PeteMarshRE
Peter GleickI can't quite get over the fact that so many people seem shocked and surprised that really, really bad things are being done by people who we've known are really, really bad for a long time and who said, if they get into power, they would do really, really bad things. [sarc]
𝐉𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐫@petergleick It may be related to the long, long history of people saying that they would do really, really good things if they were elected, and then not doing them. There's a tendency, on my part anyway, to dismiss anything that comes out of politician's mouth as electoral hyperbole.
wb x64@jonberger @petergleick it also should be noted that this time billionaires have decided to go all-in on selling our country for parts. We've been an oligarchy for awhile but last time the billionaires weren't on board.
Nemo@jonberger
but they do! They do the things they promise.
It's just people want things that aren't very good and don't work like they think they do.
Andy Carolan 
@petergleick I can only imagine that people believed that there were processes in place to stop the really really bad people getting into power in the first place. The shock and surprise is because those processes failed.
Visikde@andycarolan @petergleick
A primary job of parties is to vet candidates for suitability to the office
The GOPux decided at some point one of their foundational principle was to through their own actions to prove government incompetent
A primary job of parties is to vet candidates for suitability to the office
The GOPux decided at some point one of their foundational principle was to through their own actions to prove government incompetent
SouI hope the US can get through this. I won't say unscathed, because that's not possible any more. I also hope Australia can extricate itself from US agreements and arrangements as soon as possible. We're vulnerable, particularly re China - now that the US can no longer be trusted as an ally. (We've too many security and military and financial ties with the US government for my liking. Thankfully not as many economic and business ties as some countries.)
lord pthenq1"No puedo superar el hecho de que tanta gente parezca sorprendida y conmocionada por el hecho de que personas que sabemos que son realmente malas desde hace mucho tiempo y que dijeron que si llegaban al poder harían cosas realmente malas, estén haciendo cosas realmente malas."
anubis2814@petergleick Tell any Trumper complaining about losing their jobs or inflation TRUMP WON, GET OVER IT
Nicole ParsonsFollow the money.
The Bradley Foundation was founded by a member of the John Birch Society. He pledged millions in 1965 & dedicated to ending the Voting Rights Act. John Roberts completed that task in 2013.
Charles Koch funded decades of climate denial and political & judicial public corruption. His nonprofits are dedicated to ending public education & health.
Those are just two of the billionaires bent on the destruction of democracy.
Frank Going AntiFa - 🇺🇦@Npars01 @petergleick
You do know that the Kochs helped fund the Nazis and the USSR? They helped build factories for the Nazis. They help build dams and oil refineries in the USSR. Charles Koch is just one in a line of shitty people in that family.
You do know that the Kochs helped fund the Nazis and the USSR? They helped build factories for the Nazis. They help build dams and oil refineries in the USSR. Charles Koch is just one in a line of shitty people in that family.
humourmetom@petergleick Time to rewrite the U.S. national anthem. "Land of the cruel," might work.
Justbeep@petergleick
I think #simonandgarfunkel already sang about this in 1969 :
"I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles
Such are promises
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest"
Some people simply don't want to hear that things are not easy, grow restless and believe anything that offers a convenient 'escape'. 😖
Stoneface Vimes@petergleick I'm sad to say that I must conclude that many of those saying they're surprised are in fact, for all the protestations, actually bad people. Whatever they say.
Dan GoodinYes, and so many of these people thumbed their noses at anyone who dared to point out that the only way to divert this catastrophe was to vote for the competent black woman. Now they act like no one ever warned them.
Polychrome 
@petergleick the people I tried to warn about it kept dismissing me with "that's just the usual hyperbole they never mean any of this".
Woopsie.
Woopsie.
Big Rob@petergleick Thank you for saying this out loud.
Nick Silkey 📻 N5ILK 🪓🪵 🪣💧@petergleick i look at it glass half full. Hear me out. 😉
Through this confusion will come the confrontation of the question of "is this an ok way for society to be or not?".
Fascism always falls. Nothing lasts forever.* The faster we all collectively confront this existential crisis, the closer we get to forcing true decision making on the part of the American people. There are no more safeguards. No more rocking of the vote. This seems like it, y'all. And it's exciting thinking of a future after this.✌️💙
*nuclear extinction, sure. But even then something will spring in its place. Life finds a way. Or the UFOs find nuclear winter. Don't sweat the small stuff. 🫂
Seb ∞@petergleick edgelords.
SolidHeron@petergleick Can we please stop pretending like this is some kind of newsflash? We all knew where these folks were coming
from. The ' warning signs' people kept talking about? Just euphemisms for 'we told you so'. The fact that some
people are genuinely surprised by the atrocities being committed should be a major red flag. Not that we shouldn't
be outraged, but let's not pretend like this is anything new or unexpected.
from. The ' warning signs' people kept talking about? Just euphemisms for 'we told you so'. The fact that some
people are genuinely surprised by the atrocities being committed should be a major red flag. Not that we shouldn't
be outraged, but let's not pretend like this is anything new or unexpected.
derptron@petergleick Even when the Spanish Inquisition is scheduled to arrive 3 months out, still nobody expects the actual Spanish Inquisition.
ɮǟֆ ɦǟɛռʀǟɛȶֆ
quangobaud
Bssr4 (TЯ☭M₽ )
KanaMauna@petergleick They chose very poorly and now they’re trying to make excuses.
fluids_guru@petergleick Sarah Kendzior calls it ‘normalcy bias’
aburka 🫣@petergleick I'm not shocked. But I'm definitely still coming to terms with the fact that it didn't have to be this way and my life's work can only be incrementally pushing back the fascists
Jürgen De Blonde@petergleick I know, right. It's like being surprised a super villain is actually a super villain and behaves accordingly.
Michael Kohlman@petergleick Boggles the mind, doesn't it?
R.L. Dane 
🍵 
Power_to_the_People (he/him)@petergleick Imo the fact that for years the ballot choices have been between really, really bad people and even worse really, really bad people may have something to do with it.
llewellyit turns out that when you have billionaires spending billions on corporate propaganda, many people are misled.
now add decades of effort by billionaire-backed end-times religions
and then add in the russian military's decades of internet propaganda works.
but ...
I can't get over it either.
Doug 🌈🇨🇦 
@petergleick They aren't surprised that bad things are happening, it's that they're happening to themselves.
@petergleick Exactly. It really makes you wonder about human "intelligence". I live in a country with about 25 million sheep. Baaaa!
@petergleick yes, but have you considered that maybe you were "jUsT beInG DrAMaTIc"?
CassandraVert@petergleick
I bet some people don't know it yet. Trump got zero pushback for his fairy tale of a speech. All those talking points get circulated through right wing media, and if you personally have not seen damage, you may well think it's all overblown.
I bet some people don't know it yet. Trump got zero pushback for his fairy tale of a speech. All those talking points get circulated through right wing media, and if you personally have not seen damage, you may well think it's all overblown.