@PorkChopExpress It's my second favourite Carpenter flick after "The Thing". I love "The Blues Brothers" too - it has the funniest music cue ever - after Carrie Fisher blows up Elwood's rooming house and the brothers clamber out of the rubble, dust themselves down and the Peter Gunn Theme kicks in. I laugh every single time.
@PorkChopExpress@Jaz007 I do not want to start a fight or an argument, so please see my following comment as being in good faith. I genuinely do not understand how people can support a candidate who gleefully set in motion and took credit for the overturning of such a landmark and necessary Supreme Court decision such as Roe v. Wade. I cannot understand how people can support a candidate who throws out such wildly destabilising ideas as raising tariffs for any and all products. I do not understand how people can support a ticket that has openly opposed rights for LGBTQIA+ people, mainly trans people. I cannot begin to understand why anyone would support a candidate who actively works against preserving our climate and the safety of future generations. I do not understand why anyone would look back to the January 6th riot as a positive event and then support someone (who helped incite it in the first place) who hopes to pardon the people who were rightfully punished for their civil disobedience. I cannot believe supporting someone who, as president, was unable to react properly to a worldwide pandemic. And ultimately, I cannot imagine supporting any presidential candidate who was literally impeached. Twice. Making his impeachments half the amount of all the impeachments that have ever happened in US history.
I would never begin to imply Kamala Harris would be some kind of perfect candidate or the like, but Trump has so many strikes against him in all kinds of different areas that I just cannot fathom why anyone would believe him to be a competent candidate. I'm not trying to outright say you're wrong or stupid for supporting him, because ultimately that divisiveness is exactly what got us to this place. I'm sure you have your reasons, whether I would personally agree with them or not. However, as much as I like to think that I'm fairly apt at putting myself in other people's shoes and trying to understand their point of view, this is one of the few times where I simply have no words for why such a large subset of the population would have any trust in him as a president.
@PorkChopExpress I largely agree with your point of view, in the sense I don’t have much respect for politicians in general and it usually devolves into choosing the lesser of two evils. I also avoid the cancer that is most social media platforms and their design of being echo chambers and/or radicalized outlets (because that’s how they monetize and keep user engagement). It creates a false sense of reality and loses any and all nuance to the real world situations. Ditto for most news outlets, unfortunately. Certain news stations have become 24/7 advertisement for certain parties and so I have to be careful where I even get my news.
Nevertheless, I have been known to do write-ins on my voter ballots, and still attempt to participate. I used to be apathetic about exercising my civil duties to vote, but I’ve come around on at least writing someone in who I think would be good. I’m not saying you have to do that, but I feel like at least participating gives me the right to complain when things go awry.
And I understand the allure of not even voting, because I get questions all the time at work and in social situations asking “Who did you vote for?” And it’s a no-win situation, and if you answer “wrong” then you’re in for an argument or at least an awkward interchange if the person disagrees. When I’ve responded with “I didn’t vote for him. I did a write-in candidate” it usually disables the conversation, or at least makes it less awkward and then it can turn toward discussion of actual political ideals rather than just the flame war of political parties. Because, as an independent voter and independent thinker, guess what — I don’t agree fully with either party’s views all the time! Go figure. It boggles my mind that people just vote straight ticket because they just blindly adhere to a party, like they are rooting for a sports team or something. Sticking with just a party line is way too regimented, imho.
And as far as “For me, nothing changes and life goes on”, well I guess I can partially see your point in the sense whether your candidate wins or loses you are no less affected if you voted or if you didn’t vote. But your life absolutely changes with the outcome, whether you like it or not. Granted, those changes often occur subtly like the prices of goods and how much you pay in taxes. Nevertheless, even as small as I keep my circle (like you), I still know or regularly interact with undocumented immigrants, women of child bearing age who live in a state where having an ectopic pregnancy is a death sentence, several LGBTQ+ individuals, people who work in education or scientific research and other disciplines that are being proposed to change drastically, etc, etc. I’d be willing to bet that you are only 1 or 2 degrees separated from such individuals as well, no matter how small your circle is. If nothing else, the guy who changes your oil or cuts your grass might be adversely affected by potential legislative changes. And unless you’re in the highest tax bracket and have the lawyers and accountants to manipulate the system, I’m sure you’ll be affected when April rolls around.
I do agree with your sentiment (if I’m interpreting it correctly), that things do change a lot less than we think they will. The machine of government churns very slowly, and change is not affected overnight. In fact, I’m certain that in 4 years when all the issues that Donald said he would fix are still unfixed, then there will be a lot of excuses about how things take time to implement and have their effect. In fact I had to chuckle when he’d say during the presidential debates how he’d have ‘X’ problem fixed by ‘X’ date, especially when he was talking about an issue that would need to go through Congress, be funded, manpower assembled to implement it, etc. I’m no expert but I know one person can’t snap something into existence like that. The people love the confidence though, even if these promises (again, from both sides) are mostly window dressing.
@PorkChopExpress I’m with you buddy. Definitely can relate. I’ve got plenty of my own problems and there’s only so much emotional energy that one can have.
I’ve been surprised how many people have told me something similar to you over the last week — that they chose not to vote just out of fatigue from the whole thing and not having the bandwidth to care because of stuff going on in their personal life. And these are smart and reasonable people, one of which is going to be susceptible to devastating affects on their family if things go through as proposed by Trump. And this person didn’t vote. I found that astounding. If someone was running on a platform of “Eradication of all video game consoles because they pollute people’s minds” then I would be first in line at the voting booth! 😅
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@PorkChopExpress@Th3solution I've not voted in the last few elections either. Some of the reasons already listed are true for me too, and also I just don't pay enough attention to politics to feel like my vote would be geniune enough.
Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
As a non-American I've watched the US elections and from time to time looked at news about the things in the US for the past 4 years. I think the majority of Americans made the right choice. For the past 4 years the US looked like a really cringey bad meme.
I ordered a Steam Deck (1tb OLED) today! I have been mulling it over for a year so it was almost inevitable, but I have pulled the trigger at the worst possible moment really (amongst a bunch of other huge outgoings) but...what the heck.
1. If you are into GoG (Good Old Games) you can install their releases on the Steam Deck in desktop mode and just add it to the Steam Library from there. Awesome way to expand your library
2. There is an option to dualboot Windows on the Steam Deck. I have windows 10 on an SD card and I can just put it in the Steam Deck dual boot and play on windows (it is really comfortable with the trackpads).
3. Glass protector is a no brainer but still worth to mention it
4. Do not forget about Black Mesa as well! And soon they will release Black Mesa: Blue Shift!
4. Also, for emulation if you like that kind of thing, just search for Emu Deck. It is amazing!
The 1TB version comes with the non-reflective etched glass screen. Apparently this is much more hard wearing (I have read it effectively doesn't scratch??), but it's also non-glossy, and by putting a screen protector on it you essentially make it reflective. For that reason, I doubt I'll get a protector for it, to be honest, as I am pretty careful and it's unlikely to ever really leave the house.
I'm just curious. What sort of social media platforms are people on? (w/o disclosing usernames, avatars, personal details etc. i.e going against the rules on here) I used to have fb and I'm still technically on X (but I don't use it or my instagram account) so technically Push Square is my only form of social media, if this website qualifies as that. But what about everyone else? I don't really see the point of it in general, everything is better IRL or on a forum such as this where common interests can be discussed.
Oh, and there's also reddit, but that doesn't really count imo. That's more of an online billboard site, as the name would suggest.
"(Music is) a purposeless play. This play, however, is an affirmation of life" (paraphrased) - John Cage
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN I haven’t been active on any social media platforms for about 7 years, I just don’t see the point anymore when you’re fighting ads, the algorithm and the general vanity and narcissism of the general population. Push Square is the one exception that I use, if this site ever closes I’ll probably have no use for the internet 😂
We’re playing The Plucky Squire this month, join us!
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Push Square is the only form of social media that I regularly engage with. I had a MySpace and Facebook account at one point but deleted them entirely well over a decade ago. I’ve actually lightened up on the whole topic over the years, with my overall negative stance on the matter being far less sweeping and dogmatic than it used to be. That said, it’s just not something that I’m personally interested in participating in beyond this site.
“Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.” C.S. Lewis
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN In addition to this, I use Goodreads religiously. I'm also still on Facebook, which I have painstakingly fashioned into a news aggregator by following my favourite sites (such as PushSquare) and musical artists. As a result, 90% of what I get in my Facebook feed is actually interesting to me and the rest I can easily ignore. I know many use Twitter (I refuse to call it the other thing) the same way, but I never got started on that one back when it wasn't pure toxicity, and now I wouldn't get on there even if I was paid for it (well, even my principles have a price, so if Musk were to offer me half his fortune, I'd consider it).
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