2020 US General Election Thread V: Pandemic Postpones Polls

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

You wanna show your sources on that claim? Or is that subjective opinion?

It was small scale in 2016. It's easier to cast blame on trolls from a different continent than to look deep within the problems of our own party, or to analyze Trump's popularity as a whole. Take the analysis on Facebook, 1 in 23,000 pieces of content were linked to Russia according to the study The Nation cites. I'm not going to lose sleep over that statistic.

There are Russian bots, they exist. But not every account posting pissed off messages is a Russian bot, it's just such an easy scapegoat. Russia is deep into a several year long economic downturn and dealing with internal opposition that does threaten the Putin regime. I can't imagine they'd orchestrate a malicious, large-scale effort to help a Democratic candidate on Twitter tbh. I can't speak for the actions of individuals or some small-scale "Russian activity," but the idea of a massive Russian conspiracy is just that, a conspiracy.

1 in 23,000 pieces of content doesn't seem much, except that 4.75 billion pieces of content are shared daily on Facebook (well that was the 2013 figure).

[Necroghastia]

Hence why I think he would alienate the middle in a general election and cost us the house

Which I get, i personally dislike Bloomberg, however i may still vote for him, Sanders? HAHAHA, no.

What makes Bllomberg more palatable than Sanders?

[Post War America]

"just join the Peace Corps or go to war"

literally the most stereotypically boomer answer ever

That one went right over your head, didn't it?

Don't join the Peace Corps or sign up for military service, then. Find a local church group that does volunteer work overseas and offer to help out for a few weeks in some other country. I knew of a Pentecostalist church in Southeastern Michigan that used to send parishioners to Africa for a week (or even just a long weekend) to dig wells, build schools and clinics, etc. Or engage in a little "activist tourism", in which you travel somewhere for a few months to work with local populations in various ways, whether that involves construction, distributing medicines, monitoring environmental degradation, or whatever. My point is that if you never get out of the States (or Europe), you'll never see how many of the things you take for granted are actually not things that should be taken for granted at all.

But, hey: If you don't want to do that, and instead want to go ahead and pretend that life as a young person here in America, where you may not have the best job prospects or a steady stream of raises to pay off that student loan of yours is the worst possible arrangement a human being could ever have, go ahead. Just don't get pissed off when those of us who know better mock you or laugh at you for your idiotic attitude, because you will have so very richly deserved it.

Bruh, I've done those exact things, my quality of life was consistently higher in LEDCs than in the US.

[Alien Space Bats]

[The whole "oh you dont know real struggle" is a fucking bullshit argument. It's not about that. Its about a declining culture that worships consumerism and nihilism, and no one seems to notice, no one seems to care.
Autonomy is stripped more and more from humanity everyday as the shift from agrarian societies to 9-5 clean cut suit and tie will not question office jobs become the norm, atomization increases, and you lose less and less freedom. And the power process becomes more and more disrupted until it is almost non-existent, leading to a completely degenerated society of nothing but passive, hedonistic consumers who live the most white-bread life until their offspring take over and do the same until the end of time.
We're fucked.

First of, all, if you think "9-5 clean cut suit and tie will not question office jobs" are the norm, then you're not even getting out and around here in America. For a huge percentage of Americans, work is all over the clock, in 5-8 hours shifts that vary from day to day and could land anywhere from dawn to midnight. It's wearing a company vest (like at Lowe's or Walmart) or a polo with the company logo on it (like at Starbuck's or McDonald's) or something made of polyester that fits a general description (black slacks, black shoes, black socks, white shirt, and here's your waiter's apron), or it's jeans and a top for work in the kitchen, the back room, or wherever. Huge numbers of Americans are cooks, cashiers, and drivers, and let's not forget all those health care workers, from home health aids to hospital workers. "9-5 suit and tie" is actually a relatively small segment of what "work" means in America.

I know. I've spent my share of time in kitchens, on restaurant floors, stocking shelves, and holding down a cash register — as well as sitting in meetings with executives, delivering desktops and notebooks to staff, hacking code out on a keyboard, and building servers in data centers. And I've known people who do all kinds of other things, from driving cabs, to fighting fires, to doing maintenance in an apartment complex, to patrolling in a squad car, to teaching kids how to read and write, to driving all over town pitching life insurance over coffee at Denny's, to wearing scrubs and administering medicine, to counseling drug addicts, to going from home to home caring for senior citizens and the disabled. Work is unimaginably varied in this land of ours: If you think everything happens in the office, then you are sheltered beyond anything I would have thought possible.

As for "atomization", what in the world do you expect? Even in the High Middle Ages, there was specialization on the job. Farmers brought their animals to a butcher for slaughter and brought their grain to the mill to be ground into flour. Foresters delivered logs to lumberyards to be cut into wood and delivered to carpenters; quarrymen delivered stone to masons to be turned into buildings; furriers, tanners, and weavers delivered cloth to tailors to be made into garments; carters build wagons and shipwrights build ships. If you thought any of this was going to get simpler, you're naïve beyond all reason.

And consumerism? What the fuck is that rant about? People want to eat and always have. People want to live in warm homes and always have. People want to surround themselves with nice things and always have. And I'm supposed to nod my head and agree with you that all of this is bad and that people should instead want to be naked, go hungry, and sleep in caves?!?

Life is about what you do with it. If you can make your life's work gratifying, do so; if not, find meaning in the relationships you form with friends and family, or things you do for your community. Nothing about the modern world has made it harder for you to give a fuck and help out your fellow man. Nothing about the modern world has made it harder for you to contemplate the nature of the universe. Nothing about the modern world has made it harder for you to fall in love, whether you choose to fall in love with another person, with the whole of humanity, or with God Almighty. These things are no more difficult today than they were a thousand years ago; indeed, if anything, all of that consumerism makes it much easier to do whichever of these things you choose to do because it's likely that you don't have to work as hard as your forebears did at merely staying alive.

So what in the Hell are you complaining about?

[The East Marches II]

As a 20-year old uni student, I already feel like I'm living in ruins, or at least ruins-in-the-making. That whole "you can be whoever you want to be" and "the world's becoming a better place" from the early 2000s and pre-2008 younger generations like mine heard will probably haunt a lot of us for the rest of ours lives. And while I think I relatively lucked out with my college debt, but it'll still be a major financial consideration for decades to come, and I'll still be on worse footing than any generation to earn a degree before me. I don't expect to ever touch a cent I put into social security, and I'm willing to bet my generation will be making up for the tax cuts and underfunded programs of today by paying more for it tomorrow, all while getting less out of the system. I don't have any real gripes with an "establishment", but I feel the government's actions are so detached from the reality for many like me that we won't ever be acknowledged as a constituency until we force them to; meanwhile, corporations and the rich are first in line for policy. And between the environment and world affairs, we're making too many short-term goals with immediate gratification over the painful but necessary long-term ones.

Long story short, I don't feel safe in the status quo, or that bad change is the only enemy while no change is sunshine and rainbows. That doesn't automatically make me right about anything, or that everyone should see it my way. But it's the reason why so many people in democratic forums like the Democratic primary are siding with a change candidate, just like many others are safe with a moderate one. I don't consider myself a maximalist, or even that radical, but a president with a (D) next to their name doesn't automatically solve things for me, especially if their campaign was based avoiding too much change, bad or good. In no way does that mean you need to like Sanders, and I really do respect that you will. But I've got decades left on this planet, barring me doing anything stupid or tragic, and if I'm living in ruins years from now, it's because I wouldn't or couldn't fix what was already there.

That's why people like me are where we are.

As an amateur historian (among other things), let me try and put things in perspective.

You live in one of the richest nations on the planet, at a time in human history that is more prosperous than any other. Given that fact, I suggest that you seriously think about what "the ruins", given the overall sweep of human history, might actually look like.

Believe me, it's nothing like what you're struggling with today.

I'm not seeking to belittle your difficulties. Approaching the age of 65, I am much worse off than my parents (who are currently approaching 90), and will almost certainly never reach their levels of financial and professional success. So I can relate to a certain sense of hopelessness; it's out there, and it's real.

But success is fragile and failure always waits to claim us if we fall. Things could easily get much, much worse in this country — and it's that fact that I'm trying to impress upon you.

Most Americans have an almost reflexive belief that America can't fail, and that our country will always be there come what may. Neither of these beliefs has any genuine foundation in historical fact. If you're an American, you need to wake up each day understanding how damned lucky you are to be where you are, and how very far above the ground you're currently performing.

And you also need to wake up and realize that there's no safety net waiting down there to catch you should we fall.

I could bore you with historical anecdotes; I won't. Just never forget that what we have here is fleeting. The liberty, the safety from foreign invasion, the fact that there are stores with food in them, that there's power when you flip on the light switch, and that our gasoline pumps actually dispense gasoline 99.9% of the time you visit them, and a million other things you never think about — these are things Americans take for granted, but shouldn't. Most of us live safely in our homes, not having to worry about gangs of well-armed men coming around to relieve us of life or property when they see fit. Indeed, most of us will likely die in bed somewhere, rather than a lot of much nastier places. If your politics is all about how shitty life is because we're not doing better still, well, I applaud your sense of optimism; but at the same time, I basically feel like you need to have someone put their boot up your ass in an effort to impart some realism into your thinking.

Polarization is a real threat: Sharply divided nations without any mechanism for compromise and no one in the middle to throw water on the fever dreams of the various extremists living within their ranks tend to fly apart. And when nations fly apart, other nations always lick their chops and start moving in for a quick and messy meal. We haven't seen that here in America — but there's no earthly reason why it can't happen here. So excuse me if I try to get people to realize that they've got a lot to lose if politics fails, because when politics fails the knives always come out, and that never ends well.

But hey, it's your life, really. It's up to all you people, now. My generation, for better or worse (and generally, it's been worse rather than better) has run our race. We can't save you from yourself. Just make sure you educate yourselves as to what a real ruin is before you call the place you're living one. May I recommend a stint in the Peace Corps or a tour of duty in Afghanistan to adjust your perspective...

I wonder how many people would trade a few dollars for a functioning family, a shot at love or interpersonal relations that weren't totally broken. As a middle eastern woman yelled while trying to kill herself, they at least had families and people who loved them in the poor, here she was alone.

Try cutting yourself off from friends, family and your wife for 5 years to "adjust" your perspective :^)

[The East Marches II]

...Nothing about the modern world has made it harder for you to fall in love, whether you choose to fall in love with another person, with the whole of humanity, or with God Almighty. These things are no more difficult today than they were a thousand years ago; indeed, if anything, all of that consumerism makes it much easier to do whichever of these things you choose to do because it's likely that you don't have to work as hard as your forebears did at merely staying alive.

So what in the Hell are you complaining about?

This isn't true statistically. You are living in a bubble if you think that true. We have an epidemic of loneliness and sexlessness in the country.

This isn't even getting into the difficulties of being a young man in the current moment, rather your ill thought statement as a blanket whole.

[Senkaku]

As an amateur historian (among other things), let me try and put things in perspective.

You live in one of the richest nations on the planet, at a time in human history that is more prosperous than any other. Given that fact, I suggest that you seriously think about what "the ruins", given the overall sweep of human history, might actually look like.

Believe me, it's nothing like what you're struggling with today.

I'm not seeking to belittle your difficulties. Approaching the age of 65, I am much worse off than my parents (who are currently approaching 90), and will almost certainly never reach their levels of financial and professional success. So I can relate to a certain sense of hopelessness; it's out there, and it's real.

But success is fragile and failure always waits to claim us if we fall. Things could easily get much, much worse in this country — and it's that fact that I'm trying to impress upon you.

Most Americans have an almost reflexive belief that America can't fail, and that our country will always be there come what may. Neither of these beliefs has any genuine foundation in historical fact. If you're an American, you need to wake up each day understanding how damned lucky you are to be where you are, and how very far above the ground you're currently performing.

And you also need to wake up and realize that there's no safety net waiting down there to catch you should we fall.

I could bore you with historical anecdotes; I won't. Just never forget that what we have here is fleeting. The liberty, the safety from foreign invasion, the fact that there are stores with food in them, that there's power when you flip on the light switch, and that our gasoline pumps actually dispense gasoline 99.9% of the time you visit them, and a million other things you never think about — these are things Americans take for granted, but shouldn't. Most of us live safely in our homes, not having to worry about gangs of well-armed men coming around to relieve us of life or property when they see fit. Indeed, most of us will likely die in bed somewhere, rather than a lot of much nastier places. If your politics is all about how shitty life is because we're not doing better still, well, I applaud your sense of optimism; but at the same time, I basically feel like you need to have someone put their boot up your ass in an effort to impart some realism into your thinking.

Polarization is a real threat: Sharply divided nations without any mechanism for compromise and no one in the middle to throw water on the fever dreams of the various extremists living within their ranks tend to fly apart. And when nations fly apart, other nations always lick their chops and start moving in for a quick and messy meal. We haven't seen that here in America — but there's no earthly reason why it can't happen here. So excuse me if I try to get people to realize that they've got a lot to lose if politics fails, because when politics fails the knives always come out, and that never ends well.

But hey, it's your life, really. It's up to all you people, now. My generation, for better or worse (and generally, it's been worse rather than better) has run our race. We can't save you from yourself. Just make sure you educate yourselves as to what a real ruin is before you call the place you're living one. May I recommend a stint in the Peace Corps or a tour of duty in Afghanistan to adjust your perspective...

I wonder how many people would trade a few dollars for a functioning family, a shot at love or interpersonal relations that weren't totally broken. As a middle eastern woman yelled while trying to kill herself, they at least had families and people who loved them in the poor, here she was alone.

Try cutting yourself off from friends, family and your wife for 5 years to "adjust" your perspective :^)

In the good old days when blacks or gays complained about the same sorts of things I believe the old refrain was "have some personal responsibility ecks dee", it is interesting how some people's perspective suddenly changes when people who look like them are the ones suffering lol

[The East Marches II]

I wonder how many people would trade a few dollars for a functioning family, a shot at love or interpersonal relations that weren't totally broken. As a middle eastern woman yelled while trying to kill herself, they at least had families and people who loved them in the poor, here she was alone.

Try cutting yourself off from friends, family and your wife for 5 years to "adjust" your perspective :^)

In the good old days when blacks or gays complained about the same sorts of things I believe the old refrain was "have some personal responsibility ecks dee", it is interesting how some people's perspective suddenly changes when people who look like them are the ones suffering lol

There was multiple layers of insults in there. I'm going go visit my old friend the noose. I'll brb. TEM BTFO.

[Senkaku]

...Nothing about the modern world has made it harder for you to fall in love, whether you choose to fall in love with another person, with the whole of humanity, or with God Almighty. These things are no more difficult today than they were a thousand years ago; indeed, if anything, all of that consumerism makes it much easier to do whichever of these things you choose to do because it's likely that you don't have to work as hard as your forebears did at merely staying alive.

This isn't true statistically. You are living in a bubble if you think that true. We have an epidemic of loneliness and sexlessness in the country.

This isn't even getting into the difficulties of being a young man in the current moment, rather your ill thought statement as a blanket whole.

That doesn't actually mean that sex and love are less available or harder to find (much less harder for your brain to actually do if you do find someone). If anything, with the advent of dating apps, the problem is paralysis of choice.

[Ethel mermania]

Which I get, i personally dislike Bloomberg, however i may still vote for him, Sanders? HAHAHA, no.

What makes Bllomberg more palatable than Sanders?

He is not a socialist for a start. He knows how to run a government. He will do what he thinks is right, and he puts his money where his mouth is. He is doing out of it to in his mind save the country from bernie and trump as opposed as a real desire to be president on his own part.

[Gormwood]

Yes

Bloomberg is essentially the same person as Trump, but not senile. He's literally the only person running who I would prefer Trump to. You seriously think Sanders would cause the downfall of the democrats and not the person who goes against everything they claim to stand for?

Replacing Trump with Bloomberg? Warren Ellis warned everyone against that.

[The East Marches II]

This isn't true statistically. You are living in a bubble if you think that true. We have an epidemic of loneliness and sexlessness in the country.

This isn't even getting into the difficulties of being a young man in the current moment, rather your ill thought statement as a blanket whole.

That doesn't actually mean that sex and love are less available or harder to find (much less harder for your brain to actually do if you do find someone). If anything, with the advent of dating apps, the problem is paralysis of choice.

I disagree. The digitization of dating has led to the destruction of dating culture in general for those younger than say myself. The interactions these days look more akin to a Greece, Turkey or Bulgaria, nations without a real dating culture who rely on match making services to find partners.

[Valrifell]

What makes Bllomberg more palatable than Sanders?

He is not a socialist for a start. He knows how to run a government. He will do what he thinks is right, and he puts his money where his mouth is. He is doing out of it to in his mind save the country from bernie and trump as opposed as a real desire to be president on his own part.

Bloomberg has no experience dealing with Congress or directly dealing with the Federal government, or at lesst not on the same level that a Senator or Representative does, he's also been out of the game for quite a bit.

It's weird that you spare Bloomberg, of all people, the cynical take of wanting to run for president for its own sake when, like Lex Luthor, he could do just as much if not more from the side.

[Ngelmish]

Who won the South Carolina Democratic Debate? -FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos

Interesting numbers, it seem's Bernie had a good debate performance in the eyes of viewers. On the contrary to what all of us thought. Bernie and Mayor Pete were graded the highest and ended in a Tie. Bernie got the largest jump in voter consideration after the debate and was rated the most likely to beat Trump.

It seems some how, he won this debate, even with a bad performance.

The problem is that the other candidates are making the obvious mistake of going after Sanders' perceived weakness: the meaningless heuristic of "electability" or his perceived unseriousness (setting aside the inherently silliness of something like Bloomberg's "Russia wants you to win" swipes). In this debate, only Warren came close to landing a body blow on Sanders with her line about being a better president, because, if properly deployed it's a door to riffing an attack on Sanders' strength, honesty.

Undercutting him on his perceived appeal of "authenticity" and "honesty" is the only way to actually damage his candidacy, because the case is clear, coherent, and not difficult to make. Setting aside delegate math, in 2016, Sanders was done publicly when Clinton hit him for his "artful smear," because that was a huge part of what he was doing on stage and he had no comeback for it. Similarly, in this race, if his opponents want to knock him out, they need to find a way, directly or indirectly, of pointing out that he is, in fact, a career politician who finds benefits in presenting himself disingenuously when it suits him. And while Warren's dig about being better on detail than Sanders is tried to do that, it was both too subtle and not enough of a running theme to resonate. So yes, most people will conclude that Sanders did reasonably well because his strength wasn't effectively utilized against him.

[Gormwood]

If we're going on actual population proportions, whites would still be a majority of the court. Blacks wouldn't even have a seat.

Yeah, they would. With 12% of the population being black, they'd have precisely one seat on the Court (which is what they have now).

Not really. There's a rude two word phrase they'd use to describe Thomas.

[Nakena]

He is not a socialist for a start. He knows how to run a government. He will do what he thinks is right, and he puts his money where his mouth is. He is doing out of it to in his mind save the country from bernie and trump as opposed as a real desire to be president on his own part.

Bloomberg has no experience dealing with Congress or directly dealing with the Federal government, or at lesst not on the same level that a Senator or Representative does, he's also been out of the game for quite a bit.

It's weird that you spare Bloomberg, of all people, the cynical take of wanting to run for president for its own sake when, like Lex Luthor, he could do just as much if not more from the side.

He could though hire some dudes and political spin doctors and experts who know how to deal with congress. And unlike Trump he could actually make that work.

[Idzequitch]

The fun part of this general elction is going to be when the two most toxic major political camps in the USA start truly engaging each other online. Bernie can defend his supporters all he wants, a good number of them act absolutely shameful online. (Of course there are also respectful folks on both sides too, but they tend to get ignored when the web warriors start doing their thing).

[Zurkerx]

Who won the South Carolina Democratic Debate? -FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos

Interesting numbers, it seem's Bernie had a good debate performance in the eyes of viewers. On the contrary to what all of us thought. Bernie and Mayor Pete were graded the highest and ended in a Tie. Bernie got the largest jump in voter consideration after the debate and was rated the most likely to beat Trump.

It seems some how, he won this debate, even with a bad performance.

The problem is that the other candidates are making the obvious mistake of going after Sanders' perceived weakness: the meaningless heuristic of "electability" or his perceived unseriousness (setting aside the inherently silliness of something like Bloomberg's "Russia wants you to win" swipes). In this debate, only Warren came close to landing a body blow on Sanders with her line about being a better president, because, if properly deployed it's a door to riffing an attack on Sanders' strength, honesty.

Undercutting him on his perceived appeal of "authenticity" and "honesty" is the only way to actually damage his candidacy, because the case is clear, coherent, and not difficult to make. Setting aside delegate math, in 2016, Sanders was done publicly when Clinton hit him for his "artful smear," because that was a huge part of what he was doing on stage and he had no comeback for it. Similarly, in this race, if his opponents want to knock him out, they need to find a way, directly or indirectly, of pointing out that he is, in fact, a career politician who finds benefits in presenting himself disingenuously when it suits him. And while Warren's dig about being better on detail than Sanders is tried to do that, it was both too subtle and not enough of a running theme to resonate. So yes, most people will conclude that Sanders did reasonably well because his strength wasn't effectively utilized against him.

So, the only way to "damage" his candidacy is to attack his honesty and authenticity? I hope I read that right. That sounds harder than it looks. Then again, it might be too late to stop him from getting at least a plurality of delegates.

[Senkaku]

That doesn't actually mean that sex and love are less available or harder to find (much less harder for your brain to actually do if you do find someone). If anything, with the advent of dating apps, the problem is paralysis of choice.

I disagree. The digitization of dating has led to the destruction of dating culture in general for those younger than say myself. The interactions these days look more akin to a Greece, Turkey or Bulgaria, nations without a real dating culture who rely on match making services to find partners.

I don't know what """real dating culture""" is supposed to mean, define your key terms- and I've never been to Greece, Turkey, or Bulgaria, but I'm pretty sure dating apps have lol, and even Turkey has like 60% smartphone penetration, so do explain in detail how young people's dating habits today are similar to them (though I can't imagine you would know literally anything about young people today besides what you read in the WSJ or whatever lol)

[An Infinity Gauntlet]

Attacking Bernie's authenticity is probably one of the hardest things to do considering the last time he said anything remotely off the deep end was when he was a bleeding heart communist in the 1970s. Surprisingly enough though, I'm surprised none of the candidates have actually went after some of the things he said when he was younger. It's probably the only smears they could put out against the dude.

[Nakena]

As an amateur historian (among other things), let me try and put things in perspective.

You live in one of the richest nations on the planet, at a time in human history that is more prosperous than any other. Given that fact, I suggest that you seriously think about what "the ruins", given the overall sweep of human history, might actually look like.

Believe me, it's nothing like what you're struggling with today.

I'm not seeking to belittle your difficulties. Approaching the age of 65, I am much worse off than my parents (who are currently approaching 90), and will almost certainly never reach their levels of financial and professional success. So I can relate to a certain sense of hopelessness; it's out there, and it's real.

But success is fragile and failure always waits to claim us if we fall. Things could easily get much, much worse in this country — and it's that fact that I'm trying to impress upon you.

Most Americans have an almost reflexive belief that America can't fail, and that our country will always be there come what may. Neither of these beliefs has any genuine foundation in historical fact. If you're an American, you need to wake up each day understanding how damned lucky you are to be where you are, and how very far above the ground you're currently performing.

And you also need to wake up and realize that there's no safety net waiting down there to catch you should we fall.

I could bore you with historical anecdotes; I won't. Just never forget that what we have here is fleeting. The liberty, the safety from foreign invasion, the fact that there are stores with food in them, that there's power when you flip on the light switch, and that our gasoline pumps actually dispense gasoline 99.9% of the time you visit them, and a million other things you never think about — these are things Americans take for granted, but shouldn't. Most of us live safely in our homes, not having to worry about gangs of well-armed men coming around to relieve us of life or property when they see fit. Indeed, most of us will likely die in bed somewhere, rather than a lot of much nastier places. If your politics is all about how shitty life is because we're not doing better still, well, I applaud your sense of optimism; but at the same time, I basically feel like you need to have someone put their boot up your ass in an effort to impart some realism into your thinking.

Polarization is a real threat: Sharply divided nations without any mechanism for compromise and no one in the middle to throw water on the fever dreams of the various extremists living within their ranks tend to fly apart. And when nations fly apart, other nations always lick their chops and start moving in for a quick and messy meal. We haven't seen that here in America — but there's no earthly reason why it can't happen here. So excuse me if I try to get people to realize that they've got a lot to lose if politics fails, because when politics fails the knives always come out, and that never ends well.

But hey, it's your life, really. It's up to all you people, now. My generation, for better or worse (and generally, it's been worse rather than better) has run our race. We can't save you from yourself. Just make sure you educate yourselves as to what a real ruin is before you call the place you're living one. May I recommend a stint in the Peace Corps or a tour of duty in Afghanistan to adjust your perspective...

"just join the Peace Corps or go to war"

literally the most stereotypically boomer answer ever

He's right though that theres a lot of things people in the US and other western nations take for granted.. that are actually not.

[Sougra]

[The whole "oh you dont know real struggle" is a fucking bullshit argument. It's not about that. Its about a declining culture that worships consumerism and nihilism, and no one seems to notice, no one seems to care.
Autonomy is stripped more and more from humanity everyday as the shift from agrarian societies to 9-5 clean cut suit and tie will not question office jobs become the norm, atomization increases, and you lose less and less freedom. And the power process becomes more and more disrupted until it is almost non-existent, leading to a completely degenerated society of nothing but passive, hedonistic consumers who live the most white-bread life until their offspring take over and do the same until the end of time.
We're fucked.

So what in the Hell are you complaining about?

I apologize, but this seems like a rather insensitive to a generation of people, whom, trust me, are in utter despair. If you were to talk to anyone under the age of 35, the vast majority of people will agree that their life is much better than most. That's not the argument at hand. But, those same people will likely have massive issues mentally that decades ago would've gotten you put into an asylum or considered one of the crazies. I've seen signs of massive mental health problems in about 80% I've met above the age of 8, and I'm in a relatively affluent place. Luckily, I haven't heard of any suicides happening, beyond the occasional one in a university.

But trust me, if it's this bad here, it's probably even worse in the poorer parts of the US and the urban centers. People, whether you believe it to be reasonable or not, are in utter despair, and it's to the point where there's a general consensus building up that institutions have failed people.

Does that mean they're absolutely horrible? Not at all. But they're tired of feeling alienated, neglected, like their voices are being heard. So, what do they do? Turn to the people who seem to, at the very least, identify the problem correctly and tell them that they're going to work for them.

I don't think a large number even agree with all of Bernie's proposals or solutions, but they know the man will fight for them. And that's a powerful thing for people so cynical and hopeless that you could've sworn this were the 1930's, if it weren't for the fact that we're constantly told that we're in some of the wealthiest countries in the world and we're only getting wealthier.

I honestly don't think many of these voters would've gone for Bernie or Trump if they weren't feeling things were dire. Regardless of your lived experience, you shouldn't state something akin to "I get it, but you should be grateful for what we have," because that doesn't answer the fundamental question of why in the hell are people so damn disillusioned? If we don't know that answer, or at least seek it out, we don't know the suffering of our fellow neighbours, nor are we attempting to find it out.

You can disagree wholeheartedly with what people are complaining about, but please, for the sake of those suffering, even if it is more psychological than anything else, please attempt to ensure that you're not disrespecting another person's lived experience who may be reading what you're writing.

[Senkaku]

Attacking Bernie's authenticity is probably one of the hardest things to do considering the last time he said anything remotely off the deep end was when he was a bleeding heart communist in the 1970s. Surprisingly enough though, I'm surprised none of the candidates have actually went after some of the things he said when he was younger. It's probably the only smears they could put out against the dude.

Bloomberg has been telegraphing an attack on old newspaper columns he wrote

[The East Marches II]

I disagree. The digitization of dating has led to the destruction of dating culture in general for those younger than say myself. The interactions these days look more akin to a Greece, Turkey or Bulgaria, nations without a real dating culture who rely on match making services to find partners.

I don't know what """real dating culture""" is supposed to mean, define your key terms- and I've never been to Greece, Turkey, or Bulgaria, but I'm pretty sure dating apps have lol, and even Turkey has like 60% smartphone penetration, so do explain in detail how young people's dating habits today are similar to them (though I can't imagine you would know literally anything about young people today besides what you read in the WSJ or whatever lol)

Holy shit I'm being murdered today. Unbelievable.

They use apps and match making services for dating because the idea of just asking asking a girl out is alien except for a small portion of the population. The same is happening stateside. Online dating has its winners and losers as does the lack of connection in real life. Hence the rising rates of friendlessness and sexlessness.

[Nakena]

So what in the Hell are you complaining about?

Extistential dispair, frustrations, and feelings of internal hell are not necessarily be dependent on surroudning conditions, but come more often than not from within.