Of course they're ideological.
Seriously, did nobody else connect the dots back when Trump tried to strongarm Congress into raising the debt ceiling before he even took office?
He's NEVER had even the slightest intention of actually reducing spending. In fact, he plans and has planned since even before he took office to not only increase it, but to increase it even more than Congress is willing to go along with.
This isn't complicated.
it's also all nakedly obvious. it's maddening how many people don't see how everything all fits together, including (especially) here on lemmy. all the world's oligarchs are gearing up to wipe us all out and secure as many mineral resources for themselves in the bloodbath. the frustration that biden did nothing to slow the genocides our nation was in contact with, to me, is not so much the "it's alreadyea genocide, things can't get worse than that" stance a lot of lemmings took, but rather that it enabled that thought process and that way too many people, including biden, kamala, pelosi, and schumer, underestimated what a fucking freak trump is. the palestinian genocide is going to be analogous to the armenian genocide between wwi and wwii compared to what's about to go down in the territories controlled by russia and the united states being analogous to the holocaust.
i genuinely don't understand how other people aren't seeing the ways all these things connect together.
I work a blue collar job deep in a very red state. The guys at work have really enjoyed the last few weeks over the news they've been seeing across their Facebook feeds and other preferred outlets. The elation from them is immeasurable. But some of them have relatives or even a wife who work for the federal government. They were discussing how their loved ones are afraid of losing their jobs, and so I take any opportunity I can to have any conversation with them about class politics and shoehorn in any broad analysis of the political landscape of the US. Not specific to the current circumstances, we've been having these conversations for years now. They often walk away saying how I've provided a new perspective, and that they weren't aware of something I said and it gave them something to think about, only to turn around the next day as if they hadn't heard a single word from me.
In these conversations, I've found out that of their own admission, some of them have never read a single book in their lives. That they have a difficult time understanding basic principles of science.
I have always tried my best to see the positives in people. To believe that if someone didn't have knowledge in one area, they may be vastly ahead in another. Like the "hillbillies" who know nothing of the outside world, but understand mechanical systems well enough to keep an engine running with a paperclip and chewed gum.
But that's what they know. They are not adept at piecing together even the most modest of intertwining political occurrences. What they know in their holler is their neighbor and their cousin. Their adherence to supporting the termination of democracy for the sake of oligarchy is a cultural wave bolstered by the algorithms that feed their scrolling habits. They hang onto anything that carries their ignorances. Many have never left the area and met anyone unlike them.
You're right that it is maddening, to know that history is happening in front of our eyes. The analogous atrocities we show as examples burning holes in our conscious while we're diving in all over again, with some people choosing obliviousness and even celebrating for their biases and propagandizing.
I believe that even among the aware, there are those who choose not to believe the worst could happen. They see these events and choose to internalize the roundabout language in the corporate news headlines or from any more relevant politician. It is, after all, a tough pill to swallow. So they too allow themselves to fall victim to shirking the naked obviousness of the direction we're going.
That is to say, I don't think we are at the Rubicon yet - trying not to doom post. But I wanted to say it isn't difficult to understand why other people don't see it. The world built around them makes it easier to look the other way.
Belief is social. They believe what their social group does. We all do this to some extent. Some part of the brain still feels like if we reject the social group's belief, we'll die alone in the woods. Going with the group feels good.
You can probably change minds if they see you as in-group, but it won't last if the rest of their in-group has contradictory ideas.
Getting people off Facebook and other hellscapes might help.
They often walk away saying how I've provided a new perspective, and that they weren't aware of something I said and it gave them something to think about, only to turn around the next day as if they hadn't heard a single word from me.
Classic example of the Gell-Mann amnesia
this reached me
This is like when science does a study on why people eat cake and find out it's mostly because it tastes good. Everyone already knew that, but guess it's nice to have the paperwork in order?
Many people don’t know, because most people get their information from corporate media, and until this Reuters article came out, virtually all of corporate media had been playing dumb about DOGE being an ideological project rather than a non-ideological waste-cutting one.
Citations Needed, Feb. 6: News Brief: Media Continues Painting Musk's Far Right Coup as Good Faith "Cost-Cutting Effort"
Cake...tastes...good...
This is jack's complete lack of surprise.
No fucking way...
So. When and If the Liberals can ever take back the Senate and House. They should deport Leon and nationalize all of his businesses and sell them off to the highest bidder.
They're liberals. They'll proudly shake his hand and let him keep all his businesses to show their moral superiority.
They're absolutely not going to do that. What they'll actually do is buy a couple of shares in his companies, then offer him a big government contact.
All the cuts look like they will raise costs in the long run. Its easier to get the hired employee to stick on for low pay than get someone hired on at that pay. Especially during a period of high inflation.