I'm trying not to be outraged, but...

[Quetzal]

It's typically only a thowaway when an election is close,
when one's vote might possibly matter.
But most of the time, the outcome is a foregone conclusion,
so voting third party can register a minority's preference,
perhaps even building steam to some day challenge the
Big Two.

I hope so, that would be swell. I will consider this come next election season.

 

[BSM1]

If 'ifs' and 'buts' were berries and nuts, we would all have a merry Christmas.

There was a young man from Nantucket....oh, sorry...I thought it had turned into that kind of post.

 

[Revoltingest]

I said I prefer "lively" rhetoric!
Note that mine often uses rhyming & alliteration.

 

[bobhikes]

This is something of a spin-off thread from @Stevicus 's thread here - https://www.religiousforums.com/threads/moral-outrage-in-political-debates.210986/ ; I felt it might be nice to give folks a space to air their current political grievances. The intent of this thread isn't for us to debate each other, but just to let some of it out. What are some of the things going on right now that are really bothering you? Perhaps you wouldn't describe your feelings about it as outrage, but fear, or perhaps sadness?

I'll start. There's a long list of things that are happening in my country right now that are both distressing and outrageous, but there's one in particular that hits home in ways that other issues do not.

That's what dumpster fire's moronic trade war with China is going to do to my homeland.

Roughly a third of our economy here is dependent on agriculture and agricultural products. A lot of that depends on exports - corn and soybeans - to China. The New York Times posted an editorial today about the issue - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/26/opinion/trump-tariffs-trade-war-rural-america.html - that captures well the road this is going to take my homeland down. I didn't grow up on the farm, but I wish that I'd had the privilege. I dream of owning land and being a farmer, and there are many other younger people who do the same. We can't because the financial barriers are insurmountable. Instead, when times are rough, land that has been in the same family for generations ends up going up for sale to cover the debts. And the people who buy it... wait, back up. People don't buy it. Corporations do, who then practice unsavory industrial agriculture. Nobody else can afford to buy it. Welcome to America - government of the corporation, by the corporation, and for the corporation. Who needs those founding principles and values of our country anymore, right? Government serving it's people? Pfft.

Although mostly I agree with the op, being morally outraged is not going to help the problem, even being outraged unless it inspires you to action. Hit up the congressman, hit up the white house, post on-line rebuttals without moral attacks. It will make a difference but it will take time.

I have written my congressman more than ever under Trump.
I hit all the Facebook sites, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, The White House, My representatives with comments.
I've posted on columns that allow me to post.
I've called in to talk radio.
I've written an article and got talk radio to publish.
I've joined a protest march for the first time.
I've donated to my causes.

Goals still
I need to go to Washington and speak or protest.
I need to visit my congressmen and give my view.
I need to get published in a Opinion section of a large New paper.
I need to donate more.
I may need to run for office.

Get active but don't involve attacks of Character, Morals and such, use facts. Your not going to fix it tomorrow but if you keep at it, it will be fixed.

 

[Revoltingest]

There was a young man from Nantucket....oh, sorry...I thought it had turned into that kind of post.

@Wirey once challenged me to write something with the first line....
There once was a lady named Enis.
Some were outraged at the result.
That was a good day.

 

[BSM1]

@Wirey once challenged me to write something with the first line....
There once was a lady named Enis.
Some were outraged at the result.
That was a good day.

I fondly remember that day...

 

[Revoltingest]

I fondly remember that day...

Really?
You were on The History Channel forum?

 

[Mindmaster]

Roughly a third of our economy here is dependent on agriculture and agricultural products. A lot of that depends on exports - corn and soybeans - to China

The great thing about farming is you can change your product by the next growing season. It's not all gloom and doom, but besides that the truth is China has to buy our soybeans because they don't make enough and a little bit of tariff isn't going to change that. We are still going to be selling our product by volume cheaper than the competition because we make more of it than anyone else. We can't match them on labor costs, but we can entice them with availability. The amount of soy product they need is astronomical in comparison to other countries, and no other country turns out what we do in that regard. It's similar to the OPEC nations with oil - they can jack the price because typically they are turning out more of it than anyone else. That has only recently changed because the USA has found new ways to tap existing oil wells.

Tariffs are about equalizing trade with countries that would slit our throats collectively at any cost and China is one of those. Anyway, most of this is still up for negotiation and I think that's what Trump wants - he wants them to come to the table and open their markets and will probably dump the tariffs in that case. If the tariffs aren't imposed you simply don't make them sweat or send the message.

In a trade war, the USA is the marketplace so China has to bend. If they do not bend they get stuck with a bunch of products that they made by shorting their own currency. They'll just destroy themselves.

 

[jonathan180iq]

I don't know if it's the disheartening response to this current iteration of political discourse, or just my maturity finally flaring up, but I'm becoming very apathetic towards the whole of it all. I'm not outraged by most things, because I recognize them for the fads that they are, even things that would have set me off in my early 30s.

All things are cyclical. And I just don't see how minor aggressions necessitate the wasteful use of my energy, especially when that energy isn't going to change anything anyway...

The only real and lasting changes that we can expect to see occur the the smallest interpersonal levels. I've spent the past two years more fixated on my relationships, and on my community involvement than on anything else. It's quite liberating.

By the way, the best thing I ever did was cancel my cable subscription. I refuse to allow the ebb and flow of outside garbage interrupt the actuality of my life.

 

[sun rise]

What bugs me is that people don't look at what is doing on all over the world from the USA to China to the Philippines to Turkey and so forth and see that's it not a local descent into darkness but world wide.

What I understand is that this trend will reverse with a better day coming.

What frustrates me is how long it's taking.

What enrages me are the attacks on me personally not as an individual but as a citizen of the USA and a retiree because of policies that favor the wealthy while giving the shaft at everyone else.

What makes me want to reach for tar and feathers is how backward the USA is when it comes to health care and social security (in the general sense).

 

[BSM1]

Really?
You were on The History Channel forum?

Uhhhh.....sure..

 

[Estro Felino]

Politically, I am outraged by:

- Russophobia and constant diffidence towards Putin in the US
- The technocratic dictatorship of the EU
- The power of the ECB over the EU
- George Soros and his NGOs that want to destroy Europe
- Anti-Brexit manoeuvres by banksters

 

[Quetzal]

Really?
You were on The History Channel forum?

Do they show endless re-runs of Pawn Stars there?

 

[BSM1]

Do they show endless re-runs of Pawn Stars there?

Those are re-runs???

 

[Kangaroo Feathers]

What I'm outraged by is the continued existence of New Zealand, despite the fact they clearly don't exist, and the rest of the world's baffling continued enabling of this delusion.

 

[Estro Felino]

What I'm outraged by is the continued existence of New Zealand, despite the fact they clearly don't exist, and the rest of the world's baffling continuing enabling of this delusion.

Living in a peninsula that looks like NZ upside down, I am outraged by your words

 

[Jumi]

Well at least soy beans got Trump and EU together.

 

[Father Heathen]

With all due respect to you, @Quintessence and you are due a mighty heap of respect... Personally, I am bothered by the hysteria in the current political climate. Things that were unthinkable a few years ago are now the norm. It's OK to harass people all the while being admonished that bullying is flat out wrong. Me? I'm tired of hearing the endless litany of grievances that people have. It's getting old. The polarization that exists, on virtually any topic, is also mind-numbing, as people take the moral high ground and pretend their morality trumps that of others. My sense of morality is NOT better than yours, but the converse also applies. We need to get down off our soap boxes and just breathe, relax and get our own lives in order. We need to relearn how to talk to each other in a civil and (mildly) respectful manner.

For an angry old white guy, my privilege does not allow me to feel outrage at more things.

With all due respect, I know that you don't actually believe that all morality is equal. Case in point, your past (and justified) criticism of Islamic morality. I doubt you would ever assert that it's equal to western secular morality.

 

[fantome profane]

If a third party becomes viable, sure. Until then, no thanks.

chicken and egg.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I surmise the level of hysteria is quite related to having a hysterical "president." Ordinarily, the president should serve as a calmer role model to help diffuse the fires of polarization. The current "leadership" does precisely the opposite. It's unfortunate.

Another thing regarding presidents. I remember way back when the office of president was for lack of a better term sacrosanct. For which a president had a disposition where respect was afforded to their oath of office and position . For past presidents their present office and Future Leaders of the country. I guess you could call it dignity and arguably a role model that the nation can be proud of.

And it's true and definitely I agree presidents were much calmer and more issue-oriented in regards to the State of Affairs in general running of the country as its leader.

It seems things have come down to spiraling downhill since Nixon in the Vietnam War all the way to the tabloid soap opera we see today.

I suppose it was a long time in coming. After all I think as a country we grew too fast and too powerful for the short time span we have been in existence compared to much older far more established countries.

It would be interesting to find a list where presidents across the globe carry themselves well and with dignity, to the absurd and plain drawn-out bizarre.