US Politics May 2019: " If I was burned at the stake, I would ask for a mirror"

Where are the saxophones

Do you guys like trump?

honestly, not really a big fan

Me neither. Glad to have some fellowship on this point.

PBKR OTM

can y'all get your own board

or log off for a while until you calm down

"Alienation is the craze" -- Ric Ocasek

https://psmag.com/news/research-suggests-trumps-election-has-been-detrimental-to-many-americans-mental-health

right or wrong. i melt down a lot and i don't think it's the best use of time. but a lot of people feel this way

can y'all get your own board

Sorry, I haven’t done a lot of that here, but I’ve been feeling enraged by the House fucking around lately. You are right, it’s not that helpful.

thanks! i understand the impulse to catastrophize v much, which is prob why i have a huge anxiety attack every time it happens

god, why do i want that stupid $45 coin?

(note that i could ask god this directly if i had the coin)

i suggest we designate some old thread to post existential meltdowns on. it can be like the area 100 feet away from a campsite that everyone agrees is the place to take a dump (in wilderness campsites that don't have bathrooms, i mean)

this is a really good post

talk to the coin

Treeship even started a meltdown thread and won't keep it there -- Is Donald J Trump a psychopath?

re: the mental health article, i was already a little fragile for various reasons prior to trump, so can't say that he's entirely the reason, but having it confirmed that i basically have no future to look forward to and instead will experience a slow-grinding catastrophe for the rest of my (surely and unnecessarily) shortened life upon his election was a nice clincher into some real problems. at least now i know i can live fully in the present as that's all that exists, etc. idk do they really need a study to show that he's bad for people's brains

They don’t need a study. But it is worth pointing out that his “disruptive” style that allowed him to hack the news cycle is basically torturing people.

AMERICA TAKES DRUGS IN PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENSE

I must have missed in the thread title that this is supposed to be some kind of repository for optimism.

ffs it’s a politics thread. It’s not “catastrophizing” to assess the bleak prospects right now and acknowledge them. Nor do ilxor posts have fuck all to do with the fate of the nation.

“get your own board” is some serious challops

thanks

well dude seriously

i'm gonna do a morbs and abandon the politics thread, enjoy yourself

I am pretty much convinced that the Dems are going to do absolutely nothing to hold Trump accountable, fuck around during the primaries with a stage full of morons, then hand Trump a convincing electoral college victory. Only hope now is the economy crashes before Election Day, which is some shit.

^anyway is this really a dramatically pessimistic take?

Brad it’s far from enjoyable but it can be a place to commiserate. No need to run off.

It’s not “catastrophizing” to assess the bleak prospects right now and acknowledge them.

it is ... if instead of assessing them rationally you assess them through a lens of panic, hopelessness, etc

Yeah, Brad, don’t leave!

i feel like people should be allowed to say pessimistic stuff? pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will and all that

everyone is of course allowed to say whatever they want, up to and including pointing out that gallows "humor" like this

We'll be counting our way into the camps

― d'ILM for Murder (Hadrian VIII)

isn't really that funny

catastrophe is not inevitable... but it's the way to bet

i'm gonna do a morbs and abandon the politics thread, enjoy yourself

See you in three days!

i can play Brad in his absence

i can play Brad in his absence

characterizing a second trump victory as an inevitability is catastrophizing, it makes me fucking spiral. if y'all wanna post things that make me spiral, i'd rather not be here

anyway I think one can arrive at PBKR’s forecast (and a feeling of hopelessness, I guess?) w/o panicking in the least, but simply by a sober reading of recent developments, autocratic histories, the players involved, the national mood, etc.

none of which is exclusive to working to stop it from happening

everyone is of course allowed to say whatever they want, up to and including pointing out that gallows "humor" like this

/We'll be counting our way into the camps

― d'ILM for Murder (Hadrian VIII)/

isn't really that funny

We just need to be kind and supportive to one another and what we're going through and what ever nutzoid ways the trauma expresses itself, y'all. These are the times that try etc. But in the end it's important to remember

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXGgWf2lacM

It comes across as a way to abdicate xxpost one of responsibility and needlessly shit on the positive developments that do occasionally crop up

xxp But it could only be an attempt at humor because that could never happen here

Remember how sure we all were Mueller would be fired? Some of us posted about it but countered with follow-up actions that could be taken if it did happen. Others just said defeatist nonsense, and then logged off for the night.

I see much more of the latter than the former.

I'm as guilty of catastrophizing as the next guy but I have to remind myself of who benefits when we flail about in paroxysms of panic. Hint: it ain't us.

Well, as I remind y'all every six weeks when someone posts croaking of doom, I'm a gay Floridian of color. I don't have time for despair because I've been fighting GOP motherfuckers my whole life, including my own family. I'll keep donating, volunteering, and fighting, thanks.

sorry for harshing everybody’s mellow I’m sure everything’s gonna be juuuuust fine

I guess I was catastrophizing so someone could pick me up and say things maybe aren’t so bad. I sincerely don’t want it to add to anyone else’s load.

Things are bad. Things have always been bad for many of us. I suppose farting in a message board is preferable to sitting him chewing on the fag ends of one's despair.

I still think it’s unlikely that Trump wins re-election but if Biden ends up the nominee catastrophic thinking is pretty logical no matter how the election goes. Anyway I don’t think this is the week to castigate people for being overly negative.

But yeah, there are always worthwhile things to do even when feelings of doom are everywhere.

One of the harder lessons about politics is how to pace yourself for the long fight and figure out how that long fight fits into your life's other priorities. Sometimes it is all you can do just to keep a broad sketch of what's happening, without having the attention to take any action beyond maybe voting, but without giving up on politics entirely.

Right now I think that tossing some money into the right channels is about as effective as I can be, but that money can help finance paying a few activists like HOOS enough salary to scrape by, and their passion can be leveraged better than my waning energies.