Honestly I don’t know what’s going on in the USA. You’re so proud of your “democracy and freedom” yet one of your 2 political parties is able to effectively dismantle the entire thing in less than a decade. You’re now one election away from being a christofascist state.
…and yet you’re all just going to work tomorrow. You’re all doing pretty much nothing except “make sure you vote in 2024.” So I guess every 4 years you’re going to be one election away from a literal Nazi takeover?
I don’t know. Riot or something. I have no idea how you’re all coping so hard.
If all you consume is news and social media – which have incentives to show the most extreme views, events, and content – you’re going to have a distorted picture of the world as a 100% awful, dangerous place.
But most of the time, in most parts of the world, most people are just living their lives. I live in the Portland, OR area and you would have thought by the news coverage of the 2020 George Floyd riots that the city was burning to the ground; in reality, the disruptions were limited to a few square blocks downtown. The majority of the city went on like usual.
There’s a lot more nuance to things about the US, too, than those outside realize.
People do fight back, every day. Our courts are prosecuting Trump. The House Speaker loony you mention in the thread came about only after a long, drawn out debate; the Republican Party is incredibly divided and ineffectual right now. Roe vs. Wade fell, but many blue states strengthened protections. Mass shootings get a lot of press, but they affect a vanishingly small part of the population.
Obviously there are problems and not everything is fine. And we have to be vigilant. But this sentiment among people – especially certain Europeans I’ve noticed – that the US is just a pure dumpster fire is a wild exaggeration by people addicted to screen time.
Especially with social media sites that have algorithms. Did you view a thread slightly longer because it was on a scary subject and people were arguing about it? You’ll see more of that. Did you get angry at another post and decide to reply to correct them (possibly using ALL CAPS)? You’ll get more of those.
Repeat again and again until the only posts in your feed are the ones that raise your blood pressure and make you want to scream.
I’m pretty sure, most of this sentiment would have been true for someone living in, say, Magdeburg, Germany in 1928.
I’m not saying that the US is inevitably turning into literally Hitler, but changes, revolutions can be very fast if certain tipping points are reached. Trump is prosecuted, yes, but are you sure that will stop him? There’s a good chance, he’ll walk away without any verdict that hinders his election. The supreme court is already very pro theocracy and a large part of the (voting) population is at least willing to risk someone like hard right republicans to take over.
You guys are already in a situation where something as basic as the democratic process is flawed (electoral college, gerrymandering, voting rights,…). Add to that the polarisation of the political debate, inability of “the government” to function due to mutual blockades, etc., etc. and you’re quickly at a point where a democracy can fall.