2 ms·

I'll have to partly disagree. I don't want to imply that the whole SJW issue was a driving factor, because I don't think it was. The American dems lost the narr

I'll have to partly disagree. I don't want to imply that the whole SJW issue was a driving factor, because I don't think it was. The American dems lost the narrative on many practical subjects that too many fence margin voters really cared about, and while the conservatives, MAGA types and republicans overblew aspects of the SJW side of Dem discourse, it was and is a real thing, frequently given obiesance to and in ways that often subtly or not so subtly implied that anyone who didn't immediately do likewise must be some kind of racist, sexist troglodyte. I'm sorry, but enough of exactly this was visible on the cultural side of support for democrat social politics that it can't just be ignored. It had its impact. Too many sacred cows were encased in too many groupthink bubbles of rigid "permissible" discourse and this was heavily associated specifically with the kind of social circles that democrat politicians are most popular with and pander to very often. For many voters on the margins, this caused a reactionary dislike that led to lost votes. Take for example the illegial immigration issue. This was something that many voters of all stripes (including many Afican American and even latino American voters) took very seriously for reasons they thought very valid to their contexts. Often, however, stating that you worried about it would be smeared as a part of being a racist in general, and that must have felt bloody insulting, even ridiculous to a hefty number of people who simply viewed it as a baseless character attack.

defrost 1y ago
FWiW I'm in Australia with a similar enough (I'm aware of the yawning chasm of differences) population with pride parades, trans people, social justice calls, etc. We've been through the political immigration hysteria, "Stop the boats" and "Babies overboard" tipped elections and spawned offshore processing policies that were the envy of Trump v1.0. That said, hyping fear of trans people following the lead of US podcast warriors pretty much fell flat on it's face here, burned out in disaster, much to the chagrin of aussie neo christians (small c) who tried to fly it up the pole. At the end of the day the actual demographic volume of those under the tails of the bimodal sex and gender distributions are too small to give Aussies pause but apparently so great they terrify the US conservative into embracing .. umm, whatever this current failing of US democracy will go by in hindsight. ( Franklin, in foresight, referred to it thus: I believe farther that this is likely to be well administred for a Course of Years and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other. )
- ethbr1 1y ago
  See also Franklin 'those who would trade a freedom for a very little bit of safety, deserve neither freedom nor safety.' (Granted, he was talking about a Pennsylvanian state finance matter in the quote origination, but it's still a good quip)

defrost 1y ago

FWiW I'm in Australia with a similar enough (I'm aware of the yawning chasm of differences) population with pride parades, trans people, social justice calls, etc. We've been through the political immigration hysteria, "Stop the boats" and "Babies overboard" tipped elections and spawned offshore processing policies that were the envy of Trump v1.0. That said, hyping fear of trans people following the lead of US podcast warriors pretty much fell flat on it's face here, burned out in disaster, much to the chagrin of aussie neo christians (small c) who tried to fly it up the pole. At the end of the day the actual demographic volume of those under the tails of the bimodal sex and gender distributions are too small to give Aussies pause but apparently so great they terrify the US conservative into embracing .. umm, whatever this current failing of US democracy will go by in hindsight. ( Franklin, in foresight, referred to it thus: I believe farther that this is likely to be well administred for a Course of Years and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other. )

ethbr1 1y ago
See also Franklin 'those who would trade a freedom for a very little bit of safety, deserve neither freedom nor safety.' (Granted, he was talking about a Pennsylvanian state finance matter in the quote origination, but it's still a good quip)