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Lewis Grotelueschen's avatar

Really dislike the discussion of negative partisanship as if the phenomenon on the left and right are mirror images of each other. They are not. The right is overwhelmingly "post-Truth," which is a polite way of saying they are in love with lies. The left negative partisanship overwhelmingly is a reaction to what the right has become.

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RonS's avatar

This lifelong Republican is embarassed to agree with you. We have RUINED this party!

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suzc's avatar

That's exactly right! I just read an article on a study that concluded TV news is more polarizing than social media based on numbers from 2016-2019. But the left was polarized BY 2016, in shock ever since that Americans would betray America with a second unelected (obviously unfit) prez in 16 years. 2016 polarized Democrats like nothing before! And I'm sure it has gotten moreso, as I still think most Americans value democracy over tyranny. At least the unbrainwashed among us.

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Deutschmeister's avatar

In other words, someone was right about the Deplorables. It's beyond sad that such a hellscape has been unleashed upon us all for being honest about who and what much of the Trump base is. It is the unwanted gift that keeps on giving.

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rlritt's avatar

They are products of years of badly funded and deficient education system. And hours of watching right wing news. They are brainwashed.

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Jane in NC's avatar

The endless hours of right-wing news isn't like cult programming; it IS cult programming.

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suzc's avatar

And something I've been thinking about recently is that Fox is on every public TV -- on military bases, in restaurants, my doctor's office, airports, bars, my auto mechanic's waiting room, etc etc etc. Some places you can't turn it off or turn it down. It has been blaring vomit background noise for years! And millions have been brainwashed by that, I think. It explains so much how 70 million Americans with no critical thinking ability and lots of Celebrity Apprentice were co-opted.

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rlritt's avatar

It's like Big Brother or the novel 1984 only instead of a dry mechanical voice you get smiling capped teeth bleach blondes with down home accents.

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JB's avatar

Sone clown always tries to put it on in my work break room.

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Linda Oliver's avatar

ThatтАЩs why I wonтАЩt go into my local McDonalds anymore, because Fox is on in there. At Vanderbilt, in the waiting area, itтАЩs HGTV. Much better.

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Jane in NC's avatar

I'm sure a lot of people have had a similar experience losing a friend or family member down the Fox hole. You can watch it happen. People who were nice, reasonable and happy start turning angry and hostile. The only thing they can talk about is politics no matter what's being discussed. And when you challenge their views, they spew back talking points, not facts, not logic, just talking points.

They react to reality in exactly the same way cult members react to deprogramming.

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Linda Oliver's avatar

My best friend got like that. ItтАЩs kind of funny, because she told me about taking 2 of her grandkids to see the new тАЬElvisтАЭ movie. She asked them how they liked it, and one said he liked the music but not тАЬall the CRT stuffтАЭ (heтАЩs about 8), and she got to explain to him that that wasnтАЩt CRT, that black people really were treated like that then. She has made sure they are home-schooled so they are not exposed to CRT or vaccines. Her other sonтАЩs family will have nothing to do with her. Talk radio was her gateway drug to MAGAland.

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rlritt's avatar

My brother did that. Moved to the country in southern Indiana and joined an Evangelical Church, home schooled his kids. He moved the Phoenix near his grand kids and his wife called once to tell me they were moving and he didn't want me to know because he didn't want me to visit. He is probably total MAGA and doesn't want to hear anything from me.

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Jane in NC's avatar

That's 100% cult behavior. So sorry it happened in your family, too.

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rlritt's avatar

It's crazy. I don't know when it became so personal. He use to be snide when my children said anything accusing of them of having a public school education.

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Jane in NC's avatar

I've lost family members to the Trump cult, so I can sympathize. No matter what you say, they're ready to take offense.

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Jane in NC's avatar

Now seriously, what does an 8-year-old know about CRT? That's propaganda his parents are feeding him. Poor kid! It's a perfect description of talk radio and Fox to call them gateway drugs. IMO, they're akin to the online terrorists who abet people's self-radicalization.

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Linda Oliver's avatar

She is the one who taught him about CRT, not his parents.

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rlritt's avatar

They are exactly like that. Wait until the suicide bombers show up.

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Jane in NC's avatar

If anything, the E-Mail Lady was too generous in her assessment.

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rlritt's avatar

Thank you. As an independent I have watched as people who were intelligent spout crazy lies and support the fat slugg that is Trump in horror. Anyone who says he is not a greedy self centered pig is not someone I can have anything in common with.

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Jane in NC's avatar

I've lost family members to the FatSlugg Cult, so I feel your pain. I'm really glad my *real* conservative republican parents didn't live to see it.

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Jane in NC's avatar

The negative partisanship on the left is also driven at least in part from decades of republican lawmakers, talk show hosts and candidates calling us 'unpatriotic', not 'real' Americans, soft on crime and terrorism, 'baby killers', and lawless subversives who don't love our country and don't stand up for the rule of law. And now, of course, the worst insult of all: 'woke.'

Ironic, ain't it?

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rlritt's avatar

It's anti American Rupert Murdoch whohas singlehandedly tried to destroy America by wrapping up anti Americanism in sleek production values and pretty liars.

And don't bother telling me he is a US citizen. He only diid that because you can't own TV stations unless you are a citizen.

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JB's avatar

I personally see him and his empire as one of the biggest threats to humanity. He is an international terrorist.

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Aurora's avatar

Thanks, Ronald Reagan...

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suzc's avatar

Before Fox, there was Radio Rush Limbaugh. But one wonders why Murdoch is so determined to destroy America (and why he hasn't been revoked and kicked out; dear heavens Americans are wimps)! And over it all was Mitch McConnell and his ilk. For decades. (Not to mention Fox blaring in the background of every public TV coast to coast 24/7, brainwashing.)

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Jane in NC's avatar

It especially bothers me that Fox is the default news outlet at military bases here and around the world.

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Joel's avatar

There's money in telling deplorables what they want to hear...

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Jane in NC's avatar

The latest iteration was Tucker Carlson beaming his slobber fest live from Hungary, followed by open Orban worship at CPAC.

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rlritt's avatar

Disgusting!!!

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User's avatar
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Aug 10, 2022
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rlritt's avatar

He lives on London, I believe.

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Youngy's avatar

No thanks, we donтАЩt want him back! ЁЯШЙ Maybe Russia or Hungary will take him.

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Aug 11, 2022
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Youngy's avatar

Yeh youтАЩre right тАж we got rid of our Trumpy, right wing religious fanaticist Prime Minister earlier this year & the funny thing is it wasnтАЩt even the left Labour Party that did it. It was somewhat conservative тАЬTeal IndependantsтАЭ that did him in by campaigning on Climate actions & anti-corruption watchdogs. So yeh maybe weтАЩd push him outta an airplane or maybe just forget to fully fuel it up before he takes off! ЁЯШО That way we wouldnтАЩt even have to get our hands dirty.

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Sherm's avatar

I was 13 years old the first time someone I knew called me a "baby killer." What do you imagine that does to a kid?

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Jane in NC's avatar

That's horrifying.

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Aug 10, 2022Edited
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Mingus Khan's avatar

How are we supposed to have positive feelings about those who are explicitly and loudly calling for us to be murdered?

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Jane in NC's avatar

And call us 'pedophiles' and 'groomers' just for supporting the rights of LGBT Americans to live, work and marry like all other Americans.

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JF's avatar

All while they claim WE want to annihilate THEM. Projection is an iron clad religious observance for them. A sickness.

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suzc's avatar

Projection is all they do! If you want to know their beliefs and their plans, listen to what they SAY about everyone ELSE. It is informative. Projection is pointing the finger and it is always illustrative of what is in one's own heart. (It does not explain why nobody in authority did anything to stop Jan.6th, in which hangings were avoided just by LUCK, which is not a security strategy. )

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Terry Mc Kenna's avatar

Yes, how can I possibly consider as benign the voters who think Trump won? I can't.

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SoCal's avatar

Yeah, if there is the new civil war, it is all GOP and TFG's fault.

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knowltok's avatar

Oh no, don't you know that Antifa and BLM started it years ago?

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knowltok's avatar

Amen. One party is in thrall to DJT, am I really part of a both sideserism if I view those people as less moral and dangerous to America?

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Aug 10, 2022
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suzc's avatar

"It Was All a Lie" by Stuart Stevens is among the ones to read and appreciate. Admitting one was wrong, in writing, in public, on such a massive scale, is not easy. I admire those who do.

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