Zone1 Every day I have to remind myself that I'm one of the "good guys."

[mamooth]

How can we convince them otherwise when we are silenced

You can't watch any media without hearing a chorus of conservative whining and lies. How can any of you tell the "We're being silenced!" BigLie with a straight face?

Oh, that's right. You're all lying about being silenced, because all your tribal pals are lying, and you all bleat in unison. None of you has the guts to say "No, I won't lie for TheParty."

and they aren’t willing to listen to conservative media?

We do listen. It's because we listen that we know conservative media lies about everything.

Remember, people laughing at your stupidity and pointing out how you lied is not silencing you. It's free speech. If you don't want to be criticized for being stupid and lying, then stop being stupid and lying.

 

[Unkotare]

Whut?

Number of mass shootings in the U.S. 1982-2023 | Statista


View attachment 786059

Do you think media was more or less ubiquitous in 1982?

 

[Lisa558]

That's a good question, and one you should ask anyone you know who leans left. I'm sure they have similar concerns with the screaming hatred directed their way. But we need to talk about it. And not on TV. TV is a fear factory. Go outside. Walk around the block. Talk to your friends and neighbors. That's where politics should happen.

They, the liberal ones, won’t allow me to speak on any issue that deviates from their opinion. I’ve been told this point-blank, and that is why I am pulling away from these people. Who feels comfortable around people who have told you, in so many words, that your opinion is so vile and/or wrong that they muzzle you?

I have two remaining people I speak with who are liberals. The others I avoid.

 

[JGalt]

?? Really? Hmm... I see it everywhere, from both sides. And it becomes more unhinged and frantic with every cycle.

Kind like the stolen election and the "deep state"?

How can you mock the concept of the "deep state" when in the light of the recently-released Durham report proved how the FBI colluded with the Democrats to fabricate the "Russian collusion" hoax, in order to unseat a sitting President? If there was that much of a conspiracy against President Trump, the idea of a rigged and stolen election is not really that far-fetched.

 

[alang1216]

That would be the people who question the integrity of the last election. That’s about 40 million voters. We are not allowed to express dissent in the New America.

And what you state as FACT is just your leftist opinion.

Skepticism and dissent are 100% American and nothing to be hated. Trying to overturn an election without significant evidence that fraud changed the outcome, that is a hatred of our democracy. That is a FACT.

 

[JGalt]

Do you think media was more or less ubiquitous in 1982?

Mass casualty events like those would have received just as much media coverage in 1982, as they do today.

 

[Unkotare]

Mass casualty events like those would have received just as much media coverage in 1982, as they do today.

Not a chance.

 

[Foxfyre]

Maybe. But it does very little good to assign evil intent to political rivals. And while there are certainly nefarious actors in government, I don't think most progressives dream of a totalitarian state. Willing pawns? Not sure exactly what that means, but I think they have an unjustified faith in democracy and state power. It's up to us to convince them otherwise. I don't think demonizing them helps achieve that goal.

That's why I don't demonize anybody personally. But I will go to my grave believing that what they believe, what they endorse, what they do to promote what they believe is their righteous agenda is evil. It has done far more widespread harm to America and Americans than any foreign entity has done to us.

Disclaimer: I am not saying that everything the left thinks or does is evil. Not at all. But I do believe this concept of destroying and rewriting history, pushing a 'woke' agenda on kids, forcing their ideology onto all of American society and condemning all who push back etc. is evil.

 

[JGalt]

Skepticism and dissent are 100% American and nothing to be hated. Trying to overturn an election without significant evidence that fraud changed the outcome, that is a hatred of our democracy. That is a FACT.

There was significant evidence of fraud, and nobody was trying to "overturn" the election. All the Republicans wanted was for the fraud to have a thorough investigation, and for the evidence to be admitted in court, which most of it wasn't.

 

[JGalt]

Not a chance.

Journalists did have police scanners back in 80's too. You know that, don't you?

 

[alang1216]

He was referring to any potential political enemy of the people he represents.

Did he say that or do you interpret it that way?

 

[dblack]

How can you mock the concept of the "deep state" when in the light of the recently-released Durham report proved how the FBI colluded with the Democrats to fabricate the "Russian collusion" hoax, in order to unseat a sitting President? If there was that much of a conspiracy against President Trump, the idea of a rigged and stolen election is not really that far-fetched.

Yeah. It is. The sooner you accept that and turn toward the difficult, and far more important, work of persuading your countrymen, the better off we'll all be. The unhinged fear mongering and paranoia is bad for everyone, but most especially for those who let it pollute their minds, those who truly believe it.

 

[Unkotare]

Journalists did have police scanners back in 80's too. You know that, don't you?

The internet and the 24/7 news cycle were nothing like they are now. Things that happened in small towns stayed in small towns.

 

[alang1216]

'Walk weekly with' is key. Partisan vitriol falls away when your "enemies" are neighbors and family members. Or, well, usually.

Point is, it's harder to crank up demonizing stereotypes for people you actually know.

Maybe I'm unusual but I don't hate anyone on USMB and some can be rather disagreeable.

 

[JGalt]

Yeah. It is. The sooner you accept that and turn toward the difficult, and far more important, work of persuading your countrymen, the better off we'll all be. The unhinged fear mongering and paranoia is bad for everyone, but most especially for those who let it pollute their minds, those who truly believe it.

Let's just assume there was no election fraud and everyone is convinced of that. Feel free to tell me how "better off" we'd be, in the light of all these wonderful things Mr. Biden has given you...

• Promised on several occasions that he would "end fossil fuels"

• Later stated “We’re going to need oil for at least another decade”

• Gasoline that rose over two times the price it was in 2018

• Ended Keystone XL pipeline while waiving sanctions on Russia's Nord Stream 2

• Suspected US involvement in the bombing of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline

• The price of oil jumped up to $130 per barrel

• Drained US Strategic Oil Reserve to the lowest level since 1984

• Begged Saudi Arabia and Venezuela for oil

• Inflation rate rose as high as 9.1%, which was almost 5 times higher than it was in 2019

• A recession

• Dumped billions of dollars down the black hole of "Global Warming"

• U.S. household wealth down $13.5 trillion in 2022 - Second fastest decline on record

• Average middle-class family came up about $6,000 short of purchasing power

• The DOW dropped 6,700 points in only a year

• Stock market lost $9 trillion dollars worth of value in only two years

• Retirement accounts lost $3 trillion dollars

• 30 year fixed mortgages rose by 4.43% in only two years, to 7.75%

• Home prices soared 43% in only two years and housing sales slumped

• Median asking rent prices rose 79.7% in only two years

• Bankrupted landlords by excusing rent payments

• Grocery prices increased by 13.5% in only two years

• The price of electricity rose by 15.8% in only two years

• Hefty tax increases on the lower and middle class

• 84,000 new IRS agents arming and training to be home invaders

• Use of DOJ and FBI to harass political opponents

• A broken election system corrupt with fraud, sometimes taking months to count

• Wholesale mailing of ballots, ballot drop boxes, and illegal ballot harvesting

• Used a complicit media to lie, distort facts, and disseminate disinformation

• Conducting covert raids on American citizens and confiscating personal property

• Supply line disruptions, backorders, items out of stock or unavailable

• Massive backlog of cargo ships at US ports in 2022

• Sporadic shortages on grocery store shelves

• Air transportation disrupted, thousands of flight cancellations in 2022

• FAA system outages that disrupted thousands of flights in 2023

• Food-processing plants mysteriously burning down

• Record prices for eggs and poultry

• Record number of ecological disasters, train derailments, chemical spills, and fires

• Thousands of small businesses destroyed in order to benefit mega-corporations

• Continuing monumental trade deficit with China

• Allowed Communist China to operate "Police Stations" in American cities

• Allowed Chinese spy balloon to cross entire country, spying on military sites

• Used a $400,000 missile to shoot down a $12 hobbyist balloon over Alaska

• More COVID deaths than in 2020

• Vaccine mandates which caused deaths and debilitating health conditions

• Vaccine mandates which caused massive job losses for those who refused compliance

• Continued government funding for Planned Parenthood

• Eliminated Medicaid work requirements

• Increased food stamp giveaways by more than $1 billion a month, without Congress

• A whole generation of kids physically and psychologically damaged by prison-style lockdowns

• Subjecting young girls to creepy boys posing as "transgenders" in girl's locker rooms

• Stealing women's ability to fairly compete by allowing transgender males in women's sports

• Subjecting children to pornographic "Drag shows" and grooming them to be sex objects

• The promotion of transgenderism in schools, resulting in the genital and fertility mutilation
of children and adolescents by unethical medical practices and Big Pharma.

• Mass shootings occurring sometimes three times a week

• An exponentially-spiraling epidemic of violent crime and drugs

• Shutting down private prisons and turning inmates loose

• Fentanyl seizures up 745 percent

• 100,000 fentanyl deaths during Biden's first year of presidency

• 120% increase in opioid deaths in just two years

• Encouraged illegals to "surge" across the border without reason for amnesty

• A neutered Immigration and Customs Enforcement, virtually stopping arrests and deportations

• 4.9 million illegals crossing US border within only two years

• Added non-citizens to the census

• Immigration policies that dispersed COVID, crime, and potential terrorism throughout the US

• 900,000 "gotaways" who eluded apprehension and disappeared into American communities

• Record numbers of illegals dying while crossing the border

• Border Patrol arresting 98 who were on the terror watch list in 2022, 3X the last 5 years combined

• A President who wouldn't visit the border and said he had "More important things going on."

• A dishonorable withdrawal from Afghanistan that cost 13 American soldiers their lives

• Authorized drone strike killing 10 civilians, including 7 children, instead of ISIS-K operative

• $7.12 billion worth of US military equipment and weaponry left to the Taliban

• Hundreds of US citizens and Afghans left behind in Afghanistan after the withdrawal

• People falling out of the wheel wells of aircraft leaving Afghanistan

• A weakened US military more concerned with "political correctness" than creating soldiers

• A weakened US military via destructive anti-white racism and transgender-promoting policies

• Record low enlistment numbers

• A revitalized Russian oil industry, despite US sanctions

• A war in Ukraine that has cost the US billions of dollars and killed thousands

• Increased possibility of nuclear war with Russia

• Traded an America-hating lesbian doper basketball player for a terrorist Russian arms dealer,
while leaving an American Marine in a Russian prison

• North Korea continuing to expand their nuclear enrichment and missile programs

• A stronger Iran increasing their funding for Hamas and Hezbollah

• China became more energy and militarily dominant

• A senile, angry, and incompetent president who fell off of a bicycle, fell up stairs, insulted
half the people in America, labeled people as "terrorists", divided the country, and tried to incite
a civil war.

 

[dblack]

That's why I don't demonize anybody personally. But I will go to my grave believing that what they believe, what they endorse, what they do to promote what they believe is their righteous agenda is evil. It has done far more widespread harm to America and Americans than any foreign entity has done to us.

Disclaimer: I am not saying that everything the left thinks or does is evil. Not at all. But I do believe this concept of destroying and rewriting history, pushing a 'woke' agenda on kids, forcing their ideology onto all of American society and condemning all who push back etc. is evil.

Both sides have committed to "winning" the culture war via politics. That's our mistake. And of course "they started it". But we all have to commit to calling a truce in the culture war and get back to the "live and let live" ideal of the American dream.

 

[Foxfyre]

There was significant evidence of fraud, and nobody was trying to "overturn" the election. All the Republicans wanted was for the fraud to have a thorough investigation, and for the evidence to be admitted in court, which most of it wasn't.

In short, what Republicans/Patriots/Independents were asking for was ASSURANCE that the election was honest and valid. The left has consistently refused to provide that assurance and have condemned those who want it.

Just more fodder for the OP who knows that for the most part we are 'good guys' who stand up for what we believe is right and are increasingly demonized for protesting what we believe and for saying what we know is wrong.

 

[Dogmaphobe]

Such an American thing to do....brag about working 10 hours.

Just makes no sense.

I enjoy my work, you silly fake libertarian.

I enjoy being productive and contributing to society, and as the owner of my business, it would be quite hypocritical of me to expect my employees to work hard if I didn't.

 

[alang1216]

Was that like a "There are good people on both sides" moment you were having there?

Keep trying. I'm not convinced yet.

Right.. It would be hard to find any hatred an the right but you might start here.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

I enjoy my work, you silly fake libertarian.

I enjoy being productive and contributing to society, and as the owner of my business, it would be quite hypocritical of me to expect my employees to work hard if I didn't.

And I am happy for you! You keep on working those 10 plus hour days.

Some of us can be productive in just 8, or fewer hours.

I always found it odd how people equate time on the clock with being productive

Just a few more years and I am doing being a productive member of society and joining the ranks of the fully and permanently retired