Local Elections

[Spicyryan]

"Parent choice" is the selling point for pretty much any "anti-woke" legislation. GOP knows their party is fucked when the boomers start dying off and all the younger generations they spent decades fucking over get their comeuppance. So they're going with the Nazi/Scientology game plan and turn them early by closing off diversity and exposure to ideology that's different.

So they are just continuing the American education system of their parents, and their parents, and their parents before them.

[Tyche]

So they are just continuing the American education system of their parents, and their parents, and their parents before them.

Do you have kids? Like, middle school to 25? The needs now are different. By trying to stiffle diversity and information access, they're attempting to dam a river with a wooden fence. But thinking that things should work now the way they worked 40 years ago is par for the course for the "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" generation that was born after the great depression and managed to barely scrape by with their high wages, affordable education, multiple economic booms, and hit retirement at the best possible time to play golf 5 days a week and bitch about how bad they had it and how lazy the kids are these days.

I just wish they'd be alive to watch millennials blow it all up.

[Tyche]

The generation that whined about not being able to drink and drive are now pushing government co-parenting under the guise of "parent choice". It would be fucking hilarious if it weren't so absolutely devastating to at-risk youth.

[Spicyryan]

Do you have kids? Like, middle school to 25? The needs now are different. By trying to stiffle diversity and information access, they're attempting to dam a river with a wooden fence. But thinking that things should work now the way they worked 40 years ago is par for the course for the "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" generation that was born after the great depression and managed to barely scrape by with their high wages, affordable education, multiple economic booms, and hit retirement at the best possible time to play golf 5 days a week and bitch about how bad they had it and how lazy the kids are these days.

I just wish they'd be alive to watch millennials blow it all up.

I'm saying the ideology being taught, irregardless of the curriculum built on top of it, is the same.
The Boomers grew up in a world where America had a greater stranglehold on the global economy after being the benefactor of two world wars, gaining the immense leverage of their currency as the global reserve. There was a greater competitive advantage globally, and less then had been chipped away by capital interests. They also are subject to the greater levels of propaganda that stay with and influence us today. Which is not just some conservative boot straps niche, but state propaganda.

Which is the point, these people live in their world of exceptionalism, handed to them from the state. The "anti-woke", fascist/Nazi sympathizing, religious etc is the same root ideology it has been for countless decades. America has been an ethnostate with a hardon for protofascism from the founding. The results are entirely unsurprising. We still can't even handle actual discussion of slavery or changing demographics in school.

As for your your wish. I hate to break to to you, but millennials aren't going to tear down anything. They firmly operate in a new era or right-wing propaganda. Grindsets, hussling, etc. Corporations now use language of "family", "inclusion", "working for X cause", etc. Where a pizza party masks exploitation, and all they need are concessions. They, on average, are more sympathetic to the buffet of benefits from leftist politics, but are not leftists and still living from what can be described as a Cold War hangover.
Which is to say millennials are unhappy with their working, living, and social conditions, and rightfully so, but just want a way out. They don't really understand the scope of the problem. Essentially still spinning their wheels, and as they are now roughly 30-40, it's mostly over for them at this point. They will be the first to have it worse than their parents, and c'est la vie.

[Kaslo]

Meanwhile in Oklahoma (thread)

https://twitter.com/tylertalley22/st...063392774?s=20

[Tyche]

As for your your wish. I hate to break to to you, but millennials aren't going to tear down anything. They firmly operate in a new era or right-wing propaganda. Grindsets, hussling, etc. Corporations now use language of "family", "inclusion", "working for X cause", etc. Where a pizza party masks exploitation, and all they need are concessions. They, on average, are more sympathetic to the buffet of benefits from leftist politics, but are not leftists and still living from what can be described as a Cold War hangover.
Which is to say millennials are unhappy with their working, living, and social conditions, and rightfully so, but just want a way out. They don't really understand the scope of the problem. Essentially still spinning their wheels, and as they are now roughly 30-40, it's mostly over for them at this point. They will be the first to have it worse than their parents, and c'est la vie.

First, I don't believe the ideology being taught is the same. We aren't teaching that Columbus was some hero and that southern states went to war over sta'ses rights. A lot of our parents went to school segregated. Despite Brown v Board of Education, states were still passing school segregation laws under the belief that states had rights to do so. It took Johnson invoking the commerce clause and the civil rights act in the mid 60's to finally end that shit. Now, 60 years later, were back at it at the Supreme court with Moore v Harper, attempting to stiffle minority rights. Education today, ideologically, is absolutely not the same. White boomers had a monopoly on higher education as they lacked minority competition in the immediate aftermath of the civil rights act.


Secondly, millennials aren't running those corporations. Boomers are and use that language and appearance of inclusivity because they need the younger generations for labor. No other reason. They also tend to have a good grasp of the issue as it currently stands, but you're right, fixing it is a problem that will be difficult for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, as you said, they're the generation that's first up to attempt a fix that will likely take decades. And my guess is that AI will really fuck it all up before we figure out how to right the ship. Projecting labor in the future as robotics and AI further develop and we begin population stagnation is going to be a nightmare. I think we have an acute understanding on the current scope of the issue, but we have no idea what's ahead, so solving it will be problematic. We won't build a solution quick enough and we will continue to get pushback from the baby boomer generation until they're dead and buried. What I'm saying is that the boomer economics aren't sustainable and there's no option other than a teardown.

[Spicyryan]

First, I don't believe the ideology being taught is the same. We aren't teaching that Columbus was some hero and that southern states went to war over sta'ses rights. A lot of our parents went to school segregated. Despite Brown v Board of Education, states were still passing school segregation laws under the belief that states had rights to do so. It took Johnson invoking the commerce clause and the civil rights act in the mid 60's to finally end that shit. Now, 60 years later, were back at it at the Supreme court with Moore v Harper, attempting to stiffle minority rights. Education today, ideologically, is absolutely not the same.


Secondly, millennials aren't running those corporations. Boomers are and use that language and appearance of inclusivity because they need the younger generations for labor. No other reason. They also tend to have a good grasp of the issue as it currently stands, but you're right, fixing it is a problem that will be difficult for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, as you said, they're the generation that's first up to attempt a fix that will likely take decades. And my guess is that AI will really fuck it all up before we figure out how to right the ship. Projecting labor in the future as robotics and AI further develop and we begin population stagnation is going to be a nightmare. I think we have a keep grasp on the current scope of the issue, but we have no idea what's ahead, so solving it will be problematic. We won't build a solution quick enough and we will continue to get pushback from the baby boomer generation until they're dead and buried. What I'm saying is that the boomer economics aren't sustainable and there's no option other than a teardown.

You know, when Madonna made Hung Up, it wasn't Abba, but you have to be out of the loop to not see the connection. So without getting into the "things changed" when they didn't really or get on about what actual change is. Or ask if it is Comcast or Xfinity. I think we can leave it at that before I start saying there are still segregated schools, etc. The great white sigh of relief, still insinuated in schools is that it's all behind us, thanks MLK, conscious is clear.

Millennials running the corporations is not the point. The point was they buy into the spin. Millennials are in HR, they are in the hierarchy, and they are in positions of relative power in these companies. If you are in the north east, Wegmans is a great example of how this works.

I still disagree that millennials have a great grasp on the scope over the root causes of their woes. They can not fix anything meaningfully or in any lasting fashion because they are lost on average. They know the landscape isn't right, but they sooner scapegoat Boomers or ask for concessions at best.
They are confused by the rebranding narratives of "quiet quiting" and unwittingly operating in a certain ideological range. Pretty much for millennials they know they want better, and have certain things they know they want, but ultimately when they can assign blame it becomes more comfortable in their minds, and they don't explore further than being reactive.
Solidarity, in my experience and from what I read of the othersthe workplace is sorely lacking. I have explained why I fall on the sword at various workplaces without using such charged language that word. As "we are all we have." Otherwise, it is often that dog-eat-dog landscape or fear of it. Many saying to just keep your head down. Which companies sure do encourage as they single out trouble makers or promote those willing to turn on their own for some privilege and rank. Deliberately seeking such associated personality types.

Yes, AI and the shifting economics of the globe are going to leave a lot of people caught up, confused, and struggling to make ends meet. We can say it's difficult, and it is, and we can say it will be slow, which it will be. However, nothing really changes with the death of the Boomers, and that generation v generation mindset is not helpful.

[Andalusian girls]

If they're so afraid that they'll be fucked when the boomers die off wouldn't it be better to, you know, adjust to appeal to a new and younger demographic? I don't get the point of trying to survive by fucking over a growing, larger demographic.

I get increasingly more disgusted by how republicans (although not exclusively republicans, although they are the leading force) are just basically trying to speed run ruining the lives of women, minorities and LGBTQIA+ people, and how voters just let them. Hell, they seem hell-bent on trying to speed run ruining the country as a whole. It baffles me how people who are directly affected by their policies (such as the poor) keep voting for them.

How can the richest, most powerful country on earth have such disregard for their population and not even be in the top 30 of lists like infant survival rates, life span and happiness? There are countless of studies that show how Republican policies actively make life worse for everyone in the state/country, and yet that's the direction they keep pulling? It's absurd how they keep getting away with it. They keep calling themselves Christians while actively going against every single thing the bibles teaches.

no they're pretty good at the homophobia part

[Andalusian girls]

but also yes it is deeply embarrassing those who claim to follow the teachings of a vagrant who openly, explicitly, preached against the accumulation of wealth and for the care of the poor behave as they do. fundamental cognitive dissonance among American conservatives in their unholy mental union of unrestrained free market capitalism and Christianity.

[Tyche]

The idea of "guaranteed education" and our inability to apply it equitably perpetuating generational poverty and social segregation wasn't the argument being made, but I am glad you of all people are bringing it up. We've tried to teach about systemic inequality built into current society due to past and present laws, policies, and institutions, but, well, you know how that's going. Can't end that "great white sigh of relief" without an entire political party getting incredibly upset about it.

Also, I find it highly ironic you bring up workplace solidarity. It's almost as if the workforce should act as a, dare I say, collective? I wonder how that idea blew up and policies restricting collective bargaining and pay transparency began to divide workforces.

[Spicyryan]

The idea of "guaranteed education" and our inability to apply it equitably perpetuating generational poverty and social segregation wasn't the argument being made, but I am glad you of all people are bringing it up. We've tried to teach about systemic inequality built into current society due to past and present laws, policies, and institutions, but, well, you know how that's going. Can't end that "great white sigh of relief" without an entire political party getting incredibly upset about it.

Also, I find it highly ironic you bring up workplace solidarity. It's almost as if the workforce should act as a, dare I say, collective? I wonder how that idea blew up and policies restricting collective bargaining and pay transparency began to divide workforces.

Except that inequality isn't just built in from racism, which it is, but built in from capitalism itself. The problem is the thinking stops at "racism victimized these people, and that is wrong!" It doesn't actually go about solving it, and it doesn't go about saying that is the result of capitalism. Recognizing it and removing things like redlining, or at least removing it on paper, lol. Doesn't change the reality. It goes under lip service, and "sure hope this fixes itself now that we ended the practice."
This is how capitalism insulates itself. To which was my point about how millennials are content with such explanations and feeling good about the idea they are some big break from the past. It's like horse blinders.

The idea of collective bargaining was undermined by the state. Not just those pesky Republicans, if that was the insinuation.

[zoobernut]

Except that inequality isn't just built in from racism, which it is, but built in from capitalism itself. The problem is the thinking stops at "racism victimized these people, and that is wrong!" It doesn't actually go about solving it, and it doesn't go about saying that is the result of capitalism. Recognizing it and removing things like redlining, or at least removing it on paper, lol. Doesn't change the reality. It goes under lip service, and "sure hope this fixes itself now that we ended the practice."
This is how capitalism insulates itself. To which was my point about how millennials are content with such explanations and feeling good about the idea they are some big break from the past. It's like horse blinders.

The idea of collective bargaining was undermined by the state. Not just those pesky Republicans, if that was the insinuation.

I think the idea is if we can unite the lower and middle classes together rather than having sub/mini tiers within them based on the systemic racism then we can all collectively focus on the complete bigger picture. If we try to fix it the other way around it will be much more challenging as there would be too much in fighting as racist white poor and middle class people align themselves with billionaires when it suits the ultra wealthy but doesn't suit anyone else.The ultra wealthy's ability to pit people against each other is part of how they have maintained what they have and gained so much more.

[Tyche]

The same state that passed the Taft-Hartley act, named after 2 Republican senators, vetoed by a democratic president, then overrode by a Congress controlled by republicans? That state? And that act, which casts a shadow so long you can draw a pretty clear line to that act and the current railroad disasters brought by corporate malfeasance....that state?

[Spicyryan]

I think the idea is if we can unite the lower and middle classes together rather than having sub/mini tiers within them based on the systemic racism then we can all collectively focus on the complete bigger picture. If we try to fix it the other way around it will be much more challenging as there would be too much in fighting as racist white poor and middle class people align themselves with billionaires when it suits the ultra wealthy but doesn't suit anyone else.The ultra wealthy's ability to pit people against each other is part of how they have maintained what they have and gained so much more.

That's the thing, the middle class doesn't exist. It's something used to divide the working class and hinder overall class unity. The worship of status and status symbols in this country, and the concept of the American dream as a backstop.
The idea that on paper there is the freedom for XYZ and the notions of exceptionalism that go with it. However, any closer examination of how that actually plays out is lacking in such luster at best.

Thinking of it as an alliance of sub/mini tiers is not only a puzzling assertion, but leads us back to how the framework is lacking. Something like the rainbow coalition (and how the state responded) is a solid counter point to the "but the infighting". When the problem is better understood, infighting is less of a hindrance.
There will always be traitors who align themselves with the wealthy and sell their own out for a leg up, but that is how it is. You deal with it, and that is that.

[arus2001]

There's a lot to unpack when it comes to solving the decline of the US and the suffering of its citizens. Going issue by issue, you'll likely find some similarity in enacting solutions, but there's obviously going to be resistance from the boomers, yes, but also those indoctrinated by them or conditioned under what I tend to call economic stockholm syndrome.

In terms of the long game, it's absolutely imperative that we improve our education system, pay teachers way better than we do, and promote youth environments beyond maybe, possibly making it big in sports if you're really good. So, it should come as no shock that there are a lot of GOP policies hitting the books now with the intent of working opposite that with anti-woke bullshit, CRT fearmongering, etc.. This also takes into account the different needs of students now that we have a better grasp of mental conditions than when most of us went through the grind. Personally, there's a high probability I've gone through life with undiagnosed ADHD. Seeing people more openly talk about it now really hammered home the fact my teachers weren't prepared for me as a kid.

Economically, I'd argue we can't really do anything about that until we handle election reforms. Corporate influence is obviously a big problem here, but we've still got things like gerrymandering and voter suppression going on. Not making mail-in ballots the default or even making voting days paid holidays would fall under this umbrella, too. Cutting the bullshit out of ad season and not allowing Q-like ad spam as modern day fire in a theater would go a long way in cleaning up the mess, too. Get all this out of the way and then we can start tackling the corrupt corporate protections like RtW and other union-busting initiatives, busting soft monopolies, getting the wheels turning on universal healthcare, police reform, and so on.

Make no mistake, the right would kick and scream the entire time, not unlike a child that's just been grounded and had their favorite toy taken away. They'll play their greatest hits like fascism, authoritarianism, communism, and socialism despite their own history of actively making things worse under the bullshit mantra of unregulated capitalism, christianity, and questionable interpretations of the constitution written by wealthy elites over 200 years ago. This would be the ugly phase, where if done poorly, could take a long time. However, I feel that if you overlook the roughly 30% lost to the cult of MAGA, the remaining 70% will be receptive to things improving if the steps are actually taken to do so and not just talked about. And that's my usual rub when it comes to endearing leftists to the Dems. They've gotta follow through even if the GOP threatens mean things because they're going to do that shit even if you do comply. People are hurting now, which requires fixes in the now. These are problems 40+ years in the making. That doesn't mean it should take 40+ years to fix.

[Spicyryan]

There's a lot to unpack when it comes to solving the decline of the US and the suffering of its citizens. Going issue by issue, you'll likely find some similarity in enacting solutions, but there's obviously going to be resistance from the boomers, yes, but also those indoctrinated by them or conditioned under what I tend to call economic stockholm syndrome.

In terms of the long game, it's absolutely imperative that we improve our education system, pay teachers way better than we do, and promote youth environments beyond maybe, possibly making it big in sports if you're really good. So, it should come as no shock that there are a lot of GOP policies hitting the books now with the intent of working opposite that with anti-woke bullshit, CRT fearmongering, etc.. This also takes into account the different needs of students now that we have a better grasp of mental conditions than when most of us went through the grind. Personally, there's a high probability I've gone through life with undiagnosed ADHD. Seeing people more openly talk about it now really hammered home the fact my teachers weren't prepared for me as a kid.

Economically, I'd argue we can't really do anything about that until we handle election reforms. Corporate influence is obviously a big problem here, but we've still got things like gerrymandering and voter suppression going on. Not making mail-in ballots the default or even making voting days paid holidays would fall under this umbrella, too. Cutting the bullshit out of ad season and not allowing Q-like ad spam as modern day fire in a theater would go a long way in cleaning up the mess, too. Get all this out of the way and then we can start tackling the corrupt corporate protections like RtW and other union-busting initiatives, busting soft monopolies, getting the wheels turning on universal healthcare, police reform, and so on.

Make no mistake, the right would kick and scream the entire time, not unlike a child that's just been grounded and had their favorite toy taken away. They'll play their greatest hits like fascism, authoritarianism, communism, and socialism despite their own history of actively making things worse under the bullshit mantra of unregulated capitalism, christianity, and questionable interpretations of the constitution written by wealthy elites over 200 years ago. This would be the ugly phase, where if done poorly, could take a long time. However, I feel that if you overlook the roughly 30% lost to the cult of MAGA, the remaining 70% will be receptive to things improving if the steps are actually taken to do so and not just talked about. And that's my usual rub when it comes to endearing leftists to the Dems. They've gotta follow through even if the GOP threatens mean things because they're going to do that shit even if you do comply. People are hurting now, which requires fixes in the now. These are problems 40+ years in the making. That doesn't mean it should take 40+ years to fix.

I can appreciate the term "economic Stockholm".

As for education it needs to be seen for what it is. A failure by both parties. There is a focus on the cultural struggle in it, and the more conservative and reactionary factions being the ones "taking us/holding us back." Focusing on such a bluster takes away from the fact that both parties fail education. It's not the way it is because of the GoP. Something can make something worse, but it if was already substandard and would have been regardless. Then it isn't simply about solving overbearing and aggressive conservatives. That simply takes the wind out of the sails of focusing on the real issues with education which is far deeper than banning Tango the penguin in Florida schools.

As material conditions have continued to worsen for people they have become quite unintentionally aware of the existence of the underlying problems and contradictions in capitalism. They simply can't articulate it or apply an understanding to the mechanisms at play. Such intentionally defangs the people of their threat to the structures of power and scatters them to the Qs, the antivaxers, and whatever subgroup feels it found some issue plaguing their society worth dying on a hill for. People know that big pharma or the government or whatever it may be doesn't have their interest in mind, as that is how capitalism works. They just don't know how to put the pieces together and spin their wheels over every symptom of the problem. The mind does not appreciate ambiguity, and people—as we see around here. Need to have things add up in order to feel at ease. It's easier to blame Republicans or executives or immigrants or "elites" etc than to blame the entire economic system they live in being ruthless.
Seeing as the education system directly reproduces the very cultural ideology in people. So that they simply can not get past the core ideas instilled in them without stepping on a life of ideological landmines. Capitalistic ideology is so good at adapting and insulating itself that people don't even know they are espousing an ideology when they reason within the box they grew up in.

There is no lifetime of fixing anything without an understanding the people lack, and will not find without great effort. Everyone knows the Stasi, but nobody knows the BND, and that is also quite deliberate.

[arus2001]

I mean, my jab at education isn't just about paying teachers more (in part to tempt more capable teachers into the career). Yes, we need more, but we need to cut down the number of heads they're supposed to be looking over per class, vastly renovating existing facilities or creating new ones so kids aren't having hour+ commutes, improving libraries if the school even has them, better modernizing to today's tech, not throwing 2+ hours of homework on kids a night, guarantee breakfast/lunch/after school snack no questions asked, stop correlating prison-like conditions to safety because we refuse to address the gun and mental health issues of today, stop banning books, stop preaching the South were ackshully the good guys, stop thinking abstinence is all we need for sex ed, stop pretending the US hasn't done shitty things throughout history, stop cutting arts programs or non-sports extra-carriculars, and toss in some basic courses like how to do your taxes/insurances and basic home/vehicle repairs because we can't pretend parents are around or capable of such.

I know there's the argument that SATs and such are discriminatory, and I can kinda get that based on the quality of a school and some other factors, but the idea that certain milestones should be accomplished per grade with that accumulating to a sort of endgame test doesn't strike me as A Bad Thing(tm). We need kids to be as informed as possible upon graduation, especially before expecting them to sign off on giant loans they probably won't be able to pay off for a long time, let alone guarantee the degree they chase is what they really want or even be a viable career a decade later. This also includes educating on toxic behaviors in the workplace, particularly when it comes to union-busting or anti-whistleblower rhetoric. And I wholly get why the right would fear all this, but to circle back to my ESS thing, abuse isn't always something people recognize in the moment and a lot of this shit is legit institutional atm.

[Tyche]

https://www.courier-journal.com/stor...l/70016887007/

Kentucky resurrected a sweeping anti-trans bill by breaking senate rules and passed it overwhelmingly while their sanate colleague, who lost her trans child to suicide, cried in her seat.

And these are the fun conversations I get to have with my trans kid...

[kuronosan]

They're doing this shit in Kansas too. "Small government" indeed.

[Tyche]

I emailed both state reps asking how I need to go about collecting child support from the state since they decided to co-parent my kid.

I can't wait til they're back in the area for live public appearances and I get to confront them in person.