I went to high school with this guy. We were never really close friends though he was perpetually in the one group of people I kept in touch with after high school.
A few years ago we had a falling out and I never really looked back. I never really liked the guy, sometimes I fuckin hated him. Though the group kinda fell apart after that and I lost contact with someone I actually did care about. Otherwise, getting him out of my life really wasn’t a negative.
Regardless, he responded to a Facebook post and curiosity got the better of me.
In the past, he’d expressed regret in voting for Trump, he wasn’t a Democrat and voted third party in 2020. I assumed he’d check out of this election and I’d see what he was up to.
Strangers, this man has completely lost his fucking mind. His Facebook is flooded with reposted tiktoks admonishing the current administration and screeching about the moral imperative of getting trump back in to office. One after another after another, 5 to 7 of these things a day. Continuing debates he’s had with somebody by tagging them, and notably getting no response. More than once he’s brought up a trump policy, blamed it on Kamala Harris, and howled about how evil the Democrats are.
In the past any attempt at rational discussion would devolve to fanatic ravings, and now it seems that all he’s doing. Constantly screaming in to the void about some perceived Boogeyman.
I haven’t lost anything, as I said getting out of each other’s lives was a good thing for me. This guy used a hard R during the protests and would go to safe spaces online to torment the people there for fun. He’s literally the type of person Facebook has screening questions for.
But Jesus, he’s like a fucking caricature. There’s no engaging with that type of person, no bringing them back. He’s just lost.
Sadly, the needs of the few (Putin, Bezos, Musk, etc.) outweigh the needs of the many, we seem to have all collectively decided.
The founding fathers literally warned us that this day was coming, but we did not listen. We could have made voting requirements more robust - like, you must be able to name or at least answer that there are 3 main branches of government to vote. Instead, media mostly won’t even fact check debates, bc ofc not, why would they?
This guy may be one of the first in line to suffer, but years and decades from now, he definitely won’t be the last. Unfortunately the true puppeteers will discard him instantly when no longer needed. Ironically, liberals would not, but therein lies the rub: how do you save a nation when a good 42-49% of people inside it are dead set on it not being saved, and instead handing it over to the likes of Russia? Whatever our fate, we deserve it.
I guess I’m saying: I’ve moved past blaming people like this - we may as well blame the Lego that we step on at night, for all the good it will do. All that is left is to understand what can be done. Like run for local office or something.
Leaving Reddit and coming to the Fediverse is a great start imho.