What the impeachment hearingas have really highlighted for me is how deeply problematic our national discourse has become. We have two entirely differents sets of "facts". I watch this whole thing and it is impossible for me to understand how someone who is truly objective does not come to the conclusion that there is a problem here. Or how people see the hearings and come to the conclusion that there's nothing. I see it and there's a whole lot of something, and some compelling testimony, and lots of corroboration. And Trump and the people supporting him in the media/government are using classic bullying/intimidation tactics (I defy you to tell me they aren't). Trump attacks every witness on Twitter, says the same stuff designed to discredit their character (basically calls them nobodies with his "I don't even know who they are, who is this?"). The conservative media only talks about how confusing and boring the hearings are. No one on the right is actually addressing any points, they're just basically like "heh, what a bunch of nobody losers, what a sham, heh, the ratings are terrible, heh, Dems have nothing". I'd like to hear someone make a credible analysis of how there is nothing here other than "fake news".
And any criticism or believing of the multitude of witness testimonies or any other evidence (like how about Trump actually saying he did it well before the hearings ever started) means that you're just a blind sheep who hates Trump. Nope, there is some really serious shit going on here. I strongly oppose Trump not because someone told me to but because it is
incredibly, abundantly obvious to me that the guy is a disaster. It boggles my mind that anyone does not see this. It was totally obvious well before the impeachment hearings, too. Mark my words, if we don't admit as a nation that what is happening is very wrong, and fix it, we will look back on this in 20 years and regret the opportunity we missed and wonder what in god's name we were thinking.
It (not specifically the hearings, but the whole story) also highlights to me the really serious problem we are facing of Russia's campaign to undermine our stability and democracy. Quite successfully, too. It's crazy to me that somehow a large portion of the population and government leaders believe that our ally against Russia, Ukraine, is actually behind the Russian hacks and disinformation campaign for some reason I haven't heard articulated, and that Russia has suddenly become our ally. Never mind the long (and very recent!) history of us being arch-rivals, and on the verge of annihilating each other, and the foreign engagements
we are still involved in to vie with them for the world's primary superpower. And these same people are still very much under the power of the Red Scare with their fear of anything resembling Socialism (even including spend our tax dollars on stuff that benefits us). It's mind-boggling. And terrifying. It goes to show how easily Russia has succeeded in their campaign. They now have half of our population doing it for them.
The whole thing makes me feel like I'm living in the Twilight Zone. There is a SERIOUS level of delusion going on in the American discourse. And it frightens me because our long and bitter battle with Russia has reached a new low for us. And it's because Russia's leadership is smart and strong, while ours is idiotic and delusional and is utterly unprepared to deal with the intricacies of the situation.
I was under the impression you weren't, from recollections of past discussions on the topic. Do you believe it's wrong but still support the choice? I remember you saying something along the lines of it being murder.
All that needs to be done is stringent, independent and transparent psychological testing, including a full psychopathy profile, for anyone that applies for any position of power.
Totally agree with this. Of course, since psychopaths are current;y in power, that won't happen until they aren't, unfortunately.
