Just a question, in my opinion, people seem crueler, even some with liberal views, do you see it?

[Demonaut]

I can't say specifically and it may be a internal reflection how I perceive and my opinion of my trump voters

[Skittles]

1. well we know MAGAts are cruel

heck, all repukes are - they just don't care about other people

I do not know any cruel liberal folk

[Demonaut]

4. it's more an anger about the mess they are making for their friends and family but can't see it

willful ignorance is contemptible

[virgogal]

7. LOL,John Wayne Gacy was a liberal.

[Skittles]

8. he was a psychopath

[Demonaut]

9. does that make me one?, seriously, maybe I am one

[Skittles]

10. do you have a over two dozen bodies buried at home?

[Demonaut]

12. two?

lol

[mr_lebowski]

27. Yeah, if you only have a single dozen, you're probably merely 'disturbed', perhaps 'anti-social' nt

[dewsgirl]

32. LoL😂

[VOX]

21. And Ted Bundy was Republican.

Because the political affiliations of serial killers is SO important.

[Tipperary]

25. Same with Weinstein.

[mr_lebowski]

28. Cosby as well always seemed fairly liberal ...

Not that any of these cases are particularly relevant to the OP I don't think ...

[blm]

55. Cosby was always right-leaning.

Remember, he is the one who personally interfered to prevent Janis Ian from being booked on network tv.

[dewsgirl]

33. Yikes😳 I did not know that.

[Afromania]

2. Welp, we got 8 years of a highly competent president who happened to be black

The wackadoos went off the deep end to hateville and saddled us with a complete madman. Then as we pointed out that said dude was completely insane they wagged their finger and said this is what we get for electing a highly competent black man and even imagining we'd then elect a woman for the same position.

3 years in and they have yet to relent or apologize for doing this to everybody in a fit of racist/misogynistic tantrum having. Now a great deal of us here on the left are not more cruel but ,to put it politely, seriously not happy with this nonsense. You can only turn the other cheek so many times before you run out of them and we're all out of em.

[Demonaut]

6. "Welp"?,lol, been here long time

[Afromania]

13. not welp, but Welp(well). I'm not calling you a "youngin"

Unless you are a youngin. You can never tell with these here Internets.

[Igel]

24. Welp well

like nope = no

and yep = yeah.

[JDC]

58. That would be Whelp I think....

[virgogal]

20. Obama was mixed race,just like 2 of my grandchildren.

[stopdiggin]

34. veering from the OP, but

Obama is/was BLACK. Michelle is black. Sasha and Malia are black.
These people ALL identify as black .. and until they tell us differently .. that's the END of the story.

(I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt here .. but this is important. If you don't understand why it is important, then you need to study up. Particularly as you have mixed family and grandchildren. Heads up, before you stick your foot in it.)

[RandiFan1290]

45. This is the new argument on the right

Last edited Mon Jan 13, 2020, 06:21 AM - Edit history (1)

They claim we never elected a 'black' president because his mom is 'white'



Edit to add: A hit dog will holler

[virgogal]

62. His Mom,the parent who raised him,IS white.

[RandiFan1290]

63. Obama is the first black president

Why does that bother you so much?

[virgogal]

64. I am a Virgo,that's what we do.He is bi-racial.

[RandiFan1290]

47. Nice to see you take a break from attacking Greta Thunberg to post this

[Afromania]

57. Any black makes you black for purposes of being hated.

The rest is semantics.

[LuvLoogie]

26. Yeah. Fuck those pants-less trumplickers.

I'll hurt their feelings...

No! You can't sit on my couch, mother fucker, until you put some pants on!

[Cosmocat]

50. THIS

Is spot on.

There is no reasoning or reaching out to these people, they are walking dead ...

[lunatica]

3. I've never met a cruel liberal

and I’m 71 years old.

[alittlelark]

5. Wetiko is contagious.

[Delphinus]

39. I had

to look that up. Thank you for helping me learn.

And yes,

[dhol82]

51. Wow, new word for me.

Very appropriate for our time.

[rzemanfl]

52. Thanks for this post and the new word. n/t

[Demsrule86]

11. Yes people are more cruel these days...less concerned with other's welfare.

[Bummfuzzle]

14. It seems like we are all talking much meaner than the past.

[Aristus]

15. I blame Reagan.

He gave the American people permission to be disempathetic.

[Sherman A1]

35. Precisely

This undercurrent (now much less of an undercurrent) of dissatisfaction and general meanness has been evolving since the 1980s when St. Ronnie was in office. It has much to do with stagnate wages, corporate greed, the rise of cable news (corporate noise) media (requiring lots of nonsense and talking heads pontificating on all sorts of presumed evils to fill the 24/7 cycle), the advent of talk (hate) radio and the repeal of the fairness doctrine.

It is about keeping the massed chasing after the scraps to keep them distracted while the 1% laugh all the way to their bank in the Cayman Islands.

A second Gilded Age.

[Wounded Bear]

36. The reflections of the past are all around us...

people point at details and say, "It's nothing like that." Bullshit.

You're right, it's modern day bread and circuses. Trump is the ultimate distractor. Non-stop bullshit.

[Sherman A1]

37. Agreed

It had been as you eloquently state “bread and circuses” since Reagan. The tools of corporate media and the 24/7 cable (or perhaps cabal) noise along with hate radio have simply fallen into place for them to exploit.

Ultimately it goes back to stagnant wages and holding the working class down under their boot (folks are and have been pissed off for decades, just at the wrong culprits). This is why I see a Universal Basic Income, wage growth and Medicare for all as critical to our future. Just don’t think we have time for a reset presidency.

[Wounded Bear]

40. One reason for stagnant job growth is low movement...

people don't like to change jobs. Why? Oh, because their job is where they get their medical insurance/coverage. If you change jobs, you have a gap in coverage. If you're taking life saving medication, you can't risk that. Just one of many reasons wages are stagnating.

A simple raise in the minimum wage would be a decent start. Not only would that raise some folks off the floor of the poverty cycle, it would boost revenues for Social Security and Medicare.



Want to see the future? Picture a boot, pressing down on a human face, forever. Paraphrased from 1984.

[defacto7]

16. Yes I do.

[not_the_one]

17. Yes. It is understandable because I feel it, too.

The turd has given his sycophants permission to be as vile as possible, in public. I can't help but respond in kind.

I am so angry and depressed. I can't help but lash out. I can no longer take the high road.

Frankly, my dear (channeling Mr. Gable), I don't have one single fuck left to give (obviously paraphrased...). (and I am REALLY using more foul language...! )

[Karadeniz]

18. But then you look at all the animal rescue, people defending others from bullies, helping

With money...

[BigmanPigman]

19. I think social media has had an influence.

People feel more anonymous and free to voice their opinions without any real consequences. I think it has led to a lack of 1:1 communication and interacting as well as a lack of empathy. Maybe "distance" has something to do with it too.

[AJT]

22. I won't say I'm crueler, but I am much less patient and

anger more easily since 45 got elected. I think I'm just so disappointed and hopeless. I think a lot of people are having emotional issues, and it shows.

[meadowlander]

23. I see an epidemic of kids raised primarily by TV, Madison Avenue, video games, pop music and

cheap after-school care in 80s and 90s.

None of those things teach you how to sit down and have a constructive conversation with another human being. Many people in their 20s and 30s still think the objective of any conversation is to either "pwn" the other person or bond over a shared interest in some artifact of pop culture.

Kids who never see their parents model themselves on the kids in TV sitcoms and movies who are generally self-absorbed smart-asses. Boys take excessively-macho role models like action movie heroes or rap stars or video games protagonists.

And it's just going to get worse as more pressures are put on parents to work ridiculous hours and cover gaps in the care for their aging parents. Shoddy absentee parents raise their kids to be even shoddier absentee parents.

Of the many crises facing America, one of the most insidious is a crisis of bad parenting brought on by a work culture that does not recognize the need to build in time and energy for people to live their own fulfilling lives outside of their jobs.

The gap is filled by a pop culture that glorifies hyper-masculinity, greed and selfishness.

[UTUSN]

29. I'm Librally cruel, spent 60 of my 73 yrs being kind, & now fight back.

[Arthur_Frain]

30. Crueler than when?

I’ve noted an overall decline in civility from around the early 90s to present day. Lots of things I want to blame that on, but it’s all armchair psychiatry.

[dewsgirl]

31. I've certainly noticed an uptick in devisiveness amongst

Last edited Sun Jan 12, 2020, 08:31 AM - Edit history (1)

the left, as of late. 😞

[cwydro]

38. Did you mean divisiveness?

[dewsgirl]

42. Yes...damned autocorrect.

[Hortensis]

41. Yes. Anxiety, feelings of insecurity increase conservatism and cruelty.

Kindness, generosity, and support for liberalism, increase with security. This is like the tides, always a part of us.

I'm sure that's a big part of why Republican leaders tried to hold back the economic recovery for the lower-pay half of the working classes after 2008. Continuing the troubles and anxiety didn't make Obama a one-term president, so they continued to oppose his actions and do nothing that would help jobs and wage recovery through a second as well.

Malice is another reason, of course. These conservatives are mean and often cruel.

It's probably also why they've continued to refuse any gun control, even though it's become overwhelmingly popular on the right also. Crime and the specter of civil disorder increase the level of conservatism in society and, hugely on point these days, increase not just the appeal of strong, authoritarian government but the demand for it.

[CTyankee]

43. I just gave up my wine drinking and I feel more hopeful and have better energy.

And, I made a conscious decision to "not sweat the small stuff." I just don't.

I feel better and have more energy. I have a clearer idea of what I can and cannot do in this world and, at my advanced age, where to put my resources, physical, mental and emotional.

I got stuff to do!

[GoCubsGo]

44. Nope.

A portion of humanity has always been this cruel, nasty, and self-centered. They just have more ways of expressing it now. But, we've always had these assholes around. Always.

[RandiFan1290]

46. We are fighting back

Getting worried?

[forthemiddle]

48. I think it may be an internet phenomenon

I think people are self limiting themselves to people that share the same views, so that empowers them to believe theirs is the only “correct” view.
This does happen on both sides.
It’s shown in the news we consume, the people we interact with, and it just reinforces our views in our own minds.
I think it’s the worst part of social media. In allows us all to be internet warriors, and that’s not a good thing.
If you don’t think this applies to the left, as much as the right just read some of the holiday family gathering posts on both Democratic Underground, and those on Free Republic. They mirror each other on how we feel about people that don’t agree with us politically.
Now the good news is that I truly don’t see the divide in real life.
As an example, I travel a lot! Since the beginning of the impeachment, I have been in 10 different states in the middle of the country. My husband and I love to visit microbrewerys when we travel. We always engage in conversations with local patrons, and I also love to eavesdrop on others conversations (yeah, I’m that person LOL), I can honestly say I have only heard the impeachment brought up one time!
Otherwise people are just talking about mundane, everyday things. And almost without fail, each and every one of those conversations have been very enjoyable.
So if your finding life, and other people cruel, or not enjoyable maybe it’s you projecting that attitude, and not the American people in general.

[Generic Brad]

49. Human nature has not changed

We are collectively the same as we ever were. We're just more aware of it now.

[HAB911]

53. Many Trumpers claim to "love" him because

"He just speaks his mind"

That's when I say, good! Then I cut loose on them, since that is what they value so much.

[blm]

54. Some attacks on fellow Democrats have been malicious in their intent

and that level of cruelty belongs in the evil category.

[Harker]

56. Crueler than what? n/t

[Demonaut]

59. than before trump

[Harker]

60. Overall, yes, it seems.

Could be, though, that it's just bolder and more open than previously.

Some people do get pretty ugly.

[Raine]

61. Definitely ... from all sides

of the spectrum, more cruelty.