Ignorance is bliss.

[Deleted]

no it's not and anyone who actually thinks that is incredibly naive

Or they just know a hell of a lot more of the world than you do.

[Nekoyou]

Outside of wanting to slow down immigration from Islamic nations and opposition to illegal immigration, whats xenophobic?

umm really? Isn't this guy the one that wants to put patches on Islamic people? And build a wall against the Mexicans? And feels all immigrants are the reason why this country is not great anymore?


Did you need me to link the appropriate Hitler speech where he said the exact same things...this dude is a Nazi President. There is nothing left to say. Why we allowed him to even be a serious candidate is beyond anyone's understanding. He should have been laughed off as not having "serious" intent.

[Theinquisition]

umm really? Isn't this guy the one that wants to put patches on Islamic people? And build a wall against the Mexicans? And feels all immigrants are the reason why this country is not great anymore?


Did you need me to link the appropriate Hitler speech where he said the exact same things...this dude is a Nazi President. There is nothing left to say. Why we allowed him to even be a serious candidate is beyond anyone's understanding. He should have been laughed off as not having "serious" intent.

I don't even like Trump dude, I just don't like irrational hatred.

There's nothing wrong with Legal immigration, we have a right to monitor our borders and screen who comes in. Whether it be for criminal history or communicable disease. I don't think its too much to ask.

As far as islam goes, I haven't heard him specifically say they should be wearing patches, sure that wasn't Ted Cruz?

[Deleted]

Name me a superpower at any point in history that has been as benevolent as we have.

The 1940's was the last time you did anything righteous or moral for the rest of the world or yourselves.

You live in bubbles within bubbles.

[Theinquisition]

The 1940's was the last time you did anything righteous or moral for the rest of the world or yourselves.

You live in bubbles within bubbles.

Nice Deflection, please answer the question.

[Blobfish]

Good name for a thread

They actually reckon that Smart people or those with high IQs
suffer depression more. And I actually put that down to smart people
thinking too much about the World's problems.

On the other hand, a little tribal villager in the South American rain forest
who does not whats going on in the World is probably a lot more happier.
There only concern is probably how many fish will I catch today.

Anyway Cute T/shirt Time

[IIamaKing]

Not too sure that's "good."

Jaded stage is better than depressed about the woes of the world stage IMO.

[Deleted]

Nice Deflection, please answer the question.

You actually think you're more benevolent than the Romans? The British? Any other imperialistic power for that matter?

Since the late 40's you've done nothing but pollute, coerce, murder and economically terrorize the majority of the planet. You've lead the human race down the toilet and we here in Britain (to our shame) have been your biggest advocates and supporters.

Flag wave as much as you like, but the world does not look upon you as a benevolent force, any more than they do us. There is no benevolence in empire, it's all just waste.

[Betelgeuse]

Oh I know about PR, I saw the Last Week Tonight segment. It's pretty fucked up.

The problem is ... it actually could get worse.

The world is in "uncertain times" right now. The global economy is weak. China and Russia are acting up.

This really isn't the time for the US to be reckless you know. The rest of the world is counting on you - as the most powerful nation in the world, the responsibility is in your lap whether you want it or not.

Bah! We will survive! As long as we know how to love I know we'll stay alive! Empires come and go. If the world doesn't like the US being the leader of the world hegemony, just wait until the next one comes along. They might very well wish for the good old days when the benevolent and protective US was in charge. Maybe they won't, guess we will just have to wait and see. I personally think that being on top only makes you a target for every power hungry madman who comes along. On the negative side, they did call the period after the collapse of the Roman Empire the "Dark Ages".

[Theinquisition]

You actually think you're more benevolent than the Romans? The British? Any other imperialistic power for that matter?

Since the late 40's you've done nothing but pollute, coerce, murder and economically terrorize the majority of the planet. You've lead the human race down the toilet and we here in Britain (to our shame) have been your biggest advocates and supporters.

Flag wave as much as you like, but the world does not look upon you as a benevolent force, any more than they do us. There is no benevolence in empire, it's all just waste.

How many highways have been lined with crucified prisoners?

[Kithelle]

I'm worried the US will cease to continue to be engaged with the world as a "benevolent superpower".

Trump's rhetoric is highly xenophobic and undiplomatic. The damage that can happen to the US's relationships with it's allies globally ...

As much of a sleazeball Hillary is, she more or less represents "Business as usual.". It's not the best of all worlds but she won't possibly be the end of the world as we know it.

- - - Updated - - -



I fully accept the role the US has played, and will hopefully continue to play, in the world.

What I'm worried about is the US deciding to stop playing that role for shortsighted reasons or somehow becomes incapable of doing so.

Business as usual...HA...

I don't like Obama...never did...I wouldn't mind one bit if we rewrote the constitution and gave him 4 more years as opposed to having her running things.

[Deleted]

I dunno. I for one enjoy being ignorant. It's really fun! Pick it up once in a while. You'll enjoy it.

[Deleted]

I feel the more I know about the world, the more depressed and stressed out I get.

I would have been so much happier if I didn't know how much influence the US has worldwide, how much global stability depended on the US military ... and it's next president could be a crazy reality TV star.

/sigh

I really hope that the US's system of "checks and balances" really work.

So you think people before hundres of thousand years ago thought... nature is difficult and anyone who can explain is awesome.

And then Adorno / Horkheimer wrote this book... You don't even know it exists because instead you leaned whatever in school... And now by the tiniest bit you feel... disenchanted? Know your place.

[moremana]

We're just trolling the elites, we'll go with Hillary in the end.

I love these types, so yeah, lets put in someone who doesn't have a care in the world when it comes to security and then....heres the best part....lies just like her husband, ya, that person is going to make the world a safer place.

[Mister Cheese]

Bruh I think you've been taking too many red pills.

[SlayAllDay]

that is how i feel quite often xD
the more i see people post about the elections and blah blah... (All the sheeple crap) I'm just like really guys...if only they knew how things really worked in this world lol. poor sheeple will never know

[SodiumChloride]

What I find funny is people in other countries than the US actually think their political systems are better and somehow less corrupt

No one here is saying that.

It's just that the consequences of said corruption is localized unlike corruption in the US which may impact the entire world.

- - - Updated - - -

So you are scared of Trump becoming the next president? Hillary isn’t any better in any way. She has lied repeatedly and there is video proof all over Youtube. Trump isn’t better though. Politicians promise many things that never come true and people vote for them because that’s the only they can express themselves, through a vote. The only candidate that is sane is Bernie Sanders but he won’t be in the race for very long. Hillary is backed by the mainstream media and has alot of influence.

Ignorance is bliss but you should be in control of your life, and only the truth can bring you there.

here



There are similar videos on Trump

Hillary isn't threatening a trade war with China - China needs to be contained but poking it with a trade war is not the way to do it.

Hillary isn't trying to turn your neighbor Mexico into the next terrorist hotspot by fucking around with their finances, possibly causing what's left of their government to collapse.

Hillary doesn't involve the level of disgust with your allies in EU - your biggest most powerful ally collectively.

- - - Updated - - -

Bah! We will survive! As long as we know how to love I know we'll stay alive! Empires come and go. If the world doesn't like the US being the leader of the world hegemony, just wait until the next one comes along. They might very well wish for the good old days when the benevolent and protective US was in charge. Maybe they won't, guess we will just have to wait and see. I personally think that being on top only makes you a target for every power hungry madman who comes along. On the negative side, they did call the period after the collapse of the Roman Empire the "Dark Ages".

The thing is, most of the world is actually quite OK with the US hegemony. Leaders won't say it in public for political reasons but if you ask them in private I quite sure they will tell you they value the stability the US brings to the table.

The last time a global hegemony (i.e. the British Empire) weakened until it's unable to do it's job ... we got WWI and WWII.

I really just want to live out the rest of my sad life in peace. Can we keep the world in one piece until I kick the bucket?

- - - Updated - - -

So you think people before hundres of thousand years ago thought... nature is difficult and anyone who can explain is awesome.

And then Adorno / Horkheimer wrote this book... You don't even know it exists because instead you leaned whatever in school... And now by the tiniest bit you feel... disenchanted? Know your place.

What are you talking about? O_o

[Skroe]

I feel the more I know about the world, the more depressed and stressed out I get.

I would have been so much happier if I didn't know how much influence the US has worldwide, how much global stability depended on the US military ... and it's next president could be a crazy reality TV star.

/sigh

I really hope that the US's system of "checks and balances" really work.

Look, don't worry about it. Really.

Ignorance is bliss. True story: my grandmother was starting to freak out not long ago, because of the stupidiest thing. You get an iphone, you get iphone apps. You get CNN, NBC News, BBC apps. You become a consumer of the news because being an informed citizen is great, isn't it? Well not always. Not when BBC gives you a push notification every time a couple of ISIS thugs behead three italians or something.

Terrible? Absolutely. But I don't think it's healthy for my grandmother, or really most people to be constantly bombarded by that kind of things. Horror becomes commonplace, rather than exceptional. This isn't being an informed citizen at all. It's being informed by mostly unimportant, but horrifying things. 3 people getting beheaded is terrible, but it won't really change anything for the wider conflict, for their origin country, for the reader... really for anyone except the families of the victims.

If this stuff is depressing and stressing you out, then just walk away from it for a while. Really. You'll be fine. The world will be fine. The manueverings of global security is intriniscally stressful. If it's causing you to be unhappy, just walk away from it for a while.

But I will give you some piece of mind. First of all, forget Donald Trump. He will not be President. The electoral map is so hilarious stacked against any Republican, it would take a true political catastrophe for him or any Republican to win. And don't let his Legion of Losers fool you into thinking that somehow he is "special". The only thing special about him is that he is by far the most unpopular candidate in modern American history from a major party. They're going to lose, badly, and the country will then clean up it's mess, as it has before. Thoughtful, caring, intelligent people in this country vastly out number the Legion of Losers who voted for Trump. Trump won the nomination with 10.6 million votes. Hillary currently has 12.4 million votes and Sanders has 9.3 million votes. To become President, Trump will need about 63-64 million votes in the right states. That's so much harder than the primary, it's hard to understate the mountain he must climb, especially alienating all the groups he has.

Secondly, if he did manage to become President, I wouldn't worry either. US Policy takes YEARS to change course on. As we've seen with Obama, even 8 years saw sequels, rather than course changes, from Bush Administration policies. His comments about NATO, about our allies, about the world, are deeply offensive, deeply patronizing, and very embarassing. But they're also entirely hypothetical. He, like Obama, will have to staff a Department of Defense and a Department of State. And there just aren't nearly enough professionals in this country, or in the military, who subscribes to his crazy worldview.

Furthermore, so much of it is subject to congressional approval, and the bipartisan foreign policy consensus is very strong in Congress. How strong? Well the House's 2017 National Defense Authorization Act passed the House Armed Sevices Commitee last week by a vote of 50-2. It will likely pass the House by a vote of 390+ in the affirmative. This despite Obama hating it (it authorizes the largest defense expendiature since the Reagan era). But it's broadly, bipartisanly popular. And this isn't even the approproriation bill. This is the POLICY bill.

President Trump, like President Obama, would likely find few allies in Congress. And even if Trump were to win, except him to be primaried by another Republican in 2020.

America will not retreat form the world. Period. Ignore the headlines. Ignore the hype. Ignore the talking head idiots, mostly blowing air out of their ass. Look at all the bases the US is building and the KIND of bases. Look at what the US is doing with Russia and CHina on the policy front. Look at what the US is buying for it's armed forces: spoilers, you don't need to buy 100-200 B-21 Bombers to defend the coast. These are the signs of a country winding up for action, not retrenchment. There are too many interests FOR that kind of global policy in this country. Congress most of all. The US is a country where US Senators are recieved by foreign countries like Foreign Ministers are. Managing the modern international system is as American as apple pie, and we will never walk away from it, even if sometimes we're grouchy about it.

So much of the stuff we talk about here, that I post in particular, is SUPER Wonkish. They're from publications for foreign policy specialists or for people who understand this stuff in all its complexity because the day-to-day high resolution complexity is interesting to them. If it's too much, then don't sweat it. Sausage tastes great, but as the saying goes, you really don't want to know how its made.

The world is not coming to an end. Drama WILL happen, but it will pass. The world lived through Nazi-ism. The world lived through Commnism. The world lived through the break up of the Soviet Union. It'll survive the next descent of Russia, the aging of the world, the Rise and Fall of China, and so forth. In the end, the one thing you can count on, is that, islamists aside, everyone wants to live.

[SodiumChloride]

@Skroe Close my eyes and hope for the best I suppose. Not like there's much I can do about any of it.

[Skroe]

@Skroe Close my eyes and hope for the best I suppose. Not like there's much I can do about any of it.

I look at it like this: we need to embrace the opportunity.

The only way to deal with a bully sometimes is to punch them very hard, squarely in the jaw, so they don't soon forget that.

In the United States, let there be no mistake, Trump, and is Legion of Losers, are going to get clocked in the jaw in such a way they won't soon forget it. When a figure like Mitt Romney, a very smart man who ran kind of a shit campaign, loses 332-206 electoral votes, with the republican party united behind him, the result was Republicans turning around, blaming the campaign and the candidate, but generally excusing thesmelves with what went on. Romney losing in 2012 didn't break the party. It was a loss like any other. McCain or Bob Dole or Ford or George H.W. Bush probably couldnt have done any better.

However when Trump loses in the fall, it's going to be open season on everyone who enthusastically supported him. They will be blamed. Political figures careers will be destroyed. The nativists and racists, some of which you see here, will be cast out into the wilderness where they belong. You see, Trump's "lower bound" for a loss is Romney's map. His upper bound is losing something like 40 states. But even if the map is identical to Romney - and it is expected Hillary will do better than Obama - he will still get blamed as if it were worse.

So don't mind us, as we sane Americans who make up the huge majority of this country, wind up to remind our crazed and moronic loser brethren, that their nasty beliefs are to be confined to fringe corners of the internet, and that's it. After we clock 'em, we won't have to worry about them for a good long while. They will be radioactive.


As for Putin, same thing. Let's keep something in mind about that guy. He presides over a country that in the last 5 years has lost one major ally (one of the few it had), had to intervene to save another (that lost 72% of it's territory), has permanetly alienated Europe, oversaw the expansion of his enemy NATO, and saw record flight from Russia and the Russian economy decline to the point that average families are spending 40% of their income on food.

Vladmir Putin is an epic geopolitical loser who stages stunts - like that absurd Palmyra concert - because as Angela Merkel put it "that's all he has". And it's true. The US and NATO has seen a deepening and renewal of it's relationship over the past 3 years. Europe is finally emerging from the effects of the Great Recession. The US has enjoyed over 80 months of economic growth. Vladmir Putin is a thug of a decaying country whose fundametals were in crisis mode a year and a half ago, and today are basically junk status.

What you've been reading about - with the US and NATO setting up temporary-in-name-only deployments to Eastern Europe, building missile defense, rotating advanced aircraft and heavy armor - that's the west, punching Vladmir Putin in the jaw. He will play his games. He will sending aircraft in and out of European Air Space. He will threaten Denmark with nuclear annhilation. He will hype wonderweapons. But just remember... "that's all he has." Compared to us? He and his useful idiots have less than nothing.

How about ISIS and Muslim Refugees. This should put things in perspective. ISIS has about 20,000 troops under its command. It is going bankrupt. It is isolated to a few roads and highways in the desert. The terrorist attacks Europe has experienced? Homegrown... in the name of ISIS sure, but not truly ISIS. ISIS is slowly being killed off. Today, in 2016, it is not the group that had a "Caliph" preach to his worshipers two years ago. And muslim refugees? It may sound like an invading horde, but we're talking a few million people total, into the EU that has 508 million. It will not fundamentally alter the character of Europe. The "pressure" you may be feeling is that Europe has, until recently, been deeply divided in WHAT to do about it. That's natural actually. It is a political decision. Mature democracies should be expected to be able to make tough political decisions and not just easy ones.

Europe will survive muslim immigration. It will survive ISIS. It will survive Putin. It will survive Trump. It will survive Brexit (which will probably fail). It will survive the National Front tanking power in France (unlikely as that is). It will survive Russian funded far left and far right mechanations. It will survive it all.

That's not hope. Hope is for the naive. It is a clear minded confidence in that every problem has a solution and all the above has a clear solution and a clear outcome. Europe, the US, the world, just needs to be strong enough to execute that solution.

In a way, we're a victim of our own success. The type of bold, take history by the balls leadership, that has previous gotten our national bodies through crises has become obsolete, even undesirable, in the modern age, compared to the more professional, even technocratic type of modest leader. Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders approach in the US is largely the way things were, to one degree or another, in prior eras. The wider west moved past them. Call it a legacy of World War II and the Cold War. So we lack the Reagan-esque figure telling us to keep our heads up.

But Reagan-rhetoric didn't win the Cold War anymore than Churchillian rhetoric did World War II. Careful planning, professionalism, good governance, good decision making, and a lot of luck did. Today is nothing like those eras, but it will be no different.