WatDabney

yUgh. That sounds even worse. You have my sympathy.

It's a weird thing about this era. In the past, I would've tried to argue with them about their views, but at this point, it's effectively impossible, since we don't even share a reality. They live in a world in which, for instance, Kamala Harris is a DEI hire who got appointed as the candidate by Biden, who' in turn is still working for the Obamas, and she lost because she's a socialist.

Where do you even start with something like that?

If only Congress had a few more people with his integrity and courage and commitment.

I have two brothers who are variations on the theme.

I'm the oldest and middle brother is a longtime conspiracy theorist who's on the anti-vaxx, deep state fringe (and at least pleasantly is notably not a bigot) and youngest is an IT guy and a stock,,-standard tech "libertarian" who rages about wokeism and free speech and idolizes Musk and is about every kind of bigot imaginable.

So I spend holidays mostly hiding in the study, surfing the web and trying to ignore the bits of mansplained propaganda wafting down the hall...

Probably.

Years ago, I was actually opposed to it myself (it was generally considered under the umbrella of Affirmative Action then) mostly because I saw it as a species of tokenism - a way to create the illusion of inclusion and diversity without the spirit of the thing.

But then I was confronted with a very compelling argument that basically held that it should be supported regardless of potential flaws because its long-term merits would oitweigh those flaws - it would condition people to see minorities in the workplace, and even in positions of power, as a common and unremarkable thing, and it would allow for new generations who would grow up already in that world because of their parents 'employment. Effectively, it wasn't for the current generations, for whom it would necessarily be at least somewhat problematic, but for future generations.

That's been my position ever since.

Somewhere along the way though - about the same time that "woke" became a pejorative, I started seeing a new rush of opposition to what was now known as DEI.

And the thing is that I never once saw a considered argument against it. All I saw was the new generation of overt racists - the people who fed exclusively on /pol/ and stormfront and AM talk radio and white supremacist podcasts - sneeringly referring to every minority in any notable position as a "DEI hire."

But yes - maybe those who oppose it sincerely and with good intentions are out there and I just don't see them.

I actually paused over that one myself, but while it is technically possible that someone could oppose DEI with the best of intentions, with the sincere belief that it's an ineffective or even counter-productive strategy, I just think it's orders of magnitude more likely that they oppose it because they're racist filth.

But yeah - that's one that I'd likely want to follow up on before a final decision.

And I'm one of them. There's absolutely no way I would or even could ever date some loathsome piece of shit who opposes trans rights, supports Trump, defends the Capitol attack, opposes DEI, wants abortion banned or wants gender roles legislated.

If anything, I'm disappointed that there aren't more of us.

Any day now he's going to announce that the new tariff on China is eleventy bajillion percent. And no takesies backsies.

It's those roughly squared off, dirty, slushy heaps of packed snow that were plowed out of the way after the snowfall and are the only thing left after the rest of the snow has melted.

stop killing Palestinian babies = antisemitism

∴

semitism = killing Palestinian babies

By design.

And the 1% are going to ride it out in their purpose-built private enclaves, then buy the world at disaster auction prices and make themslves into feudal lords.

Cunning would-he tyrants don't go to people and say, "Give me this power so that I can hurt you." They go to people and say, "Give me this power so that I can hurt the people you hate."

The US has a number of institutional failures that need to be addressed if it's to have any hope of surviving and the Trump presidency is not only not going to address them, but has for all intents and purposes taken it as its mandate to specifically focus on exacerbating them.

It's dealing with wealth inequality by increasing it. It's dealing with political corruption by institutionalizing it. It's dealing with fragile and ineffective public health, public education and social service systems by breaking them. It's dealing with rapacious corporations by eliminating constraints on them. It's dealing with climate change by encouraging it. It's dealing with diminished international stature by alienating literally everyone. It's dealing with the threat of economic collapse by destroying international markets. It's dealing with the threat of social unrest by fanning the flames of bigotry and hatred. And on and on.

It's essentially the equivalent of a cancer patient taking up smoking. In a house lined with asbestos and uranium.

And at that point, it really doesn't matter who wants to save them or how much they want it.