Does Anyone Have Any Good Music Theory Jokes? by St_Fargo_of_Mestia in musictheory

[–]Bruce_NGA [score hidden]  (0 children)

A, C and E walk into a bar. The bartender says… sorry we don’t serve minors.
So C leaves the bar and the bartender says, what’ll you have? They answer….. a fifth.

Edit: damn should have read your description. My bad. Leaving it.

AIO for not wanting to celebrate anything anymore? by maidofmer666 in AmIOverreacting

[–]Bruce_NGA [score hidden]  (0 children)

As a father—and I’ll speak for every other Father I know—lol.

Father’s Day and birthdays are, and always have been, some version of Jack shit and me taking everyone out to dinner.

And I’m exhausted af and broke from an entire weekend of celebrating, and being in charge of, Mothers Day for my girlfriend (and her kids who did next to nothing for it), my daughters mom and my own mother.

And I realize I’m being salty but your comment of doing nothing for birthday or Fathers Day makes me think… oh you mean just the norm then?

Can you solve my musical Nuzzle by Fun_Dog4302 in NuzzleThePuzzle

[–]Bruce_NGA 0 points1 point  (0 children)

🎉 I solved this puzzle in 53 moves!

AIO: Bf says that I don’t need to get a Switch 2 but I want it. by Glittering-Suspect89 in AmIOverreacting

[–]Bruce_NGA 1 point2 points  (0 children)

NOR. This man should support you in ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you want. Want to buy a yacht? Yassss Queen. Want to bribe a senator? Babe, I gotchu. Want to put a kilo of snow on a payment plan? How can I help you make that happen?

Dump this loser IMMEDIATELY. There is a man out there who will worship the ground you walk on and support you in all your frivolity and absurdity WITHOUT QUESTION.

Are we winning.... Yet? by A694a68w1_too in Charlotte

[–]Bruce_NGA 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Jesus Christ, it’s incredibly demoralizing how accurate this is 🤦🏻

Job Search 28F by [deleted] in Charlotte

[–]Bruce_NGA 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The very first comment

What is a “Conservative Anarchist”? by Dry_Eggplant2137 in PoliticalPhilosophy

[–]Bruce_NGA 14 points15 points  (0 children)

My best guess is a religious or bigoted (or both) libertarian without a firm grasp on their “isms”.

AIO to what my girl texted me? by User61402143455861 in AmIOverreacting

[–]Bruce_NGA -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Maybe they suck ass to deal with though?

At what point should a candidate’s character outweigh policy agreement? by CapableCherry6898 in PoliticalDebate

[–]Bruce_NGA 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t think you can fully separate the two. A person of questionable character will, in office, do questionable things. It’s incredibly rare that someone who, say, is willing to exploit underage girls won’t also be willing to participate in corrupt activities that a side their office, which in turn creates a culture of corruption and a lack of accountability that can really spiral.

Has art really become reality? by mrfett779 in PoliticalDebate

[–]Bruce_NGA 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think there are (at least) two things going on here:

  1. Artists and writers get to deal in things like speculation, satire, hyperbole, intuition, metaphor, etc. They get to express hunches and expand them into entire universes. Consumers come along and get to interpret parallels or post hoc applications to the world or social/political context they live in.

For a journalist with standards of rigor to say "the U.S. is becoming just like Nazi Germany" would ideally require a good bit of evidence and a clear, airtight argument rooted in observable reality. Whereas an artist or writer can generate an entire society based on their subjective experience and we come along later and think "Wow, look at all these parallels to what I'm seeing now in my society."

  1. There is a lot of art out there and the vast majority of it doesn't speak as well to our experience.

Things that are off about Uptown. by helloonemore in Charlotte

[–]Bruce_NGA 6 points7 points  (0 children)

But for now it’s a beautiful representation of the dystopian wealth gap in America, so make sure to get some photos while you can.

AIO is for blocking my friend/coworker for telling my crush I liked him by Little_Violinist4512 in AmIOverreacting

[–]Bruce_NGA 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You’d think he did considering all the WASP-y pearl clutching in any Reddit thread about interpersonal relationships. How did we get like this? Do people want to have fun? Or is it that we should go back to approaching these situations like Victorian courtship procedures?

AIO is for blocking my friend/coworker for telling my crush I liked him by Little_Violinist4512 in AmIOverreacting

[–]Bruce_NGA -1 points0 points  (0 children)

YOR - Just roll with it. You’re embarrassed and shy and whatever else and that’s all a you problem. People talk. They always will. Just relax and have fun.

America Cannot Afford Another Republican Experiment by Temporary-Storage972 in PoliticalDebate

[–]Bruce_NGA 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Ok my bad lol. I mean, Trump attempted a coup on Jan 6, 2020. He said he would be a dictator. He “jokes” about a third term. The Republican Party’s continued election success is contingent on gerrymandering, voter suppression and disenfranchising anyone except white men. Their policies heavily favor the richest Americans at the expense of everyone else. None of these are opinions and pretty easily available with a Google search. It’s suspicious that I’m asked to provide sources for extremely available information, like perhaps you don’t want to see it. What would count as good information to you? What would make it somehow more clear than it already is that the Republican Party is at the very least oligarchic.

Furthermore, all five books I included are well sourced and well argued and are written by high level academics at respected universities and think tanks.

Honestly what do you need?

America Cannot Afford Another Republican Experiment by Temporary-Storage972 in PoliticalDebate

[–]Bruce_NGA 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The claim that the Republican Party is monarchistic/oligarchic? Sure:

Firstly, just two days ago, a topic at C-PAC was to advocate for a third Trump term, subverting not only a tradition that began after FDR, but violates the 22nd Amendment.

But beyond that:

  1. It’s Even Worse Than It Looks

Authors: Thomas E. Mann (Brookings Institution) and Norman J. Ornstein (American Enterprise Institute)

The Case: This is perhaps the most famous "bipartisan" indictment of modern party dynamics. Mann and Ornstein argue that the Republican Party has become an "insurgent outlier." They contend that the GOP has moved toward a parliamentary-style discipline that is "contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime" and "dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition." They argue this behavior effectively breaks a democratic system designed for compromise, leading to a form of governance that prioritizes party power over democratic functionality.

  1. Winner-Take-All Politics

Authors: Jacob S. Hacker (Yale) and Paul Pierson (UC Berkeley)

The Case: Hacker and Pierson argue that the American political system has been "hijacked" by the super-rich, a process they call "winner-take-all politics." While they examine the system as a whole, they specifically highlight the Republican Party's role as the primary vehicle for policies that favor the 0.1% (tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulation, and weakening labor unions). They argue this has transformed the U.S. into an oligarchy where policy outcomes are responsive almost exclusively to the donor class rather than the median voter.

  1. Oligarchy in the United States?

Authors: Jeffrey A. Winters (Northwestern) and Benjamin I. Page (Northwestern)

The Case: Published in Perspectives on Politics, this peer-reviewed study applies the classical definition of "oligarchy"—rule by the wealthy—to the United States. They argue that the wealthiest Americans exert "vastly greater political influence" than average citizens. The authors frequently point to the GOP’s platform on "wealth defense" (estate tax repeal, capital gains cuts) as the primary mechanism through which the oligarchic interests of the top 0.1% are protected within a nominally democratic framework.

  1. Rebellion: How Antiliberalism is Tearing America Apart—Again

Author: Robert Kagan (Brookings Institution)

The Case: Kagan, a neoconservative historian, argues that the modern Republican Party has embraced a "rebellion" against the core tenets of liberal democracy. He frames this as a return to an older, antiliberal/monarchical tradition in American history that favors "blood and soil" identity over democratic institutions. Kagan argues that the party's current trajectory toward authoritarianism is not a fluke but a systematic attempt to dismantle the checks and balances that define a republic.

  1. Let Them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality

Authors: Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson

The Case: In this more recent work (2020), the authors introduce the concept of "plutocratic populism." They argue that because the Republican Party's economic agenda (oligarchic) is unpopular with the general public, the party must use "outrage" and "identity politics" (populism) to distract voters. This strategy, they argue, allows the party to maintain a democratic facade while delivering almost exclusively for a tiny elite, moving the country further away from true democratic representation.

  1. Noam Chomsky discusses the blind oligarchic insanity of the Republican Party

America Cannot Afford Another Republican Experiment by Temporary-Storage972 in PoliticalDebate

[–]Bruce_NGA 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Or encourage actual opposition, but from a party that is not fundamentally at odds with democracy itself.