World is Falling Apart Thread (Locked forever)

[Exhuminator]

it seems worthwhile to make an effort here as well. Well, at least it did at first.

An effort against who, for what?

[jp1]

it seems worthwhile to make an effort here as well. Well, at least it did at first.

An effort against who, for what?

Against?

An effort to understand whatever it is that I'm missing. An effort to see through the obvious clear implication that if a man says something and you choose to endorse him, you also endorse his message. You see, I've asked several times in an effort to make sense of the choice and I get nothing but circular evasive rhetoric.

Why do you assume that because I speak out about the nasty things that are happening, and then happen to ask you a question I am pointing my finger at you and saying it is your fault?

Let me ask you this, hypothetically...

If you had the opportunity to hire an employee who you felt was qualified to fill a position in a company you were running and he came to the interview saying all the things Trump has said, had pending charges for the things Trump has had charges for, and told you that he would not leave your office unless you hired him. Would he get a job from you?

If so, please, help me understand. PM it if you like, I won't put your business out in the open.

[marurun]

I will do my best to stand up against discrimination and bigotry in all the spaces I inhabit

The only bigot I've seen actively discriminate here since the election, has already been banned. So who are you standing up against here now?

Standing against bigotry also involves discussing it, recognizing it, forcing it out into the light. This discussion has lately been about Trump, and a lot of what he said during the campaign amounted to bigotry. And a lot of folks here have pointed out how his rhetoric has influenced bigots after the election. And others have denied the significance of that. For me, it's important to make sure this stuff doesn't get swept under the rug and ignored.

Trump's bigoted rhetoric IS important and shouldn't be forgotten or ignored, by opponents or well-meaning supporters alike. Now that he's slated to be our president we must hold him to a higher standard, and demand he push away the worst elements that clung to the coattails of his campaign.

Some of you have called for chill and unity, but for many that is a bitter pill, more so when they or their loved ones are threatened or harassed by those who use Trump's election to office as their excuse for their actions. These are not minor or isolated incidents. It may not be an epidemic, yet, but it has happened enough that it's clearly not just a couple trolls.

No, I am not accusing any of you of this kind of harassment, but I don't want you to dismiss it, either, and excuse it away as a couple bad eggs, because it is bigger than that.

[Jmustang1968]

Dave, couldnt it be just as plausible or likely from your story that he found her attractive?

I think a lot of this fear that is there has been drummed up. The trolls or the extra bad apples are taking shots at those who are more vulnerable or sensitive to those sorts of things at the moment. They feel they can do the most damage right now pressing the right buttons with people and are taking advantage of it.

I dont know what Trump's America even is yet as he is just the President Elect and it has been just 3 days.

[Sarge]

Just out of curiosity, though, do you believe in everything Sec. Clinton believes in, has said, or has done? By your own logic, I can only assume that you are endorsing those actions and positions in their totality.

But I don't believe this is true at all. I believe I know you well enough from your posts to determine that. So I believe that what you've posited is an unfair standard. It's one I've run into not just from those that lean left, but a few of my good friends on the right as well. I'm willing to bet that we have all voted for people that we don't agree with completely, or that may have had questionable dealings in the past (or present!), but did so based on some internal calculus that still made them the more palatable choice.

The only difference this time is that both were unpalatable.

[Exhuminator]

If you had the opportunity to hire an employee who you felt was qualified to fill a position in a company you were running and he came to the interview saying all the things Trump has said, had pending charges for the things Trump has had charges for, and told you that he would not leave your office unless you hired him. Would he get a job from you?

I don't find this analogy to be parallel to the actual situation for a variety of reasons, so I'm not going to entertain it. If you want to know why I voted for Trump, go back a few pages and you'll find what I said.

[J T]

To the politically active Republicans (or undefined) who voted for Trump, but don't really like him, I hope you will encourage your party to push back on Trump when he gets out of hand and that you continue to champion responsible legislation. You're right. We dems have to suck it up that Trump is president elect now (even though this fact makes me want to vomit for days). Trump is president. The republicans make up the majority of the house and the senate. The unethical tactic of refusing for months to accept the supreme court justice pick worked and now you will even get to load the supreme court with a republican majority. You republicans have all the power now. Remember that with great power comes great responsibility though. Pay attention to the issues and make sure your party does what you want it to do. Many people elected Trump because he was a wildcard, but as a wildcard you're going to have to pay more attention to what he does next than with any party-typical Republican president.

If you're someone who felt that the liberals ignored you under the Obama administration and your voice was never heard, congratulations, you have a bullhorn now. This has become clear in the wake of this election that this was a major mistake of the democratic party. Don't make the same mistake under a Trump administration, otherwise the pendulum will swing the other way and you'll lose your coveted position of power. Trump says he will be a great president for all of America. Push his administration to stick to his word and reach across the aisle rather than continue to wedge the divide in this country.

Many people voted Trump out of economic concerns. If you care about the 99% of us not getting screwed by the richest 1%, you need to push back against Trump's tax plan that largely benefits the upper crust and leaves you in the dust. You also should be really concerned that he wants to dismantle the Dodd Frank regulations that were put in place after the 2008 economic crash to keep Wall Street in check.

If you care about the droughts, fires, floods, crop blight, water shortages, extinctions, and other environmental consequences of climate change, then you need to push back against Trump for his plans to make Myron Ebell, a noted climate change denier, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. (Exhuminator, I'm looking to you on this one in particular.)

If you care about your personal religious freedoms and want them to remain now and for a long time to come, then you need to be worried about Trumps sweeping plans for Muslims. If we allow for Muslims to be banned, then we open the door for other religions to be banned. (Sarge and mjmjr25, I'm imagining this relates to you two most, but I don't know, maybe you're more scared of ISIS than a loss of religious freedoms).

If you care about your LGBT brothers and sisters not being discriminated against, or you just believe this is a libertarian freedom people should be able to choose for themselves, then you need to be very wary of whatever Pence has planned, because he has been long fought against LGBT rights. (Surely, most of you have someone in your life you care about who is queer. There's a 1 in 10 chance you know somebody.)

If you care about freedom, inclusiveness, and civil rights in America and you don't want to see people being harassed simply for their skin color, then you need to be really concerned that Trump is bringing Kris Kosbach onto his team to bring racist Stop & Frisk policies to the country. You should also be pressuring your party to denounce the KKK's support and to stop the racial violence now occuring in giddy excitement following a Trump presidency that people feels allows them to be openly racist.

If you care about overpopulation and the damage it causes, then support sex education, easy-access to birth control, and maybe even consider abortion rights, since Roe v Wade could be overturned with the new Supreme Court lineup.

If you care about your healthcare or the healthcare of someone you love, don't let them completely throw out the Affordable Care Act. At least push for reform to build off of it rather than call for its outright destruction.

Admittedly, I'm bringing up issues I care about, but I'm sure some of us have some common ground. If you don't care about these issues, you're not required to do anything. But if you do care, remember what I said earlier in this thread. It's a lot easier to destroy something than it is to create something. Most of Trumps plans are to destroy existing programs and policies and a lot of work was done over decades to see progress on these issues and create the policies, regulations, and public services to support them. It could all go away quickly if we don't fight to keep it.

[J T]

To anyone who cares, here is a long list of pro-women, pro-immigrant, pro-earth, and anti-bigotry organizations that you can get involved with or donate to.

[o.pwuaioc]

There were three periods in the last 100 years when there was a Republican president and Republican Congress. The last time was under George W. Bush. There were two brief years under Eisenhower, and a total of fourteen years leading up to the Great Depression. Surely it's no surprise that after a long period of Republicans controlling both Congress and the Presidency we have massive debt and a terrible economy.

And for those irked at the anti-Trump fearmongering, I'll wager you didn't say much when Republicans day and night attacked Obama, calling him Hitler, Satan, Kenyan, dictator, and what have you, for eight years straight.

You might pretend to be all high and mighty, but the hypocrisy you exude reeks.

[Sarge]

And for those irked at the anti-Trump fearmongering, I'll wager you didn't say much when Republicans day and night attacked Obama, calling him Hitler, Satan, Kenyan, dictator, and what have you, for eight years straight.

You might pretend to be all high and mighty, but the hypocrisy you exude reeks.

I hope you were right there vociferously defending Pres. Bush as many on the left proceeded to call him a hick, a fascist, a dictator, and constantly compared him to Hitler and Nazis. If you were, well done.