I have been following US politics closely for about 3.5 years, ever since Trump won the general election to my surprise. Now, restropectively all I can say is ignorance is bliss. Better understanding of the lack of democracy in the US has made me even more cynical and less happy person. Also, I am totally pissed of for how my knowledge and understanding of US poltics has been downplayed online. I am pissed of how political left is treaded. As if we supporters of social democracy were not human being. As if we were not part of the political process. As if our vision for the future didn't matter. Why is it only the oligharcs matter? Why? That is NOT DEMOCRACY!!
So, I am trying to EXIT US politics. Maybe I don't become totally ignorant, but I will care less. If people here want Biden or Cuomo to become the president have at it! Nothing will change. Premiums will go up 40 % because of Corona crisis they say. You want to pay those instead of increased taxes? Well, pay away! Not my money! I live in a single payer country. I don't care anymore and I should have never cared in the first place!! Maybe Corona will make American's wake up, but I don't care.
So, exiting US politics will give "free time" to do other things. I want to listen to classical music, but it's so difficult to concentrate on that when I am so cynical and priritually broken person nowadays. Is it possible to become less cynical? Is it possible to start believing in better tomorrow again? I can't even decide which composer to explore!! Leclair? Melartin? Penderecki? Rubbra? I am so broken it's difficult to even enjoy classical music.
My budget of classical music purchases doesn't allow much, but I can listen to what I have: Instead of Kuijken's Leclair I can listen to my Rameau disc on Accent label. I just need to be able to get all the dark clouds out of my head to enjoy it. Pretend the US don't exist. Pretend Corona virus doesn't exist. It is so difficult.
What do you do when you are so broken and down you can't enjoy classical music or concentrate on it? I can enjoy pop music and electronic music. For example Into this dance pop song at the moment:
https://www.youtube.com/v/wKkj8AeRPus
Quote from: 71 dB on April 02, 2020, 07:32:33 AM
I just need to be able to get all the dark clouds out of my head to enjoy it. Pretend the US don't exist. Pretend Corona virus doesn't exist. It is so difficult.
Yes this. I am trying to focus more on my own life not what I have no control over. The TV news stayed on earlier only long enough to hear the headlines.
Quote from: steve ridgway on April 02, 2020, 09:09:49 AM
Yes this. I am trying to focus more on my own life not what I have no control over. The TV news stayed on earlier only long enough to hear the headlines.
Lack of control over many things makes it challenging to feel life is fulfilling or meaningful. I don't know what my purpose in life is. I try things, but always fail. What is the thing I am good/talented at? I don't have a clue.
You announced this before. I'll believe your abstinence when I see it, as it were.
I stop watching lefty youtubers such as Kyle Kulinski. Otherwise I won't get away from US politics. This is not an act against them. I have to do this for my own well-being, to be purposefully ignorant... ...if I watch youtube videos, it's non-political stuff from now on.
Quote from: 71 dB on April 02, 2020, 10:08:00 AM
Lack of control over many things makes it challenging to feel life is fulfilling or meaningful. I don't know what my purpose in life is. I try things, but always fail. What is the thing I am good/talented at? I don't have a clue.
If it's any consolation I'd think most people on the planet have asked themselves those questions at some point, and not been able to answer them. Of course I don't know you, but I imagine you are good at something or things, even though you're not yet aware of it. I also imagine you could become good at things. I think sometimes one's attitude prevents one seeing what one's capable of. Sometimes being a little kinder to oneself can open up new windows. Perhaps our purpose in life is searching for our purpose in life, whether or not we find it. The journey as meaningful (maybe more) than the arriving.
Anyway a cliched series of random thoughts, and I'm in no position to offer anybody advice, but I wish you luck. :)
Quote from: 71 dB on April 02, 2020, 11:39:54 AM
I stop watching lefty youtubers such as Kyle Kulinski. Otherwise I won't get away from US politics. This is not an act against them. I have to do this for my own well-being, to be purposefully ignorant... ...if I watch youtube videos, it's non-political stuff from now on.
Well, I shall support you in that endeavor.
Quote from: Iota on April 02, 2020, 11:58:07 AM
Anyway a cliched series of random thoughts, and I'm in no position to offer anybody advice, but I wish you luck. :)
And so do I.
Keep cool (or warm, when necessary). Sleep well.
This is for you!
https://www.youtube.com/v/DgdYGJ-gDHY
Mortals, stop sighing....
Quote from: 71 dB on April 02, 2020, 07:32:33 AM
Also, I am totally pissed of for how my knowledge and understanding of US poltics has been downplayed online.
The first rule of Dunning-Kruger Club is: you don't know you're in Dunning-Kruger Club.
The second rule of Dunning-Kruger Club is: you.don't.know.you're.in.Dunning.Kruger.Club.
A political system where anyone who wants to be elected needs very deep pockets does not bode well for the common person.
Guys, just be happy you have the luxury of complaining about it from across an ocean--some of us have to fkn live here in Murikkka. :P
Quote from: SimonNZ on April 02, 2020, 03:20:32 PM
The first rule of Dunning-Kruger Club is: you don't know you're in Dunning-Kruger Club.
The second rule of Dunning-Kruger Club is: you.don't.know.you're.in.Dunning.Kruger.Club.
Thanks! I just learnt something.
Quote from: XB-70 Valkyrie on April 02, 2020, 05:30:43 PM
Guys, just be happy you have the luxury of complaining about it from across an ocean--some of us have to fkn live here in Murikkka. :P
The statement I made does not apply just to to the USA.
Quote from: 71 dB on April 02, 2020, 10:08:00 AM
Lack of control over many things makes it challenging to feel life is fulfilling or meaningful. I don't know what my purpose in life is. I try things, but always fail. What is the thing I am good/talented at? I don't have a clue.
Humans tend to define "purpose" as what's useful to other humans, and judge how useful people have been. I've been generally good at exploring the world around me, picking up many little bits of information, sometimes seeing patterns and connections. Not much of great use to other people but maybe I have to learn how to stop feeling that pressure from society and focus more on the bigger picture, appreciating what's been going on in the rest of space and time. And perhaps the smaller picture, keeping my own little bit of the universe in order.
Quote from: SimonNZ on April 02, 2020, 03:20:32 PM
The first rule of Dunning-Kruger Club is: you don't know you're in Dunning-Kruger Club.
The second rule of Dunning-Kruger Club is: you.don't.know.you're.in.Dunning.Kruger.Club.
Most interesting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect#Original_study
I hadn't heard about the lemon juice thing before. That's brilliant.
Quote from: XB-70 Valkyrie on April 02, 2020, 05:30:43 PM
Guys, just be happy you have the luxury of complaining about it from across an ocean--some of us have to fkn live here in Murikkka. :P
Many americans think the US is the greatest country in the World. Again, ignorance is bliss. :P
Quote from: 71 dB on April 03, 2020, 02:20:05 AM
Many americans think the US is the greatest country in the World. Again, ignorance is bliss. :P
But then, a lot of people think the exact same thing about
their country.
I believe that's called chauvinism.
Quote from: pjme on April 02, 2020, 11:51:19 PM
Most interesting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect#Original_study
Thanks, I learned something new. :)
It's the kind of thing that 'goes without saying', but expressing it as a logical statement is almost startling. The last paragraph of this wiki article was eminently prescient of what would happen in Washington a few years later... :o
Quote
In 2011, David Dunning wrote about his observations that people with substantial, measurable deficits in their knowledge or expertise lack the ability to recognize those deficits and, therefore, despite potentially making error after error, tend to think they are performing competently when they are not: "In short, those who are incompetent, for lack of a better term, should have little insight into their incompetence (...)
Quote from: pjme on April 02, 2020, 11:51:19 PM
Most interesting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect#Original_study
I had vowed to no longer engage with (even potentially) politically-oriented threads, but want to thank you for posting this. I admit that I was unaware of it.
2020 has been insane! I started it with high hopes. The primaries started well for Bernie. Then SHIT HIT THE FAN!!!
Bloodie monday: In or order to stop Bernie the establishmet rally behind Biden and it totally changed the game. Bernie started losing! What happened was traumatizing for the left (FUCK YOU ESTABLISHMENT AND YOUR FUCKING ENDLESS GREET!!)
This alone would have ruined 2020 for me, but of course Covid-19 makes sure 2020 is totally ruined for everyone!! I am so fucking tired of this SHIT!!! Hardly nothing good in the World happens!! What the fuck??? Now I have been sick since thursday and I don't know if it's covid or what! I have been careful and done social distancing. I haven't seen my dad in 5 weeks! what the fuck?
Yeah, right now I DON'T care are US politics! 40.000 deaths and more will come. The US asked for this. I don't care. So tired of the world.
Sorry to hear that, but chances are that it's probably not Covid. Have you asked your doctor for advice?
Forget about Bernie, let it go, and feel better, Poju.
Quote from: MusicTurner on April 20, 2020, 05:54:00 AM
Sorry to hear that, but chances are that it's probably not Covid. Have you asked your doctor for advice?
Yes, it can be something else. I haven't asked doctors for advice. Usually I rest home and take care of myself and I get better in 1 or 2 days.
OK, take care.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 20, 2020, 05:56:47 AM
Forget about Bernie, let it go, and feel better, Poju.
Thanks Karl!
It's difficult to forget someone like Bernie, but I can always try. The last few years teached me the US is not a first world country. It is a
rich banana republic/third world country pretending to be something better. I can keep admiring the great things the US has given to the world, but overall it's not a very admirable country. My father has always disliked the US apart from some few things like jazz. I am finally beginning to understand why. George W. Bush and Donald Trump are not anomalies. They are establishment-approved presidents. Tax cuts for the rich and so on. Bernie is NOT establishment-approved so in oligarchy he was stopped twice. In real democracy Bernie would have become the president in 2016 and the handling of Corona virus epidemy would be
miles better than it is with the reality tv baffoon.
Hang on on that side of the Atlantic Ocean. ;)
Quote from: 71 dB on April 20, 2020, 05:41:14 AM
What the fuck??? Now I have been sick since thursday and I don't know if it's covid or what! I have been careful and done social distancing. I haven't seen my dad in 5 weeks! what the fuck?
it depends on what symptoms you are experiencing. There are countless other, more innocuous ways to feel bad.
Covid symptoms are a dry cough, exhaustion, a terrifying headache and a lot of men also get a back ache.
A lot of people lose their sense of taste and smell early on. So get a bar of chocolate or a nice beer and tell us what's it taste like. (Or even easier: go to the loo, and if you think it smells like roses, you may have a problem.)
Check these things and call your doctor if you want to talk about it.
Quote from: Herman on April 20, 2020, 07:57:06 AM
it depends on what symptoms you are experiencing. There are countless other, more innocuous ways to feel bad.
Covid symptoms are a dry cough, exhaustion, a terrifying headache and a lot of men also get a back ache.
A lot of people lose their sense of taste and smell early on. So get a bar of chocolate or a nice beer and tell us what's it taste like. (Or even easier: go to the loo, and if you think it smells like roses, you may have a problem.)
Check these things and call your doctor if you want to talk about it.
My symptoms have not been very "covidian." The only reason I include covid is timing, but this can be a pure coincidence. For someone who has felt ill I have hardly any cough. I have feld exhausted, but that goes for any illness. Headache also hasn't been an issue. My nose has been very congested, but I can smell things just fine. I feel a bit dizzy and my whole body is "restless" telling me I am not ok. Luckily now I am feeling a bit better so there is hope this is finally going away.
Good.
Your symptoms may be anxiety related. Try not to focus on things that cause you to get worked up.
Quote from: SimonNZ on April 20, 2020, 11:10:08 AM
Your symptoms may be anxiety related. Try not to focus on things that cause you to get worked up.
Chances are you are right, but easier said than done in the middle of Covid-19 pandemic... :-\
Yeah, I meant all that other rubbish in post 20. Stop watching those outrage!! peddlers on Youtube and your anxiety levels will go down.
Quote from: Herman on April 03, 2020, 09:59:50 AM
But then, a lot of people think the exact same thing about their country.
I believe that's called chauvinism.
Wouldn't that rather be called Nationalism?
Quote from: SimonNZ on April 20, 2020, 12:42:05 PM
Yeah, I meant all that other rubbish in post 20. Stop watching those outrage!! peddlers on Youtube and your anxiety levels will go down.
Stopping watching Youtube doesn't make me less aware of what is happening in the World, especially now that I understand US politics better and people don't "unlearn" things just like that. I can follow only Finnish news, but they tell about US politics too. The rest of my life I will be sad about Bernie not being the 45th president for 2 terms. That would have made so much good not only for the US, but the whole World.
Life would be so easy if you could just ignore the bad and concentrate on the good, but life isn't like that. All we can do it to try to make the good "bigger" than the bad so that it wins. That's where I am struggling. When I was younger I was also naive and unaware of a lot of the bad in the World. I even denied wars existed. I didn't believe humans were so stupid to have wars, but wars exist.
US politics is an enigma to someone, like me, who lives outside of the US. Yet I can't help but notice so many anomalies. These are some of them.
You need a shit load of money to enter the race for POTUS starting with candidature for your own party. I view that system as something like Texas Hold'em poker. You carry on until someone outbids you (or you them) or you run out of money. "Sorry guys, I fold".
Local elections for Sherriff. I am just astounded that the employment of many leading law enforcement officers is down to a public vote. No wonder there are hundreds, maybe thousands of crime fiction novels where the local Sherriff is corrupt.
The Electoral College - a system where you can get considerably less overall votes than the other guy but still be elected POTUS.
But the one that resonates most strongly with me is prevalent on this and many other forums. "I didn't vote for this guy so lets see how quickly we can shoot him down". Trump is the one squarely in the crosshairs at the moment but think back to Obama. The concerted campaign to prove he wasn't a US citizen (and therefore impeachable) was so vehement it took me by surprise. The anti Obama and anti Trump sentiment has been lead by the media leaving me with zero trust in what they say.
So I'm with 71db on this except I've got no interest in American politics. Do you have the system you deserve? I'm not sure if oligarchy is the correct term but there is a hell of a lot of power invested in a very small group of people.
well, it isn't too hard to understand.
The US electoral system is an eighteenth century structure, intended for the original East Coast states grafted on an oversize country, where you need vast sums of money to buy airtime on tv if you want to reach people. The Electoral College is a dinosaur bone kept in place because it's keeping the GOP in power.
The latter is changing. Using social media is in some ways cheaper than buying tv ads. They do both now. But you need vast numbers of staff and these people aren't cheap. And then of course, if you're Trump, you need to pay the women / sex dolls your sons are sleeping with 180.000 a year, too.
Quote from: Herman on April 21, 2020, 01:56:31 AM
well, it isn't too hard to understand.
The US electoral system is an eighteenth century structure, intended for the original East Coast states grafted on an oversize country, where you need vast sums of money to buy airtime on tv if you want to reach people. The Electoral College is a dinosaur bone kept in place because it's keeping the GOP in power.
The latter is changing. Using social media is in some ways cheaper than buying tv ads. They do both now. But you need vast numbers of staff and these people aren't cheap. And then of course, if you're Trump, you need to pay the women / sex dolls your sons are sleeping with 180.000 a year, too.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: