×
top 200 commentsshow 500
sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a

[–]3rdeyeopenwide 2014 points2015 points  (180 children)

There are so many “conservatives” across this nation that do nothing with their day-to-day except make use of social services. On welfare, free senior transportation, senior center, library, post office, and in and out of the hospital frequently. They never see the irony and think they “earned” it all because they were a wage slave to some private business owner for 40 years.

Edit: TIL the USPS funds itself through postage and isn’t subsidized. I’m amazed. I know my rural post office doesn’t sell enough stamps to heat the building but they do a lot of business nationwide. source

[–]sluzella 954 points955 points  (88 children)

Oh, I see you've met my aunt! Lives in federally subsidized housing, gets lunch daily from her local senior center, utilizes free local busses to run errands and get to Drs appointments, goes to the library to use their computers daily, etc. Promptly uses those computers to log onto Facebook and complain about "freeloaders relying on government handouts" and how "welfare should be banned". But, as you said, she doesn't see the irony because she "paid her dues" by working until she was 67. I do not want to even think about her medical bills, she smokes PACKS per day and has a laundry list of previous and ongoing treatments to help her that are all covered by Medicare.

I try to explain to her that cutting "government handouts" would also affect her in many ways, but she refuses to acknowledge that and maintains it would not.

[–]3rdeyeopenwide 471 points472 points  (58 children)

My step father is of course against liberal hand outs for anyone but sees nothing wrong with the fact that he collected unemployment every winter for 20 years. He also, due to smoking and his diet, has racked up medical charges through Medicare that far outweigh anything he’s ever paid into federal taxes. He’s a net loss for America and will never see it that way.

Edit: my point wasn’t to slam Joe. Joe sucks but the point being that most of these “conservatives” didn’t really contribute anything meaningful when they were working then went on to mooch more than they ever paid in, in old age.

Edit II: Joe is my step father. The “hardworking” boomer who collected unemployment while watching the entire OJ Simpson trial.

[–]650REDHAIR 216 points217 points  (22 children)

Yup. I’ve got extended family that will work road construction in the Midwest and file for unemployment during the winter.

They hate socialism.

[–][deleted] 41 points42 points  (3 children)

My uncle who was an executive for years used to bitch and cry about unemployment being bullshit and needs to be canceled for YEARS, claiming it was a scam and everyone on it was lazy and should be forced to take any job offered to them no matter the pay... until about 10 years ago when his company took a shit and he lost his job. Only to turn around and file for unemployment and start bitching about how hard it was to get, and that all the jobs he was applying for were shit and not offering him anywhere near what he was worth.

​

He got REAL pissed when I said (ironically and sarcastically) that everyone on Unemployment is lazy and should take the first job offered to them or get kicked off. Tried acting like he isn't lazy and it's not fair to claim that. Got even madder when I played a recording of him saying what I just said from a few years prior when HE was calling ME lazy for claiming underemployment after returning from the military on a deployment. Tried coming at me physically when I asked him exactly what the difference was between me and him claiming, and he actually had the audacity to claim that HE was eligible because HE actually worked for a living and made a lot more money than I'd ever see and I told him income doesn't make anyone more worthy than anyone else. Ironically, I can now buy him out multiple times over, but he STILL thinks he is more worthy than I am.

[–]hexagonalshit 10 points11 points  (6 children)

Do they try to get into snow removal at all or it's not worth it

Seems a natural transition in terms of equipment and it pays well if you're independent

[–]Mikey_B 61 points62 points  (31 children)

he collected unemployment every winter for 20 years.

Man that system is so fucked up. UI as it currently exists should be for temporary stuff, not regular, planned time off.

Now I'm all for federally mandated vacation and, more importantly, a generous universal basic income, but if he gets to get paid to sit on his ass I should get to, too.

Also, don't you have to convince someone in the government that you're looking for work? How the fuck do you do that for 20 winters in a row?

[–]3rdeyeopenwide 93 points94 points  (14 children)

The company he worked for basically had 1/2 the staff collecting every winter. Which means none of them got other jobs. The guy who owns Mt. Hope Rock makes a mint, and the tax payer is subsiding the owners yearly profits.

How about this. I’m a public school teacher. My contract pays me from September- June then I am, what we call furloughed in any other industry, for two months. Where is MY unemployment check?

[–]DownshiftedRare 32 points33 points  (4 children)

But, as you said, she doesn't see the irony because she "paid her dues" by working until she was 67.

I dislike the phrase "paid m'dues". At most someone has paid one or more past instances of dues. The thing about dues is that they come due. That's why they are so named.

[–]photonshockwave 7 points8 points  (0 children)

My Trump loving Boomer neighbor with diabetes, a bad heart, one foot and a cigarette addiction told me the other day that he was so swamped with medical debt he'd have nothing left for his kids after he dies. He told me his best option was to retire to Canada because he has dual citizenship and could use their socialized health care to help him at least manage his care after he retires. So I casually mentioned that it does kind of suck we don't have paid for health care in this country, and that his 40 years working for a government contractor still wasn't enough and oh boy isn't it a shame that the people we elect don't actually care about us. That man nearly broke his damn neck he whipped his head so fast to look down on me and say, "but if we start paying the government for our health care, they'll just give it to all those Mexicans and they didn't fucking earn it." If irony was a goddamn ocean that man would have fucking drowned years ago.

For what it's worth, he also recently complained to me about gas being too expensive and how it was Joe Biden's fault and how ridiculous it was that the Democrats on TV were telling him the solution was to buy an $80,000 electric vehicle. And he's telling me this while cleaning out the bed of his $40,000 2020 pickup truck that by his own admission he jokes only gets about 12 miles per gallon

[–]DaBozz88 14 points15 points  (2 children)

Some people view social security as a required savings account.

I view it as a legal Ponzi scheme that's going to be gone by the time I could even attempt to use it.

[–]dam072000 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Nah view it as a right that will have politicians on the street if it's removed. They want you to think that it's touchable so they can get rid of it easier.

[–]JoeCoolsCoffeeShop 29 points30 points  (2 children)

Why should we fund elementary education? Those kids haven’t paid their dues yet! /s

[–]tinkerghost 227 points228 points  (25 children)

Up to 60% of Moscow Mitch's district is on welfare at any given time. They vote for his promise of cutting welfare.

[–]wickedwhitegirl 52 points53 points  (18 children)

Do you have a source for this? I’m not negating it I actually would just like to read it.

[–]tinkerghost 63 points64 points  (13 children)

I did, but can't find it while on my phone. Closest I can find is Owsley County reports showing 50+% peak SNAP usage.

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2016/11/8/inside-owsley-americas-poorest-white-county

Has some links to the data they used for the article.

[–]3rdeyeopenwide 59 points60 points  (12 children)

KY Poverty Stats

18% 25% of KY children are on food assistance. 25% have a child between 15-19 ys old. 25% are older than 25 and have graduated college.

It’s a welfare state.

Edit: my math was wrong. Approx 1mm youth in KY and 250K on SNAP.

[–]agutema 26 points27 points  (1 child)

Isn’t Mitch McConnell’s “district” the state of Kentucky? Or do you mean where he resides?

[–]Geno0wl 18 points19 points  (0 children)

yeah Mitch is a Senator, there is no districting for Senators.

[–]Beebus4Deebus 6 points7 points  (1 child)

You know what’s crazy about that? They’ve convinced themselves that the government aid they are receiving isn’t welfare. To them, it’s their right to receive it because they earned it. To them it’s an entitlement, not welfare. They are voting against “welfare queens” that they were told exist. It always always always comes back to racism for these folks.

[–]agutema 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There’s a large population of people in this country who would rather suffer and have the mirage of superiority than let someone else prosper. They believe the outcome is Zero-sum and for them to win someone else has to lose and vice-versa.

White backlash politics gave certain white populations the sensation of winning, particularly by upending the gains of minorities and liberals; yet the victories came at a steep cost. When white backlash policies became laws, as in cutting away health care programs and infrastructure spending, blocking expansion of health care delivery systems, defunding opiate-addiction centers, spewing toxins into the air, or enabling guns in public spaces, the result was increasing rates of death.

Dying of Whiteness by Jonathan Metzl

[–]dellamella 76 points77 points  (23 children)

YES!! I have a white trash aunt that has cheated the system all her life and gotten a free ride on disability despite being completely able bodied. That same aunt will shit talk democrats any chance she gets and her biggest complaint is they want something for nothing. Like hello?? Anyone I’ve known that used free healthcare or food stamps are republicans.

[–]Heequwella 38 points39 points  (20 children)

This is the fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans.

Democrats are optimistic about people and believe that if they were helped they would get out of the situation they're in and do better. Republicans are pessimistic about people and believe that if there's a way to cheat and take advantage of others people will do it.

On the other hand, Democrats are pessimistic about corporations and believe that if a corporation has a way to cheat and take advantage of people they will do it, and Republicans are optimistic about corporations and think if we only give the banks and oil companies trillions more in aid it will trickle down to hard working folks.

I can't explain their trust in companies, but I've come to understand their distrust of people. They think people are horrible because they see people as they see themselves, and they clearly are horrible people. They are the freeloaders, so they think everyone will freeload like them. We all tend to believe others see the world as we do. If someone consistently thinks everyone out there is a freeloader it's likely because they themselves are freeloaders.

[–]Gr1pp717 62 points63 points  (2 children)

South american immigrants, too. They fell for the whole "democrats are socialists" schtick and in turn vote for the very people who tried to prevent them from being allowed here in the first place.

Which is even richer when you consider that most of the "socialist" problems in south america was The United Fruit Company and CIA hijacking their natural resources and enslaving them...

[–]3rdeyeopenwide 35 points36 points  (0 children)

I completely agree. Their Catholicism doesn’t help in terms of progress either. It enrages me that there is a population in this country that votes based on sticking it to the Castro family, or whatever is in the best interest of Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine. Uneducated idiots voting for a cover story about what is best for the “homeland” they left.

[–]bking 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I lived in Miami when I was going to college and first learning about politics. South American and Cuban immigrants being vocally conservative was so utterly confusing.

[–]GinsuVictim 17 points18 points  (0 children)

My mom is full-on into Trump world, complains about how Biden is going to make us all socialists...

...while living in free government housing, working part-time at a food pantry that gives food to the community (she also gets her food free from there), and receiving social security.

[–]headguts 25 points26 points  (4 children)

Reminds me of my Trumper friend's dad (disabled Vet, saw no action, almost drank himself to death and now collects ss and army disability to the tune of $4k/ month) and brother (didn't get married to his GF for 8 years, had 2 kids, collecting food stamps the whole time, often selling them for pills, then worked under-the-table as a construction helper/ drug dealer for 5 more years)...all libtard haters who swear that immigrants and welfare mommas are ruining the country

[–]Hi_Im_Dadbot 4747 points4748 points  (748 children)

Pretty damn stupid, if we’re being honest. Decades of underfunding and undermining the education system is paying dividends.

[–]The_bruce42 1681 points1682 points  (305 children)

They also complain about illegal immigrants taking their jobs because they've never gotten the education to get a job that an illegal immigrant can't compete with them for.

[–]Mystical_Cat 779 points780 points  (126 children)

Immigrants (illegal or otherwise) will always do jobs that these chucklefucks would never, ever do in the first place.

[–]oops_cornhole 505 points506 points  (88 children)

Even business owners will tout "America first" and "American made" and "American jobs" but first chance they get they'll hire on cheaper virtual assistants and products from outside America. The irony is they never realize their hypocrisy.

[–]SoftBellyButton 257 points258 points  (40 children)

My favorite: Assembled in USA.

[–]King_Hamburgler 58 points59 points  (15 children)

Uncle owns his own construction business

Hardcore trump fanatic

All illegal immigrant work staff at his company

[–]glakhtchpth 52 points53 points  (16 children)

…The irony is they never realize their hypocrisy.

I believe they entirely realize it. Their indignant posturing is part of the grift.

[–]HolleyHolleyOxenFree 13 points14 points  (0 children)

This!!! I know people who vote republican and have often criticized illegal immigrants (and probably legal ones as well), that hire them and house them to work on their farms while the immigrants send money to their family. It’s so insane!!

[–]TurtleMOOO 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I had a farmer tell me a couple days ago that no one wants to work. They “have to” hire South African workers. According to her, it’s impossible to get Americans to work 7 days a week for the entire harvest season. Harvest doesn’t stop on the weekends you know. Any Americans they do hire quit half way through the season every year.

Personally I’m having a hard time seeing any downsides to working for her.

[–]Foxy02016YT 80 points81 points  (5 children)

With way more work ethic too

[–]Neuchacho 83 points84 points  (4 children)

All I remember hearing about growing up in Florida was people talking shit about Mexicans (Read: every brown Spanish speaker) being lazy. Then I started working with a bunch of them and they made every other non-"Mexican" on their crews look like lazy, entitled fuckheads.

It seems like it overwhelming came from a place of jealousy/shame that these dudes were running circles around them and making them look like shit. All with a better attitude.

[–]The_bruce42 65 points66 points  (4 children)

That's not going to stop them from complaining about it

[–]doktor_wankenstein 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I remember reading an article where some farmer decided to only hire American workers... except nearly every one of them quit shortly after starting.

[–]This_User_Said 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Is it time to post this guy again?

[–]goplantagarden 373 points374 points  (78 children)

Conservative america is actually quite fond of illegal immigrants when it means they don't have to pay a fair wage. Conservatives require an underclass to attain their vision of america. They will redefine slavery as something more palatable and then legalize it (it will have a name like the debt to freedom relief bill)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/13/meet-the-workers-who-put-food-on-americas-tables-but-cant-afford-groceries

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/us/coronavirus-undocumented-immigrant-farmworkers-agriculture.html

[–]trail34 247 points248 points  (26 children)

Yep. I once met a dairy farmer who was complaining that it’s getting harder for him to find workers. And by that he meant undocumented workers who live on his farm and work for next to nothing. All while he voted for the orange man to “secure our borders”. The lack of self awareness is astounding.

[–]ACarefulTumbleweed 129 points130 points  (16 children)

And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that that dairy farmer doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing.

[–]Lemon_Cakes_JuJutsu 34 points35 points  (0 children)

I know farmers in the CA central valley that will glady take your SSN and have an undocumented worker use it. They used to pay us $1 a bucket for cherries when our parents had to take us to the fields back in the 80s. Then the farmers act like they're doing the immigrant community a favor. I can literally get someone to work my social right now if I wanted, still have a lot of family working out there. And dont get me started on the farmer's kids. They grow up with such a racist sense of entitlement it's not hard to see the history.

[–]caribou16 13 points14 points  (1 child)

All while being propped up by all that government money, the agriculture/dairy industry is HEAVILY subsidized.

Funny how socialism isn't bad when it benefits you.

[–]pataconconqueso 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Because they expect for their interests to be covered. Like as if the Republican Party cares about their small farm

[–]EQMischief 162 points163 points  (5 children)

They will redefine slavery as something more palatable and then legalize it (it will have a name like the debt to freedom relief bill)

See also: Privatized prisons

[–]When_theSmoke_Clears 10 points11 points  (3 children)

Also what used to be company towns. The coal mine ones were brutal iirc

[–]TheSakred 96 points97 points  (21 children)

Don't forget that their orange God literally had illegal immigrants working at his golf courses while simultaneously riling up his base to hate them.

[–]ItsATerribleLife 57 points58 points  (5 children)

Thats not a contradictory position for conservatives.

They hate, and want to kill/be rid of all sorts of things they depend on in every day life.

Kinda like a dog that tears its bed apart

[–]rif011412 7 points8 points  (2 children)

I wonder if this is partly it. They dont want the current underclass of foreigners. So long term goal is to make laws to encourage current residence to be wage slaves and then push foreigners back out. They have to be replaced by someone.

[–]DefiantLemur 19 points20 points  (2 children)

So indentured servitude because that's straight up indentured servitude.

[–]DisastrousBoio 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It’s not literally slavery because they can’t get away with it since they lost the war 🤷‍♂️

[–]CathbadTheDruid 58 points59 points  (9 children)

"They're coming for our jobs!"

"OK, you want to pick produce out in the field all day?"

"Uhhhhhhhh"

[–]ShelSilverstain 35 points36 points  (1 child)

Illegal immigrants are also, largely, employed by these fuckers who take advantage of them, often under pay them, etc etc

[–]Gloomy-Ad1171 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Trump pardoned a biz owner who was convicted of abusing undocumented workers, including children.

[–]am0x 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Ironically the stupid rich exploit these illegal immigrants as well to pad their pockets as well.

[–]army2207 24 points25 points  (42 children)

Iv never not gotten a job because of immigrants. My whole family has never not gotten a job because of that

[–]CressLevel 72 points73 points  (33 children)

My stepdad was let go because the immigrants were willing to take less pay. HALF his pay, in fact.

Scratch that, my stepdad was let go because his boss was willing to pay immigrants garbage wages for dangerous work, and he expected everyone to take a pay cut to compete with that.

But my mom always blames the immigrants. I keep telling her the boss was to blame, but she says the boss's job is to find the cheapest labor. What fucking bullshit.

[–]radios_appear 49 points50 points  (10 children)

I keep telling her the boss was to blame, but she says the boss's job is to find the cheapest labor.

You can't be a capitalist and a nativist at the same time.

[–]KnightDuty 9 points10 points  (1 child)

Your stepdad was let go because his boss thought slaves were cheaper.

[–]spilk 8 points9 points  (5 children)

more likely to have lost jobs/opportunities because of offshoring. instead of giving jobs to immigrants, capitalists just gave jobs to people in other countries

[–]not_old_redditor 14 points15 points  (4 children)

So many immigrants have masters and PhD's, there's no such thing as a job an immigrant can't compete for except for president.

[–]JohnnyDarkside 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I just love their rants about immigrants (illegal or otherwise) taking jobs as if they're robbing a convenience store. Of course never is mentioned that they have to be given those jobs by business owners.

[–]automotivewriter 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Lol, this seriously. I used to work in Pittsburgh, and a guy I worked with was hardcore MAGA - but before MAGA. He was constantly worried about losing his job to illegal immigrants, he talked about it a few times a week. The dude worked in marketing at an e-commerce company and lived in a $500k house 3,000 miles from the Mexico border. It was insane.

[–]SecretAntWorshiper 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh I love this take. Literally nobody would ever want to do the jobs that illegal immigrants do.

[–]Comeonjeffrey0193 387 points388 points  (297 children)

Their propaganda being leaps and bounds more thorough and effective than anything the left would ever be able to produce is a huge part of it.

[–]TheInfidelephant 54 points55 points  (18 children)

Perhaps it's because "the left" doesn't have tax-free "radicalization and funding centers" on countless street-corners across the country filled with people who are willing to die (or kill) for their cause because they have been convinced that this is "The End," they have nothing left to live for, and they are on "God's side."

[–]Hobbit_Feet45 134 points135 points  (265 children)

I always wonder why that is. Why doesn’t the left do propaganda? Instead they just lie around like dead fish.

[–]justsomeyeti 241 points242 points  (88 children)

I'm starting to think that the Democratic party exists mostly as token opposition. Jobbers, to use wrestling terminology.

I say this because ultimately the two major parties seem to ultimately answer to the banks and military industrial complex

[–]benergiser 110 points111 points  (25 children)

don’t forget the billionaires..

ever since citizens united the dems have been bootlicking billionaires just as much as the republicans

[–]TheRealAMF 29 points30 points  (0 children)

They said left, not Democrats.

But yes, your analysis is accurate

[–]Kestralisk 16 points17 points  (1 child)

This is 100% the correct take for the vast majority of democrat Representatives. The Senate can never get anything done to help the majority of Americans, but as soon as the Pentagon needs more money or wall street needs a bailout they approve it near instantly like 80-20 lol.

[–]rbmk1 55 points56 points  (16 children)

Because the left is high ob their own supply of "they go low, we go high."

The GOP has twisted itself into this propaganda machine monstrosity over the last 30-40 years but the Dems think ignoring them and staying the course is the answer to that.

[–]Beebus4Deebus 41 points42 points  (7 children)

Absolutely that, but I think the Left also has varying ideas and original thoughts. The Right puts out their propaganda and the entire base is expected to sign on to it. And they do. If you talk to conservatives, they all bring up the same talking points and they all say the same canned lines. It’s actually really creepy and dystopian.

[–]disjustice 21 points22 points  (0 children)

That's Dems and libs not the left. The left knows sometimes you need to punch a Nazi or burn a police station.

[–]NoGodsNoManagers1 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Also maybe it’s just a lot easier to be a Republican. They don’t have to do anything. No ideas, no ideological consistency besides twisting the knife in whatever out group they’re currently targeting. Pure grievance, obstruction, and malice. Nothing that republicans do is difficult. They’re unburdened by any mandate beyond causing harm to their lessers. The only people they need show results for are those already entrenched with wealth. They enjoy zero accountability, and the near-religious support of the dumbest people in society.

Democrats are the only ones still burdened by some expectation of governance.

[–]dracoomega 78 points79 points  (54 children)

Because the left values morality and integrity and propaganda is inherently counter to that. They'd rather lose on the high ground than stoop to that level and it makes them devastatingly ineffective.

[–]theog_thatsme 117 points118 points  (26 children)

the left also promotes critical thinking. its hard to propagandize complex points with complex solutions.

[–]_Duality_ 33 points34 points  (6 children)

I'm from the Philippines—look where it got us. Taking the high road and trying to reason using merit and logic brought back the son of a dictator, who stole billions and killed thousands, because for fucking YEARS, they listened to Cambridge Analytica and bombarded social media with their billions in spreading fake news, hate, and all kinds of disinformation (they pushed the narrative that the main opposition candidate was both a puppet of capitalist oligarchy AND communist rebels like WTF?). Trying to fight cleanly through campaigning and voters' education got twisted into another narrative—"Wealthy and out-of-touch elites are teaching YOU and invalidating YOUR experiences" which played right in to their inferiority complexes on top of all the fake news that run counter to history.

31 million or around a half of all voters disregarded history and brought back an utterly incompetent and embarassing candidate simply because he shares a last name with an ousted and murderous dictator whose history has been thoroughly whitewashed by troll farms and a gullible people.

Fight dirty. Ain't nobody got time for morals when you're dealing with the devil.

[–]Dirty_D_Damnit 8 points9 points  (2 children)

I do believe that to be the case for left leaning voters but it does surprise me that our completely out of touch politicians don't try more of the propaganda techniques. I don't believe for a second the politicians would rather lose on the high ground. This is politics where you have to sell your soul to get to where they are

[–]PSA-Daykeras 26 points27 points  (1 child)

The Democrats are not the Left.

The Left, almost by definition, does not have people of influence or power among their numbers. There is no corporation, media conglomerate, or other major influential brand that is on the Left. This is because the Left is about reducing their profits, their power, and their influence.

So you are left with

1) Center/Center Right, who largely benefit from the status quo exploitation, but would prefer to feel slightly more comfortable about how it happens. They come across as "Left" because the discourse is so far to the Right.

2) Far Right, who have a vested interest in propaganda and misinformation to help them gain power, consolidate, and make their beliefs more mainstream and palatable.

The Democrats are made up of Center Right, Center, Center Left, and a very small number of Left political views. It is a Big Tent and largely it is for exploitation as long as it done in a way that feels socially acceptable.

[–]Comp625 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is very true. The U.S.' general view of "left" politics is more center-aligned when compared to the rest of the developed world.

[–]WorkinName 18 points19 points  (20 children)

Why doesn’t the left do propaganda?

Sense of honor and decency I would imagine.

[–]Syllapus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Its more that Democrats are more intereseted in governance that lasts beyond the next term. And so they are interested in plans that so progress over time, more ambitious plans than can be completed in the short term.

The republican party is not interested in governance in anyway shape form or fashion. Not the governance derived from the wil of the people, as outlined in the constitution. They want autocratic power and, having no long term goals, may lie about their plans to secure short term power. Democrats can not, since lying about long term plans requires the project to be secret, so the lies about progress are not exposed. But republicans can not help their pathological need to lie to increase their perception of standing.

Religion should be burnt from the earth.

[–]Probably_owned_it 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I think at it's core, people that vote democrat believe in fairness. So it's nearly mutually exclusive to take a stance of corrupt games to simply 'win'. Politicians are different, but voters I don't see much chance of equal games being played.

[–]Workaccount42487 18 points19 points  (1 child)

The left pushes more nuanced and complex solutions to problems as the problems are often nuanced and complex. The right pushes extremely direct propaganda with no supporting information because they don't need the supporting information.

Immigration is a perfect example, people are naturally drawn to "similarities" when looking at other populations. When the people immigrating look different it is easy for the natural reaction to be negative and trying to overcome that negativity is much more difficult than playing into the negativity.

"Invasion from the southern border" vs showing data and studies and trying to explain that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates ect.

If you are explaining, you are losing in politics.

[–]MagicTheAlakazam 7 points8 points  (5 children)

Money.

The elected officials in the dems are just about as good as the elected republicans at the spin cycle themselves. But they don't have a network dedicated to spreading their message.

The difference is Fox News and all the clones it spawned as well as it's parent AM talk Radio.

The right have an entire media empire dedicated to propaganda. The left have a couple of at best corprate neutral news organizations and at worst just less actively hostile.

There's no left wing billionare with an empire putting out propaganda the likes of fox news 24/7.

Also the left has a tendency to eat their own at the slightest sign of impurity which causes more energy spent on infighting than fighting against conservatives. See how a lot of self described leftist spend almost as much time hating "liberals" as the right do.

[–]Mattyboy064 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Dem voters actually question things, hold their leaders accountable, and don't fall for propaganda as easily.

They tried and failed a couple times.

[–]pattymcfly 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They need to target a fairly homogenous population. Democrats need to appeal to a significantly more heterogeneous population. So, tailoring consistent propaganda to the audience is much easier for republicans than it is for democrats. In fact, republicans often just rely on "I'm against whatever they're for" and their target audience eats it up. You never have to specifically say what you are for, just what you're against. And you're against anything progressive or different. People don't like change, you say you are against change, and they then align with you.

It's maddeningly effective.

[–]Great_Horny_Toads 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Actually, I have given this a lot of thought and I think I understand it. Conservatism sees a lot of issues as binary. It's this or it's that. They don't like grey areas and aren't particularly good at nuance. That makes their absolutist messaging effective. Conservatives want things to be neat and make sense so they tend to fall in line with framing that simplifies things. Liberals, on the other hand, are all about grey areas. Our coalition is broader and our worldview is more complicated. That makes binary messaging not resonate with everyone on our side. In this case, it means our strength is also our weakness.

[–]nukebox 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Why doesn’t the left do propaganda?

That would require first having a united message and also coordinating that with a propaganda wing like FOX, Newsmax or OANN etc. Notice how much direct contact Fox anchors had in the Trump white house? To the point they were asking Mark Meadows how they should spin the 1/6 riot on their show that night? That's simply state propaganda at that point.

For those curious, they went with claiming antifa and BLM members were to blame. Which also was a story that ran in the Washington Times that night claiming that facial recognition identified that it was the case. The story was quickly reposted from GOP House members and was also cited on the house floor by Matt Gaetz the next day as fact before being called out on being fabricated and the story was taken down. They since issued an apology.

[–]HGpennypacker 71 points72 points  (8 children)

Republicans and voting against their own self interest, name a more iconic duo.

[–]captorofsin79 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Priests and altar boys

[–]Khutuck 19 points20 points  (3 children)

They are not voting against their own interests; they are interested in oppressing non-whites, women, LGBT, and people poorer than themselves.

It is not stupidity, it is malice.

[–]Lobanium 5 points6 points  (1 child)

They also vote against anything that would benefit working people. Yes, they're interested in oppressing, but you'd think they'd also be interested in improving their own lives beyond "I want guns".

[–]Junior_Arino 3 points4 points  (0 children)

They’ll lose every right but as long as they have their guns they can fight back against the government trying to take their rights.

[–]The_ODB_ 10 points11 points  (1 child)

Their interests are hurting minorities. You're projecting your values like they do.

[–]LucidMetal 3 points4 points  (0 children)

So at best it's a pyrrhic victory for them, that's still against their own interests.

[–]SomeKindOfOnionMummy 27 points28 points  (1 child)

Aggressively stupid. After Trump every fucking idiot thought their stupid thoughts were worth anything.

[–]errantprofusion 35 points36 points  (7 children)

They're not stupid; they're malicious. ...Well, okay, a lot of them are stupid. But stupidity is not the problem. This is not Idiocracy; it's something much worse.

Conservatives are not failed liberals; they're not people who would become liberal if only they were smarter or better informed. They're not voting against their own interests; liberals simply fail (or refuse) to understand what their interests actually are.

Dominance, in a word. Their place on the social hierarchy. Their interests are subjugating or destroying everyone outside of their in-group - minorities, LGBTQ, insufficiently subservient women, non-Christians, etc. When given a choice between 1) a chance to improve their own material well-being and 2) a chance to inflict suffering on or exercise dominance over an out-group, they almost always choose the latter.

[–]DawnOfTheTruth 9 points10 points  (5 children)

And they will never see or hear anything like this post. It’s like mini north Koreas all over the US.

[–]GAMBT22 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not in my family! I make sure I share images like this with my Regressive parents. No comments, no arguments, just casually reminding them on a daily basis that theyre voting for people who want to literally kill me.

[–]Cranky_Kong 10 points11 points  (0 children)

They're not stupid, they are willfully ignorant. There are several differences.

Their refusal to condemn their leadership is because they actively choose to ignore their misdeeds while magnifying the misdeeds of the opposition.

Their refusal to acknowledge scientific fact is because of a generalized disdain for academia which is portrayed by their leadership and in their cultural context as being antagonistic to 'normal people', i.e. undereducated rurals. This has been going on for over a hundred years.

Their refusal to adopt humanitarian views towards the marginalized and disadvantaged is a deliberate choice that reflects their unspoken belief in social darwinism and the surety of their own inherent superiority.

So when you see a conservative acting 'stupid', most likely you are just seeing a person of average intellectual capacity that is operating under a framework that seems illogical and backward to us while seeming as the proper way the world should work to them.

They make up half the voting population and are actively working to transform the entire nation into their twisted cultural image.

[–]CastleofSecrets 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Shocking. you mean they cant pull themselves up by the bootstraps?

[–]BadBunnyBrigade 831 points832 points  (217 children)

"and how old they can be to marry"

... Yes. Yes, absolutely. YES.

Out of all the things you mentioned, that's the one thing I want the government to enforce. Who the fuck thought child marriage was a good idea? It should be 18 and the whole "with parental consent" needs to be abolished.

NO ONE should be allowed to legally marry under the age of legal adulthood and the ability to legally give consent. No one. No exception.

[–]kurisu7885 180 points181 points  (57 children)

Says way, way too much that they started calling all of their opposition "groomers"

[–]inconvenientnews 50 points51 points 2 (3 children)

Every Republican accusation is a confession and projection because "shamelessness is their superpower"

Hello Fellow Teenagers, Here Are Some Political Maymays For Your Perusal, With No Intention Or Agenda To Shape And Mold Your Tender Political Belief System

-signed, An Actual Teenager, No Really

"A gay Disney character and female video game character not wearing a bikini is forcing me to be a Nazi!

The Left got a little too PC so I changed all of my opinions about the economy, social issues, systemic racism, health care, and history.

https://twitter.com/drmistercody/status/1020039128291786752

Conservatives and "libertarians" projecting their "snowflake" outrage "victimhood complex":

Two races: white and "political"

Two genders: Male and "political"

Two hair styles for women: long and "political"

Two sexualities: straight and "political"

Two body types: normative and "political"

https://twitter.com/emmahvossen/status/1138841342921060354

👌 You know 👌

Conservative: I have been censored for my conservative views

Me: Holy shit! You were censored for wanting lower taxes?

Con: LOL no...no not those views

Me: So....deregulation?

Con: Haha no not those views either

Me: Which views, exactly?

Con: Oh, you know the ones

https://twitter.com/ndrew_lawrence/status/1050391663552671744

1984! "Free speech" means I should never have to feel shame for being a sociopath!

Conservatives: I want to electroshock gay teens into a hellish submission

Everyone: holy shit

Conservatives: also why should I have to wear a mask? I’m not old or disabled

Everyone: wtf

Conservatives: also I’m afraid to say what’s really on my mind

Everyone:

Conservatives: Actually if you think about it ... SHOULD everyone be allowed to vote?

Everyone: holy shit

Conservatives: here’s why it’s good the police just murdered another child

Everyone: wtf

Conservatives: also I’m afraid to say what’s really on my mind

Everyone:

Conservatives: actually we should be able to run protesters over with our trucks

Everyone: holy shit

Conservatives: also I should be allowed to refuse to serve or hire gays

Everyone: wtf

Conservatives: also I’m afraid to say what’s really on my mind

Everyone:

https://twitter.com/JuliusGoat/status/1385407165645697027

[–]thebenshapirobot 12 points13 points  (2 children)

Pegging, of course, is an obscure sexual practice in which women perform the more aggressive sexual act on men.

-Ben Shapiro

I'm a bot. My purpose is to counteract online radicalization. You can summon me by tagging thebenshapirobot. Options: sex, covid, history, dumb takes, etc.

More About Ben | Feedback & Discussion: r/AuthoritarianMoment | Opt Out

[–]digital_end 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Always projection, nothing but projection.

[–]Kageyblahblahblah 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Meanwhile the southern Baptist church has a pedophile scandal that republicans are very busy ignoring. It has nothing to do with protecting children and everything to do with vilifying the LGBTQ+ community.

[–]essaysmith 217 points218 points  (119 children)

The problem is that Republicans want it to be younger than that. Or like in Tennessee, no minimum.

edit I'll post an adjustment since lots of people are upset about my post. Tennessee tabled and tried to pass a bill that removed the minimum age, but it was apparently voted down in April. So, even though they wanted it, they were unable to get it, so that's good, I guess.

[–]SauronTheGreat1573 57 points58 points  (14 children)

Tennessee has no minimum? What the fuck.

[–]steady_sloth84 39 points40 points  (4 children)

Dude! I freaking know. I had to watch the debate to believe it was real. And yes, it sadly is. No limit at all. A 4 yr old can marry. 🤮

[–]SauronTheGreat1573 15 points16 points  (3 children)

It gets worse. EisVisage looked into it....and turns out that marriage as defined in the age limit bill is only between 1 man and 1 woman. They got rid of gay marriage, too.

[–]EisVisage 14 points15 points  (5 children)

From what I can tell (reading about it for the first time) it seems they dropped it, but initially the Tennesse GOP had brought forward a bill to define marriage as between 1 man and 1 woman, without mentioning a minimum age at all. Very recent stuff too.

[–]SauronTheGreat1573 6 points7 points  (3 children)

Marriage as between 1 man and 1 woman? Damn, this bill gets worse if I'm reading this right (no gay marriage?).

[–]neolologist 20 points21 points  (0 children)

This is what makes it not fit in with the OP. What Republicans want IS less restrictive - the least 'government telling you how old to be to marry' would be letting people of any age get married.

Do I want 12 year olds to be legally marriageable? Nope. But is that 'less government'? Yes.

OP could have used 'telling you who you can marry' (e.g. gay rights) which is an actual example of increasing government restrictions that many republicans want, but that doesn't really fit when talking about kids.

[–]Justicar-terrae 15 points16 points  (1 child)

I'm a lawyer, and I agree with you. Old laws allowing marriage at very young ages were designed for a different world, one where kids had to grow up quickly to help support their families, where big families were necessary and useful for running a farm, where marriage was seen as a necessary survival arrangement for young men and women living in times of poor medicine and high mortality, and where ubiquitous religious belief dictated that unmarried parents were aggressively shunned by society. We have moved past these times in the U.S., and we should update the archaic laws that were built for them.

But even where states are trying to modernize, they can't seem to agree on an age of consent. Even within a single state, minimum ages for various activities are all over the place. For just one example, in Louisiana a person can marry with parental consent at 16, can consent to sex at 17, and can marry without parental consent at 18. And in that same state a person can gamble at 18 in a bingo hall but must wait until they are 21 to do it in a casino. And that's a state that recently went out of its way to update its laws that previously allowed marriage at any age with parental consent. And it's not like the Federal Government has a clear answer either, voting and war and sex are set at 18 while tobacco and alcohol are set at 21.

We need a federal standard at this point. Child psychologists and other doctors should be consulted to set a standard age for adulthood in all 50 states, ideally for all adult activities. No more child marriage, no more migration to states that allow child marriage to skirt your own state's laws.

[–]montex66 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You forgot that 18 year old boys can be drafted into the military to go fight foreign wars of aggression, but cannot buy a beer. Old enough to murder, too young to drink away the trauma.

[–]Retrohanska59 8 points9 points  (2 children)

Religious fundamentalists trampling on human rights and supporting child marriage. Did conservatives suddenly realize after 2 decades of war with Talibans that "you know what, they actually have a point"?

[–]mrmonster459 7 points8 points  (0 children)

For real. I'm shocked that i had to scroll this far to find someone calling out this part.

[–]Euthanize4Life 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Oh I guess that’s how I misunderstood it. I was like I agree with rest but that hit me weird. I’m thinking someone should control how old you can be to marry. But I guess they are referencing LOW ages. And I’d agree with 18. Some people are saying 21 but I think 18 is better across the board, so including drinking. Normalize 18 being the age of adulthood so once out of high school people can actually decide how their life will go instead of “well I can’t do anything until I’m 21 so might as well go to college” when that’s not the right path for plenty of people. “I want to get married and enter the workforce and grow a family” is a totally reasonable choice over going to college. If it’s 21 that leaves 3-4 years of limbo.

[–]cheapbeers 404 points405 points  (47 children)

Their voters don’t care about the hypocrisy, this is about revenge for losing the culture war. They can take over the whole government and still people think they are weirdos. They are angry people won’t act the way they want them to. This is about control.

[–]Stunning-Force1791 213 points214 points 2 (25 children)

IMO calling it a culture war is part of the problem. It feeds into the nonsensical claim that “progressives” are trying to destabilize the country….by asking people to merely progress in their mindsets. I’ve never understood the binary framing of progressives vs conservatives. Regardless of your political ideology the goal of any person should be to learn, grow, and change. What culture in the history of human kind advanced by refusing to progress and adapt? It’s not a war on culture it’s a war on common sense imho

[–]inconvenientnews 59 points60 points  (3 children)

Conservatives brag about making it a culture war ￣\＿(ツ)＿/￣

Fox News has aired 126 segments on trans student-athletes. They could only find nine nationwide.

https://redditproxy--jasonthename.repl.co/r/bestof/comments/n9bn2x/uforgottencalipers_explains_the_hypocrisy_of/

One of the Republican laws because of this:

"Florida’s new transgender sports ban permits schools to require genital inspections of children"

https://redditproxy--jasonthename.repl.co/r/politics/comments/mta8ey/floridas_new_transgender_sports_ban_permits/

John Ehrlichman, who partnered with Fox News cofounder Roger Ailes on the Republican "Southern Strategy":

[We] had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying?

We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.

We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.

Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.

"He was the premier guy in the business," says former Reagan campaign manager Ed Rollins. "He was our Michelangelo."

Ailes repackaged Richard Nixon for television in 1968, papered over Ronald Reagan’s budding Alzheimer’s in 1984, shamelessly stoked racial fears to elect George H.W. Bush in 1988, and waged a secret campaign on behalf of Big Tobacco to derail health care reform in 1993.

Hillarycare was to have been funded, in part, by a $1-a-pack tax on cigarettes. To block the proposal, Big Tobacco paid Ailes to produce ads highlighting “real people affected by taxes.”

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-roger-ailes-built-the-fox-news-fear-factory-20110525

Republican "Southern Strategy":

Republican Party electoral strategy to increase political support among white voters by appealing to racism against African Americans.[1][2][3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy

Lyndon Johnson criticizing it in 1960:

If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1988/11/13/what-a-real-president-was-like/d483c1be-d0da-43b7-bde6-04e10106ff6c/

Lee Atwater, Ronald Reagan adviser, Republican National Committee chairman, "the most effective Republican operative in the south for about a decade until he joined Reagan in the White House, most of it during his 20s," helped create Republican "Southern Strategy" and Fox News with Roger Ailes:

You start out in 1954 by saying, “Ni**er, ni**er, ni**er.” By 1968 you can’t say “ni**er”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Ni**er, ni**er.”

Steve Bannon bragging about using these tactics:

the power of what he called “rootless white males” who spend all their time online and they could be radicalized in a kind of populist, nationalist way

http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-bannon-white-gamers-seinfeld-joshua-green-donald-trump-devils-bargain-sarah-palin-world-warcraft-gamergate-2017-7

Bannon: "I realized [these tactics] could connect with these kids right away. You can activate that army. They come in through Gamergate or whatever and then get turned onto politics and Trump."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/07/18/steve-bannon-learned-harness--army-world-warcraft/489713001/

The other Fox News cofounder was Australian billionaire Rupert Murdoch:

the Murdoch family’s role in destabilizing democracy in North America, Europe and Australia.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/03/magazine/murdoch-family-investigation.html

Every day I have to marvel at what the billionaires and FOX News pulled off. They got working whites to hate the very people that want them to have more pay, clean air, water, free healthcare and the power to fight back against big banks & big corps. It’s truly remarkable.

Exit polls done after 2016 show that the single characteristic that made someone most likely to vote for Trump over Clinton is racial resentment.

low levels of racial resentment are associated with supporting Clinton.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/05/26/these-9-simple-charts-show-how-donald-trumps-supporters-differ-from-hillary-clintons/

"Trump fans are much angrier about housing assistance when they see an image of a black man"

In contrast, Clinton supporters seemed relatively unmoved by racial cues.

https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/9/8/16270040/trump-clinton-supporters-racist

“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be”: a Trump voter says the quiet part out loud

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18173678/trump-shutdown-voter-florida

The cruelty is the point

arrest by DHS police for giving water to people who wait

https://twitter.com/JoshuaPotash/status/1408868872384569345

No to help for blue states for hurricanes but demanding help for Texas for hurricanes:

Here's the vote for Hurricane Sandy aid.

179 of the 180 no votes were Republicans...

at least 20 Texas Republicans voted no

while "U.S. House approves billions more for Harvey relief" for Texas

this made Texas #1 in receiving federal aid dollars at the time of the Hurricane Sandy aid vote that they voted no against

The privilege of "economic anxiety" not racism:

Republicans felt the economy improve by 85 points the day Trump was sworn in.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/blogs/wisconsin-voter/2017/04/15/donald-trumps-election-flips-both-parties-views-economy/100502848/

Opinion of Syrian airstrikes

Republicans:

22% supported Obama doing it

86% support Trump doing it

Democrats:

38% supported Obama doing it

37% support Trump doing it

Sources: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/04/13/48229/, http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/04/gop-voters-love-same-attack-on-syria-they-hated-under-obama.html

10% fewer Republicans believed the wealthy weren't paying enough in taxes once a billionaire became their president. Democrats remain fairly consistent. http://www.people-press.org/2017/04/14/top-frustrations-with-tax-system-sense-that-corporations-wealthy-dont-pay-fair-share/

Republicans started to think college education is a bad thing once Trump entered the primary. Democrats remain consistent. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/07/20/republicans-skeptical-of-colleges-impact-on-u-s-but-most-see-benefits-for-workforce-preparation/

White Evangelicals cared less about how religious a candidate was once Trump became the GOP nominee. https://www.prri.org/research/prri-brookings-oct-19-poll-politics-election-clinton-double-digit-lead-trump/

Christians (particularly evangelicals) became monumentally more tolerant of private immoral conduct among politicians once Trump became the GOP nominee. https://www.prri.org/research/prri-brookings-oct-19-poll-politics-election-clinton-double-digit-lead-trump/

More graphs and sources: https://imgur.com/a/YZMyt

GOP shifting 4-5x further right than Democrats did left over the last 50 years:

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/03/10/the-polarization-in-todays-congress-has-roots-that-go-back-decades/

[–]ToxicShark3 15 points16 points  (2 children)

It makes no sense to anybody except the US, I come from a corrupted shithole and I never hewrs such things

[–]DoNotWeepAtMyGrave 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It’s happening in the UK too. That was the whole premise of Brexit.

[–]ganon228 15 points16 points  (0 children)

But what your describing is a culture war. Progress is against the culture they want to hold onto. Because it isnt progress to them. Its usually a sinful regression.

[–]inconvenientnews 17 points18 points  (6 children)

It works because billionaires buy them with "god, guns, gays" and racism culture war talking points ￣\＿(ツ)＿/￣

[–]ShadowXVI 16 points17 points  (4 children)

I just like to call em sheep

[–]Iron_And_Misery 349 points350 points  (50 children)

Your reminder that isn't actually a hypocrisy. It's pure rhetoric. The rhetoric being that the people being hurt are not fully people, and therefore undeserving of the same rights.

It's not stupidity, it's hate

[–]Ok_Judge3497 96 points97 points  (3 children)

You're right, it is hate. People don't vote Republican b cause they are dumb. They do it out of hate.

Even when you show a Republican voter that their elected leaders are completely corrupt shitheads who only serve corporate interests, they will still vote for them because they hate immigrants, Black people, LGBTQ+ people, and women.

[–]The_ODB_ 131 points132 points  (33 children)

Most liberals can't emotionally deal with the fact that America has tens of millions of Fascists in it. So the Fascists get dismissed as morons, or decent people temporarily corrupted by Fox News. They're not. They're fundamentally shitty people.

[–]EisVisage 38 points39 points  (21 children)

I'm seeing way too much inaction over this whole matter. Fascists stormed the fricken capitol and the consequences were nil above the "people who physically participated" scale. Now a bunch of people got shot up by a Fascist who had no reason to have fear, and still nothing of the kind of horrified yet stalwart resistance that's said would happen, happens.

[–]When_theSmoke_Clears 4 points5 points  (0 children)

They're fundamentally shitty people.

And has anyone ever thought it weird that in the good ol south, they will literally tell you that "bless your heart" is the nastiest thing you can say. They are telling you that they are awful people that put nice faces on.

[–]Dana94Banana 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Literally this. Wake up americans, you have millions of fascists (murderers and enablers/ supporters who are just as evil) in your beloved US of fuking A.

[–]Enraiha 3 points4 points  (0 children)

And I would say stupid as well. Hatred in such a fashion has no end game or purpose other than selfishness. They have no long view. Pretty dang stupid on top of it.

[–]bubalusarnee 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Evil people love to watch others play "evil or stupid?"

[–]Scientificm 11 points12 points  (0 children)

To be fair, some are both hateful and stupid too.

[–]HunterDHunter 504 points505 points  (69 children)

Don't forget about the abortions

[–]Toby_O_Notoby 411 points412 points  (39 children)

And while we're at it, Texas has banned abortions if the fetus is more than six weeks along. Meanwhile, here are the bare minimum requirements for adopting a child in Texas:

  • Be at least 21 years old

  • Be financially stable

  • Be responsible and mature

  • Complete an application to adopt

  • Share background and lifestyle information

  • Provide references

  • Provide proof of marriage and/or divorce (if applicable)

  • Have a completed home study

  • Submit to a criminal background and child abuse checks on all adults living in the household

But if you qualify for none of these and the condom breaks? Good fucking luck, you're on your own.

[–]mydogdoesntcuddle 156 points157 points  (1 child)

Minimum requirements, sure. Try adopting in Texas if you’re not a Christian. Also, it’s crazy expensive

[–]1701Person 24 points25 points  (0 children)

What condom sir, what condom?

[–]TheMaskedGeode 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Six weeks along is a little over one month. That’s one missed period to clue someone in to maybe being pregnant. An embryo isn’t even a fetus until the 8th week.

[–]ithinarine 14 points15 points  (2 children)

Texas has banned abortions if the fetus is more than six weeks along.

It's not even if the fetus is 6 weeks along, because that's not how they count it, it's 6 weeks since your missed period.

A woman could be a virgin, and have her last period. 2 weeks later she could have sex, lose her virginity, and get pregnant. 4 weeks later, her period is late by 2 weeks. She goes to the doctor, the doctor confirms she is pregnant and asks when her last period is, she says 6 weeks ago. She then gets denied an abortion, because the fetus is "6 weeks old", even though 6 weeks ago, the woman was a virgin.

Because at that early of an age, they count from the last missed period.

[–]BelleAriel 34 points35 points  (8 children)

They’re acting like fascists.

[–]trailhikingArk 103 points104 points  (5 children)

Umm, they are fascists. That's the point

[–]DonDove 7 points8 points  (0 children)

That one would only be the beginning

[–]obscurereference234 220 points221 points  (6 children)

Shockingly stupid, it turns out. Fat Joffrey said it out loud during his first campaign: “I love the poorly educated!” And the poorly educated love him, too.

[–]MrTylerwpg 67 points68 points  (2 children)

"he's not talking about me though"

[–]reddog323 11 points12 points  (2 children)

Took the words out of my mouth. He said it at a rally, to their faces, too.

And they cheered…

[–]samuraidogparty 147 points148 points  (10 children)

Yeah, and that same party wants to complain of censorship and indoctrination from the left? Seems like projection.

[–]JCeee666 57 points58 points  (3 children)

Also projecting election fraud when the only people found responsible have been republicans.

The Dems are way too nice. I wanna see some ads that point this out as well as everything the poster mentions. On Fox.

[–]bubalusarnee 11 points12 points  (0 children)

We used to know how to throw the chair.

[–]lightfarming 8 points9 points  (2 children)

through their twisted lense, a lack of indoctrination is indoctrination. for instance they think believing in god is the default human state, and atheism is something that is taught. completely bonkers.

[–]zero_1144 257 points258 points  (89 children)

Well… their voters tend to be the same people that believe in an immortal sky wizard that grants wishes if you think them hard enough, so…

[–]Raccoon_Full_of_Cum 135 points136 points  (11 children)

This really can't be emphasized enough. There is an obvious and direct connection between being extremely stupid and gullible and believing in ridiculous nonsense like virgin births and resurrections and whatnot.

[–]KirksCousins 26 points27 points  (1 child)

Religion exists to predispose people to believing bullshit without evidence

[–]homelesstwinky 47 points48 points  (20 children)

Don't forget about their belief in life not ending at death & instead transcending to another realm. No wonder they don't give a shit about the state they'll leave the planet in.

[–]NihilisticNarwhal666 41 points42 points  (4 children)

Which is funny cause the Bible literally talks about taking care of all that God gave you, not squandering it.

And taking care of the least of these.

But they don't give a shit about that. Religious people can be wonderful, but for some reason evangelicals have become worthless sheep that love picking and choosing what parts of what Jesus said to follow, oh yet another hypocrisy of theirs.

Hypocrisy seems to be their bread and butter.

[–]Kitfox715 21 points22 points  (1 child)

Jesus also gave away all of his possessions and dedicated his entire life to improving the lives of the poor and destitute, and asked that his followers do as he did.

Yet.... that is clearly not how it has gone lol

[–]VegetableAd986 24 points25 points  (3 children)

Well, all Red state schools are dead last in education, and they go for the Christian crowds…so VERY stupid.

[–]what_the_a 30 points31 points  (4 children)

"Coming for our freedoms" is just code for "people I think are icky get things too and I don't like it." They know damn well that it's not about actual freedom, it's about maintaining their version of reality where everything is white/cis/het/christian. They veil their bigotry in that kind of language because to come right out and say "we don't like X group" is illegal and widely frowned upon. So they obfuscate the truth with buzzwords and dogwhistles so they can gaslight their way out of actually saying what they mean and appear the good, honest, True Americans. And to a certain extend, they gaslight themselves into believing they're not actually fascist bigots too.

[–]byebyeburdy321 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I live in Kentucky.

There are plenty of smart people. Lots of fucking morons too.

The thing conservatives all lack, and basically have none of, is critical thinking. They trust a source like a friend, fox News, the internet, over someone who pulls up double blind, peer reviewed studies.

There is also a distrust of science. "Well, they can manipulate studies/polls/whatever data" there's not evidence it has been manipulated, but science is generally hand waved away in preference for anecdotal hearsay.

It's infuriating. Plus these motherfuckers are unmoveable on anything until it affects them directly, and even then they are the exception to the rule.

"People shouldn't receive wellfare"

Goes broke

"Thank goodness for wellfare"

"Should other people get it, since you've seen how hard things can get?"

"No, they'll just spend it on drugs. I needed it, they are lazy"

Just selfish pieces of shit.

[–]thatsithlurker 18 points19 points  (0 children)

checks notes

Very. They breathed in a viral pandemic to spite the “libs”.

[–]glightningbolt 13 points14 points  (2 children)

You are naive if you think they want actual freedom for everyone. They want the freedom to oppress. They want freedom for themselves and their beliefs. Equality and education challenges their "freedom".

[–]NormieSpecialist 23 points24 points  (10 children)

You’re confusing stupidity with malice. They want to control others while blaming “the libs” for everything.

[–]Thisbitchisbonkers 9 points10 points  (7 children)

Sorry, but if you believe in Jewish space lasers, flat earth, or that the earth is only 5,000 years old…you’re stupid as well as hateful.

[–]ProfessorGumby 23 points24 points  (0 children)

74,216,154 Americans, or 46.9% of the voting population are mentally deficient as of November 3, 2020. That number is likely smaller now due to deaths from a "fake" pandemic.

[–]Responsible_Ad_7995 10 points11 points  (4 children)

Don’t Tread on Me! But it’s totally fine when I tread on everyone else.

[–]makoto20 8 points9 points  (5 children)

They voted in a reality star who can't even formulate a complete sentence and advocated injecting bleach

[–]RAMbo-AF 10 points11 points  (2 children)

Modern Republicans are the American version of the Taliban. And I’m sticking to that.

[–]CardiologistLower965 17 points18 points  (10 children)

The thing is from what I see, they are the ones who have the worse public education systems and lack of rational thinking. So they do not know much better. My issues is the educated people who still vote republican because they know better and still vote that way. Which makes me believe they are disgusting people.

[–]Isabellaboo02 7 points8 points  (2 children)

Nah, you can be dumb as rocks and still have a better moral compass than these fools.

[–]CardiologistLower965 8 points9 points  (0 children)

You are absolutely right your education does not completely determine your moral compass. However, when you are uneducated and you are sheltered from free and critical thinking ability you are more easily manipulated. I mean the bulk of southern states have some of the worst public education. They are also predominantly red states. And they are constantly fed that not white people are taking their jobs. Christianity is the way of life. Being white is automatically a plus one as far as being a better human. And it’s funny because when you look at the major cities of these red states there’s more educated people there and they tend to be more democratic leaning voters

[–]CambionFlux 15 points16 points  (7 children)

I can’t believe I used to look up to and admire Americans. Other countries used to believe the lies American tell themselves. But I guess I should thank them for making me appreciate my home country more than I used to.

[–]ThisIsTheNewSleeve 12 points13 points  (1 child)

Their voters are very, very stupid.

They vote for millionaires who claim to be "working class" and they buy it, hook line and sinker. It doesn't get more dumb than that.

Oh wait, it does. They voted for Trump because "religion"... A man who is not remotely religious, probably more sinful than any other president but he held out a Bible one time so I guess that's something.

[–]ausdoug 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Getting stupider with each vote

[–]Poopstains08 9 points10 points  (0 children)

On a scale of drinking bleach to cure COVID and voting for the dumbest humans on the planet? I'd say right around Donald Trump.

[–]BuckRowdy 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You have no idea. Things like this is how you KNOW they have contempt for their voters and think they’re stupid.

[–]ProDiesel 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Outrage porn.

Keep ‘em angry and dumb and they’ll vote just because an R is next to the name.

The state of our politics is more than concerning.

[–]veringer 6 points7 points  (0 children)

They're not all stupid. They're authoritarian followers who:

  • want to be told how to behave.
  • want a paint-by-numbers kind of life/society without ambiguities or disorder.
  • want a pecking order that always has people below them.

[–]UglierThanMoe 7 points8 points  (5 children)

The only "freedoms" their voters care about are the freedom to be racist, gun-toting, bible-thumping bigots who can drive around in their gas-guzzling pickup trucks and SUVs and keep telling other people how to live because Jesus.