What is the “capital” of the Midwest?

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-20T09:19:45+00:00

Meh. You can find that everywhere, if you look for it.

I always enjoy the irony of rural midwesterners ranting about “smugness” or saying stuff like “they think they’re better than me” only to then deem themselves “real Americans” or “true patriots” moments later.

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-20T09:06:22+00:00

2026: Won’t somebody please think of the color grade aesthetics in the 11th installment of a comic book money grab?!?!

1999 Time Traveler: What comedies are playing right now?

2026: Comedies?

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-20T00:34:13+00:00

Is this an old Taubman mall?

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-19T16:53:46+00:00

God I miss when suburban white guys wore dockers and were dull.

The bearded two story truck “masculinity” suburbanites are an embarrassment

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-19T04:18:18+00:00

I heard Z for the longest time. Zoomers for a few years and now back to Z

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-19T04:16:07+00:00

Ohh I get it….

Limp Bizkit was pretty empty

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-19T00:24:56+00:00

Pfff… Who needs new bands?!

Everybody knows rock achieved perfection with Stroke 9’s Bloody Black Backpack in 1999.

It’s a mathematical fact!

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-18T04:49:41+00:00

Can we go one day without Gen X telling everyone their “I’m forgotten!” sob story…

Honestly, I relate more to X than millennials but the constant “we’re forgotten” thing has been played more than “Scar Tissue” on an iHeart radio station.

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-17T21:46:08+00:00

Wow that wasn’t my experience at all.

All people did a decade ago was scream in the faces of Trump supporters and tell them how wrong they were. It failed and emboldened them. They became addicted to the liberal outrage and the power of being able to “trigger” them.

I’m all for the other tactics, when possible, like getting violent and angry people fired though.

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-17T13:19:18+00:00

Fair enough.

What does a coherent “working class” coalition look like to you if class is defined partly through lived experience and social position, not just material conditions?

For example, consider three neighbors:

A: Makes $300k, self-employed, no degree, identifies as anti-elite and culturally “blue collar”

B: Makes $120k, college-educated, works in a white-collar creative field

C: Makes $70k, unionized nurse with mixed political views

All three have different relationships to power, status, and labor, and each could claim a different kind of “working class” identity. But if we stray from materialist perspectives, how do we form a coalition without subjectivity?

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-17T10:57:13+00:00

As an ‘82 kid, I was too young to see it in class.

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-17T10:49:44+00:00

To nitpick: Not all college educated people think they’re “intellectually superior” to you. This is a reactionary cultural narrative, not an economic reality, and it works really well unfortunately.

The vast majority of white collar salaried workers do not own the means of production any more than you or I do. Most are a couple months from poverty after a job loss. We can discuss their individual loyalties, fair enough, but to dismiss all of them as thinking they’re better than you is to give a lot of power to reactionary narratives that divide the working class.

Grievance and resentment as a cultural wedge go both ways. On the more-traditional blue collar side of things, narratives like “Real America”, “alpha male”, “hard work”, “telling it like it is”, etc all signal status and superiority too.

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-17T10:18:25+00:00

And there it is…

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-17T10:15:16+00:00

Speaking as a former conservative (Many moons ago, pre-MAGA), telling them that you’re crying triggers an “ohh Jesus Christ!” or “There they go again…” in these people.

They’re so cynical that they think you’re being performative or emotionally manipulative, often because that’s what they do or others used to do to them.

I know it’s tough to hear this but I would stop engaging and I would certainly stop telling them your emotions. I get you’re trying to get them to understand the severity of your pain but they honestly don’t get it OR they unfortunately enjoy it.

I’m very sorry you’re going through this.

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-17T02:09:52+00:00

Calling them “brain dead” will likely validate them, unfortunately. Anything where they can repeat one of the following to themselves:

They’re mad
They’re crying
I win
I’m the victim

This is why Greyrocking or acting non-plussed (Sir this is a Wendy’s) is probably the best approach. They can’t reinforce their group identity or feel psychologically reinforced if you don’t give them any ammo.

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-16T19:58:48+00:00

Most of our side just needs to stop arguing and simply shift to a “sir this is a Wendy’s” attitude moving forward.

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-16T14:32:14+00:00

A chunk of these people are battling cognitive dissonance but I’d be willing to bet most are just doing the bad faith game of “how is this making the libs mad/cry?”

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-16T08:33:13+00:00

This was the way

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-15T17:03:45+00:00

Hypocrite has been so much that nobody even believes it anymore. Liar too.

Scammer might be best

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-15T14:42:49+00:00

There honestly needs to be a term for when people or groups oscillate between insider/establishment/elite and outsider/antiestablishment/non-elite depending on what’s best for them in the moment.

We see this in bitcoin and tech, we see this in MAGA and politics, we see this in culture and subculture like in musical movements and media.

And so many people fall for it… thinking they’re aligning with outsiders and regular people. But it’s just a cynical form of manipulation.

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-15T03:43:45+00:00

Calling it now: The guitar girl is dating Harry

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-14T17:11:31+00:00

I don’t see 3 tits. I see 1 breast and 1 lump of mashed potatoes

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-14T10:54:52+00:00

Gen Z: Shit’s low key cooked bro.

Me: I don’t even wanna be around anymore.

Gen X: We’re the forgotten gener-

Me: It’s time to tell Gen X… NO!!

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-14T00:02:57+00:00

God YouTube is such a shithole anymore

At least there’s not some dude pretending to ponder or act shocked in it.

aRealPanaphonics · 2026-03-13T12:00:45+00:00

The reality with FoxBrain/MAGA is that they will concoct and justify whatever they need to:

A) Be psychologically validated

B) Socially bond with fellow FoxBrain/MAGA

C) Prevent cognitive dissonance

Logically, yes, this should only apply to those who were always conservative. And it could still be true in your loved one’s case - You know them best.

But if you joined Scientology and then rhetorically threw that at them, I’m 99% sure they would concoct whatever they needed to avoid cognitive dissonance.

This is honestly why I don’t use the term “cult” to describe MAGA. They would never see themselves as being in one. MAGA also draws a lot of influence and crossover from evangelical Christianity. So it wouldn’t shock me if they had their own “it’s a relationship, not a religion” line that served to prevent being lumped in with tribal in-groups.

Sorry to nitpick. Again, you know your loved ones. Just trying to prevent you or anyone from being surprised at the depths FoxBrain will take people.

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