What's Bothering You?

[Envy]

The state of democracy, freedom, safety, health and standard of living are in grave danger in my country now.

And it really doesn't help that they elected him - the predator and convicted felon (among so many other things) - to inflict this upon us. How in the world am I supposed to keep faith in humanity? How are so many people this depraved? How can I trust myself to be alone in a room with anyone?

Seriously, my life has improved leaps and bounds over the past several years. I had just got my life back in order and began to look forward to my future for the first time in a very long time... and now my own country is about to become dangerous and I'm super scared. Sent back into the spiral. I will resist and keep a space for my happiness.

 

[ali.di.magix]

My team had a somewhat major incident last night. Even though no one was hurt and there’s nothing I can control, I can’t help but feel real **** about it. I feel for the guys involved, especially the operator because he’s a real good guy. I sometimes hate that I have so much empathy for people

 

[seliph]

Because she’s a woman. I really think it’s that simple. Even many “leftist” men will vote for a man convicted of fraud and assault before they will vote for a woman. With male candidates it’s “well, he’s the lesser of two evils.” With female candidates it’s “she has to achieve total ideological purity or I will be morally reprehensible by association if I vote for her.”

I’m so incredibly discouraged. For the first time in my life I thought a female president was a real possibility, but these results have me shaken. I honestly think we might not even see a female president in the next 50 years. Male Gen Z voters turned out in droves for The One We Got and are polling more and more as saying that feminism is ruining America, that men are oppressed, etc. Meanwhile my female friends have become convinced that speaking about women’s rights or experiences is divisive, exclusionary, or “cringe.” Idk man I haven’t felt this hopeless in a while.

Kamala didn't lose because she's a woman, she lost because she fumbled a bag handed to her on a silver platter.

Soon after announcing her campaign she immediately expressed wanting to strengthen the military even more, having Trump-like stances on the border and immigrants, and their biggest detriment - doubling down on her support of Israel. She had it all when Biden dropped out, which people were practically begging for, but like always the Democrats never learn and chose to try to appeal to the right & center republican vote instead of securing the left vote. It's the 2016 election all over again; people didn't dislike Hillary due to being a woman, they disliked her because she's incompetent.

In Pennsylvania, 34% of respondents said they would be more likely to vote for the Democratic nominee if the nominee vowed to withhold weapons to Israel, compared to 7% who said they would be less likely. The rest said it would make no difference. In Arizona, 35% said they’d be more likely, while 5% would be less likely. And in Georgia, 39% said they’d be more likely, also compared to 5% who would be less likely.

Edit because I hit enter sooner than I meant to; We can't rely on politicians to change our lives, we need to rely on each other. Look toward your community and organizers who are providing resources to make a difference. Instead of pointing fingers at each other, which is exactly what those in power want, start pointing upward at the system that enables this to happen in the first place.

 

[DaCoSim]

Ughhhh. I still have this junky cough. I had tonsillitis a few weeks ago, and on my last day of antibiotics, the cough started. It settled in my chest, pretty much, so it’s getting rather annoying. I go back to my dr for a follow-up since I’ve now the cough for almost 2 weeks.

 

[Reginald Fairfield]

I would be nice if large youtube people on a downward mental spiral kept their shirts on.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

I am still fuming about the election results and I can't believe how stupid so many Ohioans can be apparently, I don't mean to sound rude but **** if I'm not terrified right now.

 

[Chronos314_XD]

This morning I caught a random girl I didn't know taking photos of me on the school bus cause she accidentally left her phone's camera flash on, I never said anything but I glanced at her for a second and she stopped when she realized I saw what she was doing. Good thing I had my face mask and hat on, but yeah. I'm still a little bothered about it but I don't know what to really do.

 

[skarmoury]

no electricity. the winds and rain are really scary. me and my irls trying to laugh away the immense fear rn lmao

 

[Sheando]

Kamala didn't lose because she's a woman, she lost because she fumbled a bag handed to her on a silver platter.

Soon after announcing her campaign she immediately expressed wanting to strengthen the military even more, having Trump-like stances on the border and immigrants, and their biggest detriment - doubling down on her support of Israel. She had it all when Biden dropped out, which people were practically begging for, but like always the Democrats never learn and chose to try to appeal to the right & center republican vote instead of securing the left vote. It's the 2016 election all over again; people didn't dislike Hillary due to being a woman, they disliked her because she's incompetent.



Edit because I hit enter sooner than I meant to; We can't rely on politicians to change our lives, we need to rely on each other. Look toward your community and organizers who are providing resources to make a difference. Instead of pointing fingers at each other, which is exactly what those in power want, start pointing upward at the system that enables this to happen in the first place.

I agree with you that there was more than one factor—Harris trying to win over conservative voters was probably a lost cause and I’m sure it contributed to the millions of liberal voters who simply didn’t show up. But pretending like racism and misogyny aren’t influential factors in our political system seems pretty disingenuous to me. (Notice how you refer to them as Kamala, Hillary, and Biden? Not blaming you—but that’s how a lot of the coverage has sounded.)

My goal is not to point fingers at other people with relatively little power, but until we acknowledge that racism and sexism still have strong footholds in the U.S. (Gen Z voters, in exit polls, voted most similarly to the 65+ crowd and on average express far more hostile views toward women than voters aged 27-64) we will not be able to address those things. I do actually think that the white male power base in my country benefits from the insistence that sexism had nothing to do with two women losing to Trump while a white man solidly beat him in between. Meanwhile prominent politicians are going public to say that their wives would NEVER dare to vote in a way they don’t approve of, and that telling women their vote is their own is “repugnant.” I believe that “those in power” want us to turn a blind eye to continuing prejudice. I don’t think ignoring the contributing factor of oppression will stick it to the man somehow.

I respect your opinion and your presence here on TBT, and I’m only replying because you quoted me directly.

 

[oddbear]

<3

 

[nightglow]

When leaving a message with someone, and the note taker asks what is your phone number, and your phone number runs far far away from your head... Then you give them the wrong number twice.
If you call back to ask for them to check your number on the note, it will be the same person who answers.
I hate it when this happens. Maybe I'll call tomorrow to check on my phone number on the note and maaaybe a different person answers when I call to do that.
I didn't think to write my number on a piece of paper before calling as a safety net lol... I usually do because this sort of thing happens often. Even at the register at the store, I'll have my number in my mind knowing they will ask, and I'm ready, and then as soon as they ask, gone.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

why do long distance relationships have to be so hard

 

[Giddy]

I was all excited for the 20th to roll around for my work experience - work experience I found myself and not UC.
And now UC have decided to mess my weeks up and now I'm having to do this training for a possible theatre job, im doing training from 12th nov to 19th nov, and then 21st nov is my interivew where ever that bloody is
Again dont even know what the training is, like i am so confused, i thought i was going there for an interview but instead i got a whole mess.
THIS TRAINING IS 9:30AM to 3PM so i am going to ALWAYS BE LATE because i finish work at 9am.
I told them this.
As someone who hates being late to things, this is torture. I dunno, there was just so much going on in that room, asking this and that that I was just so lost.

I dont get why i need to do training for something i may not get? I dont even know what training it will be. Because its says front of house.
my mum is absolte final on me not working over christmas, which is what the theatre thing is (its also just like three hours a day I think?)
This also messes up my evening class thatis on a tuesday, i need to message my teacher to seeif i'll be allowed in the college way before the class starts but i have no idea if thats possible.

If they gave me more info on the whole thing maybe I wouldn't hve gone for it. Im suppose to get a call whenever.
I am gonna be so drained, tired, pissed off more.

 

[seliph]

I agree with you that there was more than one factor—Harris trying to win over conservative voters was probably a lost cause and I’m sure it contributed to the millions of liberal voters who simply didn’t show up. But pretending like racism and misogyny aren’t influential factors in our political system seems pretty disingenuous to me. (Notice how you refer to them as Kamala, Hillary, and Biden? Not blaming you—but that’s how a lot of the coverage has sounded.)

My goal is not to point fingers at other people with relatively little power, but until we acknowledge that racism and sexism still have strong footholds in the U.S. (Gen Z voters, in exit polls, voted most similarly to the 65+ crowd and on average express far more hostile views toward women than voters aged 27-64) we will not be able to address those things. I do actually think that the white male power base in my country benefits from the insistence that sexism had nothing to do with two women losing to Trump while a white man solidly beat him in between. Meanwhile prominent politicians are going public to say that their wives would NEVER dare to vote in a way they don’t approve of, and that telling women their vote is their own is “repugnant.” I believe that “those in power” want us to turn a blind eye to continuing prejudice. I don’t think ignoring the contributing factor of oppression will stick it to the man somehow.

I respect your opinion and your presence here on TBT, and I’m only replying because you quoted me directly.

i agree with you on bigotry having a strong hold on young men, especially with rightwing ideals being pushed by social media (elon's twitter being a huge example of this). racism, misogyny, and other types of bigotry are always going to influence politics. but people who voted trump definitely weren't thinking of voting democrat before going "wait that's a woman! i'm gonna hard pivot to the right".
are many voters poisoned by misogyny? absolutely. but saying kamala lost because she's a woman is disingenuous because these people wouldn't have voted blue regardless of who was running. she pretty much ran on "i'm not gonna be much different than biden, but at least i'm not donald trump!" which is just not enough especially after blue voters made it clear they didn't want another joe, they wanted someone to do things differently.

biden had a lot of things going better when he was running too - he had the overall reputation of being obama's VP, where hillary's reputation is covered in scandal and kamala's just sleepy joe's supercop VP who did nothing while the country crumbled under him - which included roe v wade being overturned and tens of anti-trans/anti-lgbt bills popping up around the country. dems were also mailing out ballots in 2020 which influenced more votes, meanwhile we're seeing a lot of voter suppression this time such as absentee voters being straight up denied. there's corruption happening here plain as day. yes misogyny contributes to election results, it always does to some extent with abortion always being a major issue. but there's way more to it than that and imo pinning her loss down to "because she's a woman" ignores all the other factors and ignores her major flaws, whether intentional or not

also don't know what you mean by the name thing hence i didn't respond to it

 

[VernalLapin]

Just woke up from a constant stream of nightmares so that was fun/s

 

[Sheando]

i agree with you on bigotry having a strong hold on young men, especially with rightwing ideals being pushed by social media (elon's twitter being a huge example of this). racism, misogyny, and other types of bigotry are always going to influence politics. but people who voted trump definitely weren't thinking of voting democrat before going "wait that's a woman! i'm gonna hard pivot to the right".
are many voters poisoned by misogyny? absolutely. but saying kamala lost because she's a woman is disingenuous because these people wouldn't have voted blue regardless of who was running. she pretty much ran on "i'm not gonna be much different than biden, but at least i'm not donald trump!" which is just not enough especially after blue voters made it clear they didn't want another joe, they wanted someone to do things differently.

biden had a lot of things going better when he was running too - he had the overall reputation of being obama's VP, where hillary's reputation is covered in scandal and kamala's just sleepy joe's supercop VP who did nothing while the country crumbled under him - which included roe v wade being overturned and tens of anti-trans/anti-lgbt bills popping up around the country. dems were also mailing out ballots in 2020 which influenced more votes, meanwhile we're seeing a lot of voter suppression this time such as absentee voters being straight up denied. there's corruption happening here plain as day. yes misogyny contributes to election results, it always does to some extent with abortion always being a major issue. but there's way more to it than that and imo pinning her loss down to "because she's a woman" ignores all the other factors and ignores her major flaws, whether intentional or not

also don't know what you mean by the name thing hence i didn't respond to it

Thank you for the respectful reply - I know this election was really intense for a lot of reasons and I sincerely appreciate being able to go back and forth with someone about it without overt hostility.

And yes, I absolutely don't think that Trump's adherents were going to swing to Harris somehow. (Like I said, I agree with you that she should have taken more hardline progressive stances to win more votes instead of trying to reassure anxious conservative voters, since that train had already left the station by the time she knew she was running.) However, I don't think it's accurate to say that only staunch Trump voters are influenced by racism and sexism. I don't think liberal/progressive voters are free of those biases either and I definitely think that they influenced the rapid willingness that so many democrats showed to say "well, wait a minute--does the Vice President of the US REALLY have any experience, though?"

I also do think that more moderate voters still exist; for example, my parents were generally Republican while I was growing up, but have never voted for Trump because he's just way too off the rails for them. And I think that people like that, who are really uncomfortable with his rhetoric but also don't consider themselves loyal Democrats, are subconsciously influenced by our widespread cultural fear of what will happen if a woman is in a position of power. It also provides an additional justification for those who calm their voting anxiety by simply not voting.

At the end of the day, though, neither of us can prove our opinions. You can't prove that none of the stay-out-of-it voters would have otherwise voted for Biden or another white male candidate, and I can't prove that a large number of those voters were influenced by the prejudices they hold. We're both just analyzing the current political climate, and there's probably truth to both stances. I'm sure there is a strong contingent of voters, especially young voters, who would have protested Biden by refusing to vote for him a second time, I just don't think I'm convinced that those people swung the election. But yeah, many intersecting factors--the situation with the mail-in ballots is absolutely alarming and I'm sure Harris is missing many legitimate votes, though perhaps not enough votes to actually have a majority. I also genuinely suspect online election interference since we've already seen it in previous elections--online accounts posing as progressives insisting that young people should refrain from voting for Harris because she'll [X] or doesn't care enough about [Y], even when Trump would be proudly, unequivocally worse for human rights on those issues. I'm sure there's a lot going on behind the scenes that neither you nor I have any way of seeing.

(The name thing is that it's extremely common for journalists and political commentators to refer to female candidates by their first names while using last names for all male candidates, which is a subtle way of making the female candidates seem less formal/serious/professional and very much bleeds into public vernacular. Hillary is the most excusable imo, since we had another recent Clinton president, but it's an overarching trend and once I noticed it, I saw it everywhere.)

Anyway, thanks again for the back and forth! I don't want to derail this whole thread, so I'm going to stop with the election posts now, but feel free to reply if you want.

 

[Alolan_Apples]

This site has been loading slowly.

But the good news, another site event is about to begin.

 

[seliph]

Thank you for the respectful reply - I know this election was really intense for a lot of reasons and I sincerely appreciate being able to go back and forth with someone about it without overt hostility.

And yes, I absolutely don't think that Trump's adherents were going to swing to Harris somehow. (Like I said, I agree with you that she should have taken more hardline progressive stances to win more votes instead of trying to reassure anxious conservative voters, since that train had already left the station by the time she knew she was running.) However, I don't think it's accurate to say that only staunch Trump voters are influenced by racism and sexism. I don't think liberal/progressive voters are free of those biases either and I definitely think that they influenced the rapid willingness that so many democrats showed to say "well, wait a minute--does the Vice President of the US REALLY have any experience, though?"

I also do think that more moderate voters still exist; for example, my parents were generally Republican while I was growing up, but have never voted for Trump because he's just way too off the rails for them. And I think that people like that, who are really uncomfortable with his rhetoric but also don't consider themselves loyal Democrats, are subconsciously influenced by our widespread cultural fear of what will happen if a woman is in a position of power. It also provides an additional justification for those who calm their voting anxiety by simply not voting.

At the end of the day, though, neither of us can prove our opinions. You can't prove that none of the stay-out-of-it voters would have otherwise voted for Biden or another white male candidate, and I can't prove that a large number of those voters were influenced by the prejudices they hold. We're both just analyzing the current political climate, and there's probably truth to both stances. I'm sure there is a strong contingent of voters, especially young voters, who would have protested Biden by refusing to vote for him a second time, I just don't think I'm convinced that those people swung the election. But yeah, many intersecting factors--the situation with the mail-in ballots is absolutely alarming and I'm sure Harris is missing many legitimate votes, though perhaps not enough votes to actually have a majority. I also genuinely suspect online election interference since we've already seen it in previous elections--online accounts posing as progressives insisting that young people should refrain from voting for Harris because she'll [X] or doesn't care enough about [Y], even when Trump would be proudly, unequivocally worse for human rights on those issues. I'm sure there's a lot going on behind the scenes that neither you nor I have any way of seeing.

(The name thing is that it's extremely common for journalists and political commentators to refer to female candidates by their first names while using last names for all male candidates, which is a subtle way of making the female candidates seem less formal/serious/professional and very much bleeds into public vernacular. Hillary is the most excusable imo, since we had another recent Clinton president, but it's an overarching trend and once I noticed it, I saw it everywhere.)

Anyway, thanks again for the back and forth! I don't want to derail this whole thread, so I'm going to stop with the election posts now, but feel free to reply if you want.

I don't think only staunch trump voters have bigotry in them, trust me, i dislike the "blue no matter who" crowd as well and think everyone whose favourite political party is part of their personality needs a reality check. even leftist men have a misogyny problem. i think we're agreeing on most things while just disagreeing on why kamala flopped so hard and semantics - imo saying "she lost because she's a woman/person of colour" waives democrats of their own responsibility and absolves them of accountability. you aren't doing this personally because you're actually engaging in discussion, but it can be dangerous to put it all on The Other Guys.

as for the name thing I'm not someone for formalities so it's not something that's ever on my mind; trump is pretty much never referred to as just "donald", "joe" is basically a meme now (sleepy joe, we did it joe, it's joever), and as you said there's two clintons. and most importantly harris is a petpet from neopets that pops up in my head whenever i see the name.

 

[Suguri]

I am sick of people talking about this ****ing event (especially outside TBT), I'm too young to vote and I know my partner says I shouldn't worry about it, but it's ALL OVER THE ****ING PLACE (EVEN AT ****ING CLASS) and it makes me want to jump off a cliff. Please, I wanna go back home...

 

[Chronos314_XD]

I am sick of people talking about this ****ing event, I'm too young to vote and I know my partner says I shouldn't worry about it, but it's ALL OVER THE ****ING PLACE (EVEN AT ****ING CLASS) and it makes me want to jump off a cliff. Please, I wanna go back home...

Yeah, I've just been trying to avoid the election stuff on here mostly besides occasionally reacting to a couple posts. It hasn't even been over a day and I think I'm already burnt out on seeing this stuff. Not trying to say people shouldn't be able to talk about it even on here because it's important to talk about, but it's already gotten to the point seeing anything related to the election is very exhausting to me.