5 ms·

i grew up in central florida in the 80s and we had solar-thermal water heating. we were not wealthy (dad was a construction worker and mom was an odd-job secret

i grew up in central florida in the 80s and we had solar-thermal water heating. we were not wealthy (dad was a construction worker and mom was an odd-job secretary) but my friends were all mystified by the things. i remember climbing up on our roof giving tours. something really did a number on society and it politicized so many things that needn’t be politicized

Loughla 3y ago
So my grandfather turns 101 this year. He's kind of an ass in his old age, and wildly out of touch with the world. Like shockingly out of touch. But he talks about politics from back in the day. Everything has always been super politicized. Everything. But our memories are short as a country.
- hattmall 3y ago
  But what does he talk about though? There have always been super political things, certainly, but the scope of what was political vs common sense has had a huge shift.
  - Loughla 3y ago
    Not really. Look at the New Deal. That makes a ton of sense, but was incredibly political. Also the war on poverty. Complete sense. Super political. I guess maybe I don't know what you're talking about with common sense becoming politics. Do you have an example?
- mlyle 3y ago
  Things have always been politicized heavily... But that doesn't mean that things aren't significantly worse than the recent past. We actually had a political landscape from the 30's to the early 90's that was much less polarized than the rest of our history. We're returning back to where we were in the 1800's.
- BoiledCabbage 3y ago
  There are polls, in the US at least, asking the same exact questions gong back I believe half a century or more. It is very clear from these polls that this is the most poltically polarized time in politics in decades. It's not just recency bias - things are really screwed up. Why (my opinion) one side started caring more about winning than any of their own positions. That then devolved into only caring if the other side loses regardless of what the policy is. If a party's main focus is the other side loses rather than to successfully govern - you end up here. And the fact they more or less admit it, and people jump to justify it shows how far things have fallen.

Loughla 3y ago

So my grandfather turns 101 this year. He's kind of an ass in his old age, and wildly out of touch with the world. Like shockingly out of touch. But he talks about politics from back in the day. Everything has always been super politicized. Everything. But our memories are short as a country.

hattmall 3y ago
But what does he talk about though? There have always been super political things, certainly, but the scope of what was political vs common sense has had a huge shift.
- Loughla 3y ago
  Not really. Look at the New Deal. That makes a ton of sense, but was incredibly political. Also the war on poverty. Complete sense. Super political. I guess maybe I don't know what you're talking about with common sense becoming politics. Do you have an example?
mlyle 3y ago
Things have always been politicized heavily... But that doesn't mean that things aren't significantly worse than the recent past. We actually had a political landscape from the 30's to the early 90's that was much less polarized than the rest of our history. We're returning back to where we were in the 1800's.
BoiledCabbage 3y ago
There are polls, in the US at least, asking the same exact questions gong back I believe half a century or more. It is very clear from these polls that this is the most poltically polarized time in politics in decades. It's not just recency bias - things are really screwed up. Why (my opinion) one side started caring more about winning than any of their own positions. That then devolved into only caring if the other side loses regardless of what the policy is. If a party's main focus is the other side loses rather than to successfully govern - you end up here. And the fact they more or less admit it, and people jump to justify it shows how far things have fallen.