And this is the Hexbear reply thread. Please be very wary of the extremism and bigotry and know that they are largely defederated

    • OpenStars
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      1 month ago

      I would not say that - for one thing we have nukes - but while there is much room for subtlety and nuance, there are aspects that are not entirely unlike a third-world nation…

      But more to the point, while the direction that the country is turning into may be that way, the current status of living for most people is quite high. Though that too gets more complex to measure b/c if you talk about e.g. a boomer, then Americans have one of if not the highest standard of living in the world (I might be wrong about that, but it’s at least “high” I think?), whereas e.g. a gen-alpha has significantly less hope for their own future.

      Although the latter could change rapidly with a change in e.g. housing pricing, or more relevant, changes in laws that would allow newer housing units to be created (b/c they are sources of income for people who already have multiple homes, there is an incentive to disallow new ones to be created that would lower the value of their equity, thus leading to restrictive markets catering to that segment of society).

      In any case, it is most definitely a time of turmoil. One side is fighting to offer aid to e.g. hurricane survivors, while the other side is calling for literal war and bloodshed of the other. This tends to put a damper on conversations with the latter side.

        • OpenStars
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          1 month ago

          Right, so I hope this perspective from across the pond helped see how things are… tense over here.:-)

            • OpenStars
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              1 month ago

              Absolutely NOT. Most of us have both friends and family members on both sides of this. Even neutral people are going to get roped in, even if only by the loss of someone else that we know. The pandemic showed us just how interconnected we all are - whether we acknowledge that, or even want to be, or not.

                • OpenStars
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                  1 month ago

                  I briefly considered it but… the rest of the world is likewise devolving into fascism & totalitarianism, and anyway there’s problems everywhere. None of us live forever - that’s not even an option - so instead our choices are only how we face life and death. And I don’t feel like giving in, even if I (literally) die on this hill, these are my people and I will help as much as I can until I cannot anymore.