Yes.
Whether they want to admit it or not, that was the whole point - spite and making the people that make you feel insecure suffer out of spite.
It’s a form of social regression that people in the Balkans like to sum up by saying “It’s not important that I feel good. What’s important is that the other person suffers.”
Some people only feel ‘successful’ through their perceived ‘position’ in society.
They want to believe they are above others.
If you think like that, then pushing others down is a perfectly valid route to happiness - and far faster and easier than working on yourself would be.
Yes. They are happier.
They aren’t interested in making life better for anyone. They want it shittier for everyone else rather than actually improve themselves so they don’t have exert any effort or make sacrifices. The suffering they do get from trump’s policies is unexpected or “worth it” to fuck over everyone else.
Exactly, it doesn’t matter if Trump’s administration makes life worse for MAGA supporters. He could make their lives a living hell for all they care, arguably they’re already there. His supporters just want to see people they don’t like get hurt. That’s it, they want to witness cruelty. Any conservative who didn’t jump off MAGA band wagon a long time ago has fully drank the cool-aid.
Over July 4th, I had a fun interaction with a guy running a firework stand in Indiana. I was out there visiting family, and my wife’s stepdad asks the guy at the shop if the tariffs are impacting him. His response:
“It’s fucked!” Then republican brain kicked in “b b b but u know it’s worth it in the long term”
Think if they win, they manage to get into some sort space exploration, meet others. The first others they’d meet would laugh and subjucate Earth at best, destroy Earth at worst. That attitude isn’t tolerant with a big technology difference. Mean maybe they win the lottery and become the Cardassians from Star Trek or something, but doubtful. In the end there’s no upside to the hate, they’ll just be as miserable as they were with fewer people to blame it on. Maybe we need to teach mindful meditation to everyone you do get some perspective from that.
Ariana didn’t write this. That Instagram person Matt did, and Ariana reposted it.
Matt Bernstein, he’s also got a podcast called A Bit Fruity, which (imo) has some very good takes.
Nah it was Matt Berenstain
That’s a rational question. Unfortunately it won’t get the desired result, because the target audience is not going to behave rationally:
- The media that they consume is following the fascist playbook. They’re telling the audience that if things are not better yet, then it’s because there are others still left to blame, and the worse things get the harder those others are going to be blamed for it.
- Even if someone moves past that propaganda, it’s been ingrained into them that to accept being incorrect is to admit failure. They’ve been primed to dig in and double down, lest their peers see them as a failure, or even worse as others.
This is not how some Trump voters I know think at all; it’s not how they think of Trump. Bring up any of these points and they’d think you’re totally paranoid.
I witnessed a group of old guys watching the movie ‘One Battle After Another’ scratch their heads and have literally, honestly no idea what it was about.
It’s because they’re in the habit of watching Fox News or other ‘old’ media. Trump’s just some Republican like they’ve always voted for with a bunch of hysterical finger pointers, and any Democrat is basically Jimmy Carter or Hillary Clinton.
That’s only a portion of Trump voters though. There are a lot of younger voters with less ingrained brain washing that came recently from new media.
I honestly don’t know what you do about the people you are speaking of. I have some in my extended family and there is no convincing them of things after 3 decades of programming. Even foundational knowledge isn’t the same.
Yeah at some point folks get too old to change. You can try to get them off Fox News at least, but it just depends. Sometimes you can’t. Sometimes they really can’t even learn a new kind of remote/cable or whatever.
Younger folks are deep down the influencer rabbit hole, and I don’t know what to do about that (other than pushing Fediverse) since Big Tech has such an iron grip on everything. I mean, the future is definitely cyberpunk.
Here in WV them olds got fired up quick when they saw SS threatened. They might have to go back to work at 70+ and live the golden years in a golden shower they created with trickle down economics.
Good thing WV has tons of good-paying jobs available for senior citizens!
Literally everybody is suffering and about to have a mental breakdown but some of them enjoy seeing other ppl suffer and that’s literally the only happiness in this land
Yeah. A comment that stuck with me is “the type that would happily eat shit just to make others smell their breath”. These types will suffer just so they can hurt others. They’re hateful as fuck
Misery loves company, and making the population insecure such that they need to fragment into insular groups, creates an environment where conservatism and faith can spread, while the intellectual gains we’ve made throughout the information age are placed behind gates and degrade outside the walls. Trumpers were sold a path toward personal control, but it was clearly a bamboozle that affects us all, themselves being some of the hardest hit. We’ll all suffer for the slide toward conservatism and ignorance, and the hierarchy will prosper for a little while longer.
We are in quite a pickle. Jumping on the pendulum, breaking out the pitchforks, and stringing up the other side would only further advance the very conditions that weaken the collective. We lose if we take the bait. We lose if we don’t. Our best chance of success lies in resisting the push toward insularity and distributing quality information to all, against the torrent of propaganda from state-influenced media. Now, how the hell do we effectively distribute countervailing information to the population that needs it most (those drawn to faith-based argumentation)?
I know I’m preaching the obvious to the choir. Just a coffee ramble.
They just want someone to suffer more than them
Grand Ariana Grande <3
I keep asking the conservatives in my life this. Thanos snap, all migrants are gone, how has your life improved? The only straight answer I’ve gotten was a creative use of math to show how much the US would save on benefits. Their proof relied on an omission from their source about who is going to lose benefits. The cost of enforcement, detention and removal was outside the bounds of the original question.
Thats not even including the tax revenue that’s lost since many pay income tax (with no representation or access to benefits) essentially propping the system up, in part, for everyone else. I assume they think they can make up the difference on tariffs (nevermind much of that cost is passed on to ordinary Americans)
When the Ottomans took over Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire fell, they began charging steep taxes on goods travelling from East to West. The Portugese, not content with paying the tax, launched maritime expeditions to reach India and managed to find a direct route from Europe to India going around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. This was the start of the Age of Discovery. Spain commissioned Columbus with the same goal and… well we all know where he ended up.
The point being when you charge an egregious tax or tariff people find a way around you rather than going through you. America is likely assuming its in such advantaged position globally that it can get away with it, but history shows that no nation / kingdom can survive alone and when you try to fleece people, they will find a way to exclude you.
The Portugese, not content with paying the tax, launched maritime expeditions to reach India and managed to find a direct route from Europe to India going around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.
It’s worth adding that the Portuguese then took advantage of their stoutly-built, cannon-armed ships to loot and annihilate the existing shipborne traffic in the Indian Ocean. “Age of the Protection Racket” would be a better term than “Age of Discovery”.
Oh the first Portugese colonists including Vasco da Gama was inhumane monsters no doubt. The absolutely horrific, inhumane shit he did to take control of the Indian Ocean trade route makes him notorious.
What’s funny is how little people in previously colonial empire nations know their own history. A lot of these Christopher Columbus-esque folk are lionized in the European nations they came from. Which is a pathetic lack of introspection for such a highly educated place, in my opinion.
I mean humans have a great capacity for evil but European behaviour during the colonial era? Damn. Based on scale alone that has to be the benchmark for evil in the modern era.
has to be the benchmark for evil in the modern era
I mean … for all time. Even the Assyrians would be like “damn, you rode those people like horses and cut off their hands? We never did shit that bad.”
when you try to fleece people, they will find a way to exclude you.
Ancap/libertarian types like to pitch that as a point for their world view. Still pretty much all the ones I know IRL and online all still voted for Trump. DOGE was a major gift for them too as it was a way to import ancap president Javier Melei’s ideas from Argentina to the US. Bit ironic how they’ve switched to pretending they never liked it or that Trump is a lesser evil.
The only straight answer I’ve gotten was a creative use of math to show how much the US would save on benefits.
And let me guess: that doesn’t consider the increase in expenses going towards funding ICE…
Thanos snap, all migrants are gone, how has your life improved?
how much the US would save
Absolute speculation in response to a question about current state.
You know what, unfortunately for some in the target demographic the answer is yes. Those who capitulated and got jobs as ice agents got a huge sign on bonus and livable salary. Bribed to terrorize
So what are you waiting for?
You got what you asked for!
Was… Was that one question?
What an impactful post though. Or at least it is for the people that aren’t its target audience. 😬
I’m going to pull this since it’s not an archived link to Ariana Grande directly. Send me the link and I’ll put it back up.
Edit: She shared a makeup artist’s post, here is an article about it.
