These guys aren't smoking because their confidence is justified.

They are smoking for the same reason people always have, especially those with stressful jobs.

They just have a new lame excuse to cover for it.

This is less "omg these guys who work crazy hours are making something incredible"

and more "these guys who work crazy hours have made up a new justification for their age-old legal stimulant addiction"

This seems extreme. I agree with more transparency of politicians, but I don't see our current problems as stemming directly from the fact that our military has top secret information and an intelligence service.

The conditions under which democracy works are well understood.

You need a populace educated on how the society and government works at least in its broad strokes. That education should also instill a preference for democracy and describe the pitfalls of other systems.

An independent media system to keep the voter base reasonably informed.

Systems in place to prevent corruption.

Every single one of these have been eroded over 1-2 generations by crony capitalism to enable wealth accumulation.

I would not say that democracy in the US is a reasonable example of what democracy can look like. It is what happens when democracy is being deliberately sabotaged.

And to use a ladle

...You can but only in a really shitty way.

Which likely largely applies to the guy flying these flags.

Blue Line flag: "Authority should tread on THEM" Gasden flag: "Authority should respect ME"

I think Lindsay Ellis has a video that catalogs a lot of video of drunk conservatives who have behaved badly and are getting arrested, and their shock and horror that they do not get a free pass for being from the right "team".

There absolutely is a large segment of our society that implicitly believes that they deserve rights and that others are 'too dangerous' and deserve harsh oppression.

I think a lot of us further on the left forget that the concept of equal rights is fairly new to our species, and that humans will readily absorb 'rules for thee but not for me' - especially when it's encouraged by 24/7 propaganda outlets that we can't stand to watch.

The problem is means to inflict consequence. Access.

Sheeran is an entertainer, so we as a public mass have obvious ways to impact him - stop listening to his music, and complain to companies that depend on our participation (radio stations) that we don't want to hear him.

Most of us have never heard of Kraft. We do not know what discretionary things we can stop doing to hurt his career. He is a billionaire who owns property and business - so he is less vulnerable overall to public outcry.

And you know who is even less vulnerable and more culpable? The current government of Israel. Why arent we attacking them? They are the ones actually guilty of the genocide. Why? Lack of access.

Really, the only way to systemically support Palestinians is to support democratic candidates at the federal level who will shut down US subsidies to Israel.

But people are terrified of our democratic machine because our populace has put its own maniac and his goons in twice.

Compared to facing the existential dread of likely needing some kind of civil conflict here to desperately try to correct the balance of power to something more humane....

Calling radio stations to complain about Sheeran feels pretty good.

What this tells people is "fuck off, you are on your own. Government doesn't work for people like you."

But that isn't how Democracy is supposed to function. It is actually supposed to develop and implement policy to improve the quality of life for the general public - especially the broad swaths of people who work for a living.

It's also insane that the advice is to "get a roommate" at the same time leaders are crying that people in their 20s and 30s aren't having enough kids. Guess what? If you make people live like they are too young and broke to have kids for the first 25 years of adulthood, they will.... Not have kids. Shocking.

I think you are forgetting that we are living in an era where "the internet trolls" are proving to be prevalent or at least highly influential in the real world. The US has elected a complete brat twice, the AFD are threatening a fourth reich, and terms like "looksmaxing" have entered the general lexicon.

No one who watched gamergate occur on in the mid 2010s, and then tried to explain it to normal people who said 'oh that's just niche internet drama', and then watched the rise of the alt-right, is ever going to see dangerous bullshit online and believe it will just stay there ever again.

If you understand that Griffith is not someone anyone should want to emulate, I don't think this meme is about you anyway.

This meme is about the insecure dudes who are hurt and angry and decide to channel that into some cringe edge-lord 'I want to hurt everyone else and feel nothing but that it is my destiny to be on top' phase.

I'm a woman with a STEM PhD, and several of the guys I've dated have decided to prove they are smart enough to date me by looking up my publications from grad school (20 years ago now), reading them, and then trying to impress me by trying to poke holes in them or otherwise making me defend them on the spot.

That tactic is now an instant method to get me to end contact. It betrays a deep insecurity with my having expertise greater than theirs on any topic, even ones I have decades of work in. No Jimmy, you can't become my peer by reading a few papers. I don't think you are dumb, but I'm not spending time with you to massage your ego about your insecurity. Byyyye

Nononono.... New America is next to Arizona.

That is, of course, going to be New Trumperton