People acting like loons today

[dIV4r]

If you are in the US, then you will know today was voting day. Everywhere I went on and offline, people are acting like looney toons. When did politics become less about thinking about what is best for your future and the future of your family and more about "I'm voting for ____ because he isn't a _____!". Emotional politics is the absolute worst. Seriously... Why vote unless you are really aware of what you are voting for and who you are voting for? 

[DylBandit]

1 hour ago, dIV4r said:

If you are in the US, then you will know today was voting day. Everywhere I went on and offline, people are acting like looney toons. When did politics become less about thinking about what is best for your future and the future of your family and more about "I'm voting for ____ because he isn't a _____!". Emotional politics is the absolute worst. Seriously... Why vote unless you are really aware of what you are voting for and who you are voting for? 

Politics are just a messy conversation for me, and I don't like to speak with people about it for that reason. I just go vote and believe what I believe in and that's final. 

[dIV4r]

On 11/6/2018 at 8:51 PM, DylBandit said:

Politics are just a messy conversation for me, and I don't like to speak with people about it for that reason. I just go vote and believe what I believe in and that's final. 

I don't get why it has to be such a public thing forced on people either. You should be able to just vote and keep to yourself if you want to. I had some people in my family bugging me about it this morning. Like chill out. 

[Jackthestripper]

I am just happy the campaign ads are off tv. I can't stand attack ads. Sometimes in one commercial segment I get 4 or 5 in a row. 

[BropolloCreed79]

14 hours ago, dIV4r said:

I don't get why it has to be such a public thing forced on people either.

Because of the money.  The Citizens United v. FEC case really opened the floodgates for unbridled political contributions and spending.  If you think back far enough to remember prior to that decision, the ads were nowhere near as bad as they were once that decision was made.

Literally hundreds of millions of dollars are spent, and everyone wants a slice of the pie.  Special interests have many reasons to pour money into candidates' campaigns: (1) supporting candidates with money grants access to that person once they're in office.  If you want legislation supported or blocked, you can leverage your donations to influence the lawmaker.  (2) Favorable legislation in many industries, including deregulation, can have economic ramifications of BILLIONS of dollars.  Drug companies.  Arms manufacturers.  Special Interests (Big Oil, the NRA, Banking/Investment firms, etc) all stand to gain from favorable legislation.

Another part of it is people need to feel like they belong to something.  Anymore, everyone has this false sense of connection because of the ubiquity of the Internet.  It's a shallow imitation of real life interaction and relationships--to the point that people willingly become indoctrinated into a political ideology for the express (if not unrealized) reason of belonging to something both greater than themselves, and real.  Elections have consequences, and for folks with an unhealthy relationship with politics, that obsession fills a void.

I'm personally very interested in politics from an academic perspective.  For me, it's fun to watch the ways in which people of all political persuasions play games with logic and truth to fit a particular narrative or ideology.  It certainly has it's downsides, as extremism and radicalization on either end of the political spectrum has created a toxic partisan atmosphere that most reasonable folks find abhorrent.  I vote, but I make decisions based on individuals, or morals not party allegiance.

5 hours ago, Jackthestripper said:

I am just happy the campaign ads are off tv. I can't stand attack ads. Sometimes in one commercial segment I get 4 or 5 in a row. 

What, you don't miss the slow-motion black and white ads that have the dude with the sinister voice talking in that distinct dialect:

"BropolloCreed79 likes to eat burritos.  If he eats Mexican food, how can we trust him to secure our borders?"

And then the woman's voice reading like the MicroMachines guy:

"ThisadpaidforbyAmericansForBorderSecurityandisinnowayendorsedbyanycandidate"

Edited November 8, 2018 by BropolloCreed79

[Jackthestripper]

41 minutes ago, BropolloCreed79 said:

Because of the money.  The Citizens United v. FEC case really opened the floodgates for unbridled political contributions and spending.  If you think back far enough to remember prior to that decision, the ads were nowhere near as bad as they were once that decision was made.

Literally hundreds of millions of dollars are spent, and everyone wants a slice of the pie.  Special interests have many reasons to pour money into candidates' campaigns: (1) supporting candidates with money grants access to that person once they're in office.  If you want legislation supported or blocked, you can leverage your donations to influence the lawmaker.  (2) Favorable legislation in many industries, including deregulation, can have economic ramifications of BILLIONS of dollars.  Drug companies.  Arms manufacturers.  Special Interests (Big Oil, the NRA, Banking/Investment firms, etc) all stand to gain from favorable legislation.

Another part of it is people need to feel like they belong to something.  Anymore, everyone has this false sense of connection because of the ubiquity of the Internet.  It's a shallow imitation of real life interaction and relationships--to the point that people willingly become indoctrinated into a political ideology for the express (if not unrealized) reason of belonging to something both greater than themselves, and real.  Elections have consequences, and for folks with an unhealthy relationship with politics, that obsession fills a void.

I'm personally very interested in politics from an academic perspective.  For me, it's fun to watch the ways in which people of all political persuasions play games with logic and truth to fit a particular narrative or ideology.  It certainly has it's downsides, as extremism and radicalization on either end of the political spectrum has created a toxic partisan atmosphere that most reasonable folks find abhorrent.  I vote, but I make decisions based on individuals, or morals not party allegiance.

What, you don't miss the slow-motion black and white ads that have the dude with the sinister voice talking in that distinct dialect:

"BropolloCreed79 likes to eat burritos.  If he eats Mexican food, how can we trust him to secure our borders?"

And then the woman's voice reading like the MicroMachines guy:

"ThisadpaidforbyAmericansForBorderSecurityandisinnowayendorsedbyanycandidate"

LMAO All you forgot was "I'm @BropolloCreed79 and I approve this message!" 

[Truth]

1 hour ago, BropolloCreed79 said:

"BropolloCreed79 likes to eat burritos.  If he eats Mexican food, how can we trust him to secure our borders?"

That's some solid reasoning there...

[BropolloCreed79]

49 minutes ago, Truth said:

That's some solid reasoning there...

As solid as punching a horse to induce suicide

 

[Freddie Mercury]

I vote randomly because i just don't give a sh*t about who's in charge, as long as he/she doesn't **** up and cause ww3 or some other horrible sh*t. It doesn't effect me in the slightest bit.

[riptide87]

I never voted. Not because I don't think it has its purpose but I can't get past the false sense of freedom these people force feed everyone. Yes, the US is one of the freest countries in the world but look what it has become because people have taken that for granted. We really don't have a say at the end of the day. They are just pulling the strings of millions and keeping everyone divided. It is easier to control people when they are fighting over things like "wage gaps" than focusing on foreign policies and asking where all the government funding was being spent over the last 20 f'n years.