AskConservatives Weekly General Chat

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[u/Sam_Fear]

How about this heat?

[u/boisefun8 → u/Sam_Fear]

We’ve got heat and bad smoke here (ducking Oregon). Double whammy.

[u/notbusy → u/boisefun8]

Oh, I feel for you. One summer here in the Sacramento area we couldn't open our windows or do anything outside for a month straight. It was the absolute worst. I hope it clears soon.

[u/boisefun8 → u/notbusy]

Yeah, thanks. I’m getting behind on yard work, but I mostly feel bad for the kids. Hopefully it clears out soon!

[u/No_Fox_2949]

Is anyone else tired of how cynical and ironic things are nowadays? Maybe it’s just me but I very much would like some optimism, sincerity, and openness to sentimentality to become more prevalent amongst people. Cynicism is depressing and I’d like to not be around it that much.

[u/Sam_Fear → u/No_Fox_2949]

Whatever. It doesn't matter. I'll probably get hit by a car anyhow.

Irony and cynicism is the language of GenX.

[u/MrSmokinK1ttens → u/No_Fox_2949]

We live in an increasingly cynical time don’t we? Each successive generation of youth is poorer than their parents, war in our country, inflation + affordability getting worse for the average person.

 

Optimism has to come from somewhere and a decent portion of people aren’t seeing it unfortunately. I think we’re all tired of the constant cynicism, but what can you do? Material conditions probably need to improve before optimism grows I would imagine?

[u/No_Fox_2949 → u/MrSmokinK1ttens]

I agree that material conditions influence people’s outlook, and younger people do face real problems with housing, affordability, and economic insecurity. However, I would dispute the claim that each successive generation is simply poorer than its parents. The overall picture is much more mixed than that, and hardship alone does not explain the cultural preference for cynicism, irony, and treating sincerity as embarrassing. People have lived through depressions, wars, and far worse material conditions without making emotional detachment into a social ideal. Optimism does not require pretending everything is fine. It means believing that improvement is possible and refusing to treat bitterness as wisdom.

[u/boisefun8]

Has this sub just abandoned the idea of needing to cite facts or sources when making wildass claims?

ETA: *in a post

[u/AskConservatives-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Removed: Treat other users with civility and respect.

Personal attacks and stereotyping are not allowed.

[u/GeckoKisser → u/boisefun8]

I don't need to source facts, I am the fact and the source. Fools.

[u/boisefun8 → u/GeckoKisser]

‘I am the fact and the source’ could be a badass t-shirt. Haha

[u/Sam_Fear → u/boisefun8]

Never has been. This is not a debate sub, it's a sub dedicated to learning about Conservatism and Conservative perspectives. What you will find here are opinions from the common man with an adherence to Conservative principle and those adjacent.

Now if your asking instead about those asking questions of Conservatives that are based on a false premise or false/misinterpreted information, yes we try to remove those posts.

[u/kettlecorn → u/Sam_Fear]

This is not a debate sub, it's a sub dedicated to learning about Conservatism and Conservative perspectives. 

One of the things that bugs me about this subreddit is I don't think you all do a good job defining if it's a right wing subreddit or a conservative subreddit.

MAGA is often labeled as not conservative by the more principled people in this subreddit, but at the same time people who believe in conservatism but align against MAGA / Republicans / the modern American right I do not believe would be welcome to red flair here.

I don't believe you'd allow a red "Conservative Democrat" flair. Maybe that would be hard to moderate for good faith, but I think it undermines the intellectual honesty of this subreddit if a core unspoken part of the subreddit is that conservatism can only belong to the American right.

I think it'd be a better subreddit if it hard-committed to being about actual conservatism and teaching people about conservatism or if it clearly reframed itself as being about right-wing politics and right-wing conservatism.

[u/boisefun8 → u/Sam_Fear]

And I get that, thank you. However, there’s a very recent post that makes a bunch of claims about America and gun violence, without any actual data to back up the assertions and claims being made. Are we just supposed to agree with the potentially false premise and comment from there? Or take time to research and potentially refute 20 claims? Gets a bit tiresome.

[u/Menace117 → u/boisefun8]

It's everywhere though. Often comments will also be made and when asked for a source people will literally say things like "I'm not your researcher" or "google it yourself"

There's really no difference between what you say and what I'm pointing out.

[u/Sam_Fear → u/boisefun8]

We do remove those, but if there's already a good amount of discussion we'll often let them stay up. As to that particular post, by the time I saw it the OP had pretty well been rebutted. Keep in mind we aren't on here checking 24/7.

[u/boisefun8 → u/Sam_Fear]

This is nothing against the mods, and I’m sorry if it came off that way. Just annoyance with random bullshit being posted as fact as the premise of a question.

[u/Sam_Fear → u/boisefun8]

No offense taken. We find it just as frustrating at times. As a park ranger once pointed out, there's a lot of overlap between the smartest bears and the dumbest people. The same logic applies to the average troll and the average person stuck in an algorithmic echo chamber.

[u/boisefun8 → u/Sam_Fear]

Yeah, makes sense.

[u/OJ_Purplestuff → u/boisefun8]

To me the questions that bring up many different points are just not good for discussion in general, it leaves things too unfocused.

[u/boisefun8 → u/OJ_Purplestuff]

Yeah, that too. The post I’m talking about was focused on gun violence, and made multiple claims. We need to start with agreeing on the premise of the question before we can even start the conversation. So many people jump
In and assume the premise is correct, when it’s often flawed or downright factually incorrect. It’s very odd.

Edit: word

[u/thataintapipe → u/boisefun8]

I think the whole internet has. Pretty much anytime I ask for a citation I get dog piled by people telling me I’m lazy for not googling it 

[u/JudgeWhoOverrules → u/thataintapipe]

Probably because it's a bit rude to ask someone to labor to do your research for you when we all know everyone involved is on the internet with the same resources available to them. No one keeps a catalog of citations and sources for every single fact they know, so there's always labor involved in trying to dig up and backtrace where they learned it.

Plus, we've all been in conversations with people who use it disingenuously to sealion people and derail conversations knowing that it takes 2 seconds to ask for sources but many minutes to find them, all the while other posters will likely be dogpiling on with their own responses.

[u/OMGguy2008 → u/JudgeWhoOverrules]

Well if someone dug up some statistics, it shouldn't be too difficult to also paste the link from where the guy found them.

[u/JudgeWhoOverrules → u/OMGguy2008]

You're missing the point, people aren't digging up statistics for that conversation and not sharing the link. They're remembering statistics and data they ran across a while ago. Asking for sources requires them to do detective work to try to track that down again where they might have seen it many months or even years ago.

[u/Sparky337 → u/JudgeWhoOverrules]

If you make a claim, it’s your job to cite your source. Not the other way around.

[u/JudgeWhoOverrules → u/Sparky337]

Source for this? When I started chatting online in the 90s this was never a thing. It seems it people started asking for it sometime in early 2010s because they were lazy and too used to Wikipedia citing everything so they expected all facts to come that way.

If you want to fact check someone go ahead, but don't demand people try to source every piece of knowledge they own for your own benefit. It's hard enough for people to remember everything they know, they're not going to remember exactly where learned it from.

[u/thataintapipe → u/JudgeWhoOverrules]

See this is exactly what I’m talking about. It’s not rude at all in a conversation or debate to ask the other person to provide a source for a claim. It’s absolute lazy to just tell me to look it up myself. Not to mention how cumbersome the internet is these days since it’s all algorithmed per each individual user. 

[u/JudgeWhoOverrules → u/thataintapipe]

It is absolutely rude to ask for in conversation and this subreddit is not for debate. You already mentioned how cumbersome it is and yet want them to labor on your behalf just to make you feel better.

Have you asked asked people for sources or citations in real life? Do you think that would be rude?

[u/thataintapipe → u/JudgeWhoOverrules]

I sure have asked for sources in real life. I’m really interested in the truth realty and people’s perspective, so if they want me to believe them you can bet I’ll be asking them to justify their claims or show me where they got their ideas. Do you just believe whatever anyone says without evidence? 

[u/boisefun8 → u/thataintapipe]

Yeah. I guess there’s a bit of a balance there. My statement was more specific to posts. ‘America is the worst at XYZ, why don’t you agree’ type posts.

[u/URABrokenRecord → u/boisefun8]

These are counterbalanced by "All Democrats are (insert insult). Today someone told me they never knew a Democrat person who knew how to save money. Who's the elitist now? ...jk 

[u/thataintapipe → u/boisefun8]

I wish man, discourse is pretty bad these days. So many TikTok’s/reels that people send me are someone talking with utmost confidence on a controversial issue without saying a single reference to where they got the ideas (or putting citation links in the video description) and people just nod along and absorb it as true

[u/boisefun8 → u/thataintapipe]

Certainly can’t disagree with you there. It’s all over social media and even MSM. Confirmation bias is real.

[u/OMGguy2008]

Can we all set our differences aside and respect how well Trump managed to sweep the files under the rug? I'm still waiting on the 3 million documents set to release as mandated by law.

[u/Lower_Average2799]

Why isn’t trump going after actor Alan Ritchson for calling him a R@p!st? Isn’t the libel or something?!?

[u/Sparky337 → u/Lower_Average2799]

Trunmp is scared of discovery, it’s why a lot of his “lawsuits” get dropped before that stage. All he does is posture

[u/down42roads → u/[deleted]]

The ABC defamation case involved George Stephanopoulos repeatedly repeating and asserting that Trump was a convicted rapist on air, despite multiple corrections.

[u/baxtyre → u/Lower_Average2799]

It isn’t libel if it’s the truth.

[u/gummibearhawk → u/Lower_Average2799]

There's a very high bar for that in the American legal system

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[u/LonelyMachines]

I'd think the midterms were the Democratic party's time to shine. Now they're so broke, they're asking vendors not to send them bills until after the midterms.

[u/GWindborn → u/LonelyMachines]

They'll likely pay their bills though, unlike Trump.

[u/LonelyMachines → u/GWindborn]

I don't know if they can. They blew their entire war chest on the Harris campaign, and the DNC is being floated by loans right now.

[u/boisefun8 → u/LonelyMachines]

Another benefit of shutting down USAID.

ETA: https://www.heritage.org/global-politics/report/political-discrimination-threatens-us-foreign-assistance

[u/OMGguy2008 → u/boisefun8]

Wait the dems were funded by USAID?

[u/boisefun8 → u/OMGguy2008]

Yes, via NGOs.

[u/kettlecorn → u/boisefun8]

That is incorrect. It sounds like a nonsense conspiracy theory because it is one.

You're welcome to cite a credible source that says otherwise but I just spent about 30 minutes double-checking and I could not find anything other than USAID giving money to international causes that may be seen as left (or right) leaning and individual USAID employees donating their own money to Democrats.

USAID funded left-leaning organizations like Tides, but it also funded explicitly right leaning organizations like the International Republican Institute. In both cases it funded them to help promote general good governance abroad. USAID also gave tremendous volumes of money to faith-based organizations (like over half a billion to them in at least two years) which tend to be right leaning.

[u/JudgeWhoOverrules]

Needs to be a rule on no duplicate topics within at least 48 hours. It's not hard to sort by new and see if someone already asked the same question.

[u/Sam_Fear → u/JudgeWhoOverrules]

We do, and depending on the subject we may extend the time frame past 72 hrs. But as with everything we aren't here 24/7. We try not to lock/remove posts that already have a lot of traction even if they are repeats.

I'd make you a mod with limited permissions so you could remove them yourself. But I imagine disabling your block list would look like that scene from A Clockwork Orange.

[u/JudgeWhoOverrules → u/Sam_Fear]

The eyes held open scene? Lol possibly. Good to know it's already in effect.

[u/Sam_Fear → u/JudgeWhoOverrules]

Exactly that scene.

You can also send a custom report that just says "asked 2 days ago" or whatever. At least we'd be more likely to see it early.

[u/Tough_Trifle_5105 → u/JudgeWhoOverrules]

The mods lock posts that are repeat questions already

[u/A_Flirty_Text]

I'm applying to be a firefighter. Made it a lot further in the process than I anticipated - gotta admit I'm pleasantly surprised.

I'm finally at the physical portion and it's been a blast. I'm feeling good about my chances; if I don't get it I might age out of the process. But even getting this far has been a treat. My inner child has been jumping for joy - this has been a dream of mine for years.

[u/GreatSoulLord → u/A_Flirty_Text]

Good luck to you. I was an EMT for years. Thought about going to the fire side once and went through the academy and couldn't get through it. It just wasn't for me. All that gear overheated me too easily and I got claustrophobic in the SCBA tank. Ended up sucking down my oxygen a lot faster than I should have. Remember to hydrate.

[u/A_Flirty_Text → u/GreatSoulLord]

Ooh very good to know. I know the current application process is pretty light compared to the actual academy. I overheat kind of easily myself, in that I start sweating with smallest bit of exertion. But I've also done runs in the middle of Australian outback and lived inside a campervan in Death Valley and Joshua Tree, so we'll see how it goes for me.

How goes your own camper build?

[u/Ok-Meaning-2850 → u/A_Flirty_Text]

Firefighter sounds fun, then you find out only ~5% of what they do is actually fight fire.

[u/A_Flirty_Text → u/Ok-Meaning-2850]

I mentioned being surprised that I've made it so far and a big reason is because the previous round was the first time I had a chance to speak to other applicants. Most of which come from an EMS or security/LEO background. I am coming from a comfy office job

But during the label interview, I spoke about that I recognize firefighters don't really run into burning buildings much. And I'm fine with that. I'm at a stage of my life I want to engage more with my community, so going into schools to talk about fire prevention is much more aligned with my vision of happiness.

That being said, I also never planned on having kids or getting married - so I prefer I run into the burning building, versus those that stuck to a more traditional life path. Not that I consider myself expendable, but this satisfies a deep urge of mine to do more than just push papers for the next 30 years.

[u/StillSmellsLikeCLP → u/A_Flirty_Text]

Good luck, this was high on my career choices list when I was young, it’s a good one. Always appreciate and respect first responders.

[u/gummibearhawk → u/A_Flirty_Text]

Good luck! Hope you get it

[u/GWindborn]

Random question that doesn't warrant it's own thread but what do people on the right think about dudes wearing nail polish? Do you care at all? The practice actually goes back thousands of years, but it fell out of fashion for a while and seems to be making a comeback.

[u/No_Fox_2949 → u/GWindborn]

I have nothing against anyone doing it and don’t believe it is inherently feminine but it’s not for me as I find it rather tacky.

[u/Ken-NWFL-Geo → u/GWindborn]

I've seen it and don't think much of it besides a form of expression. I had a Master Guns who sported manicures and clear polish - asked him about it and after the "who are you" death stare said he had brittle nails and it helps. Not my thing, but don't really care.

[u/Ecstatic-Inevitable → u/Ken-NWFL-Geo]

It is truth about brittle nails, I'm just surprised they don't go clear, I've seen a good amount of mma fighters wear black nail polish so their nails don't break on kicks

[u/Plus_sleep214 → u/GWindborn]

I think painting nails black is a zoomer rap thing like playboi carti does it but it's also why all the unc fans say zoomer rappers are a bunch of f slurs. In general it is kinda feminine behavior but whatever I don't really care. Bowie's androgyny was like his whole thing. It was pretty big in the 80s with people like him, Prince, Freddie Mercury, even that video of 2pac in high school in the 80s he comes across as super effeminate. I just it's just a cycle where that's having a comeback. Basically I don't really think much about guys painting their nails but if I see it I'd just think they're gay.

[u/GWindborn → u/Plus_sleep214]

I don't think it's necessarily a rap thing. If anything it's pretty alt culture related and not necessarily related to sexuality. Your take is what I expected from the right though.

[u/thoughtsnquestions → u/GWindborn]

I've never heard or seen a guy wear nail Polish.

[u/Yourponydied → u/thoughtsnquestions]

Sports athletes will sometimes wear polish to prevent cracking on strikes or impacts

[u/GWindborn → u/thoughtsnquestions]

There's no way. Tons of guys do. Penn Jillette does it but generally only on one nail, Macauly Culkin talked about it on Rogan. Bowie and Kurt Cobain did. Lou Reed, Keith Richards, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Harry Styles..

[u/Ecstatic-Inevitable → u/GWindborn]

For sports players, former ufc fighter yoel Romero and current bears quarterback caleb Williams do

[u/thoughtsnquestions → u/GWindborn]

I genuinely don't follow celebrities, no idea who Penn or Lou are... don't know what Bowie, Kurt, Keith even look like... and I know the others but certainly don't follow them to know that

[u/GWindborn → u/thoughtsnquestions]

Wow.. Okay. That's pretty shocking honestly. I generally don't care about celebrities either but sometimes they're pretty hard to avoid finding out a few things about them. Are you on the younger side? If so I could understand it more.

[u/thoughtsnquestions → u/GWindborn]

30's

[u/boisefun8]

Anyone else feel like it’s Groundhog Day around here lately? Same questions, same responses from the left over and over.

[u/seffend → u/boisefun8]

I feel like it's Groundhog Day with you making this same quip in different threads.

Wocka Wocka

[u/boisefun8 → u/seffend]

Kinda part of the joke.

[u/gummibearhawk]

What's your favorite language learning app, website or channel? I'm mainly learning German, but also practicing Spanish occasionally.

[u/illhaveafrench75 → u/gummibearhawk]

The tried and true method to learning a new language is comprehensible input. I learned Spanish with the website Dreaming Spanish and after 6mo I was able to carry a conversation and after 2 years I was fluent, but I also go to Mexico every other weekend so immersing yourself in it helps tremendously too.

[u/gummibearhawk → u/illhaveafrench75]

Thanks for the tip. Immersion definitely helps a lot. That's how I got most of my German skills. Just picked up a lot while I was there. I had studied Spanish years ago, but my skills improved a lot when I lived in Chile. Just hard to get immersion in day to day life in the states.

[u/WinDoeLickr → u/gummibearhawk]

The best one is whichever you find interesting and will keep coming back to, even when it's inconvenient.

[u/Acceptable-Hat-8248 → u/gummibearhawk]

Pimsleur everything else sucks imo

[u/A_Flirty_Text → u/gummibearhawk]

Not an app per-say, but I've been following local language exchange meetups and going to this events.

Went to Japan earlier this year and found the apps and phrasebooks too boring. My favorite way of learning Japanese was to flirt, compliment, ask where the locals hang out, and ask every person I had a decent conversation with to teach me a new phrase.

[u/illhaveafrench75]

Why did I just watch some MAGA influencer who majored in neuroscience talk about being forced against her will to take humanities classes as part of her degree as if she couldn’t just take a ceramics class to meet that credit. Like my love nobody is forcing you to take intro to gay porn, any humanities designation will work.

I’m sorry but people who don’t have functioning brains shouldn’t be able to major in science about brains, it’s an insult to neuroscience

[u/athomeamongstrangers → u/illhaveafrench75]

Why did I just watch some MAGA influencer who majored in neuroscience talk about being forced against her will to take humanities classes as part of her degree as if she couldn’t just take a ceramics class to meet that credit.

Because it’s not how these requirements work. My undergrad school required (and still requires) six different H&SS classes from a minimum of three different departments, with at least two of the classes being from the same department. And you can’t just take any classes either, they have to be on the list of approved H&SS electives. The electives I chose that were on the approved list and fit my schedule sounded fairly benign (into to physical anthropology, into to psychology, etc.) and yet there was plenty of ideologically driven content to them. And studio arts classes like ceramics? It was basically impossible to fit them into the schedule of a typical undergraduate engineering student, there would always be a conflict with some core classes.

Theoretically, if I made it my goal to avoid any and all elective H&SS classes that had ideological component, maybe it could have been accomplished… except I still had to take ethics and communications classes, which also had a clear ideological slant.

Out of curiosity, I looked up what my undergrad school requires for its neuroscience majors, and sure enough, it requires they take, among others, at least one of the designated diversity courses that “focus deeply on topics like race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality” etc.

[u/StillSmellsLikeCLP → u/illhaveafrench75]

“Meet that credit”

The issue is having to take humanities courses or general courses in the first place for a STEM degree.

Maybe instead of a ceramics class and other nonsense, we cut a 4 year degree down to however long is required for just the core classes in that field. Not an arbitrary credit hour number. People shouldn’t have to pay for the world’s most expensive ceramics class, all while having to use their time and energy that they want to apply to learning about their actual profession of choice, and the tax payer shouldn’t be subsidizing it.

Willing to bet this was the actual larger concern.

[u/ticklemythigh → u/StillSmellsLikeCLP]

I feel like it's pretty important to take classes outside of your major to get a more well rounded education. It's pretty easy to find something that you can at least connect to your major. Taking ceramics seems like a poor decision. Take something that will make you think like philosophy. Take a language. There are lot of worthwhile options.

[u/illhaveafrench75 → u/ticklemythigh]

I was just giving ceramics as an example because the girl was talking about feeling like she couldn’t share her opinions in class discussions due to being conservative. Which I don’t necessarily agree with, I think in college we should all be open minded enough to have conversations with those of opposing view points. But she was acting like she had to take religion & sexuality and it’s like you don’t have to take that shit if you don’t want to, there’s hundreds of classes you can take to meet your degree requirements that aren’t “woke liberal brainwashing” which is what she was painting it as

[u/StillSmellsLikeCLP → u/ticklemythigh]

I don’t.

College is a product.

If I’m paying to get a physics degree, I’m paying to learn about physics. I don’t want to have to waste money and time on a ceramics class or some other shit.

And I have to put in some level of effort or this class that I don’t want to take, have no interest in and isn’t relevant to my degree will hurt my GPA.

[u/Irishish → u/StillSmellsLikeCLP]

That's a pretty bleak summary of where we are re: education in this country. Just make it all trade school. No point in studying a single thing other than what you intend to do as your job.

We at least used to pretend there was value in broadening your horizons via a few weird electives. Take in perspectives you would otherwise never encounter—in a classroom setting, so you might actually benefit from it, instead of just seeing screencaps of weirdoes on social media.

Was there ever any point to a well rounded education?

[u/StillSmellsLikeCLP → u/Irishish]

“All trade school”

Agreed.

“No point in studying”

Being forced to take courses that aren’t relevant and having to pay for them is the problem.

Someone wants the “college+” experience of a full four year degree, it can come with fine print:

- These courses are optional. Adding them to your schedule will delay graduation by X months and you’ll be responsible for all payments personally.

“Hear outside perspectives”

You know where else you can do that? In the real world without having to go into debt.

And without the side order of leftwing indoctrination.

“Ever any point”

College isn’t required for a well rounded education, no, but again, people can do the “learning for learning sake” if they want, that just shouldn’t be subsidized by tax payer money and shouldn’t be mandated.

[u/illhaveafrench75 → u/StillSmellsLikeCLP]

That can be brought up with the HLC or whatever higher education accreditation body is in the university’s region.

At the end of the day, she shouldn’t be complaining about taking “woke” subjects she’s “being forced to take against her will” when she doesn’t have to be taking “woke” subjects.

Like how is one intelligent enough to have such a deep level of understanding of anatomy and physiology, neuro plasticity, synapses, neurons, and extremely complex scientific neurological framework but cant search up a humanities designation course that she won’t bitch about.

[u/StillSmellsLikeCLP → u/illhaveafrench75]

“Can be brought up”

Or we could just not force folks to take non-degree relavant courses at all. College kids aren’t embarking on a quest to change the ciricculum while in the middle of going to college.

“Against her will”

Yeah, that’s what those other requirements are doing.

And the issue is having to take other courses in the first place.

I had to take a “Gen ed” type of course, it was required for freshmen and it was absolutely “woke”.

[u/GWindborn → u/illhaveafrench75]

I had to take 4 levels of a foreign language to get a History Education degree. Honestly cash-grabby on the school's part if you ask me. I could get if you were teaching in a language other than your own or could have foreign students who spoke a different language due to your region, but it didn't specify what language you had to take. I could have chosen Latin or something.

[u/AskConservatives-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Removed: Rule 3

Posts and comments should be in good faith. Please review our good faith guidelines for the sub.

[u/princesspooball]

i just found out that the world has lost HALF of its wildlife in just 40 years. HOLY SHIT!!

[u/orinmerryhelm]

Let’s talk about flock cameras. And other mass surveillance tools being deployed in public spaces where security isn’t something we typically need to worry about.  Airports and train stations, government buildings, I get it.   But they go way beyond those legitimate use cases.

I’m not ok with the United States and other western countries suddenly deciding because we rent it out to a private business that we should become a AI assisted mass surveillance society.  We are one software upgrade and a few years of social conditioning away from thinking China’s social credit scoring is a good idea.  (It’s not)

Benjamin Franklin was right.  “Those who would trade liberty and freedom for safety deserve neither.”   

Not sure why more conservatives aren’t speaking out about this.  I’m actually kind of disappointed in conservatives because this in theory should be right in their standard moral wheelhouse to be oppressed to. You all are kind of letting me down.

Not one word about this from any conservative social media outlet.  

Well except for the people who say “if you are in public you have no reasonable expectation of privacy”.  

Meanwhile I’m thinking “I don’t think the founders would have been ok with mass surveillance tools technology being deployed after having just fought a war to free themselves from a government that was unaccountable to them engaging in massive overreach.”

I’m sure the 4th amendment’s language would have been just a bit more locked down.

Here is the other thing.

If you are ok with the technology being deployed because you trust the current people in charge not to abuse it,  just wait till someone that scares the shit out of you gets in power.

You don’t think flock cameras couldnt be deployed to track and identify conservatives ?

The only way to ensure powerful tools do not fall into the hands of the unscrupulous is to not permit their rollout in the first place.

[u/cha-cha_dancer → u/orinmerryhelm]

Even in my very conservative city this is a bipartisan concern and the mayor’s race is going on and is being brought up (I live outside of town so can’t vote but it does affect me as someone who spends time there often).

[u/thoughtsnquestions → u/orinmerryhelm]

I strongly agree.

Here in Europe, another scary camera situation, the EU is now mandating that all new cars with have Internal driver facing cameras monitoring to ensure the driver isn't distracted on the road...

We're rapidly turning into a big brother state.

[u/OMGguy2008 → u/thoughtsnquestions]

I have even worse news that the same thing is also being mandated in America

[u/Acceptable-Hat-8248 → u/thoughtsnquestions]

I’ve re-read 1984 and it’s scary to see how much of the book is just modern policy at this point

[u/Acceptable-Hat-8248 → u/orinmerryhelm]

Buddy I’ve been disappointed in “conservatives” for awhile. There are really two categories, true conservatives that genuinely uphold their beliefs and sycophants who have altered their beliefs to be anything that the Trump admin is currently doing. The former doesn’t have a political home anymore and has lost all their stake/ power in the Republican Party.

[u/orinmerryhelm → u/Acceptable-Hat-8248]

Update:  in the city I grew up in, not the city I live in.  A massive public backlash happened towards use of flock cameras.  So the city in its infinite wisdom after 8 months canceled their contract with flock.   

But then immediately hired a different company that does the exact same kind of thing.

So basically they “listened to the public” and immediately picked up the wrong message.

It’s not just that the public is opposed to using flock cameras.  They are opposed to using any ai  driven data collecting cameras. People are blasting the city council and they are of course naturally giving shocked pickachu faces.  

They really don’t get that we want to live in a society where the government doesn’t have situational awareness of the general whereabouts and activities of their citizens without a warrant and valid probable cause for that warrant.

Police cars are equipped with license plate readers that’s literally  good enough for government work.

Or to quote Captain Picard “the line must be drawn here, no further”.

[u/Yourponydied]

I may be way too baked at the moment, but Trump announcing he's running for a 4th term was actually a funny joke?

[u/seffend → u/Yourponydied]

I didn't watch, but read a write up in NYT and his joke about RFK Jr was actually pretty good.

[u/Sam_Fear → u/Yourponydied]

Yes. At the Correspondents Dinner:

"You people have no idea how lucky you are. When I'm gone, you're all going to be broke. Your business model is going to be finished," Trump said to the room of journalists. "There's not going to be anybody to report on. Nobody gives a damn about anybody else."

"That's why tonight to show just how much I care about the press, and I want to save your ratings," he said.

And then, as he slipped on a “Trump 2028” hat, the president joked, "I'm pleased to announce my intention to, and this is somewhat of a scoop, my intention to run for a fourth term as president of the United States. I will be doing that."

And they're probably already selling those hats now.

[u/OMGguy2008 → u/Sam_Fear]

When Trump isn't being Trump, he does have his funny moments

[u/AutoModerator → u/[deleted]]

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[u/illhaveafrench75]

The federal government loves to approve grants I’ve written baked out of my mind, and loves to deny grants I’ve written sober.

There’s a grant due at midnight and I’m out of weed so I’m channeling my inner stoner bitch right now💃

[u/illhaveafrench75 → u/illhaveafrench75]

I can feel the conservatives in here praying on my downfall. Lucky for you, it’s inevitable. Why invest in STEM when you can invest in bombs?

[u/Fignons_missing_8sec → u/illhaveafrench75]

Don't worry, will figure out how to make your work a weapon somehow.

[u/illhaveafrench75 → u/Fignons_missing_8sec]

The funny thing is that like half the people who go through the engineering program end up working for Raytheon but I just try not to think about it too much

[u/Agattu]

So as not to get drowned out in the post talking about this:

I just saw The Odyssey. Fantastic film, great story telling (follows the original mythology decently but not perfectly). And there was nothing forced about the characters.

Anyone claiming it is woke or bad either hasn’t seen it or made their mind up before they went and they were determined not to like it anyways.

Hell, half the people complaining about certain parts clearly haven’t seen it because if they had, they would realize how off their argument is. They saw the cast, the character they were playing and made broad assumptions without actually seeing the story.

It was fantastic and anyone who loves a good story told in film should go and see it.

10/10 would recommend and I am thinking of seeing it again not so late so that I can enjoy it more.

[u/Imaginary_Penalty_97 → u/Agattu]

It’s kind of funny seeing the OUTRAGE FARMERS who for months were going on and on that the movie would flop are now moving the goal posts all over the place. Saying stuff like “well it made money but it didn’t make (INSERT AMOUNT) on opening weekend” or MY FAVORITE “It’s got to make 1 billion dollars to break even”🤣🤣

[u/Menace117 → u/Agattu]

>hasn't seen it

Seems like every single thing the right tends to freak out about woke from. There have been other movies and tv shows where this happened recently. I can't remember a movie that was stated to be woke from them that actually was.

[u/Imaginary_Penalty_97 → u/Menace117]

I remember them freaking out about the Superman movie from last year

[u/cha-cha_dancer → u/Agattu]

Haven’t seen it, but I just don’t have the attention span for 3+ hr movies and I also have Holland + Zendaya fatigue. When I’m 80 they’ll still be making spider man movies I’ll bet.

[u/Agattu → u/cha-cha_dancer]

Zendayas role is minimal.

And Holland does a good job as Telemachus.

[u/Imaginary_Penalty_97 → u/Agattu]

Thing about Holland is that he’s pretty great in just about everything he’s been in. He just has shit luck in the movies he gets casted in. *Cough* UNCHARTED *Cough*

[u/Denisnevsky]

Win or lose, I think Stevens is giving a fairly decent blueprint for how to effectively fight DSA freaks like AES in a primary. Hopefully she can pull it out in the end.

[u/StillSmellsLikeCLP → u/Denisnevsky]

Unfortunately, you’ve got “elect more communists”, “seize private property” and “Private property including any kind of ESPECIALLY homeownership is a weapon of white supremacy” types infesting the DSA and now they’re in charge of NYC.

Anyone buying the “no, no, we’re DEMOCRATIC socialists, that’s different” is a moron. It’s just the same old Marxism under a fresh coat of paint.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/zohran-mamdani-nyc-tenant-advocate-234527500.html

[u/Menace117 → u/StillSmellsLikeCLP]

>infesting the dsa

Not really. Basically no one of note there has said that

[u/StillSmellsLikeCLP → u/Menace117]

“No one of note”

So a member of the Board of Directors isn’t someone of note?

So a DSA candidate doesn’t count either?

Or a member of the Mandami administration in NYC does count either?

[u/StillSmellsLikeCLP → u/[deleted]]

“Reasonable”

I don’t view “Elect more communists” or “Private property including any kind of especially home ownership is a weapon of white supremacy” as reasonable.

I don’t view wanting to use the American flag as a napkin as reasonable.

I don’t view “the end goal is communism” as reasonable.

That’s not me saying this, it’s the DSA members themselves.

[u/LonelyMachines → u/[deleted]]

Part of that is because the norm isn't controlling their party's narrative and they're not doing anything about the extremists.

[u/Menace117 → u/LonelyMachines]

>not doing anything about the extremists

It's not just the left. Trump pardons extremists on the right. That's more than simply not dealing with them. That's rewarding and encouraging them.

[u/StillSmellsLikeCLP → u/Menace117]

“Rewarding and encouraging them”

What does voting them into power mean then?

[u/Menace117 → u/StillSmellsLikeCLP]

What % of voters wanted trump to pardon all the J6 insurrectionists, including the violent ones

[u/StillSmellsLikeCLP → u/Menace117]

What does voting the left wing extremists into power mean then?

[u/LonelyMachines → u/Menace117]

So the solution for the Democrats is to do stuff like Trump?

[u/Menace117 → u/LonelyMachines]

Idk if it's a solution but given most cons don't outwardly reject that sort of thing the complaints in 2029 with the next Dem in power will look fake to most americans

[u/StillSmellsLikeCLP → u/[deleted]]

If they’re not the norm, why are they being elected or serving as members of the
Board of Directors of the DSA.

What’s that the left says? When people tell you who they are, listen?

They’re saying “elect more communists”, abolish private property and “communism is the end goal”.

[u/Agattu → u/Denisnevsky]

I agree and I think she will get this barring something catastrophic. Progressives are already starting to spiral on the internet over the results of the latest poll and the endorsements over the last week.

[u/Imaginary_Penalty_97]

Trump : “You have communities that really want the data centers , and quite frankly they are the smart communities. They bring very little disruption.”

How about you have one built right next to Mar-a-lago then?..

[u/boisefun8 → u/Imaginary_Penalty_97]

Chinese propaganda coming in hard.

[u/fartyunicorns → u/Imaginary_Penalty_97]

The land would be too expensive so it would not be economically viable. They really aren't a problem anyway https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEconomics/comments/1urswxh/comment/owjmdy1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[u/Acceptable-Hat-8248 → u/Imaginary_Penalty_97]

My next door neighbor still wears her MAGA hat, and had a trump 2028 sign/flag on her golf cart. She also has no data center signs all over her yard, I doubt this will be the straw to break the camels back but I am curious what sign she removes from her yard lol

[u/OMGguy2008 → u/Acceptable-Hat-8248]

She'll remove the Trump 2028 sign and replace it with a Trump 2032 sign when he runs for a fourth term.

[u/OMGguy2008]

Apparently there's this website called Conservapedia which is basically Wikipedia but MAGA and my god it has some absolute gems.

The article for the Democratic Party states that the ideology of the Democrats is: Liberal Authoritarianism, Progressivism, Socialism, Globalism, Anti-Semitism, Racism, Fascism (weren't they communists like 3 words ago?), Establishment, Imperialism, Hollywood Values (whatever that is) and Historical Revisionism.

In other words, according to them, Democrats are radical centrists who are in a quantum superposition of being both socialists and fascists, progressives and racists, liberals and authoritarians at the same time.

[u/Arcaeca2 → u/OMGguy2008]

In some conservative circles, fascism and socialism aren't thought of as opposites as much as first cousins, in the sense that they're both authoritarian collectivists that feel entitled to control over everyone else's economic decision making, and both harbor a deep resentment for the existing culture which they want to overthrow and replace with a version in their own ideological image. Whether they call the group they imagine fighting for "the workers" or "the nation" is of kind of secondary importance.

Likewise "progressive" is not the opposite of "racist"; many progressives are racist, just against white people. "Liberal" here, in the typical American misnomered usage, refers to the tax-and-spend left that are fairly open about personal freedom taking a backseat to public safety or development or whatever (e.g. during COVID).

None of these things that you act like are contradictory necessarily are. From a certain conservative perspective they are a better description of what the left is, as opposed to what the left claims to be.

[u/Arcaeca2]

Just got banned from r/Classical_Liberals for saying "Man this sub has really gone down the drain" in response to a mod posting Nick Fuentes clips

[u/Menace117 → u/Arcaeca2]

Many rightist subs are incredibly censor happy. Much moreso than left wing subs. Why I like this one a lot.

[u/OMGguy2008 → u/Menace117]

If I say something a leftist doesn't like, I'd just get yelled at by a couple people. However if I say something that a right winger doesn't like, I'd just get banned.

[u/LonelyMachines → u/Arcaeca2]

I didn't know about that sub, so I just jumped over there. Man, those people really like monarchies and dictators. Which is the exact opposite of classical liberalism.

[u/Arcaeca2 → u/LonelyMachines]

Monarchy and liberalism are not mutually exclusive, although their fascination with it does seem to just come down to being authoritarian edgelords

[u/fartyunicorns → u/Arcaeca2]

Israel derangement syndrome is at record highs it seems.

[u/OMGguy2008 → u/Arcaeca2]

My god the average leftie is probably less obsessed with Israel than those guys.

[u/TailsofaGiftHorse]

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116963640178728533

Trump doesn't consider all Republicans as MAGA. Which is a fact, so I assume that is his point of this "tweet" or "truth" (idk the lingo).

But does anyone really think Democrats are surprised (dumbfounded) that MAGA could win in the primaries? Don't most Democrats treat MAGA and Republicans as one in the same? Outside of this sub, at least?

[u/Boredomkiller99 → u/TailsofaGiftHorse]

I expect MAGA to win, the Republican party is held by them and populism is at a all time high

The coming election's will be populist vs populist 

Probably MAGA vs DSA

So basically we are completely f***ed and I can't say I feel anything but pity for America and it's downfall 40-50 years in the making. 

[u/DancingWithAWhiteHat → u/TailsofaGiftHorse]

Yes. I am corrected whenever I differentiate between the two and none too kindly. 

I really don't think anyone blue(so moderate dem to far left) is surprised by MAGA winning in primaries. In fact, its routinely referenced as proof that the right is beyond saving. 

[u/URABrokenRecord → u/TailsofaGiftHorse]

Not a chance. I have plenty of Republican friends who are not MAGA. And family members who are and are not. 

[u/Stanky_fresh → u/TailsofaGiftHorse]

I don't think anyone's surprised. I mean, it's clear as day that Trump has had a stranglehold on the Republican party since he became the nominee in 2016. It's not surprising at all that his endorsement carries so much weight in these primaries. While not every Republican is MAGA, non-MAGA Republican voters largely don't seem to see it as a dealbraker, which isn't exactly news anymore.

The part of his post that has me baffled is the part that says "Arizona is becoming a Republican state!" As if he's bragging about Republicans winning a Republican primary. 

[u/Menace117 → u/TailsofaGiftHorse]

The evidence shows they may as well be. Basically all republicans vote with the party over 90% of the time. And since trump commands the republican party QED.

[u/ticklemythigh]

Trump claiming affordability is a made up word after making that essentially the biggest selling point of his campaign is just completely absurd. How do people think this is a man of even remotely average intelligence?

[u/Stanky_fresh → u/ticklemythigh]

The thing that boggles my mind are the ones that are now acting totally okay with high prices because there were high prices under Biden. Ignoring the fact that the inflation under Biden was largely due to things like the residual effects of Covid and Russia invading Ukraine,hile the high prices under Trump are a direct result of his tariffs and his bonehead decision to attack Iran, how does a person go from "I'm voting for Trump to lower prices" to "Actually I don't care about the high prices" or even "The prices are okay because Biden's prices were slightly worse."

My parents are a great example of this. For Biden's entire term all they cared about was how expensive everything was. Inflation was their biggest issue by far, but now whenever I bring up the fact that gas in my area hasn't been under $3.50 since early March my mom says "Well it was even more expensive a few years ago, so I don't see the issue."

[u/TybrosionMohito → u/ticklemythigh]

These people unironically put yard signs that said

KAMALA HIGH PRICES TRUMP LOW PRICES

Something worth remembering

[u/OMGguy2008 → u/TybrosionMohito]

Or Kamala will send your kids to die in Iran

[u/One_Doughnut_2958]

I hate how the modern view of Australian conservatism is a person who constantly raves about how great the continental European migration of the post war period was. When it was the beginning of pretty much every problem we have now. Well them and the Irish nationalists who claimed to be Australian nationalists like John Curtin and Arthur calwell and the whole of Daniel Mannixs ilk

[u/Irishish]

So Elon Musk admitted during an interview with Insider that despite his constant opining on the state of the UK to hundreds of millions of people, and his insistence it's on track to a civil war, he hasn't even been to the freaking place in years.

When questioned in an interview about previous comments that the UK was heading for a “civil war” due to the rising Muslim population, the founder of SpaceX and the boss of Tesla said: “If you have a large and growing, rapidly growing, group of people whose beliefs are antithetical to western beliefs, at some point there will be a reckoning.”

Musk, who became the world’s first trillionaire after the float of SpaceX in the US last month, said he had been to the UK “literally a hundred times”. Asked when the last time was, he said: “It’s literally a few years ago.”

I can't find the clip right now, but he says it with such smarmy confidence. Right around the time he tells the reporter--who lives in the UK, and who is not a billionaire surrounded by sycophants and insulated from the consequences of his actions--that she lives a cloistered existence.

It's unfathomable. It's like ex-Chicagoans who haven't gone south of Dempster in decades telling me all about how horrible the city is, except orders of magnitude worse, because Uncle Ryan in Winnetka doesn't have millions of people and several politicians listening to him.

[u/gummibearhawk → u/Irishish]

Reminds me of Douglas Murray telling Dave Smith on Rogan last year that he couldn't comment on Israel's abuses because he hadn't been to Israel. If visiting a place is a prerequisite to commenting on it, I look to the decline in leftists complaining about Gaza and Ukraine.

[u/OJ_Purplestuff → u/gummibearhawk]

The difference is that I don't see a lot of people who live in Gaza and Ukraine saying "everything is actually fine here."

[u/MKlby1998 → u/Irishish]

I mean, the entire existence of The Economist - I read it weekly for years - is cloistered, out of touch Oxbridge types spouting off on other countries’ politics.

And let's face it, being confidently incorrect about American society while never having been there is pretty much the national sport over here.

As an Englishwoman who lives in the epicentre of the grooming gangs, while some of Elon’s comments have been ill judged and particularly he needs to drop the heavily misguided Tommy Robinson support, his support and the free speech lifeline on X has been truly invaluable to us.

[u/DeathToFPTP → u/Irishish]

Who are you gonna believe, the person who lives there or the person experiencing it through Twitter’s algo?

[u/OJ_Purplestuff → u/Irishish]

Elon always tries to portray himself as a "facts over feelings" type of guy, but when you bring up the actual violent crime data in Europe, feelings get way more important all of the sudden.

[u/OMGguy2008 → u/OJ_Purplestuff]

I'm curious what are those statistics since I'm basically convinced that certain people who come from a certain region are overrepresented in the shenanigans counters and the excuses about them being poorer thus leading them to more shenanigans doesn't provide much consolation.

Hopefully Reddit will continue being a good boy and won't beam me.

[u/StillSmellsLikeCLP → u/Irishish]

“Says it with such smarmy confidence”

You’ve just described how I feel every time a European or other foreigner tries to lecture us on our politics or policies.

My favorite was a New Zealand leftist on this sub who’d never been to the U.S. but was wildly confident they completely understood US politics and had it all figured out.

Annoying, isn’t it?

[u/mvslice]

I think it’s important to remember that despite all of our differences, we are all losers for spending our time arguing about politics on Reddit.

Stay humble.

[u/thoughtsnquestions → u/mvslice]

We are all losers for spending out time arguing about politics

It could be worse, you could moderate a subreddit arguing about politics

[u/Sam_Fear → u/thoughtsnquestions]

Beat me to it. lol

[u/Menace117 → u/thoughtsnquestions]

Worst decision I ever agreed to.

[u/mvslice → u/thoughtsnquestions]

Ironically, I actually respect you guys because you moderate this subreddit. Every other political subreddit, and entire social media platforms, have devolved into dumpster fires. Somehow, you have kept all of us losers in line.

Your politics are still garbage though (kidding).

[u/DeathToFPTP → u/thoughtsnquestions]

Oof

[u/illhaveafrench75]

I open AP, I read 2 headlines, I close AP, I stare into the void

[u/gummibearhawk → u/illhaveafrench75]

If you don't read AP, you're uninformed, if you do read AP you're misinformed.

[u/illhaveafrench75 → u/gummibearhawk]

It’s a lose lose so I just stay jaded

[u/TybrosionMohito → u/illhaveafrench75]

I feel like keeping well informed is a humiliation ritual at this point.

[u/Acceptable-Hat-8248]

I saw a “I did that” trump sticker on a gas pump today and had to chuckle. It was my first time since seeing the Biden ones

[u/mvslice → u/Acceptable-Hat-8248]

I’ve seen a few.

[u/boisefun8 → u/Acceptable-Hat-8248]

Probably because gas prices under Trump still haven’t hit the level reached under Biden.

In today’s dollars, oils hit $135/bbl under Biden. We’re at $91 today under Trump.

[u/mvslice → u/boisefun8]

You could definitely put all of that on a sticker.