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Alolan_Apples said:
Fun fact: Since the bigotry cards have been overused in political debates, the most offensive terms to use in politics are the a-word and the b-word (which are considered profanity in most uses).
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"If you are going to tell people the truth, you have to make them laugh, or they'll kill you." - Oscar Wilde
 
Thinking about why the George Floyd protests were more aggressive than previous protests and how the COVID pandemic was the first time we shut down the economy came to trace back at the roots. My theory is - ever since Donald Trump got elected, things in America have gotten weird. While we expect to see America as normal under each president, it hasn’t been normal under Trump. Points that prove this theory:

- The 2016 election protests. Nuff said.
- Talks about abolishing the Electoral College have gotten more popular. People have always talked about this, but they didn’t start taking action until Trump got elected.
- The Charlottesville Attack. Had Obama got a third term, or had someone other than Trump got elected, some people would get angry about the decision to remove the Robert E Lee statue, but they wouldn’t go out and protest. But Trump’s presidency made white supremacists feel that they’ll have their pride back, so not only they protest the removal, but they also did a drive-in attack against counter-protesters. I don’t remember a single incident like that happening under Bush or Obama.
- Speaking of the Charlottesville Attack, there was also an increase in demand to remove statues of other historical figures they deem offensive, including our founding fathers. Under Obama, all that people hated were George W Bush and any president that did a horrible job on the nation. But under Trump, they don’t even respect the founding fathers, as they look into the bad side of them.
- The increase in national anthem protests.
- The #metoo movement. This was bound to happen anyway, so I don’t know if this has anything to do with Trump.
- In 2018, the voter turnout at the midterm elections was unusually high compared to previous midterm elections. People aren’t interested into midterm elections as much as presidential elections, but that time, they were. Many experts agree that Trump’s presidency was why the voter turnout was higher.
- Support for socialism is much higher than ever before. Even back in 2016, it wasn’t as popular, but Trump’s election sure has changed Democrats.
- When Kavanaugh was nominated, Democrats behaved poorly in the confirmation hearings, even at the point where they accused him of sexual assault at the last minute. They even delayed the confirmation vote.
- Speaking of Kavanaugh, ever since his confirmation, there was an influx of radical abortion laws in 2019, from both left and right. One state even legalized post-birth abortions.
- When the Hong Kong protests happened, people criticized anyone that supported the Hong Kong protesters or opposed the communist regime of China’s.
- When the COVID-19 pandemic happened, people have overreacted to the pandemic. Under other disease pandemics, we never had to shut down the economy, but this time, we did. Unemployment rates went as high as they were in the Great Depression, and it was over a virus.
- Last, and definitely not the least, the George Floyd protests. While it wasn’t without vandalism and assaults like the Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown protests (and several other protests like that), it was more aggressive than any protest in world history (even more than the Rodney King protests). And it was a worldwide demonstration, not just the United States. Add to that, it was also when the cancel culture got more aggressive. During the Ferguson incident, nobody even talked about removing Confederate Flags. Now they’re trying to get rid of everything that had a history of racism. The Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben’s brands are gone, Disney is updating Splash Mountain to get rid of the Song of the South theme, Planned Parenthood will no longer honor their founder, and even the Washington Redskins are changing their mascot and team name. And let’s not forget that the NFL and other sports agencies are repealing rules against national anthem protests.

Do you think all of this has something to do with Trump, or were these just coincidences?
 
Alolan_Apples said:
Do you think all of this has something to do with Trump, or were these just coincidences?
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You write a number of things that I think can be tied to some fundamental principles and changes we've seen gradually over the prior few decades. There are a number of things; I'll try to break down a few of the most salient ones.

I'm almost 36, and President Trump is definitely the most divisive president I can remember in my lifetime. Sure, Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama had some very aggressive critics, but it's nothing like with President Trump. I think it's in part because he isn't as tactful or kind in his language. The other presidents were much better at smoothing things over.

But that certainly isn't the only reason. I do think, thanks to social media and its never-ending echo chambers, that people are generally much more divided now anyway. We aren't getting our news from the same basic places that we got them back when most everyone watched the same basic cable news television programs and read the same basic national newspapers and magazines 10, 20, 30 years ago. There are now 284,820 versions of everything, and people's brains have been altered by the impersonal nature of social media, so there's far less obligation to try and show understanding for another viewpoint, or respect it, than before.

I'd also add that, because of this, people are less inclined to "live and let live" or "co-exist" than in recent prior decades. Both extremes of the conservative and liberal political movements have gotten more aggressive in separating others whom they don't perceive as having absolute truth or party loyalty. You don't hear near as much anymore, "You're entitled to your opinion." Instead, it's "You're wrong, you're a fool, you must be proven wrong, separated, and silenced."
 
ting1984 said:
I'd also add that, because of this, people are less inclined to "live and let live" or "co-exist" than in recent prior decades. Both extremes of the conservative and liberal political movements have gotten more aggressive in separating others whom they don't perceive as having absolute truth or party loyalty. You don't hear near as much anymore, "You're entitled to your opinion." Instead, it's "You're wrong, you're a fool, you must be proven wrong, separated, and silenced."
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This, and so much ally-hate whether it's from BLM or LGBTQ+ communities, and you must be their hivemind ally or you're as phobic.

Also the fact that Trump basically hired Putin's PR advisor that used to be like some theater dude doesn't make **** better lol
 
ting1984 said:
You write a number of things that I think can be tied to some fundamental principles and changes we've seen gradually over the prior few decades. There are a number of things; I'll try to break down a few of the most salient ones.

I'm almost 36, and President Trump is definitely the most divisive president I can remember in my lifetime. Sure, Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama had some very aggressive critics, but it's nothing like with President Trump. I think it's in part because he isn't as tactful or kind in his language. The other presidents were much better at smoothing things over.

But that certainly isn't the only reason. I do think, thanks to social media and its never-ending echo chambers, that people are generally much more divided now anyway. We aren't getting our news from the same basic places that we got them back when most everyone watched the same basic cable news television programs and read the same basic national newspapers and magazines 10, 20, 30 years ago. There are now 284,820 versions of everything, and people's brains have been altered by the impersonal nature of social media, so there's far less obligation to try and show understanding for another viewpoint, or respect it, than before.

I'd also add that, because of this, people are less inclined to "live and let live" or "co-exist" than in recent prior decades. Both extremes of the conservative and liberal political movements have gotten more aggressive in separating others whom they don't perceive as having absolute truth or party loyalty. You don't hear near as much anymore, "You're entitled to your opinion." Instead, it's "You're wrong, you're a fool, you must be proven wrong, separated, and silenced."
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That’s pretty interesting. First paragraph, yes, I remember reading from conservative critics saying that Obama was the worst president, while liberals still say that George Bush was horrible. But Trump, based on his kind of behavior and personality, is the kind of person that everybody hates. The whole reason why we got him in office is because Obama was pretty radical, and was willing to pop the bubble of compromise we were stuck in. We would be better with Rubio, but Republicans want Trump or Cruz more, which is why we got Trump instead. For the next two paragraphs, if this trend continues, there will be another civil war, and it’s going to be much nastier than the war on slavery (1861-1865). I’m not making any threats here (I won’t even fight in the war if it happens). This is what we’re about to head into if this continues.

There were some other weird things that happened since Trump became president, but those have nothing to do with his presidency. They would happen under any president. Examples include:

- Hurricane Harvey. It was more aggressive than any other hurricane, giving Houston a 1-in-1000 year historic flood.
- The California wildfires were even deadlier and more destructive.
- The box office for Labor Day weekend was at its 25-year-low in 2017. I blame the Emoji Movie on this, but there were also several other bad movies that year. Even Star Wars wasn’t doing well.
- An animated film won Worst Picture in the Razzies. This was the first time an animated film won that category. It was even the first time it landed in that category. And yet, no animated film has won Best Picture in the Oscars.
- I already mentioned the #metoo movement, but that was one of the weird things.
- In 2018, Star Wars had their very first box office bomb.
- In 2019, we had our very first main series Pokémon game where not all species were available in the game.
- Also in 2019, Marvel released a movie that landed in the top ten highest grossing films adjusted for inflation.
- We had our very first World Series where the visitor team won all seven games.
- In addition to the COVID pandemic and George Floyd protests, the Asian giant hornets made their way into the United States. 2020 is rough.

Every year, we always see some things we never seen before, but these examples I listed shown how much times have changed.
 
So I decided to read comments on a Breitbart News article on Disney changing out Splash Mountain into a Princess and the Frog themed ride to rid all traces of Song of the South. For me, I can understand that they really hate Song of the South that much. While I have decided not to ride Splash Mountain again, the commenters on Breitbart are taking it a step further. They are basically saying that they will never go to a Disney park again, or even not buying anything from Disney. I’m not going to paraphrase these commenters, but here’s a summary of what they’re trying to say:

1. They are not willing to show Disney any support for this action and any other action.
2. The Princess and the Frog is also politically incorrect and contains stuff that contradicts what Disney stands for.

After reading these comments, I may actually ride this ride after updating it. But I would only ride it once because of another reason: I do not like getting soaked. It’s understandable to not want to ride it if you want to stay dry, but I was wrong deciding not to ride it for political reasons. Still wouldn’t ride it more than once per visit.
 
Alolan_Apples said:
So I decided to read comments on a Breitbart News article on Disney changing out Splash Mountain into a Princess and the Frog themed ride to rid all traces of Song of the South. For me, I can understand that they really hate Song of the South that much. While I have decided not to ride Splash Mountain again, the commenters on Breitbart are taking it a step further. They are basically saying that they will never go to a Disney park again, or even not buying anything from Disney. I’m not going to paraphrase these commenters, but here’s a summary of what they’re trying to say:

1. They are not willing to show Disney any support for this action and any other action.
2. The Princess and the Frog is also politically incorrect and contains stuff that contradicts what Disney stands for.

After reading these comments, I may actually ride this ride after updating it. But I would only ride it once because of another reason: I do not like getting soaked. It’s understandable to not want to ride it if you want to stay dry, but I was wrong deciding not to ride it for political reasons. Still wouldn’t ride it more than once per visit.
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I mean politics aside, I think switching it to be themed around Princess and the Frog is a good idea because it's more relevant with kids these days. I'm in my mid-20s - so not a kid by any means - and I've literally never heard of Song of the South until you mentioned it here. Princess and the Frog is much more recent, and the villain just had a daughter introduced into the Descendants franchise so kids are more likely to recognize those scenes and characters. They almost certainly are doing it for political reasons, but I don't think the idea of breathing new life into attractions based around old, long-forgotten franchises is necessarily a bad thing. The joy in Disney is either going as a kid or going with a kid you care about, and it sort of loses its luster when they walk out of an attraction confused because they have no idea what was going on. It's a rite of passage in adulthood that Disney may want your money, but your kid is their target audience now.

I wouldn't necessarily want to ride it either for the same reason of not wanting to get soaked, I just wanted to agree with you that it's perfectly possible to reconcile your political beliefs - no matter what they are - with Disney's decision here.
 
Miss Misty said:
I mean politics aside, I think switching it to be themed around Princess and the Frog is a good idea because it's more relevant with kids these days. I'm in my mid-20s - so not a kid by any means - and I've literally never heard of Song of the South until you mentioned it here. Princess and the Frog is much more recent, and the villain just had a daughter introduced into the Descendants franchise so kids are more likely to recognize those scenes and characters. They almost certainly are doing it for political reasons, but I don't think the idea of breathing new life into attractions based around old, long-forgotten franchises is necessarily a bad thing. The joy in Disney is either going as a kid or going with a kid you care about, and it sort of loses its luster when they walk out of an attraction confused because they have no idea what was going on. It's a rite of passage in adulthood that Disney may want your money, but your kid is their target audience now.

I wouldn't necessarily want to ride it either for the same reason of not wanting to get soaked, I just wanted to agree with you that it's perfectly possible to reconcile your political beliefs - no matter what they are - with Disney's decision here.
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As much as I’m against political correctness and this current cancel culture thing, this wasn’t the first time I was critical of Disney updating their rides like that. I didn’t like what they did to the Twilight Zone ride in California Adventure Park, and I was not a fan of the Incredibles taking over a generic roller coaster. But the biggest insult Disney made by changing out the rides, is when they changed Soarin’ over California to just Soarin’. I even objected to riding that ride last time I was at Disneyland. But Splash Mountain, regardless of what it’s based on, I wouldn’t want to ride it for how easy it is to get wet.

I read other articles of what this will do to Disneyland in the future. Critter Country, once called Bear Country, will probably be annexed to the smaller New Orleans Square. With much of it taken out and with Splash Mountain being changed to a movie based in New Orleans, the Winnie the Pooh ride is the only ride left to indicate that this is Critter Country. Maybe they should change it out to another ride based on Princess and the Frog or some other Disney movie with some 1800’s vibe to make it consistent.
 
Miss Misty said:
I mean politics aside, I think switching it to be themed around Princess and the Frog is a good idea because it's more relevant with kids these days. I'm in my mid-20s - so not a kid by any means - and I've literally never heard of Song of the South until you mentioned it here...
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Too close to thirty for comfort and wasn't aware of it either! I know people in their 40s and 50s who also had never heard of this film until recently.
 
The only time my family went to Disney world I was a toddler so I can’t really remember anything about the rides. I just know that I actually really liked The Princess and the Frog and don’t mind renovations so it’s all cool to me.
 
I volunteer favorite animal and why

My favorite animal is the leopard seal. It’s a very misunderstood animal; I love how powerful and sleek it is. However, the only thing people remember about it is that it eats penguins. It makes me really sad.
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OtakuTrash said:
So... how is everyone's island going?
I'm good, but my island needs some work..
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Arctin is really good right now, but I’ve pretty much done everything I can do decorating wise on my territory.

I’m waiting on my lite to come in before I can even start on my second.
 
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