It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
AKA a megalomaniac.
The reason so many voted for a racist, misogynistic simpleton bully, be it a feeling of abandonment, baseless concerns fanned by media with their own agendas combined with poor education, feelings of disenfranchisement from the liberal 'elite'. whatever.... All of these things should have been addressed by previous administrations - but they weren't. If anything, the politicians exemplified the partisan isolationist mentality rather than trying to heal the obvious and significant chasm in the electorate. They've perpetuated the 'us v them', 'black v white', 'completely right v completely wrong' storyline, the media echoes it like some serialised game show and the punters are sucked into it.
Trump is just a bloke. The real problem will still remain after he's gone.
Offset "(Emp) - a little heavy on the hyperbole."
The cause of polarisation isn't the politicians - it's the Internet. Pre-1995 (or thereabouts), very few were this interested in politics. Perhaps it's because most people didn't have an audience...or, more accurately, most people didn't have direct access to an echo chamber of significant size. I tend to think of it like a particle accelerator - a relatively benign idea spins round and round in these echo chambers, gathering energy until it's turned into "THIS IS THE ONLY WAY IT SHOULD EVER BE FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND SO ANYTHING ELSE IS HATEFUL AND NEEDS TO DIE!", and then it's let loose to collide with another, opposing echo chamber...and thus threads like this are born.
I don't even think it's disenfranchisement. Social media lets people believe that their voice is more important than one vote in 318 million, and that carries with it a deep dissatisfaction because that's all they have. That's astonishingly easy to exploit, as shown by Trump, Farage et al.
I firmly believe that it's impossible for any functioning government to reach out to everyone because of this - the polarisation and entrenchment is so great in the Western world right now that no compromise would ever satisfy anyone, and it's patently impossible to simultaneously make two people happy when their views are diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive.
Offset "(Emp) - a little heavy on the hyperbole."
The internet has actually made people better informed (or they think they're better informed). You can now read the UK's immigration figures online, you can see house prices in London your can read the opinions of minority parties like UKIP and on Facebook people can connect with other like-minded people who think the UK is a shitty place to live - too much inequality between the regions, too many low paid jobs, communities changed beyond recognition by immigration and globalisation, failing public services and a rich elite (politicians, bankers etc) in London who rule the country.
Brexit was the first time in a generation that everyone's vote meant something and many people took one look at a multimillionaire PM with a private education and no experience of how the working class live and they chose to ignore his advice and kick him where it hurts. And it was interesting than many of the leafy Tory shires chose to vote remain whilst the Labour heartlands voted to leave. You can gauge the resentment in this clip:
Trump saw Brexit and tapped into the new populism that's sweeping through Europe (it could be argued it actually started in the Middle East with the Arab Spring). Whole swathes of America that's been affected by globalisation, immigration, climate change legislation turned out and voted for Trump. They wanted change and Trump created a populist bandwagon that resonated with middle America.
As far as the UK is concerned it's time for change. The FPTP system needs to be scrapped and a full PR system implemented. We would probably end up like Germany with a coalition government made up of a number of different parties but that is much fairer than having the current Tory government in power with a mere 30% or the vote. It might be the only way you can get a balanced point of view to build a fairer society.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
Even discounting the fact that Hillary won the popular vote by a substantial margin, the real problem is that 45% of them didn't vote at all. A lot of that may have been an unwillingness to actually endorse her despite hating Trump, but they failed to realise that would play into his hands.
If you're faced with a choice of two evils you often can't really afford to take the high horse position and refuse to vote for either of them. What then tends to happen is that those with fewer scruples win.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Offset "(Emp) - a little heavy on the hyperbole."
The British version of Trump is Corbyn. Totally out of line with his party but resonating with his voters.
Offset "(Emp) - a little heavy on the hyperbole."
That's also true and unfortunately one of at least three ways Obama is to blame for this mess - this, by endorsing Hillary (which he should never have done), and I think by publicly ridiculing Trump at that press dinner a couple of years ago.
I agree with you there too. The difference is that Corbyn isn't the same sort of ruthless megalomanic - although power has undoubtedly gone to his head - and has proved inept as a leader… sadly, for those of us who are broadly left of centre, but probably a blessing for you .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
(I know I thought they were as bad as each other pre-election, I was wrong)
Trump is a leader and a loudmouth, but he has no political experience, unlike Corbyn. He doesn't understand that politics is about compromise and pragmatism. He dishes out orders like a dictator in a tin pot banana republic and is then bemused when he finds a court overturns his decisions. His reaction - he throws his toys out of the cot and takes to Twitter to rant. He is nothing like Corbyn.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
Trump is exactly what we'd get if Farage was PM.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
No more need to do focus-grouped TV campaigns to appeal to this or that group. So now voters (only those where it matters, of course) get political adverts on their feed based on the non-political stuff they view and do online. So if someone liked a gunshow posting on Facebook, then they will get adverts talking about the relevant amendment being under threat, etc. Social media now allows politicians to sell each voter a different story. Doesn't matter that the stories may be contradictory.
Customised snake oil, sold quietly and direct, and without the annoying interference of the media. Pollsters can't measure its influence, either.
I think I posted this before, but this article spells it out: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/how-our-likes-helped-trump-win
In this election both candidates were so vile I'd have written Ron Paul on the ballot and had a strong drink.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein