DocWatts

Thank you for this. The number of people simping for an OBVIOUS authoritarian grifter in what's supposedly a conscious politics forum has been disappointing. The immaturity, equivocation, whataboutism, and excuses are more reflective of what I would expect to see in a Facebook comment section, or from talking to low-information voters. It's certainly not evident of people who've put in the work to have a solid grasp of epistemology, that's for damned sure.

All that LGBTQ want is to be able to do their business, wash their hands, and go back to whatever it was they were doing without being threatened or harassed. This a total non issue. The only reason it's being harped on is to deny trans people access to public spaces. Trans bathroom panic is the modern equivalent of the 'whites only' water fountain.

What people should keep in mind is that the apt historical comparison at this point is the rhetoric and tactics the Nazis were using to destroy Weimer democracy in the early 1930s, while they still had some constraints on their behavior (just like American fascism is working to subvert the constraints that are imposed upon them by American democracy). It's unfortunate that the type of folk-history that's common here in the 'States mostly mostly glosses over how the Nazis were able to subvert democracy, with most of the focus going to the horrific things they did while they were in power (which is obviously very important, but less instructive for where we're at now). (To that end, I would HIGHLY recommend 'The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic' by Benjamin Carter Hett as a resource for anyone who wants an in-depth account of this).

The racism on display was so ugly and blatant that the public relations teams for the RNC (!!) are working overtime to backpedal from the rhetoric here. Puerto Ricans (who I remind you are American citizens) were literally referred to as 'garbage' by an RNC vetted 'comedian', reading from a teleprompter. Mind you, this is coming on the heels of Trump literally praising Hitler, endorsing a self-described 'black Nazi' for governor of North Carolina, calling immigrants 'vermin', referring to American citizens who oppose his dictatorial plans as 'the enemy within', and openly stating that he wants to deploy the military against United States citizens. Short of Trump stepping on stage in front of a swastika and calling for a final solution to the 'illegals' problem, it's hard to think of how the historical parallels could be made any more blatant at this point.

Welp, wasn't expecting a full-blown reboot of the infamous infamous 1939 Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden as Trump's 'October Surprise' (just a week before the election, no less), but we find ourselves living in strange times.

YouTube has had a longstanding policy of demonitizing and delisting videos for controversial topics that aren't palatable to advertisers (meaning they're on the site, but they won't show up in your Recommended feed). I've seen vids on topics such as suicide and the Holocaust get delisted. Ever notice a video title with 'N*zi' instead of 'Nazi' in the title? That's that the algorithm at work. Little surprise if Rogan's three hour pow-wow with a rapist who launched a violent coup against our government is deemed 'controversial' by the algorithm.

This ^. From their point of view, Trump is stern father figure who's fighting to protect their way of life from encroachment by a host of perceived enemies who aren't deserving of equal treatment (immigrants, LGBTQ people, etc). It's a form of aggrieved entitlement, born of fears about a loss of social status. Read about the psychology of what was going through the heads of people defending white supremacy in the Confederacy and Jim Crow apartheid state that followed, and you won't be far off.

Hi, MrTruf. In the event of Trump victory, I plan to stay engaged, build grass roots support for midterm elections on the local and state level, push my local representatives to resist implementing discriminatory federal policies towards marginalized people in my state, support the shit out of pro-democracy organizations like the ACLU which will be working to protect American citizens from having their rights and freedoms stripped away. Also take steps to protect myself and people I care about from state sponsored violence, if it comes to that.

Holding Trump's inner circle and the stochastic terrorists he's inspired accountable for flagrantly criminal actions isn't an iron first, it's the bare minimum for adhering to the Rule Of Law, essential for any functioning democracy. Donald Trump getting to effectively be above the law because he's got a violent Cult behind him sets a ruinous precedent. It's the equivalent of letting Hitler and his brown-shirts off the hook for trying to overthrow the Weimer government in his Beer Hall Putsch (in reality, Hitler got off the hook with a short, relatively comfortable prison sentence) - and we saw how that turned out. What's supposed to happen within a democracy is that when a political party loses, it's supposed to go back to the drawing board, figure out what went wrong, and figure out how to garner enough public support to win the next. Instead of changing course and moderating its views to be more palatable to ordinary Americans, the modern Republican Party has decided that they'd be better of ending democracy rather than competing for power within democracy.

Open dialogue sounds great in theory, but it only works when both sides are operating in good faith. Stemming the flow of disinformation, disrupting the ability of fascist groups to perpetuate violence, and piercing Trump's cult of personality through an election loss and legal consequences for his flagrantly criminal behavior is a start. Reforming our institutions to make it harder for minoritarian rule would be necessary as well - the Electoral College, Supreme Court, and Senate are obvious places to start. While heart-to-hearts may get some members of Cult like organizations like MAGA or the KKK to reevaluate their beliefs, there's difficulty in scaling that up to tens of millions of people. Fortunately for us, we don't have deprogram everyone who's in the MAGA Cult. We just need to disrupt their ability to dismantle our democracy.

Not at all - MAGA is, and will always be, a minoritarian position, supported by perhaps %30-35 of the country. Stopping it hinges upon the rest of the country taking enough of an interest in our democracy to save it from violent fringe extremists.

No point in trying to reach people within the MAGA Cult, who truly give no fucks as to whether the talking points they're sock puppeting are true or not - when what they're looking for is a powerful daddy figure to persecute their perceived enemies.

Which is a tacit endorsement of political violence, and consistent with fascist sympathizers who downplay and excuse MAGA's violent rhetoric and actions. This kind if attitude has no place within a democracy. A consistent trend among MAGA fascists is the same DARVO psychological tactics that abusers use to gaslight their victims: Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender. MAGA's response to Jan 6 follows DARVO manipulation tactics to a tee. Deny that Trump did anything wrong by sending an arm mob to attack the Capitol. Attack anyone who tries to hold Trump and his inner circle accountable. Reverse Victim and Offender by decrying that Trump is the victim of a witch hunt by the January 6th Commission and the Department of Justice, who've been working to holding him legally accountable for his crimes.

Virtually every policy in Trump's Project 2025 agenda will make it harder to start a family. Paid family leave? Gone. Overtime pay that people depend on to pay their bills? That's gone too. IVF fertility treatment? Illegal. Child tax credits? Cut. Free school lunches? Nope! Early childhood education programs including head start? Also cut. Abortion access in case something goes wrong (ie a medical problem) during the pregnancy? Prepare to be prosecuted for murder.

Democrats can use a process called Budget Reconciliation to bypass the filibuster (indeed, this is how The Inflation Reduction Act was passed under Biden). But the types of bills that are passed under the process is somewhat limited : it happens once a year, and it's provisions have to have a plausible connection to the federal budget. Which is why investments in green energy can be included, but abortion legalization is likely to be shot down by the Senate Parliamentarian who oversees budget reconciliation, since it's far more tangential to federal spending.

Well, there's close to a %100 chance that Harris wins the popular vote (Hilary was an awful candidate and even she managed to win the popular vote against Trump), but because of the antiquated Electoral College, democrats have to outperform to win presidential elections.

I voted for Stein in 2016 and regret it to this day. The Green Party under Jill Stein is a grift that exists to siphon votes away from the Democratic Party. This is evident from the fact that they do zero campaigning between presidential election years, and aren't trying to build up a base of support and electoral presence through local elections where they might have a chance of winning. Mind you this is DESPITE the fact that I'm very much to the Left of the Democratic Party. But I'd much rather be advocating for progressive social democracy under Liberalism rather than fascism. No point in voting third party until Ranked Choice Voting becomes the norm throughout the country.

Also, some helpful flyers that I've been handing out as part of my door knocking . Folks who don't pay attention to politics aren't fully aware of Trump's fascist plans for a second term.

First off, thank you! Here in Michigan, the only reason that we don't have a total abortion ban from the 1800s in place is because Democrats were able to get an amendment codifying abortion rights onto the ballot, and then into our state Constitution in 2022. I happen to live in a critical bell weather county in the must-win suburbs of Detroit. I'm not only voting for her, on the weekends I've been part of a door knocking campaign with the Michigan Democratic Party as well. If you're worried about the outcome election, I'd highly recommend giving canvassing or phone banking a try. At the very least, make sure that people close to you (friends, family members) who haven't decided to sell out their country for a red hat have a plan to VOTE. If you're part of social activity like a church or even a gaming group, taking your friend without a car or your grandparents to the polls can make a huge difference if enough people do it.

The thing about accelerationism is that it has a tendency to blow up in your face. Sure, nazism blew up in the face of German nationalists, but 70 million people died as a result. Don't forget that there's a ticking clock for addressing existential threats like climate change. 4 years of a Trump dictatorship could set back an entire generation of progress on this issue, if the United States completely abdicates its responsibilities for addressing climate change.

My suggestion is to learn Spiral Dynamics, and then set aside. Without a strong grounding in other modes of inquiry, it's very easy to use SD as a form of epistemological and sociological bypassing.

All of the 'reasonable' Trump supporters broke from MAGA after Don The Con sent a violent mob to attack the Capital on Jan 6. What your boss would need is a version of Cult deprogramming, initiated by loved ones (family, close friends). Almost zero chance that showing them a vid on corruption will have any effect.

The problem with these tests is that they're too easy to game if you go into them with a solid understanding of Spiral Dynamics (ie, 'that's the Yellow answer, that one's the Green answer, etc'). What we would need is a test that shows Revealed rather than Stated preferences - how a person actually behaves in the real world, rather than how they say they behave.

Yes, that's me 🙂.

Hello friends! I thought I might share this presentation and Q&A I gave on my philosophy book, '7 Provisional Truths' @ Wayne State in Detroit. Context for this is Fluidity Forum, which is a Metarationality conference that's held once a year in Detroit. (More Info Fluidity Forum here : https://fluidityforum.org/vision/)