I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone who lost friends and family, just because they voted for the current president.
I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone who lost friends and family, just because they voted for the current president.
Autistic guy here and sorry for the political rant. There is a lot of intense and horrific things happening all over the world like the recent war with Iran. But let me say this. If you voted for Trump and your friends and family cut you off because of it, then I do not feel any sympathy for you.
Especially if you have a loved one who is neurodivergent or is special needs. The amount of grief and hopelessness this administration is bringing to thousands, if not millions, of families in the USA is indefensible. Families have been torn apart because of his draconian policies towards immigration. Legal immigrants and regular tourists are being jailed because they committed a minor infraction. Education and social safety programs are being gutted, while the ultra-wealthy keep getting richer and richer.
Canada, Australia and Europe, which we have seen as friends for the previous couple decades, are moving away from the USA after Trump's annexation threats of Canada and withdrawing from several agreements. And I don't fault them for boycotting the USA as there are other friendlier countries to travel to and buy products from. Compared to Europe or Asia, the only good things we have going for us here are the universities and the national parks. Yet Trump and most of his cabinet want to dismantle the national park system and remove all federal funding from these universities. I'm not sad that Canadians and Europeans (and Australians) are boycotting the USA, and at this point, I would happily boycott the USA as well if I didn't live here. I'm sad because I really enjoy talking to international people. Plus many of these cultural ties between certain states and certain provinces (like BC and the NW USA, or Quebec and the Maritimes with New England) have been severely damaged and will be very difficult to repair. What makes traveling fun for me is having fun conversations with international people from all over the world.
All of this to make the USA safer?! Really?!
Now that Roe v. Wade has ben overturned and many states are implementing harsh laws preventing women from getting abortions, the USA will very likely its own Mahsa Amini. And when that happens and another wave of nationwide protests happen, Laken Riley will really be turning in her grave when she finds out her death was used for far-right authoritarian policies to dismantle healthcare for millions of women.
Safer from school shootings and gun violence since Republicans want to ease all gun restrictions? Safer from diseases since there is an anti-vax skeptic who is the secretary of the US health and human services and wants to remove all vaccine requirements? Out of fear that vaccines cause Autism which has been debunked countless times by countless scientists? Safer from pollution now that several environmental regulations have been eased? Safer for plane travel now that majority of the FAA has been fired? Safer traveling out of the country because American citizens (who even have Global Entry) are being put into waiting rooms for hours.
You voted for him to lower the cost of groceries and gas prices?! How is $2.80 per gallon of gas expensive, unless you casually drive a large pickup truck? Due to the tariffs and now the war in Iran, gas and gadgets are going to become A LOT more expensive. People in Oklahoma are going to be in for a very nasty shock when they are suddenly paying Massachusetts prices for utilities and food in a matter of time, unless the entire world can forgive the USA at this point.
If you voted for Trump in 2016, I would still think you have a good heart, even if our political opinions are different. If you voted for Trump in 2024 after Trump proved to the entire world that he has no respect for his political opponents, the constitution and law by putting members of the entire US cabinet in danger on 6 Jan 21, then I don't think you have a good heart and you deserve to be ostracized.
This is why I have such a heard time sympathizing with those who lost friends and family connections because they would rather die of heart failure or cancer than have a well-qualified woman be president, and instead sympathize with those that did cut off friends and family if they voted for Orange Man. I hope everyone who voted for Orange Man will financially suffer. Because we don't have a difference in political opinions. We have a difference in morality and ethics.
Because we don’t have a difference in political opinions. We have a difference in morality and ethics.
That exactly is the problem. They claim morality, but don't have them. They claim to be faithful Christians, but Jesus himself would probably take the whip again and drive them out for so violently abuse his teachings.
The people today who claim to be followers of Christ are the same people who 2000 years ago would be shouting "crucify him!"
Absolutely.
I've heard that autism world view is more governed by values instead of which group you're a part of. The question "describe yourself" was studied and autistic people respond with "conscientious, stubborn, eager to please, sharing and believe firmly in the pursuit of knowledge" while neurotypicals respond rather with "white Christian man from the Midwest" etc.
Honestly, to me it's painfully obvious what Trumps game plan was going to be and there was an example of it before where he enacted the Muslim ban, had an anti Latino sentiment, inhumane detention camps and so on.
It seems to me that the voters didn't feel included in the economy and they felt their way of life was slowly being removed by the Democrats so they voted for fascism. Instead of voting for the bad option they voted for worse because the bad option hadn't been working for them so far.
US politics is a shitshow.
i hope they suffer emotionally as well.
There are those who chose to hedge for clout - sit it out in smug virtue, while avoiding accountability for allowing him into office.
Phuck Bryce Hall, Adin Ross, Kai Cenat, Dave Portnoy and especially Andy Tate! They all played a major role in helping Trump get elected.
Don't forget Rogan and the Paul Brothers. But they were known pieces of shit before trump 1.
I haven't spoken to my mother since Jan 19. She voted for this asshole (again). My partner is at risk because of my mother. I may never speak to her again. I still sent flowers on Mother's Day, however.
I lost contact with some of my closest friends in college that I knew for more than a decade because of their politics and other things happening on social media. It's sad, but my parents and I recently moved to another city in a different state so I am forgetting that friendship already.
I got extremely yelled at for saying this about the last five presidents.
LOL
"Well-qualified woman"
There are no qualifications for president, and if there were, neither Trump nor Harris would be suitable candidates. What kind of doofus looks at 25% unemployment and tells people to 'just be joyful' for three months of a campaign and says they won't change anything, again in full knowledge of Americans' impoverishment and Biden's unpopularity? (Not to mention her wet fart of a primary campaign in 2020.)
But if you want a woman with half a chance of winning, AOC is literally filling football stadiums in red states right now.
I have sympathy for them. Most Americans didn't vote for Donald out of ideological concerns. They voted Donald because they've gotten progressively poorer for four years while Joe Biden did nothing meaningful to help them.
I think people are taking the my way or the highway approach to politics. You are suppose to have an extreme view one way or the other and everyone who disagrees is evil.
I think it is the shortcomings of the current political climate
Americans are being lied to all day, every day, by complicit corporate media backing an ever more corrupt establishment. This is not exclusive to Republicans by any stretch of the imagination: remember all the people clamouring against the "Bernie Bros"? I'm sure some of the people taking this extreme position against Republican voters were also bashing Bernie Bros and saying "it's her turn".
Where did that get you people, huh? Sanders and AOC extend an olive branch and fill up stadiums, while you continue to try to drive even more wedges between us. "He will not divide us"? You were right, because OP and people like OP are all too happy to drive the wedge in on their own. Trump is not the thing you're fighting against, he's effectively what you're fighting for. Go ahead, keep driving people away to the right and see what happens.
Absolutely.
Beating fascism means fighting side-by-side with people you don't like, just as when America allied with Russia.
Then it sounds like you have an absolutely normal amount of empathy as an American.
Which I should add is incredibly low, and my greatest shame of being an American myself.If you can't feel bad for people who don't know they're victims of what may be the longest and most expensive con this nation has ever known, I don't know what else to say.
If you can’t feel bad for people who don’t know they’re victims of what may be the longest and most expensive con this nation has ever known, I don’t know what else to say.
I don't feel bad for them because it required willful ignorance, hatred of others, and refusing to acknowledge his first term in office to 'fall for it'.
Fuck 'em. Hope they suffer more than the people who are suffering because of their choices.
I'm not sure if Lemmy is the place where the right idiots will see this, but fully agreed.
You would be surprised how many tankies here are accelerationist and fully support trump destroying as much as he can.
I agree that they brought it on themselves.
There are a few concepts that are getting muddled here, blameworthyness, and empathy. Both for you as the observer, and they as the subjects.
I don't think it's good to equate the two. They're distinct.
Should a laid-off oil worker struggling to feed their family be worthy of empathy from a republican voter if they themselves had voted Democrat? Would you celebrate the republican proudly declaring they had no empathy?
Would Elon Musk be celebrating your announcement now? He has declared empathy to be weakness, and you've announced that you've managed to squash yours for a large swathe of the population.
People can be to blame for their own pain. Does that mean they deserve no empathy?
And, what have you done to yourself in doing so? What human part of yourself have you killed or let whither to get to where you are now?
It's easy to be empathetic to people who are like yourself. It's more difficult to be empathetic to those different.
Regardless of blameworthyness, I don't think we should be proud of our ability to feel no empathy for others. It may be the case, but that's a personal weakness.
People can be to blame for their own pain. Does that mean they deserve no empathy?
If they are on the side of evil, gleefully snickering as brown people are loaded onto planes, then yes.
If they don't want to feel the ire of our burning contempt for their low-trust, anti-social behavior, then they shouldn't be doing it. Be on the side of good. Learn to be pro-community, or perish.
This doesn't mean I want them to starve. Though, I wouldn't be strictly opposed to some system whereby welfare is stripped from people who voted against it. Some people just gotta learn from consequences.
You're still muddling concepts.
Someone can be blameworthy. That's one thing.
Then bad things can happen to them, and those things might be just. They might DESERVE those things. That's another thing.
Can you feel empathy towards that person, that's a third thing still.
I can't stress enough: these three concepts are distinct.
It's also worth pointing out how lacking empathy actually trends towards horrible actions, and that those horrible actions often produce reactions baffling to the empathy less and obvious to those with empathy.
Honestly, what you're describing sounds a LOT like the lines out of Israel Re: Palestinians. The royal "they" support Hamas? Time for consequences, or they'll never learn. Oh, now they hate us even more? The generational cycle of hatred continues? How could they not graciously accept our lessons?
Like... It's the obvious outcome. Intentionally thrust people into poverty to teach them a lesson?
I understand where it comes from, the Trump stuff. I get it. There is no justice. It's FRUSTRATING.
One can dream of justice without lusting for punishment
Don't confuse a thirst for justice with a disdain for empathy. Killing your own empathy ISN'T justice, and the only thing you've done is made yourself lesser. Send not to know for whom the bell tolls
This here is why America is going to collapse. I'm not even saying your wrong to feel the way you do. But the blame is actually on both parties. The division they've created caused a thinking of us vs them. The wars that USA participated in separated the world in the minds of Americans to the point they can't even begin to understand diplomacy or negotiations. The Tucker/Cruz interview didn't just show case American incompetence, but showed the world that Americans don't even think in terms of alliances or unity, only division. And now, now it's eating the country itself. Trump was inevitable, no one in the States wants to hear this. But did the Democrats work to understand Russia, Iran, China? Did they work to understand the issues of S.Korea, Japan? What were your Asian allies concerned about, was it really war with China? What about the Canadians, what are they concerned about, what about Mexicans? You only thought in terms of how they viewed America, never what their views about themselves or the globe as a whole. You closed your eyes to the world, a fascist dictator is what you get.
Me, hypothetically: shoots you
Police: "well really, the blame is on both parties"
See how stupid that statement is? When one is trying to, directly or indirectly, harm the other, no, it's not fucking 'both sides'.
Yeah, there's a fuckload of idiots in the states, but blaming 'both sides' because one is a gullible moron isn't the big brain idea you think it is. We need to educate, and over time it will solve the issue. That's why reps are trying to make it harder for both US citizens and those studying here from abroad, to get an education. A stupid population is easily controlled. That is the problem. Not 'both sides'.
The fact that you want to blame everyone (esp the last sentence) is deplorable, and shows a lack of empathy and understanding about the very topic you spout.
You didn't read what I wrote at all did you? I'm saying they both created a divisive nation. The division is the problem. If you want to make an analogy it would be both sides pulled the trigger at the same time.
Edit. Actually you exemplify my point. No one listens and instead just repeats their talking points. It's not the issues I'm talking about, it's hearing the argument in the first place.
“the blame”… you act as if there is only a single source of fucked up blame to go around… there are so many reasons: the world is not a binary
But did the Democrats work to understand Russia, Iran, China?
The Democrats actually understand Russia, Iran, and China; the Republicans try and live in a delusional narrative about Russia, Iran, and China.
Extending "charity" to delusional narratives only extends the duration of the delusion.
I'm not saying oligarch Democrats aren't part of the problem, but a major problem we have is way too much charity for stupid stupid thinking.
If anyone understood Iran, then why isn't Iran accepting North Korea offer of nuclear weapons? If Iran was really going after nukes, then a country literally offering them nukes should be welcomed with open arms. So then it's not about getting nukes. What is it then? Which side knows the answer?
Also which side can explain the ceasefire agreement that China made with Saudi Arabia and Iran. If Iran can't ever be peaceful, why is this peace agreement holding. Why can't Israel and Iran make one too?
But the blame is actually on both parties.
there is some truth to this
The division they’ve created caused a thinking of us vs them.
this is stupid.
Is it stupid? I just showed you that even when people from other countries tell you their views, you immediately jumped into a rant about MAGA. That I was against you and talking about another American view point. You were completely unable to see what I was actually talking about.
Edit. I really hope you see the irony here. You came at me saying I'm stupid and only saw in binary. Now you see my view point is outside your binary so completely that you couldn't even fathom it and called it obtuse. But obtuse ideas outside the binary are exactly how we should start thinking. Your proving my point, hard.
Only on the Internet is fundamental responsibility questioned.
You could do toxic positivity and say "any Trump voter can be redeemed. Realizing your errors of supporting trump and seeing how it affected people around you is a good start"
What about the people who didn't vote for the orange man, but still lost people because of him?
Roughly a million Americans died because his administration bungled the COVID-19 response because they didn't want to follow the playbook that was clearly laid out for them by the Obama administration.
Some of those Americans did not vote for Trump and still died because of Trump, and some of us who survived lost people who did not vote for Trump but still died because of Trump.
Having no sympathy or empathy for the actual innocent victims would make you a shit person.
I have no idea how you managed to read OP's post and fuck up the comprehension of it so badly, especially considering that OP put their point in the first fucking paragraph and even bolded it for you:
If you voted for Trump and your friends and family cut you off because of it, then I do not feel any sympathy for you.
How does this ^ have anything whatsoever to do with your off-the-wall crazy-ass interpretation?
Having no sympathy or empathy for the actual innocent victims would make you a shit person.
Generally speaking, Americans do not need extra reasons to avoid feeling empathy.
"Fuck you! You got what you deserved" should be worked into our national anthem by now.
Right now they are coping or doing mental gymnastics
This is just great thinking
think about it. the Reps can use this endlessly to justify their apparent lack of empathy towards democrats
So under this framework, all the actions they are taking currently are fully justified, not only by themselves, but by the perceived "enemy"
Basically you have pigeonholed yourself into a pickle placed between 2 boulders called "a rock" and "a hard place", as you now cannot complain about anything they do as, well, that's the framework you are spouting about
So all is good with the world when you get shown no empathy
After all, in your heart of hearts, you voted for this 😉
Yep, it's a classic Leopards Ate My Face. They got exactly what they voted for.
A couple I knew in college, basically they'd been together since childhood, moved to rural Minnesota, because conservative. They were militantly anti-mask and anti-.odern medicine. They refused the COVID vaccine and the whole family got sick several times. The husband finally died, on a respirator. His wife blames Biden. Sad.
Do you want to institute change, or do you just want to give trump voters an 'I told you so' because it feels good?
Not extending sympathy is how we got into this shithole to begin with. You cannot convince over trump voters with facts and logic. The best you can do is wait for leopards to eat their faces, or pacify their egos until they are emotionally invested enough to vote for someone other than trump. Trump voters do not respond to reason. But they will respond by voting trump again if they feel alienated.
Yes, it's shitty and they deserve so much worse. However, we deserve better, and we won't get anything better until we coddle trump voters into doing the right thing.
Paradox of tolerance.
Lol,
First of all, it's spelled 'paragon'. And second, if we condone shit heads they'll choose to be less bigoted because they're clearly and historically scrupulous. That's why we must capitulate - because of their fair, peaceful, and rational idealogrogy... Wait, BRB, I need to feed the brain worms and they are starting to look emaciated.
What an absolute twat you'd have to be to suggest something so unimaginably proposterous.
I feel similarly about people who voted Labour in the last UK election.