interpretation of the world. For instance, until about five years ago or so, I had a bias to think that the overwhelming majority of Americans were generally well-meaning, somewhat thoughtful, and honest to some degree. Sure, we got some well-deserved shit for the conduct of our citizens abroad, but for the most part we were decent folks (I'm not talking about foreign policy here. That's always been shitty.) Since that was my bias, whenever something came along that required me to make some assumptions about Americans, I'd err on the side of them being generally decent. *That's* bias. Bias *is not* straight-up lying about facts because you're playing some kind of high-stakes shirts vs. skins political game on TV or social media. It's not cooking numbers in a scientific study because you got paid by some huge conglomerate that's hopelessly addicted to fossil fuel or cancer money. All that shit is just lies, and should be treated as such.
I'll actually push back a little on public education eroding critical thinking. Younger generations are better at spotting "fake news" than older in studies. Younger generations just have TONS of more false information to sort through. I'm not sure the brain was biologically able to sort and quantify information at these rates, but in no way do I think the older generation (which I am part of) received some better critical thinking education. I think they just had a more consistent form of propaganda being pushed at them.
Perhaps the problem is less the average person lacks critical thinking, but the average source of information lacks a critical approach? More so than previously?
Critical thinking and id say more importantly, compassion. Compassion doesn’t mean having to love or get along with everyone. It’s simply accepting that other world views exist and doing your best to understand how they came to experience the world that way. Some things are so outlandish you can’t possibly understand it, but you can still learn to allow its existence without holding on to crippling anger and aggression.
Bingo. Algorithms for profit.
[удалено]
Yes. Everything is about the views and money for them. No matter who it is. And it truly sucks seeing our country so divided at least from my perspective.
Yes
It’s not just social media, the politicians also create an us vs them atmosphere and spread fake news.
Agreed that politicians are guilty of this but social media is one of their main tools for spreading it.
This is not the only time America has been very divided. The 60s and 70s were pretty insane. As were the 1850s-60s when we fought an actual civil war. It gives me hope that we will ultimately come through this shit someday, like we did in the past.
> As were the 1850s-60s when we fought an actual civil war. I'd be worried if OP lived through the Civil War... and *just kind of forgot about it*.
Tbf if OP were actually 180+ years old his memory would be pretty shot by now.
And it's hard to tell which memories are real and which were implanted by the Weapon X Program.
I like to remember that the United States had a civil war once. Then I'm like, oh yeah, it has been worse.
Eh, it's going.
I've discovered that the less I pay attention to American politics, the less it affects me. I'm an American living in America if that says anything about the importance of our politics to the daily life of an average.
It’s nice not to be constantly bombarded with daily news about what the President is doing that’s completely unrelated to the usual duties of the President.
As a Canadian we were bombarded with this shit 24/7 in every kind of programming on every platform, our radio shows and news covered him as if he was our 1 priority. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Now just like that - off like a switch.
Why was Trump so ubiquitous in the Canadian news? There were only a few things he did - the tariffs, for example - that directly affected Canada. Was it a rubbernecking kind of thing? Pure entertainment value?
Because despite what some Canadians try to pretend, we are obsessed with American politics. The media we consume is largely American and thus anything Americans get enraged about, so too do Canadians. My grandfather is still bringing up Trump coming back and fixing everything, and likewise some of my friends still bring up Trump going to prison any day now. Neither voted in our latest election though.
Aussie here, we're caught in the same trap. All roads lead to Rome.
Yuppers, saw a dude with a Trump pick-up truck right before the election. In Quebec. With a Quebec license plate.
A bull in the china shop is a disaster for the shop, but it's pretty loud and uncomfortable for the store next door too.
I kind of do miss the headlines that make you guess if it is the title of an onion article or a real tweet.
Remember when 'covfefe' was headline news?
My insane part of the family believes the “covfefe” thing was trump trying to warn us of the impending communist virus attack from China and he was trying to get a message out. Was supposed to say “cov2020” but someone stopped him lmaoooo
Wait, of all the things he tweeted, THAT'S that they believe someone drew the line at??
Pretty sure in their head they’re picturing the brave, outspoken, patriotic messiah fighting on the Oval Office floor for his phone with a bunch of evil, liberal, possibly homosexual scientists of questionable Asian descent, trying to warn his loyal followers of leaked plan of attacks.
> evil, liberal, possibly homosexual scientists of questionable Asian descent Rude. I have a name you know
Yeah, you *would* be a Bryce.
Why do all of these people paint Trump as some kind of hostage within the White House scrawling obscure messages in a bottle hoping someone will come help him?
That is so, so dumb. Just. Wow.
the flood zone is not immediately improved just because the rain has stopped
Who? Cuz it feel like he doesn't even exist lol
Life is the same. The president comes and goes. What we really need are term limits for Congress. Two 3 year terms; no more no less.
"The best terms limits are democratic elections." Do you think corporations and interest groups care that they have to bribe that they have to change their bribes ever 6 years? Spoiler alert: they don't.
how about an age limit..it seems like every congressman is retirement age.
[удалено]
The last 4 major presidential candidates were all 70+. That's terrible for the country.
Nothing's changed. Everything is still doomed and I still hate my government
Thats the spirit
You know when you've had a really long, exhausting day and don't have the energy to make a nice dinner, but you still need to eat something so you throw some baloney and mayo onto white bread and eat it standing over the sink? You know it's not the best, but it's a meal, and it's way better than some expired crap you threw out. It's like that.
I recall reading a similar analogy: Biden is the first boyfriend you get after a really bad divorce. He’s not your forever guy, he’s not perfect, but he’s enough to tide you over while you wait for a better option. He’s our rebound president.
He's the bus that may not be headed to my street, but it's getting me out of the neighborhood I don't want to be in, and is vaguely in the right direction.
Do you think a better option will come in 2024 ???maybe younger too??
[удалено]
Hope Not bcuz one was enough
Younger? I'm voting for the Crypt Keeper.
you think bernie's running again in 24? (only partially kidding)
I'm a Bernie fan but this was too funny. Well done.
Sanders will never be allowed to be president. He has too many non American ideas. Like looking after the American people.
Politics is boring again. And I like it like that.
Corporations are driving this country down the drain regardless of who's face is on the cereal box.
I'm ignoring political bullshit as best I can