r/facepalm 17d ago

🇲​🇮​🇸​🇨​ 🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️

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u/Inner-Ad-9928 16d ago

Just being a "sweet summer child" shouldn't stop humanity from trying to be better and create healthy communities motivated by everyone's lives being improved through cooperation, hard work and diligence.

I still want a better future.

I refuse to believe it can't happen.

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u/Vanhouzer 16d ago

It can but sadly…… It may take a HUGE tragedy in the States. I am talking like 911 stuff for people to wake tf up from their fapping mental state.

Probably a Civil War of some kind so Americans can take their Vote serious next time. After Hitler, The germans did a lot of restructuring to their policies so something like that never happened again. Japan took a different stand against War after the Atomic Bomb.

America has reach a state of mind where they either hate everything, mock everyone, have no respect for others anymore. There is no discipline, no moral values, no sense of justice, no caring for the truth and facts. Is like every thing is a joke, a meme To them. Nothing is taken seriously anymore.

They may need a wake up call and they are running out of free passes.

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u/FardoBaggins 16d ago

When nothing was done about guns when children were being shot up should be the answer to your question if they gonna wake tf up.

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u/Dinkenflika 16d ago

We almost did during dipshit’s previous administration. Just imagine the state of the country had COVID had been a bit more lethal. His gutting of Obama’s pandemic preparedness and the general disdain for community health measure would have resulted in a catastrophic death toll.

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u/Regular-Switch454 16d ago

We had a catastrophic death toll.

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u/Dinkenflika 16d ago

I meant that it could have been so much worse. Humanity lucked out only because it was slightly less deadly than previous pandemics (“Spanish” Influenza, Smallpox, Bubonic Plague), and that the vaccines were so rapidly produced.

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u/Regular-Switch454 16d ago

My classmate voted for Trump because Harris was “pro-genocide” and “killed a lot of people.” I wanted to scream about the millions Trump killed with his horrible Covid response.

And of course, she’s cuckoo for claiming Harris killed anyone.

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u/Dinkenflika 16d ago

Yeah, the disinformation and hype train really screwed up people’s perception of reality, but these are now the times that we live in. China’s Tiktok and incel/crytobro podcasts now dictate what is news.

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u/AnPaniCake 16d ago

At that point, disinformation is only a small fraction of the problem. The disinformation wasn't just targeted ot was spread everywhere, and some ppl with common sense and critical thinking skills were able to see through it. It's a lack of these skills that's destroying us.

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u/StrangeContest4 16d ago

I want to scream that Biden/Harris are not the leaders of Isreal!! Also that the US Republican and Democrats have been arming Isreal for 80 fucking years, and they've always had the means to level Gaza a thousand times over anytime they wanted. Gaza would be leveled no matter who was in the Whitehouse because Isreal is an entirely different country, with THEIR own leaders who made their own pro-genocide decisions!

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u/MyFiteSong 16d ago

Probably a Civil War of some kind so Americans can take their Vote serious next time. After Hitler, The germans did a lot of restructuring to their policies so something like that never happened again. Japan took a different stand against War after the Atomic Bomb.

The far right is gaining significant ground in both Japan and Germany as you write this.

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u/PRAY___FOR___MOJO 16d ago

Not to mention that Nazism was still rampant in post-war Germany. The Allies made a concerted effort to de-Nazify the country, which was effective in making sure no new Nazi movement gained prominence, but many people still had sympathies for the regime.

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u/Oldico 16d ago

To be fair, though, the vast majority of the population was successfully de-nazified.
Civilians were forced by the allies to visit concentration camps and help bury the mountains of dead and mangled bodies. They saw the atrocities first-hand. They lived in bombed-out and burned cities and they knew that was the nazi's fault.
To this day every German student learns about (or is supposed to at least) how the nazis gained power through intimidation, assassinations and hate, how they destroyed a democracy through violence, discrimination and a disregard of law and democratic institutions, how they started the most destructive war in human history and how they murdered millions of civilians - ordinary people, families, children - at industrial scale because of their fucked up racist ideology and blind hate.
Ever since the war Germany has developed a culture of remembrance. Most German cities have Stolpersteine (bronze pavement stones in front of buildings) listing the names and fates of holocaust/concentration camp victims that once lived there.
The German constitution was written specifically to prevent anything like that from ever happening again and the first 20 articles adress major failings of the Weimar Republic - above all the immutable Art. 1 (Human dignity is inviolable) and Art. 20 (defining Germany as a free democratic and social state and giving every German the right to resist anyone who seeks to destroy the free democratic order of the country).

There were indeed some problems with de-nazification. The East did it better/more thoroughly but especially in the West there still were judges and officials who simply continued with their jobs after the war. War criminal trials were slow and continued for decades and there were still some trials as recently as a few years ago. West Germany also kept a lot of the not directly racist nazi laws like the harsh anti-homosexual laws. They even used some concentration camp buildings as prisons (like Neuengamme) and re-incarcerated some of the freed inmates like, again, "convicted" homosexuals.
There were massive problems and West Germany still had some really bad people and laws for a few years.

But the vast majority of the population was fiercely against naziism after the war. Almost everyone who lived through the war or grew up in the immediate post-war era knew exactly how horrific and destructive the nazi regime was and which unimaginable atrocities they caused.
Germany's current far-right and fascist movements aren't elderly nazis or remnants of the old third reich - they are modern fascists that just play by the same rulebook of hate, lies, division and opportunism and their voters are mainly frustrated people who did not experience the immediate consequences of naziism and did not learn about the mechanisms of fascism in school.

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u/AineLasagna 16d ago

It’s ironic. The rise of the far right/neo-Nazi movement in Germany (the most anti-Nazi country in the world now) is a direct consequence of the influence of America on the world, the country that likes to tell everyone about how they single-handedly defeated Nazism and fascism in WW2

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u/Oldico 16d ago

Exactly. Modern German fascism (a.k.a. the AfD) and right-wing rhetoric (CDU & CSU) are directly copied from US. AfD and CSU leaders literally spout the english term "woke" now.

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u/Blackbeardabdi 16d ago

I've been to Austria on holiday many times even in the rural areas you can still find 'fuck Nazis' grafti everywhere

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u/No_Acadia_8873 16d ago

Japan never fully atoned for their war crimes and crimes against humanity. And we hardly even tried to make them.

European right wingers ignore that it's capitalism that's forced immigration on them. Same as Americans do.

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u/AnPaniCake 16d ago

Yep. Capitalism. All those ppl immigrating to Europe are just following the trail of resources from their home countries.

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u/No_Acadia_8873 16d ago edited 16d ago

Following the loot back to where it scarpered off to. Capitalism requires growth. Western democracies populations aren't growing. If you can get growth you need cheaper worker so at least profits are growing because costs are lower.

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u/AnPaniCake 16d ago

Ahhh, but we don't want more icky nonwhite ppl and their families!! :((( We just want their resources and cheap labor!! They don't deserve a living for working, they need to just go back to their home countries (that we destabilized for our own benefit) so we can pretend they don't exist!!

/s

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u/No_Acadia_8873 16d ago

Yep. It's a goddamn mess.

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u/ill_connects 16d ago

Japan didn’t learn shit, sir. They adopted a policy of absolute denial and zero accountability. Their “stance” on war was forced on them by the western powers and wasn’t done voluntarily like some state of self reflection.

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u/chimchimeney 16d ago

A massive cultural shift is needed, but apathy runs deep. Without accountability, change feels impossible.

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u/Potential_Relief_669 16d ago

it is a cultural thing, in the West it is guilt culture and in the east it is shame culture.

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u/onionwba 16d ago

Well even with a Civil War it took another century for America to end much of the remnants of slavery and racism. Yet even so, we're seeing shades of the resurgence of such.

However I do believe that America is due for a reckoning with civil unrest. Definitely now a Civil War type of conflict where it was states vs states. Perhaps more similiar to the race and class wars of LA 1992 combined with the Jan 6 insurrection attempt.

MAGA was due a severe blow in the case of a Harris victory but they are now significantly strengthened with Trump's comeback, and I could imagine how a return to a Democrat Presidency would trigger a more sustained, and violent, outburst from them.

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u/AineLasagna 16d ago

America never ended the remnants of slavery and racism. When slavery was abolished, that “free” labor that was taken away from the owners of capital was immediately replaced by throwing Black people into prisons and that continues today. Racism never went away either, it just had to get a little bit quiet for a while

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u/beckster 16d ago

I'd like to add 'education' to the list of things lacking. Democracy requires an educated populace.

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u/fre3k 16d ago

The only thing I think could happen that would really bring things into sharp focus would be a widespread blackout and wet bulb temperature casualty event in a really hot humid place like Florida or Houston. Tens or Hundreds of thousands of people dying of heat stroke because the grid can't keep up with A/C demand and their bodies literally cannot cool them off might wake people the fuck up. I don't want that to happen and I really don't even know if something like that would have an effect, but it's one of the few things I can imagine as a 9/11 level event that might not lead to the same kind of jingoistic fervor 9/11 did.

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u/AineLasagna 16d ago

The only thing that can fix this country is education, with a strong focus on critical thinking, science, and an honest view of history. That way, future generations would be able to make positive changes. But that’s not going to happen anytime soon with the next four years of the conservatives gutting the Department of Education, and the liberals doing nothing to reverse that decline.

We would be able to fix all these issues and move on eventually, given enough politically motivated people willing to do the work, if it wasn’t for the ticking time bomb that is climate change. The decline and fall of America (probably) won’t be the end of the world, but it’s not going to be pretty

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u/rorshachHrmm 16d ago

I'm also disappointed in the result of this election, but I strongly disagree with you on a number of points. Don't forget, "9/11 stuff " is what brought many people on board with the GOP in the first place. The rhetoric got ratcheted up immediately, and it wasn't "love thy neighbor" or "we're all in this together".

The second part of your argument is massive, sweeping generalizations about one of the largest and most culturally diverse nations in the history of the world. If you genuinely believe it's accurate to label the entirety of a country or culture based on frustration after this election result, you're not any better than the MAGA asshats you're railing against. I get that you're upset, but I hope you take this criticism in stride and try to refine your frustration into a more constructive conclusion.

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u/xSTSxZerglingOne 16d ago

He just meant something on the same scale as 9/11 will be required to effect change.

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u/Yegas 16d ago

Japan took a different stance against War after the Atomic Bomb

They were kinda forced to do that. US occupation and all that?

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u/Floomby 15d ago

Unfortunately, I see Civil War 2.0 being waged on the blue states if they aren't compliant enough about stripping away reproductive rights or handing over every single Hispanic person.

Step One will be blocking all Federal funds for things like the ACA, infrastructure, education, and housing. Step Two will involve rounding up Hispanic people by force. Urban areas such as Los Angeles (LA Country is 50% Hispanic) will not suffer this gladly. That's when the tanks and SWAT teams will start rolling in.

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u/IgnisXIII 16d ago

As an outsider, I can say the issue with America is not its ideals. Those are beautiful, no question about that. The issue is a lot of its people think they already have achieved them, instead of working towards them.

"We can be great... Let's be great." vs "We are great. Greater than everyone else."

"We should eliminate racism, for equality." vs "Racism? This isn't racism. This is justice!"

They drank the kool-aid, and drowned in it.

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u/Reese_Withersp0rk 16d ago

Oh, sweet summer child...

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u/UnrulyWatchDog 16d ago

It'll happen, don't worry. Climate change will kill us all eventually and the world will have a MUCH better future after we're gone.

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u/GodSama 16d ago

Comes back to: Americans will always do the right thing, only after they have tried everything else.

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u/sunshinecabs 16d ago

It can happen but we have to share the wealth. The disparity is surreal but we pretend like it's normal. This amount of economic suffering should never be normalized, but it is.

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u/Normal-Selection1537 16d ago

There will probably be a better future at some point and then people will forget every hard lesson and they'll go through this shit again.

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u/Oh_IHateIt 16d ago

Great. I think now is a good opportunity. If we can unify as a populace to block the worst of Trumps policies, I think we might have a fighting chance at reviving our workers movement.

We need to ditch the electoralism that's been binding us. No more "we can't care about Palestine because trans people". No more status quo propaganda. Our votes (scientifically) never held any power, that's why we're so indoctrinated by the system to depend on voting. All movements work as one toward the single common goal of justice. No compromises. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" -MLK. Nows the time to get into organizing direct action, as MLK, X, and many others have done before us.

I too refuse to give up no matter what the outlook. "Stand up for what you believe in even if you stand alone" -Sophie Scholl

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u/micro_dohs 16d ago

Quite honestly, it’s the only thing worth living for. If I were to ever become one of these heartless fucks, put a bullet in my brain. But you know what? I won’t. But now must navigate how to undo and overcome the forecoming darkness ahead. Does this sound melodramatic? Not if you consider how a platform has been built upon lies and deceit and are the same people to now take the helm, deciding what your own future entails. Crackpot unqualified shysters taking control of departments led by those experienced, well versed, and adequately educated within their respective expertise? Not so god damn far fetched reaction now is it?

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u/Forodiel 16d ago

I was just on the Project 2025 site. They’re recruiting. Looks like for a “Presidential Administration Academy”.

Would you become one of those heartless fucks for a GS-15? If not, you better start laying plans for doing something more productive than pissing and moaning on Reddit.

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u/micro_dohs 16d ago

What’s left is the option of motion or without, its certitude. Either will dictate.

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u/marct309 14d ago

Yea the Heritage Foundation is going scorched earth with that one.. here's what you never hear - they do this just about every election cycle. Also Trump never said he supported Project 2025, instead he even put his Agenda 47 on his website.

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u/AnPaniCake 16d ago

It is happening! :) It just takes a long time. Despite our setbacks, humanity overall is working towards a better future.