Do Americans understand how much trouble they’re in?

A President who invokes absolute authority to…pardon himself. An ambassador to Germany who declares he wants to…topple the German government. Senators — the most powerful people in democracy, save the President — knocking on the door of a “detainment center”, looking for kids separated from their parents, only to be denied by guards who…laugh at them contemptuously, call the police, and have them shooed away like nobodies.

Do Americans understand how much trouble they’re now in?

Do Americans Know How Much Trouble They’re In?

 

I feel it's a typical far left leaning propaganda piece written by somebody who has no idea of history and the nuances of the complicated world around us. The piece does have a message but it gets lost in all the fear mongering.

"detainment centres -- an altogether too-polite euphemism for a concentration camp"
Does the author even know what a concentration camp is? I'd assume the author is referring to Nazi Germany and once again the far left inadvertently devaluing the holocaust and what it means to actually be a nazi.

America has covertly been trying to bring down and sometimes succeeding in bringing down other governments for a very long time. The author is foolish for thinking otherwise, or was this deliberate?

I think Trump is as dodgy as Wayne and Arthur combined. But then again, I think the democrats deserve everything they are getting for deserting their traditional supporter base and playing the race and victim card in a bid to get votes. And at the same time, I think Trump deserves all the crap he's getting for his ridiculous birther crusade against Obama for three years (along with some of the stuff he's doing now).

Nothing is ever black and white, yet the far left and far right would try and con us into thinking otherwise. I personally blame social media!

 

I agree with you Gambler ... but I also feel we're in a period of "testing the system".

It wasn't until the current US government came into power that the flaws of the Constitution and current legal structure were bought to light. Previously governments have operated by the "moral intention" rather than the current "rule of law".

Interesting times ahead

 

This writer's views are too biased for my liking... look at all of the anti-capitalist, anti-American sentiment in his feed: umair haque – Eudaimonia and Co

 

Agree, about as useful as reading the same style of article from the far right.

You get to see the extremes but you would be naive to accept either.

 

Rather than looking at the writer (which I agree sources should be scrutinised btw) - how about read between the lines at what is happening to the breakdown of the US political system ... as per my reply above

 

Yeah, I agree with you, Lizzie. If you're interested in more opinions I'd recommend jumping on Reddit, which has a majority centre-left demographic. Redditors have been complaining about the state of the US political system with some really interesting posts.

 

His Twitter feed is full of fatalistic presumptions of doom with prophecies of biblical-like end of times.

I find it concerning that numerous (progressive) intellectuals are ignoring the statistical long term trends that demonstrate an overwhelming improvement in the majority of people's lives with projections suggesting this to continue. Instead they choose to use short-term data to make claims of, and I quote his feed: 'million extinctions', 'ecological collapse', 'depraved', essence of violence', 'predatory collapse' etc.

It appears that a quasi-religious like sect has emerged out of the progressive movement these past decades, that feeds off negativity and promotes an anti-progress agenda, while viewing humans as a cancerous tumour of the planet. This sort of nihilism and fatalism is unhinged.

 

Again ... Rather than looking at the writer (which I agree sources should be scrutinised btw) - how about read between the lines at what is happening to the breakdown of the US political system ... as per my reply above

What are your thoughts on the article itself?

** side note: we must be reading through different coloured glasses. I find his commentary (only read for the first time right now on your prompting) quite positive about the future and bluntly truthful about what is currently going on

 

Can you please point me to some data? Macro data such as GDP are not indicators of what's really going on in people's lives.

It is estimated that nearly 14% of American's live in poverty - and 30% in near poverty - which equates to over 40% doing it really tough

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
Poverty in the United States - Wikipedia

 

Sure. This (Our World in Data) website is an excellent quantifiable source of the progress made that takes a long term view.

 

Interesting page. The two that popped up top of the list when I logged in were:

Number of rough sleepers in England has increased more than 250% since 2010
How do we know the history of extreme poverty?

 

.... hence fake news

 

Fake news seems to apply to anything right leaners don't want to hear - even when proven true.

Despite what Gambler might believe - the definition of a concentration camp describes the US detention camps:

concentration camp | Facts, History, & Definition
Concentration camp, internment centre for political prisoners and members of national or minority groups who are confined for reasons of state security, exploitation, or punishment, usually by executive decree or military order. Persons are placed in such camps often on the basis of identification with a particular ethnic or political group rather than as individuals and without benefit either of indictment or fair trial. Concentration camps are to be distinguished from prisons interning persons lawfully convicted of civil crimes and from prisoner-of-war camps in which captured military personnel are held under the laws of war. They are also to be distinguished from refugee camps or detention and relocation centres for the temporary accommodation of large numbers of displaced persons.

 

I did ..... extreme left..... propaganda

Fake news - Wikipedia

 

No idea what you just commented on ... he is mildly left but not extreme ... Medium - Media Bias/Fact Check

Again ... Rather than looking at the writer (which I agree sources should be scrutinised btw) - how about read between the lines at what is happening to the breakdown of the US political system ... as per my reply above

What are your thoughts on the article itself?

 

Worth noting that some of the collected data is a few years old (e.g. data on rape in Australia is from 2010).

 

Not much, just extreme left leaning propaganda, scare mongering.

 

Not interested in complaints or opininated bagging for the sake off negativity. Much prefer something that stretches the brain, opens the thought process and makes one think ... which is why I don't engage with most social media on the subject