2 ms·

It looks like Lion Electric has factories in Canada and the USA. Maybe they see continued investment as a sunk cost fallacy sort of situation, with the current

It looks like Lion Electric has factories in Canada and the USA. Maybe they see continued investment as a sunk cost fallacy sort of situation, with the current tariff volatility and the debts of the company but it's a short article. I think that attitude only covers a portion of Trump voters and might not be applicable to the Quebec decision but don't have any concrete data, Asimov's 1980 opinion piece on the USA may be more relevant to Trump voters and reflects most of the executive orders and appointments in 2025 so far: There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”

tyre 1y ago
Jia Toletino’s “The History of a Generation in Seven Scams” makes this point about the US. We have a long history, almost a pride, in con artists. It’s not repulsive. It’s almost culturally alluring the be scammed.
- stevenwoo 1y ago
  I am much older but feel that essay in my bones, covering some of the ground of David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs. Not only that but it is uncanny how the scammers from the contemporary fiction going way back would fit right in today's America, varying from The Jungle, Elmer Gantry, to Huckleberry Finn off the top of my head.
parineum 1y ago
That phrase is a lot like one of those phrases that isn't technically racist but a lot of racists say it. That phrase is often used by the upper class to justify their habit of telling the lower classes what's good for them and, frankly, is exactly what's led to them being willing to cut off their nose to spite their face.
- watwut 1y ago
  Right now, cult of ignorance perfectly describes Trump and his supporters. It is just true.
  - parineum 1y ago
    I think his appeal has a lot to do with how much those elites despise him. I think the desire for someone Trump-like predates Trump by quite a lot. I see Obama as the embodiment of that smugness and Trump as a reaction. As an example, "You didn't build that", while I get his point, it was poorly made and disregarded a lot of very hard work by the people he was talking down to. That's why his supporters don't seem to care about his policies,flaws or ideology. They like him because those people hate him. That may look like cultish behavior because they change opinions based on his whims but I bet if he started acting like and was accepted by those "elites", his support would dwindle. I think a lot of people look at the situation and don't understand it then just decide that his supporters must be stupid.
    - stevenwoo 1y ago
      I think it can be multiple things, there are some Trump supporters who are very religious, some are just racists, some that are disenchanted with the way things are and want anyone to burn it down, some are as you described, and some that are so deep in the cult of personality that when confronted with evidence that contradicts their beliefs, they double down - there are multiple videos of this last one, like blaming Biden or Obama for some policy when Trump did it.

tyre 1y ago

Jia Toletino’s “The History of a Generation in Seven Scams” makes this point about the US. We have a long history, almost a pride, in con artists. It’s not repulsive. It’s almost culturally alluring the be scammed.

stevenwoo 1y ago
I am much older but feel that essay in my bones, covering some of the ground of David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs. Not only that but it is uncanny how the scammers from the contemporary fiction going way back would fit right in today's America, varying from The Jungle, Elmer Gantry, to Huckleberry Finn off the top of my head.

parineum 1y ago

That phrase is a lot like one of those phrases that isn't technically racist but a lot of racists say it. That phrase is often used by the upper class to justify their habit of telling the lower classes what's good for them and, frankly, is exactly what's led to them being willing to cut off their nose to spite their face.

watwut 1y ago
Right now, cult of ignorance perfectly describes Trump and his supporters. It is just true.
- parineum 1y ago
  I think his appeal has a lot to do with how much those elites despise him. I think the desire for someone Trump-like predates Trump by quite a lot. I see Obama as the embodiment of that smugness and Trump as a reaction. As an example, "You didn't build that", while I get his point, it was poorly made and disregarded a lot of very hard work by the people he was talking down to. That's why his supporters don't seem to care about his policies,flaws or ideology. They like him because those people hate him. That may look like cultish behavior because they change opinions based on his whims but I bet if he started acting like and was accepted by those "elites", his support would dwindle. I think a lot of people look at the situation and don't understand it then just decide that his supporters must be stupid.
  - stevenwoo 1y ago
    I think it can be multiple things, there are some Trump supporters who are very religious, some are just racists, some that are disenchanted with the way things are and want anyone to burn it down, some are as you described, and some that are so deep in the cult of personality that when confronted with evidence that contradicts their beliefs, they double down - there are multiple videos of this last one, like blaming Biden or Obama for some policy when Trump did it.