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The number one problem with America...

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Posts

  • LawndartLawndart Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Damn, all the other history nerds have already well-demolished the "people used to trust the federal government back in the 18th and 19th Centuries" hilarity.

    So I guess I'll have to cast my vote for the number one problem with America being the rampant and increasing wealth disparity between an increasingly powerful upper class and an increasingly large and disempowered lower class and the tattered remnants of the American middle class slowly drifting down to join them.

    Well, either that or AutoTune.

    Lawndart on
  • Styrofoam SammichStyrofoam Sammich WANT. normal (not weird)Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Short version: Things today aren't any worse than they've ever been - now you just know about it.

    I think its more or less this.

    Styrofoam Sammich on
    wq09t4opzrlc.jpg
  • kildykildy Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    I'm going with the wealth gap and horribly uninformed population. I mean honestly, we have large segments of the population who will adamantly swear up and down things that are provably false.

    On a more recent level, the whole concept of politics as a sporting event. It's become less about policies that benefit the people, or rational discussions about differences in opinion on what benefits the people, and more about scoring points and opposing whatever that other team supports.

    It's the Red Sox/Yankees on a national level, essentially.

    kildy on
  • Jealous DevaJealous Deva Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Short version: Things today aren't any worse than they've ever been - now you just know about it.

    I think its more or less this.

    Well to a point this does lead to instability. Not that that's really a bad thing and it's probably good in the long run, but certainly a lot of the recent upheaval in the arab world is due as much to widespread access to information as anything else.

    Jealous Deva on
  • descdesc Goretexing to death Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Feral wrote: »
    ElJeffe wrote: »
    Things sure do suck here in <insert current year>! Not like back in <insert some year in the past> when everything was great because <choose one: taxes were lower / people loved their country / people loved God / people loved proper music / people made music about loving god and their country / people wore belts / there were less wars / there were more wars / there was Star Wars / there was no internet / there was no TV / there was no printing press / there was no fire / the server wasn't too busy>!

    Okay, that last part is true.

    Thanks a lot, Obama!

    desc on
  • ThomamelasThomamelas Only one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Damn, all the other history nerds have already well-demolished the "people used to trust the federal government back in the 18th and 19th Centuries" hilarity.

    So I guess I'll have to cast my vote for the number one problem with America being the rampant and increasing wealth disparity between an increasingly powerful upper class and an increasingly large and disempowered lower class and the tattered remnants of the American middle class slowly drifting down to join them.

    Well, either that or AutoTune.

    And even if we assume it's a new issue, and choose the historically ignorant view that distrust of the government is solely a modern function, and if we work with that flawed assumption we have to pick the modern event that caused it. We could start with November 3, 1986, and I'm sure June 17, 1972 would be popular, or we could pick August 7, 1964, or April 19, 1961 would be pretty fair. It's just so damn hard to choose.

    Thomamelas on
  • ThomamelasThomamelas Only one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    kildy wrote: »
    I'm going with the wealth gap and horribly uninformed population. I mean honestly, we have large segments of the population who will adamantly swear up and down things that are provably false.

    On a more recent level, the whole concept of politics as a sporting event. It's become less about policies that benefit the people, or rational discussions about differences in opinion on what benefits the people, and more about scoring points and opposing whatever that other team supports.

    It's the Red Sox/Yankees on a national level, essentially.

    It really hasn't changed. Even looking at Jefferson vs Adams, there was a lot of ugly political talk. And frankly it was even nastier then today's standards.

    Thomamelas on
  • iTunesIsEviliTunesIsEvil Cornfield? Cornfield.Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Thomamelas wrote: »
    kildy wrote: »
    I'm going with the wealth gap and horribly uninformed population. I mean honestly, we have large segments of the population who will adamantly swear up and down things that are provably false.

    On a more recent level, the whole concept of politics as a sporting event. It's become less about policies that benefit the people, or rational discussions about differences in opinion on what benefits the people, and more about scoring points and opposing whatever that other team supports.

    It's the Red Sox/Yankees on a national level, essentially.

    It really hasn't changed. Even looking at Jefferson vs Adams, there was a lot of ugly political talk. And frankly it was even nastier then today's standards.
    This. For fuck's suck, the 1828 presidential campaign was a mess. JQA went all out: "fuck you Jackson, your wife's into bigamy, dude! How's her other husband doing?" Then Jackson's campaign tried to paint John Quincy Adams as a pimp for a Russian Czar, and as a thieving gambler (saying he used campaign funds to buy "gambling devices" for his residence).

    iTunesIsEvil on
  • kildykildy Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    I don't mean negative campaigning, that's been around forever.

    The whole lockstep vote against whatever the other dudes present thing is new-ish. When you have party line voting over funding 9/11 responder health care, you know you've crossed into territory where even non partisan shit becomes a partisan shitstorm.

    kildy on
  • ThomamelasThomamelas Only one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Thomamelas wrote: »
    kildy wrote: »
    I'm going with the wealth gap and horribly uninformed population. I mean honestly, we have large segments of the population who will adamantly swear up and down things that are provably false.

    On a more recent level, the whole concept of politics as a sporting event. It's become less about policies that benefit the people, or rational discussions about differences in opinion on what benefits the people, and more about scoring points and opposing whatever that other team supports.

    It's the Red Sox/Yankees on a national level, essentially.

    It really hasn't changed. Even looking at Jefferson vs Adams, there was a lot of ugly political talk. And frankly it was even nastier then today's standards.
    This. For fuck's suck, the 1828 presidential campaign was a mess. JQA went all out: "fuck you Jackson, your wife's into bigamy, dude! How's her other husband doing?" Then Jackson's campaign tried to paint John Quincy Adams as a pimp for a Russian Czar, and as a thieving gambler (saying he used campaign funds to buy "gambling devices" for his residence).

    I think some of the issue is that a lot of people aren't old enough to remember when most small to mid-size towns had two newspapers. One for each party of the time. This idea that journalists are impartial and the media should stay above the infighting is a very modern one. Or that large media conglomerates didn't meddle in politics. Hearst used his publishing empire ruthlessly to do exactly that.

    Thomamelas on
  • Captain CarrotCaptain Carrot Alexandria, VARegistered User regular
    edited March 2011
    And the journalists who actually care about bias think that being unbiased means you just mindlessly write down what both sides say, and don't bother checking if any of it's accurate.

    Captain Carrot on
  • iTunesIsEviliTunesIsEvil Cornfield? Cornfield.Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Sorry, kildy, I'm more still rambling on at the OP who seems to have run away. I shouldn't have really aimed that toward something responding to you.

    I'm with you on the whole "politics as a sporting event" thing. Though, I don't know if that's a new thing, or how much/to what degree it's new. People always like choosing Team A or Team B, and seem to generally side with them regardless of the issue or policy at hand. I don't know if that was less the case in the past or not.

    iTunesIsEvil on
  • kildykildy Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    And the journalists who actually care about bias think that being unbiased means you just mindlessly write down what both sides say, and don't bother checking if any of it's accurate.

    It's unbiased if you give equal time to both the entire scientific community, and that one dude who says gravity doesn't exist.

    kildy on
  • ThomamelasThomamelas Only one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Sorry, kildy, I'm more still rambling on at the OP who seems to have run away. I shouldn't have really aimed that toward something responding to you.

    I'm with you on the whole "politics as a sporting event" thing. Though, I don't know if that's a new thing, or how much/to what degree it's new. People always like choosing Team A or Team B, and seem to generally side with them regardless of the issue or policy at hand. I don't know if that was less the case in the past or not.

    It's really not new. Like I mentioned before, even smaller towns had two newspapers, one for each party. We like to root for things. Politics is a thing to root for and like any good rivalry, you can keep a tally of grudges.

    Thomamelas on
  • DivideByZeroDivideByZero Social Justice Blackguard Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Quite frankly, in a post-9/11 world we could use more politicians settling disputes with pistols at dawn.

    DivideByZero on
    First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKERS
  • NeadenNeaden Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.

    Neaden on
  • kildykildy Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Quite frankly, in a post-9/11 world we could use more politicians settling disputes with pistols at dawn.

    In every IT shop I've worked at, we had a "no death threats before 11am" policy. Because before your second cup of coffee, you don't really mean it.

    So maybe pistols at 2pm?

    kildy on
  • ElldrenElldren Is a woman dammit ceterum censeoRegistered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Quite frankly, in a post-9/11 world we could use more politicians settling disputes with pistols at dawn.

    oh hey, there it is!

    That's your number one problem right there.


    Well, that and server is busy errors

    Elldren on
    fuck gendered marketing
  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    You forgot /girls didn't dress like that.

    / certain folk weren't allowed on golf courses

    KalTorak on
  • DivideByZeroDivideByZero Social Justice Blackguard Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    kildy wrote: »
    Quite frankly, in a post-9/11 world we could use more politicians settling disputes with pistols at dawn.

    In every IT shop I've worked at, we had a "no death threats before 11am" policy. Because before your second cup of coffee, you don't really mean it.

    So maybe pistols at 2pm?

    By 2 PM I've worked up such a rage that it would have to be shotguns.

    DivideByZero on
    First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKERS
  • SanderJKSanderJK Crocodylus Pontifex Sinterklasicus Madrid, 3000 ADRegistered User regular
    edited March 2011
    The main problem America has is it government. But it's not the trust in the government that's the problem, it's the core functioning. American politics has (d)evolved into a system that just doesn't work. Rational decisions are not being made, it's all grandstanding. The senate especially is just messed up. Laws are not being designed based on what's good for the country, what's needed to balance a budget, but only on "how does this make me look as a politician."

    It seems to be stuck in a cycle where every sitting politician is directly responsible for all of the current problems, which means insane turnover rates every elections, placing everyone basicly into 24/7 campaign mode. Then add the ridicilous lobby/political donation laws, and you get a near permanent mess.

    And that's where it gets even more messy, because it has moved to a place where the following are not even discussable: a) raising taxes b) Cutting Military funding c) Cutting Medicare/Medicaid. Even though two pie charts and the average 12 year old can show you that without at least two of the three, it's pretty much impossible to balance the US budged.

    Then comes your silly voting system. It's practically designed to disenfranchise voters. Are you the minority in a state? Your opinions don't matter.

    SanderJK on
    Steam: SanderJK Origin: SanderJK
  • JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    edited March 2011
    There are some interesting things going on in this thread but the original post was not particularly worthwhile and the discussion's mandate, such as it is, is far too broad. If anyone wants to continue talking about these subjects in a more focused way in a new thread with a clearer OP, you have my blessing.

    Jacobkosh on
    rRwz9.gif
  • ElJeffeElJeffe Moderator, ClubPA mod
    edited March 2011
    / mods didn't go around locking threads all willy-nilly

    ;-)

    ElJeffe on
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This discussion has been closed.