I've noticed. It's a lot of hostility and emotion. I used to think that they must be young people to get so heated, when all that is called for is a calm refutation with facts and logic. However, then I started to realize that none of us are remotely young. Who posts on things like these threads anymore? This is just anecdotal, but whenever I click through on someone's profile to see who they are after they have insulted me, I see they are in their 40s, 50s, or 60s. I'm in my late 50s and have been posting here since 1996. I didn't realize I'd been posting for 21 years! Where did all that time go?
Do any young people post here or is it all just us old farts? And if it's just all the old farts, then why are we so hostile to each other? Surely, the emotion has been burned out of us over the last 20 years. I mean shit. We've seen the Internet Bubble burst, 9/11, and the cultural destruction of our country in its aftermath...Americans going from most-loved world status to most-hated. We've seen the Fed go apeshit with interest rates after the Internet Bubble to create the real estate bubble, and then saw that burst, becoming the second time in a decade where our portfolios got hammered. Then we saw the Fed go apeshit and print money out the wazoo, all the while Bush Jr was tearing up the Middle East, spending shitloads on the military, and giving Americans tax cuts we didn't want nor need. Then Obama came in and became well liked by all the Europeans and Muslims but derided by Russia and China who saw him as weak, but even his likability wasn't enough to make Americans loved again. Then Obama got co-opted by the evil Hillary and he spent his political capital on the shittiest health care overhaul in the history of the world that has resulted in all of our premiums going through the roof with 15% annualized inflation in costs. Then we saw Obama ratify the Patriot Act and FISA laws codifying the infrastructure of tyranny in this country, even as he used it to unmask political opponents like Trump and his campaign members. Then we saw Hillary do her normal crime boss thing to destroy Bernie by manipulating the DNC Primaries and then millennial stayed home, which enabled Trump to win. Then we've seen the wholesale destruction of the media due to their anti-Trump frenzies and are watching an FBI lead soft coup against Trump, as the world burns around us. All the while, Trump tweets more than any other human being and occasionally launches a baby ruth into the pool to stir things up...oh, how about we move the US Embassy to Jerusalem today and ratify Israels assertion that Jerusalem is their capital, so that we can inflame 1.5 billion Muslims. Why? Well, why not? Every now and then you gotta throw more gasoline on the fire to keep it burning high. How else are we going to get he world to burn bright?
I mean, hasn't this been fun? After all those roller coaster rides, can anyone really get emotional about this circus we live in anymore? Apparently on these threads we can. I just thought after 20 years of non-stop bullshit, we'd all have matured just a tad. Guess not. Anyway, i-node, us moderates and centrists, who simply use our common sense, need to stick together. We're a vanishingly precious few left. |
