When Trump was re-elected, I thought I would pretty much commit to being blissfully ignorant of the evil I anticipated. (Kinda a change for an ex-PolSci major and longtime gov’t employee.) Then, despite my intentions, I found myself increasingly reading about his horrific administration - including threads here and in the Pit. But over the past couple of weeks I’ve found myself checking out again. I haven’t opened the “compendium” and “clusterfuck” threads in some time, and only skim the headlines. Across the board, things are pretty consistently worse than I had feared - with no sign of changing anytime soon.
Likely reflects outrage fatigue on my part. I find I am also increasingly skimming pretty much all news other than hyper local. Just expecting a lot more bad stuff, and thinking whatever good happens can’t outweigh the bad.
Just wondering if others experience similar waxing and waning. Or is the attention you pay ramping up or down consistently?
Might be better for a different forum, but I thought due to the political nature…
I wax and wane. But I tend to pay pretty much attention most of the time even though it feels hopeless. I gather that being concerned with things we can’t control is very stressful.
Somewhere yesterday I read an article saying each of us Americans either tried to make MAGA happen or let MAGA happen (and so we should get used to the idea of the rest of the world despising us). This especially makes me feel like shutting down.
If I had the magical opportunity to end MAGA and lose my life in the process, it’d be sad but I’d have to take the opportunity. However, I can’t imagine being able to end MAGA no matter how hard I tried. I can’t imagine being able to make even the smallest detectible difference.
I’ll always vote Democratic, and donate. But other than that, often I try to shut it out.
These days, it seems almost fruitless to try to pay attention, because everything seems so fluid. Trump - and his minions - seem to simply say whatever passes through their minds on any given day, with no reason to suspect those will be repeated tomorrow, much less result in lasting policy. I feel likt a chump getting all worked up over some announcement, only to have it disappear days, weeks, months later.
Yes, that’s the tactic, I understand - get the opposition all fired up over repeated and varied dead cats flung down on the table throughout the day and night, that the one that will have the most serious effects isn’t noticed till it’s too late.
Well, yes, but it isn’t waning now. I spent most of the Biden administration going for days and even weeks at a time without thinking about who was president of the United States. I miss that and want to get it back, but I don’t see it happening any time in the next three and a half years, unless perhaps Vance succeeds to the presidency and governs like a standard, boring Republican (which I don’t think will happen – IMO Vance has the same angry, vengeful streak as Trump, and the fact that he has more self-control only makes him more dangerous).
I can’t avoid paying attention to US politics, unfortunately, no matter how bad it gets, because of its potential direct effect on myself or others I know.
I can’t imagine what it’s like to have been someone born in, say, 2000-2005. Your entire time of political awareness in life would be Trump and awfulness. And even pre-2016, the Bush and Obama era was pretty nasty too.
Good observation. And Trump has screwed up things so badly, we may never get back to normal. No one will ever trust the USA again. Including myself, a USA citizen.
Yeah, it does. At the end of the day in a democracy the politics is a reflection of the beliefs and values of the voters. Even if Trump did cheat at the margins (blank ballots that were only for Trump for president, blank for all over races in swing states, etc), he still got 75+ million legitimate votes. About 30% of American adults want fascism. 30% want liberal democracy, and 40% of adults don’t give a shit either way.
Huge swaths of the American people do not share my beliefs or values, and its something I have to come to terms with. Constantly banging my head against the wall about this fact wont’ change it.
I actively don’t listen or read about politics. As of 11/7/24
And my life is much more pleasant..believe me when I tell you, I hear what’s kinda happening. But I’m not glued to CNN. I don’t read the front page of the newspaper. And Trump news is immediately suspect, in my head.
The Dope? I follow a couple of the saner Trump threads. Not, breathlessly.
We cannot change this. He was duly elected. All we can hope for is to fix it next go ‘round.
For whatever reason, over the past few weeks I’ve just gotten fatigued. Pretty good bet that 99.99% of whatever is coming out about the administration is some shade of horrible, and there ain’t a damned thing I can do about it. 1/3 of the US agrees with me, 1/3 loves what is being done, and 1/3 apparently is too busy, distracted, or can’t be made to care.
I’m just hunkering down, and hoping the damage isn’t too irreparably profound in 2-4 years.