Here I go....jumping into the deep end of the pool....
I appreciate your compliment, but I am pretty stubborn and we all have our own experiences and views. Honestly, some of the people I disagree with the most have taught me the most - sometimes they have caused me to have to adapt my views. Sometimes those adaptations are toward their argument, sometimes they result in me adapting further to my side in order to avoid inconsistencies.
Part of the problem with these conversations is that we are essentially falling victim to confirmation bias. As we argue and adapt, we become better and better at arguing OUR side of it because we find more and more evidence in support - which makes it harder and harder to acknowledge the other side. Or makes us believe we've considered their views already and concluded they were wrong because x,y,z.
I
think this is part of the reason it can be very frustrating to argue with me at times. I can be quiet and ruminate on an idea for long periods of time, playing table tennis with myself, bouncing both sides of the argument around in my head. I'm not saying I arrive at the right outcome every time, but this rumination can prepare me for the blows coming my way haha.
As far as the discourse on here - people do seem to listen. This can be a really charged topic and the fact we can kind of go off on our tangents and vent and then kick back and talk about something random, I think has a lot of merit. I mean, I agree with Dixon on a lot and disagree on a few things...but he's in my camp. Jiiggzz and Woody often are in "the other" camp. Ax1 is kind of just strange and in his own tin foil world
Honestly I've come here and participated, then left because it got to be "too much" and come back, and left...but given how long this thread has gone on and the fact it's still going with some constructive input, I think that says a lot. And sometimes you just need to vent and have a good wrestling match and call each other names. The idea we are creating this on some virtual level is pretty tremendous, I've found that this is the kind of stuff you do with your closest friends. Sit around, beat each other up and then laugh.
It reminds me of Matt Damon talking about wrestling with Christian Bale in a move - and how in the scene there were groceries on the ground and one of them grabs a can to hit the other with, but then realizes it's a can and drops it and grabs a loaf of bread and hits him with that instead. Like, you're brothers and you're letting it out but you don't REALLY want to hurt each other.
Lots of good points
Can't argue....but can't find one either haha.
This may be true if we are just talking gaffs. But Biden's got some serious speech issues - issues that would make me hesitant to put him in front of a world leader and try to get something negotiated/done. When he makes these gaffs, he often doesn't even know how to recover from them and has a blank stare that seriously reminds me of my grandmother before she died. She could hold a conversation, but it was obvious she had deep limitations.
Youtube some of his "gaffs" - there are numerous montages with him really losing his train of thought. "We hold these truths to be self evident." Pregnant pause. "That all men....you know, you know the thing." Ok, so he's on the campaign trail and he blanked. But this is a CONSTANT thing and it happens even when he's doing recordings at his house during lockdown. It is so bad that they put this stuff out as the best edited versions they can create. He is at his house. He can do multiple takes. And they put these crazy gaffs out? What did he say in those other takes?
And he is ON tape getting angry and threatening citizens because he disagrees with them. A type of anger that, if Trump ever did it, he would be heavily criticized. Trump can't call anyone names, while Biden can ask a union worker "You wanna go outside with me?" and that's fine.
I am not merely trying to bash Biden. Trump has flaws too - but Biden is over the top flawed and people are just ignoring it because they hate Trump. You could put Stalin on the card and they would vote for him over Trump.
And all the accusations of Trump being flawed - often these are without real evidence and hold MORE true of Biden. Trump is constantly accused of being a racist - show me the evidence. I've asked numerous democrats to back this up and seen really no evidence. But I have MULTIPLE quotes from Biden just within the last 6 months. And digging back you can see he has been on the wrong side of racism for 40 years!
Trump is accused of not caring about people and only wanting power. He has never been in office before in his life and has worked in the public sector. Biden has never been in a real job outside of the gov't in his life. He and Pelosi have obstructed him in every way, and when it was time to help people during the Covid shutdown, they've not bothered to negotiate in good faith and get a package - while Trump had to use an executive order to do ANYTHING before they went on vacation. So they are acting like, "We want more" - but really they are fine giving everyone nothing unless they get their way. And what they really want is limitations on the presidency in the package, which has nothing to do with helping people - just more power grabbing.
In the meantime, Trump has sent his own money to the families of soldiers that died in action. He has fought to make experimental treatments available to people who have death sentences from diseases that have no cure - so if you've got Alzheimer's and you're going to die, up until now a doctor couldn't just let you try an experimental drug - but Trump saw that as stupid and pushed for it. He is also fighting the pharma companies to reduce drug prices - why is he pushing for this when Obama was supposed to solve all this with his health care bill?
He is trying to build a wall - because whether anyone wants to admit it or not, ILLEGAL immigration is a problem and the government's first priority is to protect its borders and sovereignty. There is NO other country in the world that treats immigration like we do. Yes, we are a beacon of hope; and immigration is necessary - but legally. We should be focused on improving the process of LEGAL immigration but this is very difficult when so many people are here illegally. Yes, a wall is expensive. But the problem is huge and it costs Americans.
Continued....
. Its insane.
. Its insane.
