How does the World view America these days?

  On 1/15/2019 at 3:36 AM, Bulk VanderHooj said:

Now I'm really curious Nebraska!!! What was that video?

video of this story

copy of the video can be found here

Phew, glad to hear there was no casualty beyond whatever terrible psychological damage this dude inflicted upon those kids.  I'm guessing the vid was pulled to protect the identity of the minors involved.

you're still missing the part where he punched one of them.

will nobody think of the children?

lol it really offended you that I didn't recall that in my first reply.  I did see your comment about the punch, just didn't feel there was any need to acknowledge that after you had already noted it.  

yes, I was extremely offended.

Very good then.

when i were a lad, getting sparked out by a teacher at school was considered an acceptable method of riot control by male & female staff alike, a right of passage even for pupils

such triffic memories

  On 1/16/2019 at 10:37 PM, Nebraska said:

God money, certified by T Reznor.

just don't try to take it away from him.

here is a fun article that touches on the deleterious effects of social media on middle-aged/elderly people:

https://thebaffler.com/latest/twilight-of-the-racist-uncles-burmila

anyhow, this is a phenomenon occurring all over the world: increased connectivity is speeding up the breakdown of any illusion of consensus reality, and it is creating cycles of amplification when it comes to anger, fear, and paranoia. I truly think that americans in particular are becoming meaner, pettier people.

there was an article i read recently about different types of anger, i think it was in the atlantic (which i find to be mostly full of unenlightening trash...here's the article) — it mentions that anger can be righteous when put to use to enact positive change. it contrasts that to a more vengeful, punitive rage that seeks only to retaliate against some perceived wrongdoing to one's self.

allow me to be counselor troi for a moment: it is clear to me — on a level empathetic and observational — when i talk to average people or read their comments online, that people in the united states subconsciously and consciously feel that they have been done wrong, and have internalized a need for revenge. i don't think many know what it is that has been done to them, yet the hurt and anger is there. now let loose a hell-torrent of information overload and what happens is a total breakdown of understanding, and a feeling of total helplessness and loss of agency. we can talk all about how this has come to be and the myriad forms it is taking, but i think what needs to be understood is the prevalence of anger and how it is reinforced.

i really think americans are becoming less tolerant, more spiteful, bereft of the ability to think critically, and i don't think it is going to get better anytime soon.

Deleterious. 

Ironically, that's such a good word.

  On 1/17/2019 at 1:01 AM, Salvatorin said:

and i don't think it is going to get better anytime soon.

https://i.imgur.com/f1yfA7D.gif

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

oof

here's the story.. and your pill of rage for the day

https://www.yahoo.com/news/maga-hatted-teens-harass-native-182138098.html

That's a face I could experiment on

Id turn into an eagle shit all over them

Teenagers are the worst.

  On 1/19/2019 at 9:27 PM, ignatius said:

 

here's the story.. and your pill of rage for the day

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/maga-hatted-teens-harass-native-182138098.html

 

i hate these kind of clickbait clips that only provoke unfocused hyperbolic responses. there is a lot to unpack in just this clip even without knowing the full context. on a basic level there isn't very much happening in this video. but you have to look at the subtext. on a very basic level this looks a lot like any example of a gang of teenagers getting a 'dangerous' kick from being somewhat confrontational to an 'other', in this case a native american elder. then you add in the aspect of the maga kids bringing their arguably mocking energy to the indigenous people's march, which is a serious thing trying to address real problems, and also consider the callous history of abuse towards natives by colonists and this becomes more nasty of a thing. on surface value this is just teenagers being assholes. but it signals to a larger cultural malaise.

what bothers me is this just serves as more fodder to the outrage entertainment media cycle which inevitably strips any meaning from the event and converts it into profit, effectively neutralizing any coherent understanding of things and compromising a proper action in response.

elder uncle nathan's reponse:

  On 1/19/2019 at 9:27 PM, ignatius said:

https://twitter.com/Yassir_Lester/status/1086676686622445568

 

here's the story.. and your pill of rage for the day

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/maga-hatted-teens-harass-native-182138098.html

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIG5ZB0fw1k

Future rapists.

It took a great deal of restraint for Uncle Nathan not to whack that motherfucker staring him down point blank in his smug face with that drum stick. That or he's so accustomed to facing decades of harassment, intimidation, and oppression that he has master experience under his belt at dealing with it in a peaceful manner.

A disturbing thought that these little MAGA shits could be the latest enlistees in our armed forces in a year or two.

The future of maga looks dim.