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ZorbaTHut  1yr ago (text post)   44949 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022

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Is Biden the enemy of the people, as has been claimed by Trump?

I wouldn't like to take such an allegation lightly. But I have to admit, there's something to be said for recognizing a spade as a spade. It's impossible to talk about in leftist controlled spaces, but woke politics does sometimes act like this higher-dimension being which occupies minds and turns them towards the possession of power in the service of ritual idealism.

This country is divided and maybe it's time to recognize those divisions more openly. Maybe those who have been forced to keep mouths shut for fear of being attacked or losing jobs need to stand firm.

Maybe conservatives need to hold on to the right to speak about demographics in a straightforward fashion.

Maybe it's better to hold onto the strong fighter you have instead of indulging in the hope that this time there might be a compromise, even as history shows the limits, even pitfalls, of such willingness to come to the table.

I wish I had more of a firm argument to submit, but I can only ask the question and see what the responses stir in my mind...

Your thoughts?

  • -21

This is indistinguishable from /r/politics fare, except from the right.

Does Biden credibly strike anyone as individually competent enough -- to the extent possible in a society as complex as this, meaning, as a uniquely competent leader -- to actually fulfill that requirement?

I took that as just tit-for-tat; Biden does a speech calling MAGA supporters the biggest threat to democracy since the last biggest threat, Trump retaliates by calling Biden an enemy of the people. Just standard political mud-slinging especially with elections coming up.

No. Biden isn't particularly woke by most metrics, he's more of an old-fashioned Democrat. He pays some lip service to the wokist side of the Ds, but there's a reason why they're upset with him.

woke politics does sometimes act like this higher-dimension being which occupies minds and turns them towards the possession of power

Do you think that anti-woke politics doesn't "occupy minds" and "turn people toward the possession of power"? Which conservative figures do you think aren't looking to acquire power?

This country is divided and maybe it's time to recognize those divisions more openly. Maybe those who have been forced to keep mouths shut for fear of being attacked or losing jobs need to stand firm.

Like gay and trans people and minorities?

In many parts of America, right now. Gay kids still get disowned by their parents and so on. Don't confuse the fact that Blue Tribe has dominant media control with the idea, that all of the older more traditional mores, especially in rural more religious areas have suddenly vanished. I don't tell my neighbors I am an atheist for example. The social stigma for being gay or non-religious is still very much existent in many places in the US (and indeed the UK, one side of my family back home would definitely be considered rednecks in the US, one uncle has disowned his gay son, the other is very clear he wouldn't hire "a poofter" in his business).

It was legal to fire people for being gay or trans just a few years ago. A lot of them are still scared about being discriminated against under some different name. Are you really sure that with how trans people are treated by society today that they shouldn't be worried about losing their jobs? Many of them don't even feel safe in public.

EDIT: Like, guys, it's not a contest. OP makes it sound like these social justice types are coming for your jobs and we're all power-hungry lunatics. But lots of conservatives are power-hungry too and lots of gay and trans people are scared about being fired.

You say this because you've never had a social justice type mistake you for a bigot. The false positive rate for witch hunts is too high.

I've seen both, to be honest.

Among other problems, what counts as "the people"? Do "the people" even have a coherent enough viewpoint for someone to be their ideological enemy?

He's the enemy of SOME of the people -- the MAGA Republicans -- he's said as much. Exactly what that group is, is somewhat disputed. Biden claims it's not a majority of Republicans, but I think the majority of Republicans don't believe him.

This country is divided and maybe it's time to recognize those divisions more openly. Maybe those who have been forced to keep mouths shut for fear of being attacked or losing jobs need to stand firm.

It's too late for that by many years. During the time for that, all the so-called adults in the room told the hotheads who saw what was coming to just shut up and endure. And allowed or participated in their firings or other unpersonings if they didn't. By now, those so-called adults are converted to wokism, revealed to have been woke all along, or have been pushed out themselves.

Biden claims it's not a majority of Republicans, but I think the majority of Republicans don't believe him.

Why should they? Republicans live in occupied territory: a foreign government blasts its propaganda on their airwaves.

During the time for that, all the so-called adults in the room told the hotheads who saw what was coming to just shut up and endure.

I wish I'd listened a little more. Now it feels like the only person I've been able to rely on to take the fight to them is old and discredited. Whether or not Trump is right that Biden has become the enemy of the people, it doesn't matter that he's right.

Based on what I've seen, it's my opinion that Biden is explicitly a figurehead, and holds almost no actual power. He's struggling with dementia, seriously. But in terms of the actual people running the white house, particularly Harris and the cabnet, I think their actions are in oposition to the freedom and wellbeing of the American people.

I'm not sure who's really doing what but everything I hear and see about Harris, she's even less competent than he is. I doubt she's allowed to even be involved in any meaningful decisions.

Is Biden the enemy of the people, as has been claimed by Trump?

A year ago I wouldn't have said yes.

That said, a year ago no sitting president had ever threatened my livelihood to try and make me submit to a forced medical procedure.

Absolutely this. Trump talked a good game but when it came to actually governing he operated like a disorganized generic Republican. There were some limited executive orders and some ineffectual actions like the Muslim ban, but as for major priorities he only really accomplished tax cuts for the rich and appointing SCOTUS justices who thus far have been more focused on abortion than stuff like Affirmative Action, free speech on social networks, etc.

Didn't he get Mexico to agree to hold asylum seekers until their cases are adjudicated? That seems like a pretty big one that I'm not sure a generic republican would have done.

Maybe apart from appointing SCOTUS justices

It's weird you just toss this seemingly self-refuting statement in there. His SCOTUS picks yielded a conservative win that they've been working on and spending inestimable resources on for almost 50 years in Dobbs. And there's at least an outside chance that affirmative action could take a hit in the upcoming SCOTUS slate.

He only did what any other Republican would have done though. He didn't need to be Donald Trump to make safe SCOTUS picks.

To the contrary, other Republican presidents have been famously bad at picking justices, having them often as not join the liberals in landmark decisions, from Warren Burger to Souter, Kennedy, and Stevens.

He was widely seen as being responsible for the rise of Ron DeSantis in Florida, which counts for something. Moreover, Trump was a brick through the Overton window.

he's been an utter failure. Maybe apart from appointing SCOTUS justices.

And that one notable success was the result of Trump delegating SC nominees to the swampiest establishment Republicans. Trump strengthened the process with his refusal tro cower in the face of outrage, but he succeeded here by essentially doing nothing.

He's done a far better job of standing up to the wokes than any other politician if you ask me.

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