I'm kinda shocked that the Trump campaign would agree to this. These rules seem directly in response to his debate style.
For all Biden's many faults, having to share a stage with him in a civilized manner is almost certain to work against Trump. Especially when his campaign is consistently trying to paint Biden as mentally unwell and out of touch.
I'm glad it's happening, just shocked that it's happening under these conditions. I fully expected the Trump campaign to find a reason to back out leading up to this, and any of those rules would likely be a justification for that that his base would be fine with.
Very good point! I imagine meeting someone in person and finding out they have the same unusual hobby would have been quite the thrill. I'm old enough to distinctly remember a world before the ubiquitous internet, but never had a super niche hobby to have given me that sort of experience.
That's a fair point but I suspect this has always been the case. I bet if we could go back to the prehistoric period we'd find someone saying, "Cronk found himself another dick-shaped leaf to add to his collection." I'd almost think with less available to amuse them, people would be finding joy in all sorts of weird hobbies or collections.
No hard feelings at all. I made a well-intentioned but dumb joke that wasn't well-received and you had the guts to call me out on why people were reacting so badly. I respect that, and am always open to changing my perspective in the face of new evidence.
For what it's worth, it sounds like we're largely on the same side here. With Lemmy being such a small place, I even recognize your user name as someone I'm pretty sure I've come across before and thought, "this sounds like a smart person."
Perceptions are also easily swayed because we've been on an unusually long objectively (not relative) downward slope.
I'm definitely with you here. I used to buy into the liberal notion that the world is objectively getting better (liberal as in the classic/European meaning, not how it's typically used here in North America). I think that was largely true for a long time since WWII, and it's probably still true in several metrics. Overall though, it feels we're on a major downward trend in many places where it really matters such as the climate, wealth inequality, global strife, etc. I'll admit that's had me pretty demoralized but then I have some good interactions with folks in here that helps me see a little light in all the misery, so thanks for that.
Imagine how different the world was for people with super niche interests before the internet. Back then, this would have been seen as the weird (or at best eccentric) guy in your town who collects fire alarms and won't stop talking about them. Now he's presumably got a fulfilling social life via his unusual hobby, and an outlet to share his thoughts to a willing audience.
For all its many faults over the last decades, this is the pure internet at its best.
For me they're aspirational. I haven't played a pen and paper RPG in over 20 years, but like to imagine I'll find the time. With a baby on the way, in about 8 to 12 years I'll have a captive audience to play with, between her and my wife.
It's the same with our giant shelf of board games that are better with 3 players. We're playing the long game here.
I guess the technical difference would be that one had ancestors who took their power by force and managed to cement it into hereditary rule, while the other acquired it as a "captain of industry" and then largely did the same thing through lobbying or other forms of cronyism.
Mostly the same end result, but for some reason we put one on our coins and hold celebrations in their honor.
Well, while I was also mostly joking with that second comment, respect for calling me out on it. For the record, I do know that people have always been this stupid and that much of the US is ridiculously gerrymandered. If anything I was maybe projecting a bit as I suspect I got COVID a few years back and my short-term memory has been off ever since. It's been a point of concern for me as, I admit, it's made me feel more stupid.
I do think people are getting worse, but in reality I blame misinformation campaigns for that.
The one thing I will (politely) disagree with in your comment is your characterization of pot smokers being hard left or disengaged with politics. I think it's much more universal across the spectrum than you're suggesting. Now that it's legal in Canada it seems like everyone uses it to some degree. That's an exaggeration but I'm continually shocked by some of the people I know coming out of the woodwork as users, and many are not even close to hard left (and are engaged in following news and voting for the party I loathe).
Anyway, respect again for sharing your opinion and I'm truly sorry if I offended anyone with my earlier comment. I'll leave it up for the sake of posterity.
Well, I've favorited you here on Lemmy and will make sure to keep in touch. I wasn't sure there was a DM feature, but looking in my app it appears there is, so I'll do that in the coming days to check in.
No glowing trees in my dreams, but a good sleep nonetheless so thanks for that!
I'm kinda shocked that the Trump campaign would agree to this. These rules seem directly in response to his debate style.
For all Biden's many faults, having to share a stage with him in a civilized manner is almost certain to work against Trump. Especially when his campaign is consistently trying to paint Biden as mentally unwell and out of touch.
I'm glad it's happening, just shocked that it's happening under these conditions. I fully expected the Trump campaign to find a reason to back out leading up to this, and any of those rules would likely be a justification for that that his base would be fine with.