meep_launcher @ meep_launcher @lemm.ee

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30

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434

Joined

2 yr. ago

Haha, the appeal of political science to me is less about arguing with strangers about the news and more talking about broader philosophies and theories and then applying them to what we are seeing in the world. I feel like I can have a more nuanced conversation about the prisoner's dilemma with regards to x topic, or applying philosophies like American Pragmatism to solving problems.

Talking about the news without using some of the tools political scientists use has so many emotional trip wires that it can feel like I'm just keeping up with the Kardashians. That said sometimes I just can't help but keep up with the Kardashians.

Hell yea I love a good wiki deep dive

I am actually writing an analysis of the music industry and counter culture responses with regards to AI and the future of music! I'm calling it musical humanism. 🎷 🎺 🎸

Yep. WWI poetry is just so heartbreaking.

Especially since it was WW1. I wouldn't feel so bad if it was WW2 and Nazis were being unalived, but nobody deserved to die in WW1.

I'm usually skeptical of protest votes, but these primary protest votes are actually effective for the same reason voting is effective. Politicians aren't as static as we want to believe- their number one priority is reelection. When you vote, you are telling the candidates that you are politically useful and they will begin to pay attention to your needs. When you vote for all levels of government, you are giving deeper detail into what your needs are.

If a significant portion of a district votes for a Democrat as president, and then a Republican for state representative, the democratic administration will likely make more conservative decisions if they see that portion of the electorate as critical to reelection.

This naturally reveals a big problem with the electoral college, as there are maybe 5 states with critical demographics needed to win reelection. The people in Ohio, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan are more influential to the type of administration a Republican or Democrat would run.

If the Gaza protest vote happened in Washington State or California, I doubt Biden would have reacted as much as he did for Michigan. That said, this problem politicians face goes from the President of the US down to the president of your HOA. So I'll acknowledge that the power of voting fluctuates depending on the specific outcome you are measuring, but there are so many variables. In political science you need to learn to live with paradoxes, and this may be one.

Either way, I believe we should keep voting; they are paying attention.

"republicans are horrible people who deserve what's coming to them, except for my dad"

Would this push banks to increase interest rates? Mine is already 20% and I've been making my minimum payments.

Idk, I just know banks are schisters who will always find a way to screw the poors.

Ace Hardware is where you find frustrated tenants who decided it would just be easier to fix the sink themselves rather than deal with the landlord

!cartographyanarchy@lemm.ee

Are you ready to have kids?

I was born in Kirkland. My mom drank only the finest Vodka during pregnancy. Kirkland Vodka made my IQ 180, gave me a chiseled chin, and I give earth shattering orgasms when I shake hands.

I am a private music teacher, and while most private teachers will go through a school to do lessons, I've just gone freelance and do it all myself. I get to set prices and recruit or not and I have so much freedom, but one thing I found was that in setting prices, people will pay what you say. If they can't I'll chat a bit to see what the situation is and see where I can make discounts of course, but wealthy families are willing to do $100 an hour easy. I know I could bump it to $150 for some.

Basically all I'm saying is inflation is BS for companies making up higher prices.

"Immigrant thinking killed this beautiful child. Every immigrant is to blame."

Hmmmm, I'm not sure what immigrant ideology is, or where all the oppressive legislation that immigrants passed is, but I'm sure you can find a way to scapegoat people you hate.

You know the drill, just keep asking more and more absurd questions with confidence, and when someone says you are driving people to a hateful conclusion with loaded questions, you can just say "what, I can't ask questions anymore? What happened to free speech?"

Y'all-Qaeda strikes again

Damnit this isn't working for me.

If I could have left YouTube for Piped I would have had to change my pants.

Until then, nice try bot :/

Joe is both "Genocide Joe" and "Pro Hamas Joe" depending on who you ask. The way I see it, he's an unpopular president of a deeply fractured country with fascism knocking on the door while a geopolitical ally is commiting atrocities and another is is being attacked by our historic adversary. He is being faced with a million prisoner's trolley problemmas. This won't obsolve him of his role in the conflict, but we should recognize that he is in a precarious position with some very real reasons to have pause.

Take note: Biden has been able to pass a shit ton of legislation and so did LBJ, but to think either of them got a free lunch is deeply misguided. LBJ had to make Vietnam happen to get the welfare state. "I gave you your damn war, now give me my programs".

With the election coming up, he can't just consider Palestine as the only priority. Medicare funding. Voting rights. Abortion rights. Gun control. Debt forgiveness. Inflation. Climate change. If he loses the moderate vote, which is not as pro-palestine as the progressive left, he loses everything. (Side note: this is why you absolutely should vote for Biden. If he and the DNC sees that the progressive left cary a large portion of their votes, they will act accordingly. People who don't vote are politically useless)

If you follow a multitude of news outlets, you might pick up on how Joe and Netanyahu have had strained relations (you can imagine how those calls are going). Joe continues the US stance of a two state solution (remember that Trump favors full Israeli control of Palestine).

I mean, yes we need to continue to push for Joe to call for a cease fire, but immediately pulling the plug on Israel funding will have negative consequences domestically and abroad.

Remember that Iran is set to have nuclear capabilities by the end of the year. While there needs to be freedom for Palestine, let's not pretend an anti Zionist solution won't result in millions of dead Jews. If "well one side needs to agree to be annihilated" is your solution, you won't find peace anytime soon as people won't just agree to die, especially people with a well equipped Army (and an undisclosed amount of nukes).

The other possibility is that Israel wouldn't just take losing funding from the US. If we cut ties with Israel completely, they would look to their older ally, Russia (people forget Israel once was cozy with Moscow). We need Israel to stop their genocide, but we certainly don't want them, nor their nukes, as an enemy.

That said there are good reasons to cut funding. Cutting funding could be the push to get Israelis to oust Bibi in favor of a more liberal government. Cutting funding could boost the US in popularity with our NATO allies and also woo India, Brazil, and South Africa away from China and Russia. We have to ask if the risk is worth it, and what are the odds of each outcome.

If you're interested in why leaders don't come to the same obvious conclusions that you do, I would recommend CGP Grey's 20 minute video, Rules for Rulers

If this shit was easy there wouldn't be a degree in Political Science.

Keep conservatism in the bedroom, I'm sick and tired of them just flaunting their kink in public all the time

!cartographyanarchy@lemm.ee

So I consider myself an optimist, but even I know it's stupid to say "I'm happy I only suffered a little bit so I will ignore solvable problems". Also I find it very weird and disturbing that the argument "you are free to die" is being used to promote what I assume is a free market approach to healthcare. Or maybe you don't have an angle other than to tell OP that they aren't in pain, when obviously they are, and that's fucked up.

Yea, there's a lot we have going for us with medical advances, but let's not forget the reason millions die every year is not because lack of medical advances, but rather lack of access to those advances. Those millions of people didn't choose not to afford it. They didn't choose to die.

Being an optimist isn't about ignoring the problems of the world and calling people who are upset about these problems bitter. It's about looking at these problems head on and believing you can address them. If you are an optimist, the light you shine should allow you to see.

you know you can get away with insulting a lot of things in this city, cause we're a liberal town, but don't insult the sausage