Let's not give this absolute nobody media space please...

I think it's really more of the case that people feel no kinship, we've been programmed since birth and since basically centuries to only see ourselves as islands, working only for ourselves and to "get ours", believing the lie that if only everyone fends for themselves then everybody will benefit in the end... Somehow.

Nothing can or will change as long as we are shackled by capitalist rule.

Not the first totalitarian government people have felt like that about...

They develop IC on iPhones?!!

"The whole point of a Doomsday Machine is lost if you keep it a secret!"

Half the passengers want to do just that and install a captain who is hell-bent on chasing a white whale and wants to institute forced cannibalism for anyone on board with navigational skills

Like these for example:

* Lowest unemployment numbers since 1969, economy seeing strong growth in GTP, wages, stock market returns, household net worth
* Expanded overtime guarantees for millions
* Established the Office of Gun Violence Prevention awarding $286 million towards student mental health
* Made transition to green electricity a priority and accelerating approval of renewable energy projects
* Sealed nationwide Infrastructure deal for $1.2 trillion for roads, waterlines, broadband networks, airports, et c
* Opened for over-the-counter birth control pill (in stores in 2024)
* Issued a sweeping crackdown on junk fees and overdraft charges from banks
* Effected anti-redlining frameworks preventing discriminatory mortgage lending
* Forced Chinese companies to open their books
* Issued the Inflation Reduction Act, authorizing funds to jump-start the transition of American agriculture toward less carbon-intensive practices
* Helped broker a deal to save the Colorado River
* Signed an executive order directing agencies across the government to promote competition and take on monopolies
* Loosened federal restrictions on cannabis
* Instituted penalties for college programs that trap students in debt
* Enacted the CHIPS and Science Act, offering more than $50 billion to subsidize construction of new microchip facilities in the U.S
* Aligned U.S trade policy with antitrust actions against big tech firms
* Brokered a deal to halt conflict between Rwanda and Congo to stall impending Cobalt crisis
* Released a new national cyber strategy, strengthening international cyber diplomacy, securing emerging critical technologies and taking more aggressive steps to disrupt hacking groups
* Countering China with a new alliance between Japan and South Korea
* Reinvigorating cancer research to lower death rates
* Making medication more accessible through telemedicine initiative
* Installed union-friendly allies on the NLRB board who have adopted positions that boost workers in confrontations with businesses
* Issued a national radio frequency spectrum strategy to fix 5G chaos
* Empowered federal agencies to monitor AI
* Strengthening military ties to Asian allies
* Creating a new agency to investigate cyberattacks
* Forcing airlines to pay up when flights are delayed or canceled
* Expansion of Benefits and Services for Toxic Exposed Veterans
* Stood up against Russian aggression by direct support for Ukraine
* Protected marriage rights for LGBTQ couples
* Historic student debt relief for middle-, working-class families
* Implemented aggressive climate and environmental justice agenda
* ...

Sources: https://www.vox.com/politics/24094752/biden-trump-strong-economy-2024-inflation https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/02/02/joe-biden-30-policy-things-you-might-have-missed-00139046 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_policy_of_the_Joe_Biden_administration#:~:text=His Inflation Reduction Act was enacted in August 2022.&text=Biden's first year in office,the pandemic recession of 2020. https://www.whitehouse.gov/therecord/ https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2021/politics/biden-executive-orders/

Joke's on you, they were already depressed!

Current state of the world: "Should we build another boat, or should we take the train instead?"

This guy plugs holes.

This is how you combat bullshit like a pro- "don't answer the question you get, answer the question you wish you had gotten".

"Look, in a democracy we also have to give a platform to the people who want to abolish it"

"Vote for me or the other guy will eat your children to death" is closer to what's going on.

("vote for me instead, I will only eat the tallest of your children!")

Imagine if in this metaphor, the captain of the ship was swapped out every four years, with their completely own itinerary.

I'm not sure I follow, are you claiming that no political parties in liberal democracies are against violence on college protesters?

"The sooner we sink this ship, the sooner we can build our own where we are the captains!"

"status quo"

Compare how and why people cheer for sports teams. If you're affiliated you will support any statement in favor of the team, while ignoring, suppressing, or attacking any statements to the contrary.

You won't debate a Trump troll out of supporting Trump, because it's about belonging to a group and showing loyalty regardless of facts. Honestly I'm not surprised he's doing so well, consider how techy most of us are and still get overwhelmed by what the Internet is shaping up to be. If you're in your 50's from a poor rural area, what chance have you got to stand against weaponized online propaganda?

We are all like this, by the way. The inclination to blind affiliation with groups is the result of very deep, very old, very well studied cognitive structures and behaviors.

Here's some introductory reading that might fundamentally change how you perceive people's participation in groups:

https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/sociology/conformity
Sherif's autokinetic experiment - if enough people around you believe something, you'll soon believe it too

https://www.simplypsychology.org/asch-conformity.html
A similar experiment performed by Solomon Asch

https://www.simplypsychology.org/robbers-cave.html
The Robber's Cave experiment - arbitrarily divide a group into two, and watch the inevitable descent into inter-group conflict (hopeful note: if you make the groups try to overcome a common obstacle, fighting goes away)

Leon Festinger's Cognitive Dissonance Tests - This is an interesting one as well, here's the idea:

Experiment: Infiltrating a doomsday cult before, during, and after the date of their supposed apocalypse, Festinger and his fellow scientists noted that instead of losing faith, members doubled-down on their beliefs after the ‘end times’ came and went — eventually believing that their work saved the world.

Conclusion: When we have two (or more) incompatible thoughts, we adjust them to minimize internal conflict, what Festinger called ‘cognitive dissonance’ — a term that explains the mind state of those unwilling to accept information that conflicts against their belief.

"The Greeks were a bunch of woke gays anyway, good riddance" is what a Republican might say if they knew the Greeks invented democracy.

The concept of AI weaponized mass propaganda on social media makes it less mysterious.