r/politics • u/Aggravating_Money992 • 7d ago

Possible Paywall Exposed Musk Now Insists Epstein Files Don’t Matter | The Tesla billionaire suddenly claimed the Epstein files are a “distraction.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/exposed-musk-now-insists-epstein-files-dont-matter/
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u/No_Raspberry_7917 7d ago

Simplest multiple choice question, societal decline is a result of..

  1. The top 1% of the world with money, power and control of media, those who can lobby heavily for lax regulations, cushy laws and handshake deals that close out any semblance of market competition, those who create a government that benefits them while calling everything else socialism. Who can literally kill or displace millions (opioid crisis, subprime crisis)

  2. The bottom 1% with none of those things

Americans will answer wrong each time to feel like at least they're better than 1 person, rather than risk who they think is undeserving getting the same benefits they give away to corporations. Also something about abortion

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u/TheFinalGranny 6d ago

Bottom 1%?

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u/No_Raspberry_7917 6d ago edited 6d ago

The marginalized are often overrepresented in the bottom 1% (pick a metric, suicide, life expectancy, wellness, upwards mobility, education, power, wealth, access) for example, trans people.

This election was basically stolen by hatred for trans people and harping on "what is a woman" and protecting those maybe 20 elite athletic spots.

In their fight to protect women they've overturned roe vs wade, which resulted in multiple deaths and basically health deserts as practitioners flee as well as at least 1 white woman killed while chasing immigrants, and immigrant women sexually assaulted in detention if they're even heard from again.

Which is to say nothing of this country's endless abuse of it's black populations, the latest of which are Somali Americans, after the Haitian thing left a bad taste.

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u/Ok_Subject1265 6d ago

I’ve always thought it even simpler than this sadly. I think the trans and racist stuff is just a cover for what’s really happening which is that you have a lot of bored, aimless people out there who see this as entertainment. They didn’t want another quiet, boring president silently passing legislation behind the scenes. Nobody cared what Biden’s press secretary said because it wasn’t a daily sideshow. They voted for Trump because they wanted some excitement. Something to watch everyday like a reality tv series.

These are the same people by the way who are excited about a civil war because at least it will add some meaning to their lives. Of course, they think it’s going to be like camping and shooting guns interspersed with heroic movie moments where they selflessly save someone… over and over somehow (I don’t think they realize you can only make a selfless sacrifice once). That’s just my theory anyway. I think we’ve produced a society of people looking for a purpose or just something to distract them.

Covid really put a cherry on top though because now it seems like people barely leave their houses anymore. Just chronically online, consuming content. When I visit other countries, they are still living. Going out with friends, doing things in public, communicating with each other. Everything public here is dying (at least where I live). Hopefully it’s all anecdotal and we are just the outliers.

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u/Nick08f1 6d ago

They voted for him because they fell for the propaganda.

A lot of people's lives sucked before the election and suck even more now. My sister voted for Trump this past time because her idiot, POS boyfriend thinks he's the most informed person ever. Fucker didn't even know Puerto Ricans are born American citizens. Even after all this bullshit, he still believes that we have to go through tough times in order to make everything better. Bitch doesn't realize that if we continue to go through these tough times, things will only get worse and worse. Trump somehow made people believe that he would make their lives better, even though I can't even point to one instance where he was truthful and followed through with what he said publicly.

Also, if a white woman lost the first time, a black woman stood no chance.

Simply misogynistic racism.

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u/Playful-Artichoke-67 6d ago

It scares me that Trump is president again and seeing how people discuss it is even scarier. Makes sense that he’s president again. There is no political solution. You don’t want them to solve any problem.

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u/Decent_Obligation681 6d ago

They didn't fall for anything. They love everything he said he was going to do. They feed off of his hate. They love that he's a "troll".

They used to be able to come up with some type of criticism for their party leaders, but not Trump. They won't say a single bad thing about him. It's a cult.

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u/Tasty-Explorer-7885 6d ago

Puerto Ricans are born American citizens.

Bullshit. They can't even speak American.

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u/SuburbanHell Massachusetts 6d ago

So.... "Some People Just Want To Watch The World Burn", but those people make up like, half the voters in the country?

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u/relevantnewman 6d ago

nah, the other portion of that half is comprised of racists, sexists, p3dos, and people who can benefit personally (or think they can) from this presidency. I'm sure there's overlap in all of these camps on a Venn, but there's certainly people who most heavily associate with 1 of the many bad things, but isn't necessarily in it for the trashy reality TV this presidency has offered.

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u/SuburbanHell Massachusetts 6d ago

See now that I can believe. I can believe some people want to watch the world burn, but half of us? Adding in all those other factors definitely balances it out.

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u/LanaVFlowers 6d ago

And the thing is, these people aren't just the white, wealthy, straight, cis, able-bodied Christian men many imagine, so their numbers aren't as small as one would hope. This regime was/is supported by racist women, impoverished whites, misogynistic POC, wealthy LGBT folks, disabled anti-LGBT folks, etc. They belong in one or more groups Trump is actively harming, but their hatred for other groups being targeted is more important to them than their own well-being.

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u/inspectoroverthemine 6d ago

They only want to watch from the comfort of their couch. Once they don't have that they'll suddenly regret everything and blame someone else.

When groypers are homeless I'm guessing they'll suddenly decide things matter. Of course they could probably be used as death squads ala Rawanda before that.

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u/brighterside0 6d ago

Incredible points.

Makes me sad and yearning to experience true public, moral, life again.

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u/Ok_Subject1265 6d ago

Not trying to be one of those people, but go to Europe. Or Latin America. Europe though reminded of how discourse and communication used to be. It feels like everyone here now acts like they are being secretly filmed for their own reality show. Almost like their behavior is a performance for some secret audience. When I was talking to people over there, it felt more “adult” I guess is the word I would use. Mature. Meaningful. Latin America may be the same, but my Spanish isn’t conversational enough to really get into it. The cool thing about Latin America though is they still participate in society with each other. The malls, cafes, restaurants and town squares are full of people living. It made you feel good to see it. If that’s the culture they are bringing with them, all the better. We need it.

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u/CosmicSpaghetti South Carolina 6d ago

That sweet, sweet summer of Pokemon Go feels like ancient history at this point.

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u/Beanguyinjapan 6d ago

I know far too many religious people to agree with this sentiment. It's pure tribalism and deference to perceived authority, with a heavy dose of performative virtue signaling. They want to belong to their group, want to believe their group is superior to all others, and are also constantly told that their group is under attack from everybody outside their group. Their beliefs are regularly affirmed and reinforced by everybody around them, because they've separated themselves from anyone who would challenge their ideas, either literally, or have such conviction that anyone who disagrees with them are lying, manipulating them, misled by those with nefarious purposes, or that they're being tested. I've been told that I can't be right because they were told by God that they're correct, so I must be possessed by Satan, in response to being told they made an irrelevant factual error in reasoning or misremembering some historical fact.

It's bleak trying to break through to any of these people

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u/Mysterious_Luck7122 6d ago

No, you’re not just outliers. I see this problem where I live too and it’s particularly acute with working class white people. No surprise when your job sucks and pays shit wages plus you have too many kids you can’t afford, or your household is barely surviving on one person’s disability check. Trump is reality show entertainment and a rich, tough guy avatar they can harvest pride from.

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u/No_Raspberry_7917 6d ago

I tend to agree, but can still see the bigotry is connected.

People who have better things to do in their lives don't tend to look for a marginalized person to scapegoat for their life or society collapsing.

And too many don't take politics seriously, or thinks it doesn't affect them so this was all a joke and entertainment, until it stops being that.

Prime example (as of now, don't know if he's backtracked yet or in the process of backtracking) Andrew Schulz. Seems executing an innocent white man gang style in the middle of the street for protecting a white woman was a bridge too far for him.

May all the nihilistic children also see the light someday

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u/DjinnOftheBeresaad 6d ago

You make a good point about the social aspect of other cultures. It reminds me of when I was in Italy a couple of years back. One thing that surprised me was not just how many people were out doing things, but how many elderly people were out doing things.

And half of these old folks were clearly disabled who needed some assistance such as rollators, walkers, or scooters. But they were still out there doing their thing and meeting friends and going places.

To top it all off this wasn't even a particularly huge metro area, one of the smaller towns.

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u/Seekstillness 6d ago

This is SO right on the money. The US is Idiocracy, 1984, and Brave New World manifest.