People never care about statistics until they are one, myself included 
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@anon86726034 I appreciated your thoughtful comments and I personally think that is the right way to look at it. There’s an ugliness in society right now and it dwells within the hearts of humanity. It isn’t COVID. It’s hate. Hate is the real virus that has been spreading. Hate is killing peoples’ souls. But hate is also addictive. The vindictive satisfaction we can feel at seeing someone being pulled down, made fun of, socially assassinated, and getting ‘what they deserve’. We go online to FB, Twitter, or even the main stream news to get our ‘fix’. When we hate someone, we are chained to them emotionally. We’re not free. So I was really happy to see your post.
@Hailstrom 
George Orwell
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That’s a good point. And it is worth remembering that the effectiveness of a vaccine - even the relative effectiveness; proportional effectiveness - depends on vaccine rates as a proportion of population, so the point may be: whether it’s 2.5% or 10%, the most helpful thing to do isn’t worry about stats, but to get the vaccination when it comes out.
Anyone watching the debate?
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I was hoping someone would ask that question. 
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I guess I should have said that I’m watching it. Are you?
I am. They are fairly even matched. I think Kamala looked pretty strong on the economy. I think Pence gets a little to flustered when she lands a good shot.
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This is a breath of fresh air compared to the last debacle I mean debate
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@Englishd I agree about Kamala’s shots and Pence being flustered. I think she lets Pence get under her skin too much at some points too. Overall, like @mleclaire said, it was a breath of fresh air. The last debate was a whole lot of wtf, but these two really presented their points of view in a fairly civilized manner.
I don’t know if you guys have seen SNL’s skit on the presidential debate last week, but just in case, I’m going to leave it HERE.
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Ya that was the best SNL ever
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It really was lol. Loved seeing Jim Carey in that role.
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Have you seen his art work?? It’s amazing!!! Spoiler alert. He hates trump. Go to his web site. The art speaks volumes.
Glad I’m not drinking. Wifey spent the whole time yelling STFU! STFU!
So much easier being sober in this shit show.
I did like the fly. Did y’all see the fly nesting on Pence’s head ?
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lol I have not seen his artwork. I’ll have to check it out.
OMG I did not see the fly! I’m dying haha.
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That’s amazing. I miss out on all these things, not being on Twitter.
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This is literally about that political memes thread, and about the tropes that come up generally on the right/ in Trumpism (which isn’t the same as old-school right, because it has so much embedded attachment to conspiracy theories, fox-news-speak and worship of the cult leader). I find it really interesting that so many of the areas of attack are areas where the GOP candidate is extremely weak. “Your guy is old!” [and ours is just 3 years younger, 74]. “Your guy has dementia!” [and ours…]. “Your guy is creepy!” [and 26 women have made credible accusations of rape or sexual assault against our guy, dozens more of inappropriate behavior]. “Your guy owns guns but he wants some slight regulation!” [and our guy boasts about his ability to shoot people on 5th avenue]. “Your guy goes to church every week and is super pious, but we’re gonna say God wants our one, because reasons!” “Your guy will raise taxes!” [as our guy did for everyone except his uber rich friends/kids] “your guy isn’t good on crime!” (And ours surrounds himself with criminals). “Your guy is sleepy!” [and our guy spends most of his day watching TV, eating junk food, and playing more golf than any president on record]. “Your guy is racist!” [and ours was the originator of birtherism]. Or, rather different: “The Democratic Party includes lots of women, and women in power are ridiculous, monstrous or nasty!” I get why people think there’s no difference, even though I also think there’s a huge vast chasm of a difference; the political discourse seems designed to erase it, and it is definitely a problem that in the US, the system is set up to make it very hard for people without wealth or networks to run for office. I would think people might want to move beyond assertions about individuals, towards thinking about the details of possibilities of systemic change, and policy proposals and policy record. For instance, to me, it seems pretty important that historically, in the twentieth/ twenty first century, Democrat presidents have done much better on jobs and the economy, though there are still huge problems, imho, with corporate power and financing. Those things affect lots of people. But we seem to keep fixating on these little feedback loops.
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That is exactly the point… When it gets so personal, and everyone becomes so entrenched and blind to their own biases, the debate just descends into meaningless vitriol. No ones mind is changed, we just lose friends.
A real shame, but easily done when it is stuff we are all passionate about. Even when our logical brains know that the best way to approach it would really be from a place of humility, curiosity and being open minded to the ideas and opinions of others!
(… But funnier )
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It is really a shame. I’m starting to think that some people have almost a religious zeal for their political position, which is a little amusing because in both politics and religion there are a lot of people who have never deeply studied the tenants of their sect. They know the most surface things but have brought it close to them, internalized it, and made it them.
Which really is why some people take politics so deathly seriously (in my opinion, of course). When people attack their politics, then the person subconsciously sees it as an attack on them. To let go of that belief, just like in religion, could cause an identity crisis and so even when someone is presented with genuine information that could prove something they believe politically is wrong, they just hold even tighter to the precepts of said political party or ideology.
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I think the internet is incredibly unhelpful too in advancing unhealthy political discourse. The social media algorithms that amplify our echo chambers, the memes that reduce and oversimplify issues (or avoid them all together and just focus on people, cos ideas and ideologies are really complicated).
Also what you’re saying about becoming an identity - sharing memes/ articles/ political opinions becomes the way we tell other people who we are, by what we post. I think the sad thing about that (I’m thinking about Facebook more than here, but it might apply here too) is we make judgements on people and how they will receive us. E.g. they probably won’t be interested in hearing from me in real life or about this other thing because they will just think I’m being (insert negative judgement here) and they post about that all the time. Even though we really don’t have enough information to make that call…
Or we don’t bother saying anything because conversations about politics and ideologies and important issues are complicated and don’t work online, our answers become long and rambling and incoherent (ahem, that might be happening here a bit 
). So the exchange of ideas reduces further, the sides become more entrenched, it is a vicious cycle.
I am really working on trying to understand the position of others rather than persuade people to come round to my way of thinking. Not always easy but I have plenty of opportunities to support the causes I believe in, I don’t need to ruin my friendships over it!
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