politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
I think the problem is that many Democrats are stuck in an information bubble, and instead of listening to the other side, they demonize them and cancel them. It is hard to figure out what the other side is thinking if you don't actually listen to what they are thinking.
We see them. We live among them. We have to work with them. A lot of us have to hear them on the daily.
We know that a lot of what they are "thinking" is due to letting the right wing propaganda machine take a big dump in their skulls every day, and nearly everything they are "thinking" (really, feeling) is based on entirely false premises.
I think I know who you are talking about. The loud and proud ones. But what the loudest people are saying is no necessarily what most people are thinking. So you can't assume everyone thinks like them.
Even if their thinking is based on false premises, as you claim, they have legitimate grievances. The Democrats will never get their votes if they don't address the grievances with a realistic alternative plan.
What if their grievances are "there is an open border" and "kids are going to school and coming back after having a sex change"?
Most people's grievances right now are the economy and inflation. And they want change. They want the elites to have less control over their lives.
Sure, the right has some crazy ideas. So does the left. But the middle decides elections because they are the swing voters, and the middle's main grievances are the economy and that they feel helpless in a world where the wealthy control everything.
What are some of these crazy ideas of the left's?
We listen to them all the time. We hear the right's grievances. How on earth are we supposed to work with people who believe in complete falsehoods?
"Transgenderists are cutting off little boys' dicks and telling them they're girls"
"Haitian immigrants are eating people's pets"
"Planned Parenthood is performing post-birth abortions"
"Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are full blown Communists"
"Immigrants are destroying the economy by taking all the jobs and not paying taxes"
"Antifa burned Minneapolis and Seattle to the ground"
"Democrats run open borders and let illegals vote"
"Sandy Hook was a false flag to take away our guns"
"The 2020 election was systematically stolen by Democrats"
"The all powerful superhuman deity in the sky personally endorses my political party/candidate and the opposition are literal demons"
"Demons, spawned by Democrats, are attacking conservative TV hosts in their beds"
"Hillary Clinton run a sex trafficking ring out of D.C."
"Hunter Biden's laptop"
"Central Americans are invading America to rape our women"
What the fuck are we supposed to do when this is what the right presents us? These people literally pissed and shit all over the capital when they lost the 2020 election. Are we supposed to humor these shit stains?
You're gonna get downvoted, but you're partially right. Everyone self-selects their media, and avoids things that challenge their assumptions. Liberals are not exempt from this.
And if we are having nuanced policy discussions, it's possible to listen to the other side and respond. But when our political discourse is "They're eating the cats", and you know that's not true, what other way is there to respond?
A talking head who gets paid a six figure salary to go on TV and spout inane bullshit about immigrants eating pets shouldn't be replied to. Cletus in the comment section who has a two year degree and makes an hourly wage to do skilled manual labor and honestly thinks the government will let any migrants who want to do so walk into the country whenever they want and give them a welfare check for their trouble does need to be spoken with.
That's all a lot easier said than done, but I think that's the general outline of the problem here.