What can bring the country together?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been traveling to the Midwest for years to visit family. The divide happened a long time ago. Before Obama was elected. I put the blame on right wing radio and entertainment outlets like Fox News, Breitbart, Glenn Beck, and Alex Jones. The entertainment they push is anger and outrage, bigotry and sexism. I watched my dad get sucked into that world but he died in 2013. Folks are reeling in this country due to huge economic shifts that are occurring in economic/labor market, much like the industrial revolution. If you think back to that time in history and the profound changes that occurred, it makes sense.

The only thing that is going to change is the younger generations will be able to cope more with the new economic/labor environment and the ones in the thick of the change will die off.

I live in the Midwest and have lost my father to Fox.

It’s not a both sides issue, not a bit. OP doesn’t say “both sides” but she implies it.

How do we get past this? Naming the real problem, for one thing: Republican extremism and all that feeds into it. Sadly, it is a multi-factorial problem, but the big one is right wing propaganda. But we have to see the problem for what it is because you can’t solve a problem when you won’t identify what the problem is.

My dad too. He was always a conservative guy but never talked about Politics or seemed angry. My parents always told me it was rude to talk politics- when I was growing up. He retired early (blue collar union job). and has basically spent the last 20yrs sitting on the couch watching Fox and getting angrier by the day. Spread it to my mom too. There are millions of men like this. Why??? I really do not know.

My dad too. He lived about 1,000 miles away, so I didn't see him much. One time I went to visit for a couple of weeks in the 90s, and he was excited to show me the O'Reilly Factor. I watched about 10 minutes of it and was like, WTF? No thanks. He just got worse after that.

I had kind of an "aha" moment when I finally got around to binging Mad Men. Before the modern women's movement, men had it pretty darn good. As the ones in charge, they got an automatic level of (outward displays of) respect that now has to be individually earned. They also got the cushy benefit of having their needs catered to.

As for older people, I think neuroscience has shown that aging brains are more susceptible to fear and paranoia and less comfortable with change.

Right wing fear-mongering media is like crack cocaine for old white men.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't watch CNN or Fox. Read/Listen to news facts not opinions. Come up with your own opinions. Vote. Accept outcome and move on.

I agree that both are trash, but for different reasons. There is no left wing equivalent to Fox. MSNBC tries, but it's a pale shadow. It has a former Republican Congressman on for like 15 hours a week. When Fox gives a former Democratic Congressman that much airtime, we'll talk. CNN's big bias - and MSNBC too, for that matter - is that it wants to keep you emotionally invested enough to watch through the commercials. The easiest way to do that is to make you anxious or angry. So, they give you the bad news. They fill airtime with cheap to produce shows with people voicing opinions at each other. Ca I ble news is hot garbage.

This is 100% accurate.

MSNBC has become a rehab center for #NeverTrump Bush supporters. If the “Democratic” network is Joe Scarborough talking to Nicole Wallace, Bill Kristol and Michael Steele about who the Democrats should nominate I’d rather watch Fox News. At least Fox News is honest about their agenda. MSNBC is centrist Republican neo-con propaganda masquerading as the left’s answer to Fox News. The left’s answer to Fox News is actually Krystal Ball, Michael Moore and Jacobin.

You mean the socialist left’s answer to Fox News is Jacobin et al. And you label anything that is not socialist or does not explicitly support Sanders as “centrist Republican neo-con propaganda.” So i think you actually need to be honest about your agenda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ship all Trumpists to Texas.

No, Texas is on the verge of turning purple. Don't wreck its trajectory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't watch CNN or Fox. Read/Listen to news facts not opinions. Come up with your own opinions. Vote. Accept outcome and move on.

I agree that both are trash, but for different reasons. There is no left wing equivalent to Fox. MSNBC tries, but it's a pale shadow. It has a former Republican Congressman on for like 15 hours a week. When Fox gives a former Democratic Congressman that much airtime, we'll talk. CNN's big bias - and MSNBC too, for that matter - is that it wants to keep you emotionally invested enough to watch through the commercials. The easiest way to do that is to make you anxious or angry. So, they give you the bad news. They fill airtime with cheap to produce shows with people voicing opinions at each other. Cable news is hot garbage.

This is 100% accurate.

MSNBC is more uniformly liberal in the views it presents than CNN, but it's also qualitatively better. They have so many great commentators who are experienced professionals with subject area expertise, especially in law and national security. CNN presents a wider range of views, but they like the heated back and forth arguments with shallow talking points that does not advance anyone's understanding of anything. To make that happen, they hire people that MSNBC never would, like Michael Cohen. In that way, its tone is more like FOX. MSNBC can be very informative if you're careful to use it as one of multiple sources of your news intake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing until White Christian identity politics fades as the central force in politics.

That's happening at a faster and faster clip, as many recent surveys have shown. I think when we get past this Trump era, evangelical Christianity will be in crisis. They've been exposed as deeply craven and hypocritical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Moving past Id politics

Well, Trump is all id and I'm certainly in favor of moving past him ... so +1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing until White Christian identity politics fades as the central force in politics.

That's happening at a faster and faster clip, as many recent surveys have shown. I think when we get past this Trump era, evangelical Christianity will be in crisis. They've been exposed as deeply craven and hypocritical.

Unlike the Democrats who refuse to vote for Buttigieg because he's gay (like that Iowa Democrat or the black voters, eh?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moving past Id politics

Well, Trump is all id and I'm certainly in favor of moving past him ... so +1

This. For some reason it’s never “id politics” when white people are talking about *their* communities.

-White man

[Anonymous]

Honestly, the thing that would "bring the country together" is to see a bunch of corrupt rich guys in handcuffs.

People are still pissed that no one was held accountable for the Financial Crisis. A lot the frustration we see voters expressing at the ballot box is that cost of living has gone up, medical care/insurance just isn't affordable, and we keep seeing wealthy assholes game the system in unfair ways.

[Anonymous]

In this entire thread. All I see is liberals being nasty about non liberals. What a sad hate group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing until White Christian identity politics fades as the central force in politics.

That's happening at a faster and faster clip, as many recent surveys have shown. I think when we get past this Trump era, evangelical Christianity will be in crisis. They've been exposed as deeply craven and hypocritical.

Unlike the Democrats who refuse to vote for Buttigieg because he's gay (like that Iowa Democrat or the black voters, eh?)

What are you talking about? He just won the Iowa caucus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't watch CNN or Fox. Read/Listen to news facts not opinions. Come up with your own opinions. Vote. Accept outcome and move on.

I agree that both are trash, but for different reasons. There is no left wing equivalent to Fox. MSNBC tries, but it's a pale shadow. It has a former Republican Congressman on for like 15 hours a week. When Fox gives a former Democratic Congressman that much airtime, we'll talk. CNN's big bias - and MSNBC too, for that matter - is that it wants to keep you emotionally invested enough to watch through the commercials. The easiest way to do that is to make you anxious or angry. So, they give you the bad news. They fill airtime with cheap to produce shows with people voicing opinions at each other. Ca I ble news is hot garbage.

This is 100% accurate.

MSNBC has become a rehab center for #NeverTrump Bush supporters. If the “Democratic” network is Joe Scarborough talking to Nicole Wallace, Bill Kristol and Michael Steele about who the Democrats should nominate I’d rather watch Fox News. At least Fox News is honest about their agenda. MSNBC is centrist Republican neo-con propaganda masquerading as the left’s answer to Fox News. The left’s answer to Fox News is actually Krystal Ball, Michael Moore and Jacobin.

You mean the socialist left’s answer to Fox News is Jacobin et al. And you label anything that is not socialist or does not explicitly support Sanders as “centrist Republican neo-con propaganda.” So i think you actually need to be honest about your agenda.

Look at the polls. Sanders and Warren’s supporters make up a large demographic of the party yet there is no network that reflects their worldview. All I see on MSNBC are former Bushies like Jennifer Rubin and Nicole Wallace telling Democrats who they should elect. MSNBC is more welcoming of Bill Kristol than Sanders, AOC, etc. That should tell you something. They are the network of neo-conservatives and neo-liberals. The last person on that network who truly represented workers was Ed Shultz.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't watch CNN or Fox. Read/Listen to news facts not opinions. Come up with your own opinions. Vote. Accept outcome and move on.

I agree that both are trash, but for different reasons. There is no left wing equivalent to Fox. MSNBC tries, but it's a pale shadow. It has a former Republican Congressman on for like 15 hours a week. When Fox gives a former Democratic Congressman that much airtime, we'll talk. CNN's big bias - and MSNBC too, for that matter - is that it wants to keep you emotionally invested enough to watch through the commercials. The easiest way to do that is to make you anxious or angry. So, they give you the bad news. They fill airtime with cheap to produce shows with people voicing opinions at each other. Ca I ble news is hot garbage.

This is 100% accurate.

MSNBC has become a rehab center for #NeverTrump Bush supporters. If the “Democratic” network is Joe Scarborough talking to Nicole Wallace, Bill Kristol and Michael Steele about who the Democrats should nominate I’d rather watch Fox News. At least Fox News is honest about their agenda. MSNBC is centrist Republican neo-con propaganda masquerading as the left’s answer to Fox News. The left’s answer to Fox News is actually Krystal Ball, Michael Moore and Jacobin.

You mean the socialist left’s answer to Fox News is Jacobin et al. And you label anything that is not socialist or does not explicitly support Sanders as “centrist Republican neo-con propaganda.” So i think you actually need to be honest about your agenda.

Look at the polls. Sanders and Warren’s supporters make up a large demographic of the party yet there is no network that reflects their worldview. All I see on MSNBC are former Bushies like Jennifer Rubin and Nicole Wallace telling Democrats who they should elect. MSNBC is more welcoming of Bill Kristol than Sanders, AOC, etc. That should tell you something. They are the network of neo-conservatives and neo-liberals. The last person on that network who truly represented workers was Ed Shultz.

The Democratic Party is a coalition party. You're correct that a significant portion of the Democratic Party doesn't have a representative media channel but that doesn't mean that the parts of the Democratic Party that are aren't actually part of the Democratic Party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the thing that would "bring the country together" is to see a bunch of corrupt rich guys in handcuffs.

People are still pissed that no one was held accountable for the Financial Crisis. A lot the frustration we see voters expressing at the ballot box is that cost of living has gone up, medical care/insurance just isn't affordable, and we keep seeing wealthy assholes game the system in unfair ways.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:War or some other major catastrophe that is obvious and caused externally.

I doubt it. After 9/11, Fox News just used it as an opportunity to ramp up their bigotry and fear-mongering.

That’s not a real war. If China tries to invade us and ordinary people have to fight them off from their homes with guns that would definitely bring the country together.

We have it too good as a society today and we’re atrophied because we don’t know real struggle. In WW1 people weren’t bickering about gender pronouns. They were too busy trying to find water to drink in the trenches that wasn’t riddled with dead bodies.

But not so busy with it that they couldn’t make sure the darkies stayed in their own regiments and didn’t eat in the white man’s mess hall.

Huh? The military and Unions are way more integrated than your average UMC DC suburb. There’s more segregation in Montgomery County and Loudoun County than there is on any military base.

And I’m talking about an invasion where the privileged elite and everyone else who has sat on the couch during previous wars has to fight against an invading force from their homes. Fighting amongst fellow Americans about peripheral political issues will stop real quick.

I think they were talking about in WWI.