“Dear America: You are waking up, as Germany once did, to the awareness that 1/3 of your people would kill another 1/3 while 1/3 watches.”—Incorrectly attributed to Werner Herzog but just some random person on the internet it seems.
Still the quote makes sense even without the appeal to authority
Nah. America had Nazis in the 30s too. We're immune to the most rabid varieties of fascism and authoritarianism because they don't produce all the cool products Americans demand.
Americans might be plagued with racism and bigotry, but we're way too lazy and invested in our own lives for a coup. Literally our bread and circuses are way too good.
I think most of us are less apathetic like Squidward and more just exhausted. We care about a lot of the things happening, but there's so much going on we physically can't keep track of, let alone care about, it all, so we don't. We just don't have the mental or emotional energy for it.
It's not just Americans. As a Canadian we're deeply affected by American situations (plus our own politics). Sometimes the only way to put up with the complex world we live in is a little Squidwardism
Well, let's not pretend any of us even 'need' American influence to become shitty. The entirety of Europe has apparently decided that it's been long enough since WW2 for us to give Fascism another try. Sure, the US influences the world, but we're more than capable of fucking things up ourselves.
While maybe not as bad as the US yet, that image can be recycled for Europe in a short while.
There are few 'viable solutions' that readily present themselves to the concerned voter, so little gets resolved and issues continue to grow and morph. If you look at things through a state by state lens it becomes more cloudy because state laws will affect more immediate issues and can very likely differ. It's hard to command fifty entities in one direction, all worried about various concerns in various directions. Having faith in this Rube Goldberg machine def makes for a bad time, so apathy and hope suffice. System working as intended, do not investigate.
Honestly, that's why despite as much respect as I have for the Constitution and the founding fathers, I sincerely believe that a parliamentary, rather than federal system, would be far more efficient & effective. Sure, problems could effect faster, but so could solutions.
And then the red second someone from Europe cracks wise about it, all of them descend upon the poor healthcare haver like a pack of rabid wolves.
For how capable we are of recognizing and hating our own problems, we are equally incapable of hearing about them from anyone else without punching said anyone else in the face for talking shit.
Salutes flag, sheds patriotic tear, admires eagle screeching while spreading its wings before the majestic sunset
I still feel like half of the time the people from Europe are using it as an opportunity to pat themselves on the back for something they were born into. (I can make this criticism because I'm from there)
And ignoring the fact that they just elected a political party that wants to eliminate the very thing they're bragging about, because an immigrant might be able to afford a doctor.
I’m Squidward. At some point we have to realize that it’s not our fellow Americans fault they are misinformed and undereducated, it’s the fault of the ruling class and how we are being educated. The ruling class is never going to teach you the means to overthrow them. Unfortunately, it is up to us as individuals to teach each other critical thinking, media literacy and our shared history. It was never us versus MAGA, us versus the boomers, us versus the tankies. It was always us versus the rich. 🤑
Until the tankies seize power and start killing the anarchists for being anti-state xd
Not all tankies would do this, but it's happened before and it's good to be cautious around those who want supreme authority, even if they claim it's just "temporary". If we see the Chinese state wither away and give rise to a truly communist society, I'll be genuinely surprised.
More urban versus suburban. The suburbs are an enormous money sink that require tons of subsidy and infrastructure expansion to persist. A bunch of our municipal, state, and national policy revolves around keeping life in the suburbs artificially cheap and expanding the housing stock.
Rural communities don't have anywhere near the kind of political influence as the suburbs, as they lack a wealthy professional workforce or a large enfranchised voter base to command elected offices. While you definitely see rural politics show up in suburban races, they tend to revolve around cultural icons (driving a big truck versus riding the bus, having a big yard versus living in a town home, proximity to colleges and communities of color, taste in clothing or music) rather than actual rural political issues (water rights, agricultural labor issues, affordable education and health care).
Rural communities get steamrolled as regularly as urban communities. We're seeing that now in Texas, where the governor is turning a blind eye to another big drought and unleashing his police force on migrant farm workers as he gets ready to axe all the public schools out in the tiny towns and force people into low-budget charters. Urban centers are louder in their opposition, but the rural neighborhoods are getting fucked just as hard.