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@benroyce what does he stand to gain from bamboozling his dwindling number of true believers that hasn’t been hacked by his policies yet? Wto doesn’t give a shit about his lies for sure

@Kierkegaanks

that's the thing: it never was a ploy. this is trump's essence, it's not an act. he's just this fucking stupid and this fucking narcissistic to the core

the real problem lies in how so many millions of americans found this radioactive shitstain appealing

it's a huge problem

@benroyce i guess he really is THAT stupid

@Kierkegaanks

people who grew up around new york city like me knew trump was a piece of shit in the 1980s

which just makes the whole phenomenon that much more cringe and embarrassing

humiliation level 10 billion

@benroyce i guess it gets turbo charged when you know you’re inadequate and you always were… plus your brain is turning to mush, so anger, disgust and fear are the only emotions to linger

@Kierkegaanks

i also think it's racism

electing obama filled a certain segment of america with absolute rage

there's no bottom to how many bigots are in this country

@benroyce and there are no social repercussions to being openly racist

@Kierkegaanks

there are some

in the real world

but anonymous social media edgelords and troll farm instead champion #racism

there is no repercussion for that (in centralized corporate social media, which also tacitly supports this effect because more outrage means more eyeballs means more engagement means more ad revenue)

and as we move away from real world social interaction to social media, this support and encouragement amplifies the toxicity

@benroyce @Kierkegaanks
The fact that a shitstain in a suit has a devoted following IS a huge problem.
Though I'm going to tell you: I've only met a handful of true believers. Mostly I've met people who called him "the lesser of two evils".

Leaving aside how ridiculous that is for a moment, the notion that 90 million people took a pass on the election is what perplexes and concerns me the most.

@Kierkegaanks @benroyce @ohmu

Absolutely. Billionaire owned social media platforms socially engineer users to vote fascist or not vote at all. At the same time, unplugging from a toxic and broken system is a rational response. Some non-voters are beautiful good people. I disagree with their choice to not vote. But I prefer to punch up at the billionaire fuckers who broke the system rather than the victims of it.

@FranceskaMann @Kierkegaanks @ohmu

i don't consider them good people

being on the #left is about advancing #society, not masturbating the ego in an ivory tower of impossible perfection. that's self-serving

we have to work hard to better society in many ways, not just a vote, yes

but voting is such an easy fucking thing to aid that

so if someone doesn't vote, they're a fucking moron

(i am NOT talking about someone who can't vote because of legal, financial, social, physical, etc reasons)

@benroyce @ohmu @Kierkegaanks

Yes, you have made your opinion clear. My opinion is that billionaires, not vulnerable people, are to blame.

@FranceskaMann @ohmu @Kierkegaanks

certainly

#plutocracy amplifies #hate on the right and #alienation on the left on purpose

the problem is we live in a #democracy (if we can keep it) so the average person matters. their choice to #vote #maga, or not vote matters

and the reasons they don't vote or vote maga is the #plutocrat influence machine, yes

but *why* does that influence work?

#socialMedia and #media #psyop work because hate and alienation is organic

we need to fight that too

@ohmu @Kierkegaanks @benroyce

which is why you and I are on mastodon.

Hate and alienation are not organic. They are contrived and manipulated. Love and empathy are organic. If you really are of the mind that hate is our natural inclination, I will block you.

@FranceskaMann @ohmu @Kierkegaanks

i believe love and empathy are organic *and* hate and alienation are organic

both

i will be direct, and if you block me so be it:

many people around you are good

and many people around you are hateful monsters *as their original sin*

if you waved a magic wand and removed all ignorance and indecency from society, some kid somewhere would go "hey, i hate you" and someone else laughs and likes them

and the cycle starts all over

you need to recognize that

@benroyce @Kierkegaanks @ohmu

LOL. lotta Trump flags where I live. I get it. But I am a yogi and we believe that the innermost core of our being is the ananda maya kosha, and this essence is love. People who hate are people who have poison poured into their ears all the time. Take the poison away and their natural inclination will likely shift toward love. No more hate radio or FOX news.

FWIW, my avatar killed Nazis and I would too.

@benroyce

You have no idea what I need. I don't like it when men mansplain, correct, and argue with women. Don't tell me what I need. I will tell you. I need to live in a society and world where men respect women.

even so-called nice men can be pretty fucking shitty. You benefit from this patriarchy and you don't even see it, then you tell me what I need. You don't know what I need, sir. I'm not an object for you to mold. I'm a person.

@FranceskaMann

you're not going to get the beautiful world you desire, that i desire, until you recognize that love and hate both exist organically

your heart is pure, and i admire that

but if you take an isolated community of yogis living in pure harmony, one day a guy shows up with a gun and shoots them

just because he can

this hate, *unfortunately* (do you confuse recognition of the problem with endorsement?) exists in humanity

now you may shoot the messenger i suppose, no pun intended

@benroyce

https://allthatsinteresting.com/franceska-mann

You're not endorsing the hatred. But you recognize it as inevitable.

I won't shoot you! Only nazis

@FranceskaMann

if we get spiritual about it, perhaps i am a Manichean at heart

dualistic cosmology

eternal struggle, yin and yang

i mean you no ill will. i admire your words, i really do

even if we cleave on such fundamental concepts, we can still be allies

i'll be shooting right besides you

thank you for educating me about Franceska Mann, she's my new Sophie Scholl

@benroyce

White Rose! Love her too. She was almost my avatar.

Glad we worked it through & found common ground.

@rmblaber1956 @ohmu @Kierkegaanks

everyone is aware of the #geopolitical #trollFarm #psyop on the #farRight in the #West

not many want to admit the troll farm psyop also working the #farLeft

on the right, they amplify #hate

on the left, they amplify #alienation

well, i speak from an #American perspective

in #Europe you're far more aware of the two prong approach to divide and conquer

@benroyce @ohmu @Kierkegaanks "Divisa et imperio" has been around in Europe since the days of the Roman Empire!

@rmblaber1956 @ohmu @Kierkegaanks

it's rather impressive though, how technology means you can just reach out on social media with geopolitical troll farm, anonymously cosplaying as "fellow citizens," and warp the minds of your foe to support your malice and destroy them from within

in some ways, social media is a more terrifying weapon than the nuclear bomb

@benroyce I remember in the very early days of the internet, we got our company connected and I was part of the team testing the availability and reliability of the connection. We had a full T-1 so it was "fast." But it was remarkable to communicate in seconds with universities across the world. @rmblaber1956 @ohmu @Kierkegaanks

@benroyce BTW, this was when one could count the number of websites at under 1,000. ETS had a site, but our mail address was rosedale dot org because they were worried about getting inundated with emails. I did help get one of the early websites up and running back in the day. @rmblaber1956 @ohmu @Kierkegaanks

@benroyce @RegGuy @rmblaber1956 @ohmu @Kierkegaanks I bet that's what people said about the spread of the printing press too.