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In reply to the discussion: KRUGMAN: "California" [View all]

calimary

(81,678 posts)
108. Thank you, and Welcome to DU, BrotherIvan!
Fri Apr 5, 2013, 05:36 AM
Apr 2013

Glad you're here! SO many of us here "get it." I just wish we could share that knowledge with more people outside of here. It's just so incredibly important to connect the dots!!!

I was just reading yet another article aimed at musicians and bands and band management (since I manage my kid's band). And again and again they make the same recommendation: BE MINDFUL OF THE "WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME."

For example, when you're trying to build a fan base, it's helpful to understand that most people go to the internet looking for something THEY want or need. Recommendations for a new restaurant. Tips on new music. The goods on the new movie. Where they can get something for free or cheap. What benefits them personally. What's in it for them. And the best advice always goes toward "Don't be about 'buy my album,' 'buy my concert tickets,' 'come to my show,' etc." The best advice always stresses "make them feel like YOU are THEIR fan!" Engage them in some way. Offer them something. What's in it for THEM?

Seems to me that's the key here - everyone's been programmed for years - indeed, BRAINWASHED - into thinking that TAX = BAD.

And if that's all you hear - "taxes bad, taxes bad, taxes bad," in all its many permutations, that's all you're going to think. You've heard the saying before - "garbage in, garbage out." Which is the Holy Writ of such outfits as Pox Noise and the whole limbaugh-and-clones madness. They pump NON-STOP GARBAGE into their listeners and viewers minds. They offer nothing BUT that same NON-STOP GARBAGE. They certainly don't offer any other view or different opinion or alternative outlook. So with nothing else for the listener or viewer to vibe upon, take in, kick around in his/her own mind, sit with, sleep on, or otherwise absorb, then what else is he/she to think or conclude or process, or trust? Indeed, in the truest sense, you are what you eat, literally AND figuratively. You are what you take in.

We are only beginning to deprogram America. For example, look how long it's taken for ANY OTHER VIEW than the NRA's to start breaking through on the gun violence issue? Look how long it's taken!!! Like all the other bad-guy entities out there, the NRA also has had DECADES of head-start on this. They've been allowed - by idiocy, naivete, and fear - to monopolize the conversation for FAR too long. Our side is seriously just now waking up. We have DECADES of catching up to do. And most of it starts with explaining why taxes are NOT bad.

The bad guys (and I label them as such because they ARE. What they do is bad, what they want is bad, what they believe in is by 'n' large bad, and what they want to do to America is BAD!) have succeeded in demonizing and undermining government, taxes, and everything that contributes to a beneficial collective that focuses on the greater good for all, rather than just a pinched selfish good-for-an-elite-few-who-already-have-it-disproportionally-good. Thank ronald reagan for that. "Government isn't the solution to the problem, it IS the problem." Okay. Tell that to the Hurricane Sandy survivors whose meager state coffers and services were instantly overwhelmed and only an entity as big as the feds could deal with what needed to be dealt with. God, I despise ronald reagan. Unfortunately, California foisted THAT seemingly-benign fiend upon the rest of an unsuspecting America, too.

KRUGMAN: "California" [View all] kpete Apr 2013 OP
k&r nt steve2470 Apr 2013 #1
I'm not moving out of Cali, that's for sure. nt SunSeeker Apr 2013 #2
I love it here. It's still the best state! OnionPatch Apr 2013 #69
I would never move out of California. It's the best place to live xtraxritical Apr 2013 #3
I'm happy here as well Plucketeer Apr 2013 #65
Krugman is insightful as always. nt Bernardo de La Paz Apr 2013 #4
I wish all the Republicans would leave in protest BrotherIvan Apr 2013 #5
They're so rare up here in Sonoma that you have to find one on scavenger hunts. Comrade Grumpy Apr 2013 #25
Yes, thankfully. Webster Green Apr 2013 #26
Hi neighbors stopwastingmymoney Apr 2013 #29
Well, howdy! Webster Green Apr 2013 #31
Hi, Humboldt fans!! Manifestor_of_Light Apr 2013 #77
My son went to Humboldt State. It's like life would be if the hippies had won. NBachers Apr 2013 #89
Being Republican-Free... nikto Apr 2013 #99
Not east of the Plaza DollarBillHines Apr 2013 #67
Those "less-than-desirable" parts of the state? Le Taz Hot Apr 2013 #27
Ok, you got me, I admit I am a coastal elitest. BrotherIvan Apr 2013 #30
You're actually correct dreamnightwind Apr 2013 #60
He/she says Le Taz Hot Apr 2013 #71
If you're going to insult people... ucralum Apr 2013 #66
Yeah, me too. Le Taz Hot Apr 2013 #70
The hyper-sensitivity displayed here might well be unique to this site. Egalitarian Thug Apr 2013 #79
Well I wouldn't blame people dreamnightwind Apr 2013 #84
Exactly. I don't get why people get so worked up over defending/pretending their area's deficiencies Egalitarian Thug Apr 2013 #95
Your post drips with elitism and the sad thing is? Le Taz Hot Apr 2013 #91
LOL! "DLC sycophants?" Wrong end of the scale, try again. I represent the rabble rousing red menace. Egalitarian Thug Apr 2013 #94
Democrats are making headway there CreekDog Apr 2013 #107
that poster bashes the Bay Area, you have nothing to apologize for CreekDog Apr 2013 #106
that would include... bakersfield nightscanner59 Apr 2013 #87
Spent a lot of time there, have you? Le Taz Hot Apr 2013 #93
Just passing through more times than I can count.. funny thing about it though.. nightscanner59 Apr 2013 #100
And, like most of your cohorts, Le Taz Hot Apr 2013 #101
Please, all meant tongue in cheek. No real offense meant if misunderstood. nightscanner59 Apr 2013 #102
Whoa... Le Taz, didn't see the direction the previous posts were going. It's all relative: nightscanner59 Apr 2013 #103
At least up here in this less desirable part of the state tularetom Apr 2013 #90
You're not helping! Le Taz Hot Apr 2013 #92
You can't? That sucks! BrotherIvan Apr 2013 #97
David Sirota: "California is friggin' awesome" DinahMoeHum Apr 2013 #6
The GOP cuts off our hands and the criticizes us for a bad penmanship. alfredo Apr 2013 #7
+1000 OrwellwasRight Apr 2013 #17
Thanks. I needed that. JDPriestly Apr 2013 #51
Great post libodem Apr 2013 #8
Sounds To Me Like California DallasNE Apr 2013 #9
There's a saying that sort of nails this as far as coast-to-coast trend-watching. calimary Apr 2013 #10
A great post BrotherIvan Apr 2013 #32
Thank you, and Welcome to DU, BrotherIvan! calimary Apr 2013 #108
I totally agree! BrotherIvan Apr 2013 #109
Thanks, BrotherIvan! calimary Apr 2013 #111
Great Post... WCGreen Apr 2013 #35
Done! calimary Apr 2013 #112
Fantastic post. SomeGuyInEagan Apr 2013 #56
Got it. Will do. HERE: calimary Apr 2013 #110
Great post, indeed! tex-wyo-dem Apr 2013 #83
California should be an object lesson ewagner Apr 2013 #11
Prop 13 was the worst thing that happened to California, politically.... YoungDemCA Apr 2013 #12
And it is still keeping this xxqqqzme Apr 2013 #40
And the property tax burden has shifted even more over time to owner occupied residences Gormy Cuss Apr 2013 #47
That is very easy to understand. JDPriestly Apr 2013 #55
IIRC, one popular strategy is to sell the property incrementally Gormy Cuss Apr 2013 #61
Right. JDPriestly Apr 2013 #62
You got it. xxqqqzme Apr 2013 #86
That was the whole point of prop 13, and it was pointed out over and over again. Egalitarian Thug Apr 2013 #81
Prop 13 edhopper Apr 2013 #45
They need to get rid of the "super majority" bullshit thelordofhell Apr 2013 #13
That was just a ruse to get us to vote for Prop. 13. Cleita Apr 2013 #22
I agree, but it did allow my mother, on a small fixed income WHEN CRABS ROAR Apr 2013 #34
I don't regret that and am happy your mother got a break. Cleita Apr 2013 #37
We give too many special tax deals to corporations. JDPriestly Apr 2013 #58
I rented as well and agree with you. WHEN CRABS ROAR Apr 2013 #64
This goes back to the question of whether corporations are persons JDPriestly Apr 2013 #57
California waddirum Apr 2013 #14
Great State! kpete Apr 2013 #18
The grizzly bear on our flag is almost extinct here. Sad isn't it? Cleita Apr 2013 #23
There are no grizzlies in California Floyd_Gondolli Apr 2013 #38
I heard there have been sightings way up in the northeast of the state. Cleita Apr 2013 #39
Some confuse blacks with browns Floyd_Gondolli Apr 2013 #41
I wouldn't mistake one, but then I've seen the real thing near the Canadian border, but Cleita Apr 2013 #43
The bear on the flag is the California golden bear KamaAina Apr 2013 #49
The California Golden bear is a grizzly sub-species. n/t Cleita Apr 2013 #53
Here's a link to a story about "Monarch", the Grizzly Bear on the CA state flag. cherokeeprogressive Apr 2013 #80
Which Is Why The River Apr 2013 #15
We too (except more like 2,017 days) Kip Humphrey Apr 2013 #48
Let's hope JEFF9K Apr 2013 #16
However, if we don't change the supermajority rules in our Assembly, the minority could rule Cleita Apr 2013 #19
I'm cautiously optimistic for us. Starry Messenger Apr 2013 #20
Living in San Diego was political hell, WHEN CRABS ROAR Apr 2013 #21
KnR. Great read Hekate Apr 2013 #24
K&R idwiyo Apr 2013 #28
I had to leave California Liberalagogo Apr 2013 #33
Is Tahoe-Truckee a nice place to live? Kolesar Apr 2013 #36
I love it there. DH and I spent three months there camping, and moving from one Cleita Apr 2013 #42
It gets cold at 6000 feet Kolesar Apr 2013 #59
Not only that, the Donner Pass gets snowed in several times a year preventing Cleita Apr 2013 #72
In every weather forecast, the stations in Oakland warn motorists: "Don't Go" Kolesar Apr 2013 #98
I'm A Native Californian supercats Apr 2013 #44
Huge K&R! n/t Duval Apr 2013 #46
We need more water in Southern California. JDPriestly Apr 2013 #50
So Cal has always needed water as long as I remember. Cleita Apr 2013 #54
I'd vote for it even if it increased my water bill. JDPriestly Apr 2013 #63
How I wish november3rd Apr 2013 #52
Without Reagan, Jamaal510 Apr 2013 #73
This is only a mystery in Big Media Doctor_J Apr 2013 #68
Hopefully by the time THIS trend reaches the heartland... Beartracks Apr 2013 #74
Reading that, I suddenly realized something. Right-wingers in the middle of the country think Marr Apr 2013 #75
Yes. Crazy stuff comes out of right-wing minds. If California kept 10% of what it sends out bluestate10 Apr 2013 #78
Meantime, their schools are crumbling, roads full of potholes nightscanner59 Apr 2013 #104
I wish I could afford to live there Nevernose Apr 2013 #76
I'll be lucky to afford Tecopa Hot Springs on the way out this time. Ironic: nightscanner59 Apr 2013 #105
Kick for California.. my old stomping grounds! Cha Apr 2013 #82
Staying right here! oldandhappy Apr 2013 #85
Born in San Francisco and grew up for my first 5 years in Pacifica. DEMTough Apr 2013 #88
I want to move back to Calif. Politicub Apr 2013 #96
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