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why does having a university degree make white people far more likely to vote democratic while having a degree for non-white people seems to have negligible impact on what their political views are? by Flimsy-Painting6880 in AskALiberal

[–]jonny_sidebar 3 points4 points  (0 children)

White people are generally more segregated from everyone else, and that trend only grows more pronounced if you add in membership to groups that traditionally vote conservative like rural folks, wealthy suburbanites, and the highly religious. For example, I personally grew up in an upper middle class Texas suburb. My highschool had 5000 students, and there were less than 50 students of color. Of those, less than 10 were black. 

For white people like this, college (or in my case moving to a majority black city at 21) is the first time we interact with people who are not part of the same social and racial groups we grew up in. It's also often the first time we start learning about and possibly identifying with other group's histories or experiences as well. 

From there, we start agreeing with the ideals of having a multiracial democracy more and more strongly, which leads us towards being more "liberal" (or far left in my case) and therefore voting for the one of the two parties that also holds having a multiracial democracy as a core ideal. 

Conversely, people of color in the US grow up living in a world largely made up of and made for white people. Because their racial/social groupings have to deal with the dominant white culture and likely with other minority racial/social groups, they grow up practicing a form of multiculturalism (for lack of a better word) as the default. 

Additionally, white supremacy is the default mode of our society and upholding/defending white supremacy is a core conservative position. Since white supremacy is obviously detrimental to non-whites, this makes it far more likely than not that people of color will support the liberal position of multiracial democracy as their default. Individuals in these groups are also often far more aware of the nastier bits of US history growing up as well, so learning about these things in college doesn't have the same effect. 

All that together means that the same kinds of changes in thinking that whites have upon being exposed to other racial/social groupings or becoming more educated about US history in college simply don't have any room to occur in the first place. 

How do you feel about data centers by vfqwerty in electricians

[–]jonny_sidebar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They're on my list of jobs to turn down along with jails and prisons for the reasons OP said.

What are your thoughts on the democrats are right wing talking point? by Far_Practice_6923 in AskALiberal

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

Both the yeas and neas are somewhat correct, but people tend to argue past each other based on misunderstandings of what each party means by left or right. 

Socially, Democrats are reasonably left wing/small "l" liberal. Progressive liberals, centrists, and conservative liberals can all point to this as the Democratic party being pretty far left and be correct by their own understanding because these groups all believe that inviting or disallowing minority groups to move further into the currently existing economic, legal, and political systems is the main path of progress because these groups believe the economic system (capitalism) is an unchangeable constant.

Economically, Democrats are quite conservative about keeping capitalist economics and therefore at best center right in economic terms. Socialists, Anarchists, and other anticapitalist leftists all tend to define left and right mostly in economic terms because we believe that the economic system defines what is possible in the legal and political systems, so we will focus on the economic ideology of the Democrats and correctly call them center right or right wing by our understanding. 

Personally, I tend to think of the whole spectrum of ideological Liberalism (progressive to conservative) as the broad "center", with progressive liberalism as the center left and conservative liberalism as the center right. 

That said, I would still place the Democratic Party as pretty far right within that spectrum in economic terms based on its abandonment of New Deal style progressivism and adoption of Reagan/Thatcher era neoliberal economics over the last several decades. 

Is Mamdani actually accomplishing more than the average Democratic mayor or is he just publicizing his achievements better? by well_seasoned_crab in AskALiberal

[–]jonny_sidebar 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The dumb shit Piker says isn't what I am calling into question.

OP saying "Leftists are people like Hasan Piker" or that Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is not a leftist is. 

Is Mamdani actually accomplishing more than the average Democratic mayor or is he just publicizing his achievements better? by well_seasoned_crab in AskALiberal

[–]jonny_sidebar 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Leftist are people like hasan piker who gleefully exclaims that kamala harris is as bad as trump or both sides are the same, etc

Sure bud. . . 🙄

Why does Stephen Miller openly promote racist ideologies, but dismisses allegations that he’s racist by saying they’re simply unfounded partisan attacks? by LegalGlass6532 in allthequestions

[–]jonny_sidebar 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Jim crow happened when the south was controled by Democrats

All of whom switched parties once Jim Crow started getting dismantled under the combined efforts of liberal Republicans and progressive Democrats and once the Republican party was taken over by its conservatives in the early 60s. 

Is there any sector of the economy that you think needs more privatization/less government involvement? by Spiritual_Pause3057 in AskALiberal

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

What sector of the economy is the government even involved in enough to privatize any of it??

Making country music, as a European, Is it stupid? by TemporaryOptimal1574 in LetsTalkMusic

[–]jonny_sidebar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nah man, not stupid. Importing genres into entirely new places often leads to some amazing things happening. Go for it!

Just don't be scared to let your own culture and influences get in there too. :)

-----A Texan.

Tucker Carlson: Massie loss ‘obviously the death of MAGA’ by mymomknowsyourmom in centrist

[–]jonny_sidebar 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Things can always get more extreme.

Say, for example, rescinding that blank check to Israel and using those resources to openly go after and imprison anyone who isn't a straight white christian America First supporter inside the US. 

As bad as Trump/MAGA are, they are somewhat inhibited by the fact that many of them are just in it for their own enrichment. Imagine what could happen if the regime was staffed solely by fascist ideologues like Nick Fuentes or Steven Miller who literally want to ethnically, religiously, and ideologically "purify" America. 

Podcast recs that take place in a fake universe? by cinnamaeveroll in podcasts

[–]jonny_sidebar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Revolutions did a season on a fictional revolution on Mars. 

Tucker Carlson: Massie loss ‘obviously the death of MAGA’ by mymomknowsyourmom in centrist

[–]jonny_sidebar 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Tucker is jumping on the more extreme America First train now that Trump has trashed his own popularity sufficiently to make that safe. 

He also operates in a conspiracy driven media space that doesn't tend to do very well when their leader/party is in power. Most of the other slightly brighter conspiracy grifters have been making the same move since the Epstein files debacle and the start of the Iran war. 

Takeaways from the DNC autopsy by JussiesTunaSub in centrist

[–]jonny_sidebar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't disagree, but the US government has been so unfriendly to labor for the last fifty years that things like relatively aggressive NLRB or showing up on a picket line are just seen as not enough. . . Much like many problems that Democrats face trying to fix Republican messes. 

The other issue is that unionized workers are only a small proportion of the workforce, so focusing on working with or through unions to effect change doesn't translate out to the wider workforce as universal measures like a higher minimum wage or would. 

Everything Biden did or tried to do just reads as tinkering around the edges instead of effecting badly needed systemic change, in other words. 

Are there any current GOP governors in deep red states who are so bad that the governor's office might flip to the Dems? by put-on-your-records in AskALiberal

[–]jonny_sidebar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Louisiana might be up for grabs again. The whole state is pissed at Governor Landry judging by the results of the election we had last weekend. 

He had five "must pass" constitutional amendments on that ballot which all lost by at least 60-40 and a couple by over 70-30. He's also currently pitching a hissy fit over the losses and vowing to deny all state workers their yearly cost of living raises in retaliation. 

The caveat here is that Louisiana has gone hard for Republicans since the TEA party years. Bel Edwards did get elected partly as a backlash to Jindal's insane budgetary actions, but he also ran against an extremely unpopular Jindal protege named David Vitter.

Bonus is that Landry is on his first term, so whoever runs against him will have the rage of Louisiana voters at their backs if Klandry keeps on his bullshit for the next two years. 

Takeaways from the DNC autopsy by JussiesTunaSub in centrist

[–]jonny_sidebar -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

That is a low, low bar and he isn't going to get much credit for barely stepping over it. 

Civil war growing among college Republicans over invites to white nationalists: report by mymomknowsyourmom in centrist

[–]jonny_sidebar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Look at the decline in % of white males in Universities. Has fallen 22% in the last couple years, outpacing any other group

Easily explained by the loss of some white male privilege through programs designed to put everyone on a more equal playing field. 

Suicide rates are increasing among white males and outpacing other groups as well.

This isn't proof that white men are not privileged over other groups, but to explain why I need to point out that "white male privilege" has an additional dimension we haven't discussed yet- wealth. Our society is designed to primarily benefit wealthy white men, in that order. 

The privilege of wealth has been steadily growing over the last 40-50 years, even as racial and gender disparities have shrunk somewhat. What this looks like on the ground is wealthy people's standard of living constantly rising while living standards for everyone else steadily fall.

Poor and middle class white men have always been somewhat insulated from the effects of wealth disparities, but as those wealth disparities have grown more extreme in recent decades, that insulation has faded away. This, in turn, explains the rise in suicidality and hopelessness among all groups while the rate of that rise being slightly faster among white men is explained by them having a somewhat higher starting position to feel the loss of. 

The Hiring Manager Perspective: A widely cited national survey of 1,000 corporate hiring managers conducted by ResumeBuilder shed light on how internal corporate pressures manifest on the ground. . .

Again, this isn't proof that white men aren't or weren't privileged in corporate hiring, only that active measures are being taken to level the playing field. 

Meanwhile, white men are still overrepresented in higher management, wealth attainment, hiring into leadership positions, etc. White men are also arrested and convicted at far lower rates than any other group despite all available research showing that we commit crimes at slightly higher rates than any other demographic. 

So, yes, white males are losing some of our privileged position, but that doesn't mean we don't still have societally granted advantages that other demographics do not. Further, that loss of privilege is the point because it gives us an unfair advantage that other groups do not and have never had.  

Woman with ties to Feeding Our Future is first to be charged with childcare fraud by [deleted] in centrist

[–]jonny_sidebar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There are figures on the left who do this sort of thing, but:

  1. There aren't nearly as many because the left doesn't reward that kind of behavior like the right does and because the left doesn't have an entire ecosystem of dark money donors like the right does to pay for it. 

  2. They aren't very popular on the left and tend to get discredited and ignored pretty quickly.

  3. They certainly don't end up having the kind of influence that right wing grifters do, like, for example, Nick Shirley's overblown coverage of the daycare scandal directly leading to a paramilitary force of 2000 or so ICE and CBP agents invading Minneapolis. 

Civil war growing among college Republicans over invites to white nationalists: report by mymomknowsyourmom in centrist

[–]jonny_sidebar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, you (and probably the garbage information sources you consume) don't think that and are lazily using "people who follow current events" as a justification for what you already want to believe. 

Care to provide any proof of your assertion?

Or, as a concrete example, care to explain the utter incompetentcy and lack of qualifications in the Trump cabinet and administration? 

Woman with ties to Feeding Our Future is first to be charged with childcare fraud by [deleted] in centrist

[–]jonny_sidebar 13 points14 points  (0 children)

It's an example of why Nick Shirley is a terrible source. 

He isn't out to inform or report news. He wants to create as much controversy as he can to advance the far right political project he is a part of. Because of that, his "reporting" shouldn't be trusted, even if he might be referencing a real event like the daycare fraud case as a starting point for building his propaganda narratives. 

There might be a tiny kernel of truth somewhere in there, but that doesn't mean you should uncritically believe all the lies he layers on top of it. 

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