How does the World view America these days?

[ignatius]

 

[Soloman Tump]

So... has everyone had their daily governmental prescribed bleach injection yet?

[Blir]

Joke's on you cunts, I'm totally cured

[cwmbrancity]

https://newsthump.com/2020/04/22/american-protestors-demand-the-resumption-of-mass-shootings/

[ignatius]

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/terri-schiavo-coronavirus-obama-george-bush-sarah-palin-cares-act-pro-life-trump-a9482671.html

Quote

The Republicans who were once so pro-life they fought over one woman on life support now want to sacrifice grandma for the economy

 

[Rubin Farr]

This seems to be the new Repubtard credo

https://couriernewsroom.com/2020/04/23/republicans-prioritize-reopening-economy-over-lives-coronavirus/

[ignatius]

it's mostly SFW?.. story is from a local paper

 

[ignatius]

https://www.salon.com/2020/04/28/pulitzer-winner-chris-hedges-these-are-the-good-times--compared-to-whats-coming-next/?fbclid=IwAR0rcTcuufxpRy-TrZfW52MRVv3XgGgckyl5sHfprjKYmA2MGhK0Zpp0X5c

 

Quote

 

Empires fall a little bit at a time and then all at once. Over the last two decades, America has proven itself to be well along on that journey. The coronavirus pandemic has simply pushed our nation further along that downward spiral. 

Ultimately, the pandemic has further exposed and exacerbated — for those still somehow in denial about the decades-long reality of America as a decaying empire — deep political, social, economic, cultural and other societal problems.

The country's infrastructure is rotting. Trump presides over a plutocratic, corrupt, cruel, authoritarian, pathological kakistocracy. The commons is being to rubble while the ultra-rich extract ever more wealth and other resources from the American people. Excessive military spending has left the United States incapable of attending to the basic needs of its people. A culture of distraction and spectacle has rendered many Americans incapable of being responsible engaged citizens. Our public educational system does not teach critical thinking skills. Radical right-wing Christians, white terrorist organizations and other neofascist paramilitaries and extremists are engaging in a campaign of thuggery, intimidation and violence against multiracial American democracy.

 

 

[Braintree]

More like caca-stocracy am i rite??

[dingformung]

52 minutes ago, ignatius said:

https://www.salon.com/2020/04/28/pulitzer-winner-chris-hedges-these-are-the-good-times--compared-to-whats-coming-next/?fbclid=IwAR0rcTcuufxpRy-TrZfW52MRVv3XgGgckyl5sHfprjKYmA2MGhK0Zpp0X5c

 

 

excellent article/podcast

[chenGOD]

1 hour ago, ignatius said:

https://www.salon.com/2020/04/28/pulitzer-winner-chris-hedges-these-are-the-good-times--compared-to-whats-coming-next/?fbclid=IwAR0rcTcuufxpRy-TrZfW52MRVv3XgGgckyl5sHfprjKYmA2MGhK0Zpp0X5c

 

 

Except you guys have the option to change A lot of that in November, so yeah while your institutions are not fantastic right now, there is no need for you guys to actually hit rock bottom. 

[dingformung]

2 minutes ago, chenGOD said:

Except you guys have the option to change A lot of that in November, so yeah while your institutions are not fantastic right now, there is no need for you guys to actually hit rock bottom. 

What options do they have? Biden will continue Obama's failed policy and Trump is the leader of a death cult.

[Nebraska]

1 hour ago, ignatius said:

https://www.salon.com/2020/04/28/pulitzer-winner-chris-hedges-these-are-the-good-times--compared-to-whats-coming-next/?fbclid=IwAR0rcTcuufxpRy-TrZfW52MRVv3XgGgckyl5sHfprjKYmA2MGhK0Zpp0X5c

 

25 minutes ago, dingformung said:

excellent article/podcast

+1

btw: does anyone think this woman needs a better business plan for welcoming potential customers? maybe something like having a shot gun and asking anyone that walks into her place of business "what the hell do you want?" instead of "how may i help you?"

 

[Braintree]

Haha that walk off is a total "fuck you."

[chenGOD]

2 hours ago, dingformung said:

What options do they have? Biden will continue Obama's failed policy and Trump is the leader of a death cult.

Obama’s failed policy of what exactly? Providing more health care to Americans? Increasing regulation on the financial markets? Maintaining America’s relatively good standing in the world?

Like for all the flaws in America, it’s still a really good place to live, compared to a lot of the world. Could it be better? Sure. Could it be a lot fucking worse? Absolutely. 
 

The hyperbole that gets chucked around about America being a dictatorship/third-world country is frankly embarrassing and insulting to people who actually live in places that are those things. 
 

And before you accuse me of being a capitalist bootlicking globalist neo-fascist, I absolutely think that more needs to be done on reducing wealth inequality and improving healthcare and other social safety nets. But the choice (out of the available ones) to start back down that path is clear. 

[dingformung]

I think you got a wrong impression of my views. I'm aware that the US isn't a third world country and not a dictatorship. It's listed as a flawed democracy by the EIU, I guess mostly because of the two party system and the media environment, though it's probably still a rather benevolent rating considering the EIU's rather neoliberal bias.

I'm mostly criticising the foreign policy. Obama was another servant of the military industrial complex, solidifying its power and anti-peace efforts, causing thousands of deaths. And yeah, his social politics were lukewarm. He was a generic establishment president uninterested in real change.

That being said these kind of policies are of course better than Trump's completely destructive unintelligent politics. My point is, Americans have little choice in November, not too many options.

Edited April 29, 2020 by dingformung

[ignatius]

30 minutes ago, chenGOD said:

Obama’s failed policy of what exactly? Providing more health care to Americans? Increasing regulation on the financial markets? Maintaining America’s relatively good standing in the world?

Like for all the flaws in America, it’s still a really good place to live, compared to a lot of the world. Could it be better? Sure. Could it be a lot fucking worse? Absolutely. 
 

The hyperbole that gets chucked around about America being a dictatorship/third-world country is frankly embarrassing and insulting to people who actually live in places that are those things. 
 

And before you accuse me of being a capitalist bootlicking globalist neo-fascist, I absolutely think that more needs to be done on reducing wealth inequality and improving healthcare and other social safety nets. But the choice (out of the available ones) to start back down that path is clear. 

i've heard some crazy stories about Gary Indiana though.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/gary-indiana

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by ignatius

[dingformung]

12 minutes ago, ignatius said:

i've heard some crazy stories about Gary Indiana though.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/gary-indiana

 

lol, you can make every city look like a slum by taking photos of the most dirty corners

[ignatius]

8 minutes ago, dingformung said:

lol, you can make every city look like a slum by taking photos of the most dirty corners

true-ish.  but Gary is notorious. there are other places w/similar type vibes. middle america can be weird. cops will pull up and ask wtf are you doing here? and then tell you to leave immediately and not to stop at red lights or stop signs as you leave the area. growing up in miami i saw crazy random shit and depressed neighborhoods etc but it all sounds like a walk in the park compared to stories i've heard/read about other places.  Gary is one of those places that's not really on the radar of most of americans and yet has this amazing history and current reputation that are fascinating. Michael Jackson and family are from there and grew up there. 

 

[xyrofen]

On 4/25/2020 at 4:58 PM, ignatius said:

it's mostly SFW?.. story is from a local paper

 

I've heard people say their food is quite good. Apparently a coworker's wife had a coworker that didn't know it was a strip joint because she only ever had takeout there and was recommending it to people a few years back.

[chenGOD]

1 hour ago, dingformung said:

I'm mostly criticising the foreign policy. Obama was another servant of the military industrial complex, solidifying its power and anti-peace efforts, causing thousands of deaths. And yeah, his social politics were lukewarm. He was a generic establishment president uninterested in real change.

Obama reduced spending on the military, reduced the number of US troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan, kept the US out of the Syrian civil war, negotiated a comprehensive deal with Iran to curb their nuclear weapons development and most importantly, reduced civilian casualties compared to the previous administration. The military did not like Obama. Yes, Obama did use drone strikes at unprecedented levels - largely because the drone used most frequently for offensive strikes (the Reaper) was only put into operational use in 2007. While the Predator drone was capable of offensive operations, it was nowhere near as capable as the Reaper. Given Bush's use of indiscriminate bombing campaigns in both Iraq and Afghanistan, it would not be an unreasonable assumption to say that his administration would have used the technology if it had had been available.

Under Trump, the use of drone strikes has increased, and he has increased spending levels on the US military. Trump also eliminated the Obama administration's reporting on drone strikes.

Was Obama's foreign policy a clusterfuck? Sure (foreign policy rarely goes to plan) Would any republican admin be even worse? Yes. Again, the path forward to get back to even Obama's "failed policy" is clear.

[dingformung]

We don't disagree that any Democratic president is way better than Trump. And you just said that Obama's foreign policy was a clusterfuck, so we don't disagree here either.

Still, I wish for Americans that they would have the choice to vote for actual change. Until now they basically always had the choice between far right and moderate conservative and the winner takes it all, which is indeed a flawed system that leaves little space for compromise and integration of different ideas in a process of coalition forming, like you would have in a multi party system.

[Nebraska]

7 hours ago, dingformung said:

Still, I wish for Americans that they would have the choice to vote for actual change. 

they did. he was called bernie sanders. but as joe said "people don't want a revolution" they just want things back to normal. so you have to give the people what they want

[chenGOD]

6 hours ago, dingformung said:

We don't disagree that any Democratic president is way better than Trump. And you just said that Obama's foreign policy was a clusterfuck, so we don't disagree here either.

Still, I wish for Americans that they would have the choice to vote for actual change. Until now they basically always had the choice between far right and moderate conservative and the winner takes it all, which is indeed a flawed system that leaves little space for compromise and integration of different ideas in a process of coalition forming, like you would have in a multi party system.

Obama's foreign policy was a clusterfuck because what he inherited and an obstructionist Congress/Senate hampered his ability to fully implement plans for peace. It's entirely weird to me to think that Obama was the first sitting president where America was officially at war for the duration of his term, but Obama did much more to draw down American troops overseas, reduced civilian casualties, negotiated a very good deal with Iran (so good that Trump's admin is going back to it), reduced spending on the military and he still gets vilified for being a neocon in disguise.

I disagree with the premise that Obama is a moderate conservative, as his policies, legislation and regulations were full of measures that were aimed at helping the American working and middle class. Was he a leftist, non. But are any political parties in major powers leftist (I mean Marxist leftist, not social democrats)? And Obama's policies (which I assume Biden will likely continue) were much more on the road to a social democracy than they were to moderate conservatism.

[goDel]

14 minutes ago, Nebraska said:

they did. he was called Trump. but they didn't specify what kind of change

fixt