Europeans don't, maybe sometimes can't, understand the absolute crushing pressure and gaslighting that most Americans are put through to make us the way we are.
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@quinn Hollywood plays a big part too.
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Europeans don't, maybe sometimes can't, understand the absolute crushing pressure and gaslighting that most Americans are put through to make us the way we are.
It's a decades long effort to turn most of the population into a money and power pump for a tiny elite class, all while grinding us into dust.
We're crazy and scared all the time, and have no idea what's going on in the rest of the world.
There's a reason dying of opiates seemed like a rational choice to a lot of people.
@quinn I do have to say that some Europeans have some of the same issues. Brexit immediately springs to mind. They definitely lag behind us in the sheer self destruction, self hate, etc this society has built up, but there are a lot of "elites" trying very hard to do this same stuff everywhere.
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@NickSchwanck @quinn It's very hard to put into words. We all grow up here in a system that continuously every single day all day for all our lives gaslights and lies to us, telling us evil is good and good is evil, hate is love and love is hate, etc etc. A whole Orwellian nightmare. We're taught from day one not to recognize or accept this system for what it is despite all the warnings (we're supposed to reject the warners as biased.)
As I said, it's a whole system.
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@NickSchwanck @quinn The deadly dangerous power of mainstream media simply can't be understated can it? And, by the same token, a lot of social media as well. Facebook and now X are particularly dangerous for doing this same stuff to people.
Some of this comes down to human nature. If a person is saturated with this stuff and they've grown up taught not to think for themselves, then it tells them how to think and it works.
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Europeans don't, maybe sometimes can't, understand the absolute crushing pressure and gaslighting that most Americans are put through to make us the way we are.
It's a decades long effort to turn most of the population into a money and power pump for a tiny elite class, all while grinding us into dust.
We're crazy and scared all the time, and have no idea what's going on in the rest of the world.
There's a reason dying of opiates seemed like a rational choice to a lot of people.
"money and power pump for a tiny elite class"
I think it’s not much different in some European countries, such as Germany. At the very least, things are moving in the same direction.
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Europeans don't, maybe sometimes can't, understand the absolute crushing pressure and gaslighting that most Americans are put through to make us the way we are.
It's a decades long effort to turn most of the population into a money and power pump for a tiny elite class, all while grinding us into dust.
We're crazy and scared all the time, and have no idea what's going on in the rest of the world.
There's a reason dying of opiates seemed like a rational choice to a lot of people.
@quinn Imperialism is a cold mother
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"money and power pump for a tiny elite class"
I think it’s not much different in some European countries, such as Germany. At the very least, things are moving in the same direction.
@aerofreak @quinn Oh yes. The whole world is turning right. Pretty hard, I might add. Everything with empathy, care, or equal rights is being marked a target.
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Europeans don't, maybe sometimes can't, understand the absolute crushing pressure and gaslighting that most Americans are put through to make us the way we are.
It's a decades long effort to turn most of the population into a money and power pump for a tiny elite class, all while grinding us into dust.
We're crazy and scared all the time, and have no idea what's going on in the rest of the world.
There's a reason dying of opiates seemed like a rational choice to a lot of people.
@quinn We (europeans) can't see the process of american indoctrination but we are starting to see results.
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Europeans don't, maybe sometimes can't, understand the absolute crushing pressure and gaslighting that most Americans are put through to make us the way we are.
It's a decades long effort to turn most of the population into a money and power pump for a tiny elite class, all while grinding us into dust.
We're crazy and scared all the time, and have no idea what's going on in the rest of the world.
There's a reason dying of opiates seemed like a rational choice to a lot of people.
It is the endgame of neoliberal capitalism. Winner takes all…
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Europeans don't, maybe sometimes can't, understand the absolute crushing pressure and gaslighting that most Americans are put through to make us the way we are.
It's a decades long effort to turn most of the population into a money and power pump for a tiny elite class, all while grinding us into dust.
We're crazy and scared all the time, and have no idea what's going on in the rest of the world.
There's a reason dying of opiates seemed like a rational choice to a lot of people.
@quinn sure. But we can’t change you, you have to do it yourselves.
Having to pay attention, just to see what’s going to broken next, is no fun either.
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Europeans don't, maybe sometimes can't, understand the absolute crushing pressure and gaslighting that most Americans are put through to make us the way we are.
It's a decades long effort to turn most of the population into a money and power pump for a tiny elite class, all while grinding us into dust.
We're crazy and scared all the time, and have no idea what's going on in the rest of the world.
There's a reason dying of opiates seemed like a rational choice to a lot of people.
@quinn I can't speak from an European point of view, as I'm south american, but what makes it hard to empathise is that the grinding machine that is the USA gaslights and crushes people everywhere, with different intentions, but outside it's "walls" the consequences are more dire.
And although I wholeheartedly agree that it's not the general people's fault, that the system is design to be this way, I find it very concerning when even the so called cultural or intelectual "elite", that has access to information, that travels, that sees the world, so many times do so with this vision as if they are coming from the centre of things, from the standard, and everything else is periferic and deviation. And I came to see thing like this after working for years with us-americans.
So, although I do feel bad for the people there, I feel worse for my people, as the poor here, when the US elects a supremacist, actuality die from hunger (and drug abuse and crime caused by lack of resources, etc). -
@quinn IIRC it was Republicans in the 1970s who decided that an educated population would be too much of a hassle (and not likely to vote conservative)?
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@aerofreak @quinn Oh yes. The whole world is turning right. Pretty hard, I might add. Everything with empathy, care, or equal rights is being marked a target.
@gimulnautti
Yes, and we must seize every opportunity to nip these efforts in the bud. -
Europeans don't, maybe sometimes can't, understand the absolute crushing pressure and gaslighting that most Americans are put through to make us the way we are.
It's a decades long effort to turn most of the population into a money and power pump for a tiny elite class, all while grinding us into dust.
We're crazy and scared all the time, and have no idea what's going on in the rest of the world.
There's a reason dying of opiates seemed like a rational choice to a lot of people.
@quinn I would like to tell you that a lot of Europeans can understand you very well and therefore make a difference between your government and the people.
I'm a German emigrated to France, with family in the USA, fleeing from Hitler already in 1923. Those who didn't flee had to work hard on their responsabilities, their blind spots, and how to avoid such a horror another time. It's our heritage, more relevant than ever, with the rise of fascism in Europe too. Democracy is hard work.
I could -
@quinn For me, the reason that is hard to understand is that information is easily obtainable if looking outside. However it seems more like an unwillingness of many (not all I know ofc) to do so, so they actively choose the gaslighting.
And yes, this also happens in my country and Europe among some groups. -
@quinn I would like to tell you that a lot of Europeans can understand you very well and therefore make a difference between your government and the people.
I'm a German emigrated to France, with family in the USA, fleeing from Hitler already in 1923. Those who didn't flee had to work hard on their responsabilities, their blind spots, and how to avoid such a horror another time. It's our heritage, more relevant than ever, with the rise of fascism in Europe too. Democracy is hard work.
I could@quinn see a thought shift in my US-family up from the 1980s, when the system crashed some of them (poisoning incidents in factories, no healthcare system etc.), and the evangelicals did what Talibans do now: They offered straightforward help and a new community, at the cost of total brainwashing. When the first one converted and started praising Trump on Facebook, I thought it was just an isolated case. Today I’ve cut off all contact because they’ve all gone over to the other side.
It is not
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I often cite this article you wrote in 2013 to show the dark side of the U.S..
I guess things are even worse, now.https://medium.com/quinn-norton/the-values-of-money-f3db7e13e6e3
@GustavinoBevilacqua @quinn
thanks for sharing this! Parts one and two were great reads. Did a part three ever come to be? 
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@quinn see a thought shift in my US-family up from the 1980s, when the system crashed some of them (poisoning incidents in factories, no healthcare system etc.), and the evangelicals did what Talibans do now: They offered straightforward help and a new community, at the cost of total brainwashing. When the first one converted and started praising Trump on Facebook, I thought it was just an isolated case. Today I’ve cut off all contact because they’ve all gone over to the other side.
It is not
@quinn just family ties that teach us about the USA.
We have excellent investigative documentaries covering the historical background, people’s everyday lives, the crimes and life-threatening ideologies of the super-rich, right through to the living conditions of the poor and marginalised. I remember one of an investigative reporter visiting his MAGA family for a big intergenerational meeting, talking with the people ... these personal insights were more horror than every news!
We see that -
@quinn just family ties that teach us about the USA.
We have excellent investigative documentaries covering the historical background, people’s everyday lives, the crimes and life-threatening ideologies of the super-rich, right through to the living conditions of the poor and marginalised. I remember one of an investigative reporter visiting his MAGA family for a big intergenerational meeting, talking with the people ... these personal insights were more horror than every news!
We see that@quinn many aspects of life resemble those of a developing country, not a “rich superpower”. And at the same time, we can hardly believe how this leads people to take the completely wrong side.
Educated people in Europe know that very well.
But the disgust and rage against a rogue state which is destroying everything in the world we fought for for decades, is growing rapidly. So we're back to the lessons of history ... -
@GustavinoBevilacqua @quinn
thanks for sharing this! Parts one and two were great reads. Did a part three ever come to be? @nicksilkey @GustavinoBevilacqua @quinn
Remove the admiration for the self-made man and the other part is painfully true for any European country I've lived in.
[The long admired idea of the “self-made man” isn't self-made because he's built the strong and loyal social connections that will support him, defend him, and turn to him for wisdom and affection throughout his long and social life.]
Here we just hypocritically pretend it doesn't work this way.
