Trump speeches may sound like listening to a four-year-old explain “The Lord of the Rings,”
LMAO
Is the question “why” really still a source of puzzlement to people? It’s a cult. Jesus is long dead, or probably never existed, so he’s even more “degenerated” than Trump, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem for his followers.
Just going to take the opportunity to point out that broad (not universal) historical consensus is that Jesus of Nazareth existed, was baptised by John the Baptist, and was then crucified. It goes without saying that Jesus being the Son of God, Messiah etc. is not the broad consensus.
Is it though? It seems there is no evidence and that it is more politically correct to say that he existed.
It is. Furthermore, as an atheist, I don’t feel like believing in the existence of Jesus compromises my position any. On the contrary, I’ve confused a few less-informed Christians by telling them that I believe Jesus existed but I don’t believe he was divine.
Besides that, stories like the Nativity seem to pretty much just be myth.
Oh sure. The supernatural claims need evidence and there is nothing at all for that. I used to hold more or less the same position (historical Jesus; supernatural claims are to be dismissed), but just based on cultural inertia. I honestly don’t know what the mainstream historical position is at this point. In any case, I wonder what they use as evidence of the existence of the character of Jesus being a real person.
The Wikipedia article has a pretty good summary.
Essentially, we have non-Christian sources claiming he existed from only a few decades after he died. Furthermore, no ancient critics of Christianity argue that Jesus didn’t exist. Then there are aspects of the story that you’d assume early Christians wouldn’t want to make up. This includes him being baptised by John the Baptist. It’s a little embarrassing for the alleged Messiah to be baptised by someone considered to be a normal dude. Sure Christians have kinda retconned its significance but if you were making it up whole-cloth why would you make that part of the story?
Similarly, the crucifixion. Try and take your mind back 1900 years. Crucifixion is a humiliating punishment, designed to shame criminals. If you were creating a mythical figure, in that time, why on Earth would you have him die that way? It doesn’t make much sense. To suppose Jesus is a wholly mythical figure is necessarily to suppose he’s an invention. Sure, maybe you could make a compelling anti-hero from the crucifixion story but you want to be fabricating the world’s first universal religion. Why make your job harder by so closely associating your so-called Messiah with a method of execution often associated with petty thieves and brigands?
It’s interesting to flip over to the talk portion of that page. When reading through the article, I wondered about some of the language myself. Seems I was right to read through the Talk tab…seems the best way to describe the consensus is that he was more likely to exist than not. But that’s really about as strong a position as can be put forth (honestly) by the advocates of a historic Jesus.
I mean correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think I said any different? All we are reasonably sure of is:
- He existed.
- He was baptised by John the Baptist.
- He was crucified.
However, any non-Christian who claims that Jesus of Nazareth was a mythical figure, as the original commenter did, discredits all of us non-Christians who find it ridiculous to believe that this man was the Messiah.
Lol. Do you know that Jesus myther are seen un the historic community like flat earther?
I was not aware of that. What is used as proof of his existence?
I will point you to the evidence but first proof to me that you exist.
Jesus likely existed
What I find funny is scholars who analyzed The Bible have a TON of reason to believe Jesus was one of those, “THE END IS NIGH! IT IS COMING IN OUR LIFETIMES! THE END IS NIGH!” people which is
Fucking hilarious to imagine
have a TON of reason to believe Jesus was one of those,
What evidence is that? The fact that power doesn’t have any reason to execute people for simply predicting the end of the world?
Becoming ever more cringier won’t bring the heyday of edgelord atheism back.
I had time to think for a bit. Please be advised that I’m not an American citizen and the following is purely conjecture.
Basically, I believe the US is FUBAR. There are 4 possible scenarios for the 5th of November:- Trump gets so demented it’s getting impossible to get him propped up, he has to concede somewhere around that time
- Trump finally gets thrown in jail, before election day
- Biden wins - right now it looks like it would be a close call
- Trump wins
The article mentions, as many have before, that the “conservative” way of “thinking” has become purely emotional. So what do you think will happen if either of the three first will come true? Someone will seize the day and shout some bullshit conspiracy or another and now 20-30% of your emotionally driven population will get set to “angry” and “revenge”.
If he simply wins: Mission accomplished!Now that I’ve thought a bit more, even (maybe especially?) if Biden wins in a landslide, the conspiracy spin could even be made stronger. Yikes. It might be the time of troubles on a very large scale and I reaaaaaaaaaly hope I’m totally wrong with all this!
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I think all of what you said, except maybe add a side of martyrdom on top of it. I’ve been saying since the last election, it’s not Trump himself they need, he’s only the figurehead to stir shit up. Get rid of him when he’s outlived his usefulness and do it in a way that sets up someone who’s liberal, brown, trans, gay, illegally in the country, or your choice of combination, and his followers will happily start a war and fight to the death to “avenge” him. Allow chaos to reign for awhile, then come in heavy handed to re-establish order and there go the rest of our freedoms “for the good and safety of everyone until things settle down”.
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Guess I don’t need any sleep tonight…
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They are fine with a Weekend at Bernie’s presidency so long as it brings them closer to the theocratic hellscape they want us to live in.
He’s more useful as an incoherent, babbling dementia patient. Even more if dead. They can just turn him into a literal puppet.
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This is why it’s essential for those debates to happen. Yes, both men are declining mentally, but Biden can at least make a coherent argument, even if he mixes up names sometimes.
There is no excuse for either candidate to avoid debates anymore. we need to hear them talk, without prepared speeches. I will take Biden’s odds on that over Trump’s any day.
If Biden wins this thing, I think history will find that the reason he beat Trump twice was that he was not at all intimidated by him. He takes Trump seriously, but also has the courage to call him out for the liar he is, convincingly, without dismissing his supporters as a bunch of losers. That takes a bit of confidence that only age can bring. Maybe Bernie could have done it, but I don’t think any other candidate could. Clinton absolutely failed at that.
And to clarify here. Biden is declining because we all do at that age. No one is immune to that. Trump is declining because he has abused who knows how many different drugs and fuck knows what else over the decades, add that history to age and it’s never going to be good. Biden has always had a stutter and while I know you didn’t mention it, it’s been used a bully stick by the maggats seemingly unaware of the fact that their guy has been deranged and unable to stay on topic for years.
I agree with all of that. His issues go beyond his stutter, though. His mouth has always been a step or two ahead of his brain, and he got himself into trouble in the past saying stupid shit. He has run for President for years and years, and couldn’t win until Trump made it OK to say stupid stuff.
Biden was a front runner in 88 due to his public speaking being so exceptional. Didn’t have a hint of a stutter either.
It wasn’t till reporters starting questioning him about plagiarism till he had to drop out. And it wasn’t because of the plagiarism.
It’s because when someone challenges Biden, he’s always lost his temper and started insulting them
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1j0FS0Z6ho
All that IQ stuff at the start is like what trump does. And all those statistics he rattled off turned out to be lies. When they were fact checked he dropped.
But the point is, Bidens current issues with speeching isn’t his stutter, he got over that while he was still a child. What’s happening now is what will happen to all of us if we’re lucky enough to live that long. His age is effecting him like it would anyone else.
So maybe we should run someone 20 years younger who’s only 61? Younger would be better, but 81 is just ridiculous
The times he tried running for president he backed out for the blatant lies he told while running. No speech impediment forces someone to lie.
The times he tried running for president he backed out for the blatant lies he told while running. No speech impediment forces someone to lie.
[Citation Needed]
An average middle aged American would make both candidates look too old and not suited for the presidency…
But when it’s Biden and trump, criticizing ones mental ability just makes people claim it’s not a big deal because the other is bad too.
Neoliberals claim Biden is better, republicans claim trump is better.
Everyone else says both aren’t good enough and why the fuck are these the only two options…
This is going to be a low turnout election, and those are the ones Republicans tend to win.
Ignoring it while there’s still time to fix it only helps trump. Because Republicans are better at ignoring reality than anyone else.
Time? What time do you think we have? The hour is later than you think. Trump’s forces are already moving. The Nine have left Mar-a-Lago. They crossed the River Delaware on Midsummer’s Eve, disguised as lobbyists in black.
Primary ain’t over, we haven’t even met Tom Bombadil yet…
Gandalf didn’t grab the first person under 5foot he saw, he picked a young fool of a Took who had the heart, courage, and willingness to keep marching against impossible odds.
Even he recognized Bilbo was too old and corrupted by power to make the journey.
Frodo and Sam made it to Mount Doom because they moved in secret and carried the one thing that could kill Trump, I mean Sauron, without direct confrontation. Like it or not, in this analogy, Biden is our Aragorn. Come to think of it, they are about the same age! If there is a Frodo secretly making his way to Mount Doom with Putin’s kompromat, I mean the One Ring, we don’t know about it yet.
If Biden is anyone, he’s Bilbo.
The difference is we didn’t have a Gandalf to wrest the ring away. So Bilbo keeps putting off the journey and spends all his time telling people no one else can carry the burden and about all his past adventures.
Dude’s never left the Prancing Pony
I get it man, you didn’t expect the analogy to fit so well, but it does.
You’re only comparing Biden to Bilbo because they both look old. That’s shallow. If Trump is Sauron in the analogy, which is how I set it up, then Biden is at least as strong and important as Aragorn. More so, really.
Even Aragon knew he couldn’t carry the ring…
Mate, I am a conservative independent who doesn’t like Biden. But please vote for Biden. There is a different between a bad but competent president (Biden) and someone who frequently undermines American institutions (Trump).
Accountability should be a conservative view, but things are so skewed right now that it’s seen as liberal or far left.
If there was ANYONE else viable, we could talk about getting someone viable. But right now it’s clear that there isn’t.
It’s very important to vote for the better candidate while simultaneously making moves to better the system overall.
The DNC has had the chance to primary Biden with someone more viable, they decided to stick with the guy that swore he would be a 1 term president that no one wants in office. Voters have had 3 years to demand change in the party, instead they punched at anyone trying to hold the party and Biden accountable. This combined with the gaslighting coming from the party that the economy is good and that we are not struggling while we know we are tells us they are not listening to our needs.
Everyone else says both aren’t good
False equivalence. Old <> Narcissistic Dementia.
Everybody hates politicians. Super easy to criticize any particular politician, and not likely to generate much angry feedback.
Trump is a fucking goldmine of material. The sheer diversity of his bullshit means that no one topic stays relevant for very long.
Biden, though? You’ve got age and Israel, and Israel has way too much other stuff associated to bring up in mixed company. The reason people harp so much on Biden’s age is because there’s nothing else they can talk about.
The reason people harp so much on Biden’s age is because there’s nothing else they can talk about.
Climate change, we have record breaking fossil fuels production and still subsidizing it.
Economy, only good for the 1%, Biden keeps bragging about it.
Healthcare, just ignoring it
Cannabis, Biden ain’t even going to deregulate which was his campaign promises
Education, K-12 still terrible, student loans that have been forgiven isn’t even a rounding error in total debt
Policing/legal system, still absolutely fucked, not being addressed
SC, won’t admit it needs fixed
Abortion, Biden won’t take action. Just says trump would make it worse again.
Do I need to continue?
Biden disagrees with his voters on lots of things, just because people are focused on a few, doesn’t mean the rest disappeared.
Funny how everything you mention that Biden isn’t good at, Trump is way way worse and actively sabotage many of them, and most of the things aren’t help because Repubtards are blocking it.
Do I need to continue?
No you aren’t going anywhere anyway.
Why would a starving man object to a shit sandwich?
It’s better than starving…
I’ll eat the shit sandwich if it’s my only choice, but others might not.
So how about we offer a pb&j to everyone and they’ll all make the smart choice?
That’s not the political reality, and you probably know it.
You are preaching wishful thinking.If wanting more than a shit sandwich is wishful thinking, You’ve already given up
That’s fine, you do you.
But if you won’t help fix shit, please stop telling the ones still putting in the effort that it’s just “wishful thinking”.
Criticizing a President/candidate for things he hasn’t done is pretty ineffective, because the easy answer is, “the other party is blocking him.” Most of your criticisms require a five minute conversation to articulate your position, because they’re actually hard policy questions, and don’t fit into a TV soundbite: they’re a whole other category than “He’s too old,” or “He’s sexually assaulted 18 women.”
…
Exactly, his flaws that fit into TV sound bites and headlines are the ones that get brought up the most…
That doesn’t mean the rest magically don’t exist and people don’t care about them.
That’s just the reason they dont get brought up the most.
And the other party would try to block them, but at least Biden could be trying so instead of a hypothetical he could point at when and where they blocked it.
Progressives dont want everything fixed immediately, I mean, it’d be nice.
But we’re not used to getting stuff, a president who tries is more than enough to get us excited.
Which is why it’s so frustrating Biden doesn’t even try
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism
That word still doesn’t mean what you think it means.
Nope, gotta scroll down to “current usage”
Historian Elizabeth Shermer argued that the term gained popularity largely among left-leaning academics in the 1970s to “describe and decry a late twentieth-century effort by policymakers, think-tank experts, and industrialists to condemn social-democratic reforms and unapologetically implement free-market policies”;[51] economic historian Phillip W. Magness notes its reemergence in academic literature in the mid-1980s, after French philosopher Michel Foucault brought attention to it.[52]
At a base level we can say that when we make reference to ‘neoliberalism’, we are generally referring to the new political, economic and social arrangements within society that emphasize market relations, re-tasking the role of the state, and individual responsibility. Most scholars tend to agree that neoliberalism is broadly defined as the extension of competitive markets into all areas of life, including the economy, politics and society.
The Handbook of Neoliberalism[22]
Neoliberalism is contemporarily used to refer to market-oriented reform policies such as "eliminating price controls, deregulating capital markets, lowering trade barriers" and reducing, especially through privatization and austerity, state influence in the economy.[8] It is also commonly associated with the economic policies introduced by Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom and Ronald Reagan in the United States.[28] Some scholars note it has a number of distinct usages in different spheres:[53]
They love changing the name for it, but their principles remain steadfast.
Hell, Biden even tried to co-opt “Reaganomics” into “Bidenomics” and trumps been using the “MAGA” campaign slogan that Regan used…
You cannot be more wrong.
It is also commonly associated with the economic policies introduced by Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom and Ronald Reagan in the United States.
As a public policy, it involves the privatization of public economic sectors or services, the deregulation of private corporations, sharp decrease of government budget deficits and reduction of spending on public works.
There is debate over the meaning of the term. Sociologists Fred L. Block and Margaret Somers claim there is a dispute over what to call the influence of free-market ideas which have been used to justify the retrenchment of New Deal programs and policies since the 1980s: neoliberalism, laissez-faire or “free market ideology”.[54] Other academics such as Susan Braedley and Med Luxton assert that neoliberalism is a political philosophy which seeks to “liberate” the processes of capital accumulation.[55] In contrast, Frances Fox Piven sees neoliberalism as essentially hyper-capitalism.[56] Robert W. McChesney, while defining neoliberalism similarly as “capitalism with the gloves off”, goes on to assert that the term is largely unknown by the general public, particularly in the United States.[57] Lester Spence uses the term to critique trends in Black politics, defining neoliberalism as “the general idea that society works best when the people and the institutions within it work or are shaped to work according to market principles”.[58] According to Philip Mirowski, neoliberalism views the market as the greatest information processor, superior to any human being. It is hence considered as the arbiter of truth. Adam Kotsko describes neoliberalism as political theology, as it goes beyond simply being a formula for an economic policy agenda and instead infuses it with a moral ethos that “aspires to be a complete way of life and a holistic worldview, in a way that previous models of capitalism did not.”
Neoliberalism is distinct from liberalism insofar as it does not advocate laissez-faire economic policy, but instead is highly constructivist and advocates a strong state to bring about market-like reforms in every aspect of society.[60] Anthropologist Jason Hickel also rejects the notion that neoliberalism necessitates the retreat of the state in favor of totally free markets, arguing that the spread of neoliberalism required substantial state intervention to establish a global ‘free market’.[61] Naomi Klein states that the three policy pillars of neoliberalism are “privatization of the public sphere, deregulation of the corporate sector, and the lowering of income and corporate taxes, paid for with cuts to public spending”.
Bruh…
Neoliberal means different things in different countries… Just like liberal does
Why are you bolding the part a Canadian said?
Why not stop using such a general link? We’re talking about modern American neoliberalism, you want the father of that?
It’s James Carville.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Carville
You want an explanation on modern American neoliberalism:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/neoliberalism/
It’s not as easy of a read as Wikipedia, and it’ll.probably go over your head.
MAGA voters don’t notice Trump’s decline and BlueMAGA don’t notice Biden’s. That failure to acknowledge the elephant in the room is gonna fuck us all, again.
Trump’s decline is from dementia. Biden’s is from old age and is nowhere even close to the level that Trump is at. We’re only a few months away from Trump sundowning on live TV.
Like I said, BlueMAGA can’t see it either
BlueMAGA
Would you like to know why no one takes you seriously?
MAGA: “Migrants are burning down cities all the time (somehow), and injecting bleach stops coronavirus!”
(So-called) BlueMAGA: “I dislike some of Biden’s policies and his response to Gaza, but I want someone responsible in charge.”
anticolonialist: “I literally cannot tell the difference!”
Just reminding people that hyper-normalization is a thing, and this is a textbook example of it.
>The word hypernormalisation was coined by Alexei Yurchak, a professor of anthropology who was born in Leningrad
I’ve been called “Ivan” (and worse) for a lot less. be careful out there.
