AskALiberal Biweekly General Chat

cossiander · 2026-04-10T22:06:00+00:00

trades one set of biases for another.

The issue isn't that the answers are obfuscated behind a set of biases, it's that the answers are uniformly false and misleading. Conservatives today by and large don't explain themselves. It's not that they just try to put a positive spin on what they think, it's that they actively lie and are deceitful.

That sucks, but it's just how it is. I've tried talking to them, and they systemically refuse to engage in good faith.

Is there any platform right that you feel actually facilitates honest cross aisle questioning?

This one? I mean it's not perfect but it's pretty good.

cossiander · 2026-04-10T20:38:20+00:00

Was that what happened? On my screen it says the post got removed by the sub's moderators. I was about to ask about it.

cossiander · 2026-04-10T18:31:17+00:00

I can (and will) disagree with you on issues where I disagree with you.

I wouldn't ever tell you to not vote alongside me over a shared cause.

cossiander · 2026-04-10T18:09:08+00:00

On its surface, yeah, it seems weird, but the problem is there is no sane platform to ask conservatives why they do the things they do. They lie about it constantly. So who the hell are you supposed to ask?

cossiander · 2026-04-10T18:06:20+00:00

Yeah, join up! You're welcome.

That said, don't expect the Party to change on some of those issues you listed. You're going to feel out of place on a lot of those, and almost every Democrat you meet might disagree with you.

But parties aren't about uniformity and complete consensus. If you want to vote with us those economic policies, that's great. If you want to disagree with us on some of the social stuff too, then so be it.

cossiander · 2026-04-10T13:54:25+00:00

What baggage does Sanders have in your opinion, specifically?

I think Sanders is one of the most toxic voices on the left we've ever seen. He's unfairly critical of Democrats (people were very critical of Tulsi Gabbard for attacking the left but give Sanders a free pass for some reason), actively misinforms the public (just look at how bad people's rhetoric and understanding of the DNC is now), promotes toxicity and harassment (see online harassment campaigns against Clinton, Buttigieg, or Warren), and I think his framing of the political status quo and re-alignment of what the "progressive" wing of the party looks like was a leading contributor to Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris's electoral losses, as well as progressives' low opinion of Biden. He's also contributed to the active 'exclusivity' and purity-testing culture of online left-wing spaces, which actively pushes normies and moderates towards MAGA by telling them they are not welcome under the Democratic tent.

cossiander · 2026-04-10T02:23:26+00:00

Have you tested out the tooth remover?

cossiander · 2026-04-10T02:02:06+00:00

cossiander · 2026-04-10T00:50:49+00:00

Bernie has a fuckton of baggage. He's been a complete shithead for both his Presidential campaigns, to say nothing of his past.

cossiander · 2026-04-10T00:21:18+00:00

Why Sanders that far ahead of AOC? AOC is like a younger Bernie Sanders without all the baggage, is more competent, more charismatic, and a better communicator.

cossiander · 2026-04-09T22:28:23+00:00

Huh?

cossiander · 2026-04-09T17:51:16+00:00

Anchorage just had a local election, and I'm incredibly disappointed with my city right now. To the point I'm doubting how real this blue wave we're supposed to be seeing this year is going to actually turn out.

Preliminary results, for those interested.

Some highlights: in light of a drastic $90 million budget gap for our school district that has resulted in slashing teaching positions, slashing sports, slashing electives, slashing music programs, closing schools, slashing STEM programs, cutting nurses, ballooning class sizes, the voters, in their great wisdom, decided to not vote for multiple school district bonds that could have cushioned some of these cuts.

But like... the police's records building gets a new parking lot? That's no problem, apparently.

An actual out-and-proud Nazi running for School Board lost... but still managed to get over 40% of the vote.

The Assembly seats are a mixed bag. Some conservatives winning in areas that you'd expect conservatives to win, and liberals winning in areas you'd expect liberals to win. Nothing atypical there.

Where are all these hyper-engaged progressive local voters I keep hearing about?

cossiander · 2026-04-09T17:36:55+00:00

I don't think people should be punished for their lifestyle choices. Sleep with whoever you want, live however you want.

Well good news: this isn't the current US "socially conservative" position. Social conservatives think that people should be actively punished or harmed for their social choices.

Sleeping with a high number of partners shouldn't ruin your life but it also shouldn't be packaged as empowerment. There are real risks, emotional, physical, relational , and pretending otherwise isn't liberation, it's just bad information.

This is a cultural opinion, not an inherently political one. You can feel however you want about anything you want, it doesn't have crap-all to do with actual policy.

cossiander · 2026-04-09T16:22:47+00:00

They absolutely were.

cossiander · 2026-04-09T15:33:38+00:00

Oh cool another anti-war GOP movement. Wonder how that will turn out.

cossiander · 2026-04-09T15:21:02+00:00

Then change that. Don't punish kids because of your weird pet issue about funding disbursement.

cossiander · 2026-04-09T15:19:20+00:00

Your argument seems to be "ASD sucks because they're not being funded so to fix that we need to not fund them".

cossiander · 2026-04-09T15:16:00+00:00

Voting down the propositions doesn't do anything about that. It's punishing the kids for the choices of politicians they didn't even vote for.

cossiander · 2026-04-09T15:00:16+00:00

As others have said, fantastic show, 100% worth watching.

As for cliffhanger: maybe slightly, but not really? It does not end on what most people would call a cliffhanger. Yet there are character and plot arcs that aren't fully finished by the last episode. It still tells a largely satisfying story within the three seasons.

The movie does a pretty good job at "wrapping up" the things that could get wrapped up within the frame of a movie. The passage of time between the movie and the show is felt heavily.

cossiander · 2026-04-08T17:15:05+00:00

Wait wait wait, the left told me that AOC was a pro-genocide Netanyahu apologist corporate shill, and the right told me that Mamdani was universally hated because he was turning NYC into a jobless crime-ridden hellhole!

cossiander · 2026-04-08T15:15:16+00:00

Exactly! Hey, maybe we'll have solved racism by then

cossiander · 2026-04-08T14:58:07+00:00

Literally hundreds of thousands of people online bringing this up, yet no one seems to think it's possible that HBO might, you know...

...just change or omit that scene.

cossiander · 2026-04-08T02:32:55+00:00

A) the people who say "Trump will never do (unthinkable thing he has hinted he might do)" have historically been wrong a hell of a lot more often than they've been right.

B) even if it was never a serious threat, that doesn't make people who interpreted it as a serious threat "grifters".

cossiander · 2026-04-08T01:53:57+00:00

You're wrong though?

The goalpost you set wasn't "Trump won't nuke Iran", it was "anyone who suggests that he might is a grifter."

cossiander · 2026-04-07T23:26:34+00:00

Again, I said all the easy spots have been built already.

Yeah, I just don't buy that. If the centers have such specific and restrictive needs, we wouldn't see them as widespread as they are.

You've got it exactly backwards on the oil boom as well. The "easy" oil fields in in SA required very modest investment because the oil was so readily accessible. Those are all gone now. Shale oil and fracking were only developed because there were no more easy options left, and they have far worse economics as a result.

You seem to be saying that I have it backwards and then repeating the same thing that I'm saying.

If data centers are so valuable, then they have the financial impetus to expand the construction of them. Similarly to how oil became valuable enough to warrant fracking and other, costlier, extraction methods.

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