Quote (IceMage @ Oct 15 2020 06:25pm)

That's why those dastardly socialists chose Joe Biden to represent them.

Quote (ofthevoid @ Oct 15 2020 05:38pm)

You don't know what inequity is living in the US, not like the real world does.

Talk to people from the 2nd world and 3rd world who would love to be here in your shoes. There's people slaving fields or in 100 degree factories 12 hours a day just to survive or people walking miles for clean water.

My parents bringing me to this country is probably the best thing to happen to me outside of maybe having my babygirl. If a dirt poor immigrant can come here and survive starting from scratch then you shouldn't be complaining about inequity. There's only a handful of countries in this world where this is possible.

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Oct 15 2020 07:45pm)

1. Because the luck of being born in a wealthy, peaceful, well-functioning society like Germany is a great privilege and enabled me to live a very good life.

2. Because my forefathers built this country. Because I pay a lot of taxes to keep it running. Because I have, through my upbringing, adopted the education, knowledge, mindset and yes, culture, that make this place so wealthy, peaceful and successful in the first place. People who were unlucky enough to be born in shithole countries are not personally responsible for this unfortunate fate. But in the statistical average, they will nonetheless, through no fault of their own, have adopted the shithole culture of the place they grew up in.

3. There is no moral justification. I'm just a selfish bastard who doesnt want to give any of his privilege away, and who will fight tooth and nail against any stupid motherfucker who has the audacity to try to take any of my privilege away.

I should add that I am not against immigration per se, I am just against poverty/third world immigration, and against immigration which only serves to undercut domestic wages. I welcome highly-qualified immigrants in fields where we have a genuine shortage of workers. And I can absolutely live with immigrants who are having a relatively neutral economic impact, but are well-integrated/assimilated into our society.

Quote (Bazi @ 16 Oct 2020 01:38)

My initial post was in regards to economic standpoint. How many Americans is bezos worth etc. the landscape right now as rarely been more skewed and economically America has quite some distance to travel. I am not talking about traditional fiscal conservatism. It does not exist anymore to any degree in modern American politics on either side

Culturally I am not sure I agree either. I think culture is too broad a topic, you can measure it using a number of different examples. Take covid for example, a more progressive stance in regards to covid, especially earlier on, would have had different results. Which areas culturally do you think America is max liberal on?

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Oct 15 2020 06:54pm)

The Democrats//the liberal half of America have taken a sharp turn to the left in recent years on free speech, political correctness, race, discrimination, immigration, guns and entitlements. In most cases, the underlying motives are well-meaning, but the policies adopted in their pursuit are unsuitable and/or go way too far, so that they become destructive and and divisve in practice.


Covid is an issue sui generis imho, I would categorize it under "technocratic governance". Also note how there is no real trend between how well various countries are doing on covid and the left- or right-lean of their government.

Quote (Mangix @ 16 Oct 2020 01:54)

I respect the answer for 3 a lot. I'm trying to absorb some of the views of opposing opinions to strengthen my ability to break them down in the future, if that makes any sense, so the engagement is appreciated.

I guess my only other question would be

Is it possible to you, that these ideas in your head about land and culture, are themselves a part of your culture and were bore into your head?
And more importantly, that they might be wrong/a net negative on the future of your culture or the land

Quote (Bazi @ 16 Oct 2020 02:02)

I meant covid as a means to measure public behavior as an indirect way to gauge cultural conservatism vs progressive.

On other issues like race, America still has work to do but I don’t know how much of this can be legislated so I don’t disagree that policies can be destructive. I do disagree about guns however. As a firearm owner myself (revolver and rifle) the ease of obtaining one and legal modifications one can make I think need re-evaluation. We can certainly go more left there while still being gun friendly overall

Quote (Handcuffs @ Oct 15 2020 06:06pm)

PaRD is an interesting place because I've been posting for what feels like essentially a decade now, and the Internet is amazing in the fact that I'm able to look back at those postings 10 years ago and compare them to today. While my general positions haven't changed over time, as I have long felt secure in far left identity, I would certainly say that both the style and overall quality of my communication has improved quite significantly. I wasn't sure that this was the case until I looked back at those messages. 10 years ago I was much more reactive, combative, and prone to the pitfall that is viewing the world through a 'left/right' binary. I've feel I've become a great deal more humble, comfortable in recognizing areas that I lack knowledge (economics, in particular), and have become increasingly bored with echo chambers.

That said, I hope this progress I see in myself is felt by those around me. Of the various left-wing posters that come through PaRD, I think it safe to say that I generally have one of the better relationships with right-wing posters for the most part. I suppose one major shift is that my younger self felt the need to take a strong stance against right-wing ideology, but nowadays my #1 enemy is tribalism and purity politics. I despise the right's obsession with "owning the libs" as equally as I despise the left's obsession with purity and theatrics. I've been registered as Non-Partisan in California since Day 1, and I anticipate this being the case for a very long time. I dislike political parties and find many grievances in Republicans and Democrats alike.

Of the posters that rustle my jimmies the most, it is no longer right-wing posters, but specifically posters who believe themselves to be holier than thou, hypocritical, and rude.