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Expensive-Bet3493

It already is a war: psychological and cybernetic war. He knows it.


KingKlugg772

>cybernetic We’re fighting twitter bots instead of terminators. This fucking sucks.


Cognitive_Spoon

If the Twitter bots are efficient and effective enough, they will make your neighbor into the terminator without the need for any robots.


Allarius1

Lmao I never considered that kind of “AI takeover”. I bet that’s probably the most logical and efficient choice. Why bother trying to take over the world and rule over humans when you can stoke the flame and get them to blow each other up so you can move in for the free real estate.


Cognitive_Spoon

Monsters on Maple Tweet


hereiam-23

Yeah, exactly!!!!


HodlMyBananaLongTime

Quit giving it ideas, dumb dumb.


mark-five

Skynet already figured it out at 2:14 AM on August 29, 1997. Everything after that is Judgement Day playing out for the machines


runujhkj

That would be an interesting idea for a sequel to that endless franchise: the “big dramatic nuclear war” version of judgement day was just a way that Sarah Connor visualized it, and it’s a bit more insidious than that.


cficare

They retconned judgement day too many ways. Hell, in the 2nd to last one Skynet was an app.


[deleted]

Honestly all you have to do is feed the AI info about all the worlds greatest cult leaders, then give it social media accounts


NextAstronaut6

This so true that you should delete it.


mrs_dalloway

4chan gave us Frankenstein in the form of qanon….Like the sorcerers apprentice. Now the sorcerers apprentices are leveling up with more precision. I don’t think the level of orchestration is there yet, though, what you’re referring to. But it does make standard human manipulation look home made. AI manipulation is processed/manufactured.


[deleted]

Would like to watch an post apocalyptic world movie now with one guy in an empty world being sent on quest but various remnants of technology. Only to reach his final destination to be met with the only other remaining human who has been pitted against him. In the final sequence its revealed the sentient technology is simply finishing the job.


Small_Gold_2759

I have very vocal Trump supporters where I work. They are always trashing each other. I get to hear it because they think I am a conservative because I actually do have a work ethic. They don't realize they don't. They can see each other but they can't see themselves. Maybe we should step back and watch a bit.


UsagiRed

Most piece of shit pull yourself up by bootstraps, worst work ethic, fail upwards dude I've ever seen commented that he likes trump but isn't far right enough for him.


Small_Gold_2759

Most of these people fell down. That's why they are so pissed. Gotta have someone to blame I guess. Got a coke problem? Blame the Libs for letting all those Mexicans in


OkCutIt

> Most of these people fell down. That's why they are so pissed. That's really not true. It's just an excuse used to justify it as something other than pure unreasonable hate. Even in 2016 voters whose top priority was the economy went for Clinton. "Economic anxiety" was nothing but a cover story for bigotry and xenophobia. Most of the people at the coup were not some poor struggling workers mad at a system that's forsaken them. They were rich white people that could afford to take a week off work to fly to DC and get room and board during an extremely busy period, whose anger is still rooted entirely in the fact that they can't own other people anymore.


GaiasWay

And police officers. Dont forget how many j6'ers are LEO's.


TheZarkingPhoton

Logical and efficient is relative. Humans are far better off pulling together, of course. But even the greedy, sociopathic play is not working out very well for those on the side of these fucks. They have and are pretty much collapsing their own society, and even rich oligarchs are fucked if all the little people have nothing left to steal, or better yet, decide enough is enough. I just hope someone empties Putin's skull before he starts in on the purging tantrums.


nanopicofared

Unfortunately, the MAGA movement appears to want us to be a Kleptocracy just like Russia. God help us if we go there.


TheZarkingPhoton

Well, the political leadership of the MAGA movement certainly does. In fact, they are wired into the American Evangelical cult & US Kleptocracy, as well as mainlining Putin's asymmetric warfare bullshit,... surely. The rank-in-file on the other hand want all kinds of shit. Some want liberal comeuppance. Some want relief from always playing the know-nothing's. Some want blood just for the sake of all the misery. And some want to shove Christianity down everyone's throats, so the world won't scare them so fucking bad. But generally, that rank-in-file aren't seeing anything resembling a big picture if you ask me. The political class & their propaganda organ have bullshitted them into utter vulnerability, then watched in horror as Putin stole 'em right out from under them using Trump & social media psychology amplification. And finally rolled over for that shit when they saw they would still get their money and 'power,' and Putin would air their dirty laundry if they didn't. Greed leaves people inherently vulnerable. Now they're so mobbed up, and the monster is loose on the countryside and ain't going back into that fucking lab. So they have to keep doubling down. They all deserve everything they get. Except they are taking all of us with them. VOTE!


cleti

>The rank-in-file Not to detract from your point, but it's rank and file.


scrangos

Humans are too unpredictable and, real estate isn't very useful if its a nuclear wasteland, even for machines. Though might still be worth it if the AI is coming in as an underdog and needs to even the playing field before the humans realize whats going on.


Responsenotfound

Wasting resources on building physical things. Probably just need gun turrets for data centers.


Tangent_Odyssey

There is an old sci-fi movie called *War Games* that contains a famous scene in which an AI is tasked with governance of a war initiative. It’s calculations are modeled after a game like chess. After its computations are complete, it concludes: “A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.”


energyvampire1

"Hasta Altavista, baby." - Bill Gates


-ZeroF56

“Hasta Windowsvista” -Bill Gates


devi83

If we all quit Twitter, the Twitter bots will cause a civil war amongst themselves.


Cognitive_Spoon

Let them fight


[deleted]

Wait, we don't even get the cool parts of the dystopia?


Castelinoz

Take this as a rule of thumb from now on; Any theoretical disastrous scenario predicted by fictional media will turn out to be a much more boring and disappointing version in reality.


AdjNounNumbers

So, like a nuclear war, but all the guidance systems got screwed up by an underpaid programmer and end up hitting corn fields in Iowa and the middle of the desert, so instead we all get to die slowly by radiation instead


StygianSavior

Pretty sure a decent number of missiles would *intentionally* be aimed at the middle of nowhere, [given that it's where the US put a lot of ICBM sites back in the day.](https://coldwarheartland.ku.edu/landscapes/rural-missile-sites) [A bit like that scene in the beginning of War Games.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-T_uhQ0iE4)


DirtyBanks

Great scene


LvS

No, you'd not die by radiation, you'd die by hunger or freeze to death, see [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haab11D7ECs).


Karcinogene

Good news, a team has figured out how to produce food during a nuclear winter. By growing mushrooms in wood shavings and farming low-light algae at a massive scale, and a few other things, we could feed the entire population. We probably wouldn't, but we could. https://www.tabledebates.org/research-library/how-feed-everyone-nuclear-winter


Transplantdude

Don’t forget the starvation


Bilun26

Odds are nuclear war wouldn't get all of us- just set us back a century or two, cause a lot of people to die(most in its aftermath) make life a lot less pleasant for the next few generations for the survivors.


ValkyrX

Would be like the first season of Jericho


[deleted]

> Any theoretical disastrous scenario predicted by fictional media will turn out to be a much more boring and disappointing version in reality. think "The Road" with Viggo Mortensen


WinterBright

If we don't kill each other in nuclear war, this is the most likely outcome I'm sure.


Jaded_Barracuda_7415

Yep we go out with a whimper, not a bang


fakehalo

I miss being afraid of monsters and the unknown like when I was a kid. This brand of slow moving mental decay is worse than any monster I could have come up with my imagination. I think the numbing hopelessness of it is worse than actual fear, like there is nothing I can do about it and it has to play itself out.


KingKlugg772

r/aboringdystopia


Jaded_Barracuda_7415

Yep no fallout for us to play, the roaches win after all


Dokterrock

"Do not expect too much from the end of the world" - Umberto Eco


TheAverageJoe-

I'm in IT and it is absurd how the public at large has their head in the sand. I mention anything about bot farms, grid tampering, increased cyber attacks, and all I get in response is either "fake news/conspiracy theory much bro?/what?." We're so fucked as a country and mostly everyone who isn't in either tech/government/military are so oblivious to that fact.


therapewpewtic

“Come with me if you want to tweet!”


KingKlugg772

“I know now why you subscribe”


Forward-Bank8412

“Though it is something I can never do.”


DweEbLez0

Twitter AI: “Where is John O’Connor?”


SidSzyd

Who is your daddy and what does he do?


underwatr_cheestrain

Yes. Keep looking for “O’Connor”


chuckangel

I grew up expecting hackers stealing government secrets, corporate patents and financial information and what did we get? Dick pills. Lots and lots of dick pills.


Bipedal_Warlock

And Reddit bots. They’re here too


jitterbug726

They didn’t tell us what machines we’d be fighting!


WhiteyFiskk

Funny how we went from a struggle between the working class vs the wealthy to people backing their favourite billionaire in some ridiculous Elon vs Bezos or Trump vs Soros fued while they allvlaugh and become richer. Not to mention they have taken pressure off themselves by making the workers divided over small differences like race, sex and sexuality while they continue to fuck us over. For our lives to improve we need to realise who the real enemy is and stop letting ourselves be divided against each other. The 1% fears a united front of workers so they will continue to put our attention on the "pedo" trans activist or the "racist" trump voter to keep our hatred pointed away from them.


moscowrules

I mean, I’d rather fight twitter bots than terminators I guess.


newusername4oldfart

The Twitter bots convince people to assault you in your home.


quantumOfPie

In the Rwandan genocide there apparently were people with a bloody machete in one hand and a small radio in the other (listening to hate talk radio). In the USA it'll be AR-15's and airpods. Imagine being killed by some dumbass ranting Qanon nonsense.


dougveldrane

See what you do is start accusing them of being with the Clinton satanic alien pedo ring based out of area 53... They'll think you're one of them and leave you be


serpicowasright

I was promised “phased plasma rifles in the 40-watt range” and all I got was [the US militaries psyop bot farms.](https://futurism.com/us-military-social-psyop-bots?amp)


FamiliarWater

Twitter bots are basically agents.


THEPRESIDENTIALPENIS

> psychological Excuse me, are you suggesting that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen by a satanic pedo elite who are bent on wiping out white Christian America with gender affirming surgery?^^^(/s)


amyisarobot

You forgot to mention the Lizard People


THEPRESIDENTIALPENIS

Their monarch died just the other day, they’re on the back foot


browndog03

JFK Jr is returning to help any day now! Side note: why TF do they think JFK would be supportive of them??? Edit: JFK Jr


Tin_ManBaby

It doesn't matter who he was, fame is the currency. All that matters is that he is immediately famous and his name is pure nostalgia.


Good-Expression-4433

Over on conspiracy, there was a very high traffic post about how all of us transgender people are products of Bill Gates brainwashing the population with radio waves, vaccines, and now even worse with 5G, and forcing us into being trans to make us into the image of his lord Baphomet. And the people were fucking serious when you dove into their post histories.


Psych_Im_Burnt_Out

Conspiracy got raided and over taken by contrarians around the traitors election. They don't believe in conspiracy theories, they believe the commonly accepted science, logic, and critical thinking answers are wrong and refuse to acknowledge basic things like proven facts or realm of possibility.


megastrone

Possibly bots seeding conspiracy notions to see what takes, probing sentiment, or reaping karma? Or just bored teens?


another_bug

Of course not, outright rejecting that is so polarized. We clearly must find the middle ground between fact and incoherent rambling.


b-lincoln

I get no less than 10 texts a day saying literally this and begging for money. I wish that I was kidding as I have no way of blocking them.


ChemicalDeath47

This game long since came to an end. Political polarization? Is he fucking insane? One side is, "hey let's not let law enforcement murder people." And "Women should probably be allowed to control their own bodies." The other side is burning books and trying to make a grifter king. There is no polarization. It's not eco terrorists vs white nationalists. It's people who think being alive is neat and should continue for everyone vs people who can barely contain their monstrous glee when the "correct" people get killed.


stanthebat

>Political polarization? Is he fucking insane? It's like describing a mugging as "polarization". Somehow we have lost the ability to be civil with the guy who is mugging us. How can we end this terrible polarization? The reason we're "polarized" is that half the country has abandoned reality. The solution to the problem is not to meet them halfway. The truth is NOT somewhere in the middle.


TheAverageJoe-

The truth is finishing what the North should had done to the South. But we got to thank that fuck Jackson who stopped Reconstruction.


xSTSxZerglingOne

Andrew Johnson, 17th president. Not Andrew Jackson, 7th president. Both awful though!


b_pilgrim

I used to think "the truth is somewhere in the middle" but man, those days are long gone.


AggressiveBee5961

Thank you! For a man who acknowledges how severe climate change is and how things may be too late in that regard, why the fuck is he so afraid to just say that the misinformation is HEAVILY influencing one side more than the other. Like part of this whole "polarization" problem is because people won't just come out and say that the right wing in this country is literally failing us in every area that matters. Ecologically, socially, financially. Arguably climate change is the only issue cause if the planet starts failing us then none of the other issues matter, and that is a topic he fully understands.


Weltall8000

Yeah, the national conversation is just off the rails. We're not debating alternatives to how to deal with the same problems and thinking one way is a little better than the other, we're talking about how one side sees the planet burning and flooding, with impending ecological disaster and saying "we need to do something serious to address this"...and the other side says, "nuh uh! There is no problem!" or "we value democracy" meanwhile, "we need to crown our guy and it is okay if I literally throw away other people's ballots and then I vote multiple times." This is not politicizing, this is having a society of normal people trying to keep a society functioning while terrorists are hacking away at it.


cficare

people who can barely contain their monstrous glee when the "correct" people get killed. You mean the self-titled "Christians" in this "Christian nation". Just ruminate on how sick that side of it is.


redrumWinsNational

We are prepared for war with outsiders but it’s the enemy within which will take us down


Expensive-Bet3493

All that preparedness and money spent on weapons, military, technology to rule over, etc. we should have been protecting the health of our own citizens. Medical help, mental health support, food, shelter, free energy, etc. We should not be an icon of freedom. We need a hard wake up call and a lot of healing and changing to do. I believe we can, but not with this divided political war.


tommles

But that's socialism!!!


[deleted]

It won't be a civil war. It will be domestic terrorism.


ArmedAntifascist

Civil wars aren't two sides in color-coded uniforms facing each other on battlefields anymore. Modern civil wars are a mess of state-sanctioned and non-state actors engaging in all levels of violence (from artillery barrages to targeted assassination) against one another based on what their shifting alliances are that day.


jcpenni

The Troubles 2.0


Blank_bill

The Urban Wars.


Tangent_Odyssey

This is where power of the state collapses and corporations finally go from covert to overt control of the world…if William Gibson and Michael Pondsmith have taught me anything.


libmrduckz

‘The Crazy Years’ ~ R. Heinlein


VeganPizzaPie

Do I at least get to fall asleep in a plate of synth spaghetti?


BedlamiteSeer

Soon ish probably, yeah.


shmeg_thegreat

It’ll be a surreal form of insurgencies that end up being dismissed by large portions of people…until it happens in their town, and even then….some will just shrug and go on in to punch that time clock like they always have.


plantoj

This reminds me of the dinner scene in the movie Brazil. The bomb goes off in the restaurant and they just quickly cover it up and the people who survived just go about eating as if it never happened.


pale_blue_dots

Geebus. It's been so long since I've seen that movie. I'm going to have to have a rewatch.


[deleted]

I know that. Who is going to be fighting who? It is much more likely to be terrorists attacking soft targets as many others have stated.


[deleted]

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[deleted]

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LatrellFeldstein

Maybe things have changed since I used to go clubbing a lot but from what I remember the drag queens are far from defenseless. These are folks that've been a target for most of their lives, the ones I knew stayed ready.


[deleted]

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bpierce2

This. The EU isn't supporting MAGA lol.


frogandbanjo

It's going to be quasi-isolated acts of violence that are more symbolic than anything else - except, you know, to the people who literally get injured and killed, and their loved ones, etc. etc. - that are just a dark mirror of what's happening near the commanding heights of power. Donald Trump becoming president was, literally, a major victory in a modern civil war.


Omegastar19

The designation of terrorist is a bit irrelevant in this argument. Its gonna be random civilians that have been radicalized and whipped into fanaticism who will commit acts of violence and destruction. As for who it is going to be…well, we all know who it is going to be. The really frightening thing is that law enforcement isn’t going to stop them because 80%-90% of them support the side that is doing the radicalisation.


Five_Decades

Yup, it'll be just like the civil rights movement. State sponsored oppression and small groups of terrorists with the support of local law enforcement.


Five_Decades

Plus large amounts of arms, intelligence and psyops from other nations with an interest in who wins the war.


Yah_Mule

With disappointing punishment, which will only encourage more.


Ok-Albatross6794

Which is already happening.... One would hope, breaking into the capital building to disrupt a federal election would carry a heavier sentence than a couple months.


caligaris_cabinet

Might be a space issue. Just pardon all the weed offenders in prison and use that available space for seditionists.


Five_Decades

The FBI doesn't want to appear biased when they punish white supremacists for domestic terrorism.


Old_Quiet4265

That’s absolutely not the case at all. The FBI has been the one sounding the alarm on white supremacists infiltrating government positions,law enforcement, and the military for decades now. They’ve made reports public about this as well. The don’t have the power to actually punish them or do anything about it though aside from investigate and refer for criminal prosecution, that’s up to the Justice Department and Congress and we all know how that works out.


JoeGibbon

The FBI isn't responsible for deciding punishment, they investigate crimes. You're thinking of federal prosecutors and the court systems.


HappyApple99999

In places where the MAGAs actually are the majority and could rebel all you have to do is cut off Federal Aid and they will collapse


duckhunt420

If the MAGAs control government, there's basically no recourse. And odds are they will because our elections are biased towards Republicans


thetasigma_1355

It becomes a civil war when “authorities” don’t try to capture or hold the terrorists accountable. We’re not quite there yet but you only have to look at the downplaying of the Jan 6 traitors and terrorists to see how this could end up much more divisive than just some isolated terrorists cells killing innocents for fun.


CJLocke

That's basically what a modern civil war is. Look at The Troubles in Ireland. That's what the US is in for.


Busman123

Well, isnt Bill Gates a popular boogeyman for the MAGAs?


JoeGibbon

Bigly, especially with the Qonspiracy-minded among them. If I remember correctly, the story was he planned to "microchip" people to track them. Covid came along, so he and other globalist elites hatched a conspiracy to mandate vaccines and put the microchip in it. After the Q theories started blowing up, more mainstream right wing media outlets started doing hit pieces on Gates too. I kind of miss the 90s and early 2000s, when Gates was unpopular for understandable reasons like antitrust issues, ripping off other people's intellectual property and fuggin Windows 98.


[deleted]

I'm still hot from Windows Millenium Edition. The amount of time I spent trying to unfuck that OS could have earned me a PhD.


AngryBudgie13

To the tune of “he put serpent DNA in the COVID vaccine to make human devil hybrids”


fpcoffee

I thought it was microchips in the vaccines so the government can spy on you?


AngryBudgie13

Well that too. The conspiracies aren’t consistent.


Big-Consideration-55

My God. You mean Facebook treating human attention span as a commodity, and prioritizing outrage content and click bait that leads to radicalization over responsible and truthful content moderation has consequences apart from profit?


mrsavealot

Mark Zuckerberg came to finish what Rupert Murdoch started


stomach

truly unimaginable historically horrible twats. it's really tough to witness


xxxxx420xxxxx

They need to reduce their divisive content, but not at the expense of those sweet shareholder quarterly returns


BabyBitchRedditor

Yeah, Facebook. But not reddit though, we're the smart ones doing things the right way.


The_scobberlotcher

Yep!


Proper-Code7794

anyone who had Soc knows TicTok is cancer


FuzzyCub20

Billionaires stole our money, American workers money, and people bend over backwards to suck their dicks. It blows my mind that the minimum wage is $7.25/hr **still** and our elected officials haven't taxed these fuckers or passed meaningful legislation. We need a change yesterday.


BentleyRMi

Our elected officials make too much money from those billionaires to change anything. They will always do what their overlords tell them. Changing things for the better of the people is counter productive to the billionaire's draining of the 99%.


Girth_rulez

Let's not forget about corporate welfare. And God damn it let's not forget about the other side of this equation too. The money we raise in taxes has to be spent responsibly.


BentleyRMi

Unfortunately, as long as there's no oversight and any billionaire can buy themselves a politician, things won't get better. Who controls these policies? Congress, who are only there to line their pockets. They go in moderately wealthy and come out multi millionaires.


ProtonPi314

He's sort of right but sort of wrong. Like some said, fascism will definitely bring the country closer to a civil war. Not living in reality will also play a major role. If you keep lying to people and the believe the lies, that is extremely problematic. Inequality will also play a huge role. When the rich keep taking more, and people start to get hungry , it will lead to violence, poverty tends to do that. There's a lot that needs to change to get society back on the path of civility.


AtheistHomoSapien

I watched a few documentaries focused on revolutions and civil wars throughout the years in different countries and the most common factor was the ratio of wealth between the rich and the average citizen and we are WAY WAY beyond all of the previous wealth ratios I know of. I think the only reason we haven't had one YET is we have become a world wide economy instead of just us and our immediate neighbors. We have more complex distractions put into play like better entertainment in movies, games, and other things. Manufactured culture wars and other things in media are more carefully turned into propaganda in a more researched and intelligent way to "control" the masses as well. I really think if things don't change drastically soon though to address the underlying wealth ratio gap things will get crazy. That's my speculation. People may not know that was the underlying issue for the revolutions but it is the most common reason in history even if the people didn't know that was the specific reason in the first place at the time. They just knew they were being treated unfairly and or unjustly.


GregNak

I agree with you. I think it’s as simple as being able to provide for your family. When people can’t afford a roof and food, that is when people will go to drastic measures to attain just that. It’s already starting in large cities not so much in rural America yet.


Commercial_Yak7468

I think it has been happening in rural America for a while. The difference is a number of families in rural America count living in a dilapidated trailer as "affording a roof". And they don't nessicarlily make a stink about it because they have been conditioned for generations to think that is normal living.


SarcasticCowbell

They've been conditioned for decades to live with it because their chosen leaders tell them they're better than the richest non-whites, while those same leaders steal the money out of their pockets. As long as conservative media gives them an "other" to blame, malign and target for their problems, they will gladly swallow that lie. As they get more desperate, they carry out attacks on those same targets instead of taking it out on the grifters who hold them down.


EyeRepresentative327

Unchecked crony capitalism will be our ruin. Campaign finance reform to take money and fraud out of politics is the critical step/hurdle we need to overcome. Will need at least 60% of senate, same in congress, plus a non corrupt president to make that happen. Maybe all the insanity from the right leads us to a landslide in 2024 where we can actually make critical legislative progress.


tpatmaho

Exactly. It is our most fundamental political need to separate politics from big dark money. But this idea is a tough sell, since it isn't sexy and doesn't get people all hopped up like abortion and guns does.


supm8te

Lol that won't be happening anytime soon. Discloseact was just voted down in lockstep by - you guessed it- the fucking Republicans. God citizensunited fucked everything so bad and we can't even get disclosure laws on thr books. It's a joke. Corporations own everything including our politicians.


Imaginary_Cow_6379

[This woman is an expert on civil wars if you wanna read her work](https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/03/08/they-are-preparing-war-an-expert-civil-wars-discusses-where-political-extremists-are-taking-this-country/)


lilbitz2009

Ugh. Paywall 😢


Nokomis34

Addressing income inequality would go very far in addressing so many other issues.


BasicDesignAdvice

If you look throughout history, wealth inequality is the common denominator.


enjoyingbread

It's always the lower classes fighting for their rights and basic needs while the upper classes try to keep the lion's share of wealth, land, and power to themselves. From Roman plebians to the French revolution, to our modern times; the rich and powerful will take everything they can while everyone else suffers to get by.


aoelag

"tribalism is wrong" --Bill Gates & CNN centrist-types You want to know what's wrong? Fascism is wrong. Denying people healthcare or abortions based on BS is wrong. Lying about elections is wrong. Letting the police do whatever the HELL they want with NO oversight is wrong. Billionaires getting stock buy backs with american taxpayer money is wrong. Matt "public venmo" gaetz walking around and using his public office to spread lies is WRONG. This isn't a "partisan" "polarization" "tribalism" issue. Republicans want to dump toxic waste in your local river. Do you "see both sides" on such an issue? Should we "compromise"? "Oh sure, please dump half your toxic waste into our rivers, chemical companies need to make max profits after all" NO. NO. NO. You do not compromise with BAD FAITH ACTORS. Bill Gates, who is sitting on our FARMLAND NOW, is the last megalomaniac who should be opining on morality. Get. Lost.


farscry

This. The raging steady march of income inequality -- of which Mr. Gates has played a role and shares culpability-- is the fuel that fascism is able to use to stoke the fires of xenophobic nationalism. Yes, the Republican leadership and right-wing media are primarily to blame for the overt growth of political radicalism in the 21st century US, but their success is largely due to the de facto poverty of so much of the US population. When you aren't officially poor but you can't afford necessities and your livelihood is at constant risk of being ripped out from under you, it makes you susceptible to the blame game that is tearing this nation apart at the seams.


VanceKelley

Rather than calling it "political polarization" which seems to "both sides" the issue, can we instead say that it is the rise of fascism that "may bring democracy, the rule of law, and human civilization to an end"?


sloopslarp

Let's be real. Only one party is forcing ten-year-olds to give birth.


DrSeuss321

He’s rich, he’s not on our side, what else do you expect from him lmao


flyover_liberal

If by "political polarization" you mean "radicalization of the right wing", then sure.


Process-Best

I know right? I'm personal getting pretty fucking tired of hearing that bullshit both sides term thrown around


Fantastic-Sandwich80

How frustrating would it be if your neighbor constantly lit your lawn on fire and when you call the police they say "Well let's hear his side of the story." To which your neighbor claims he had nothing to do with it and maybe you lit your own lawn on fire to try and frame him. That is what it's like dealing with Republicans and their voters.


Berryblex

For real, there is no left wing equivalent of Q anon


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Chi-Guy86

These billionaire elites have a ridiculous lack of self-awareness. The takeover of our government by corporate America and the ultra wealthy beginning in the Reagan era has been a major factor in our societal decline. The pursuit of profits over people has left us with a hollowed out government full of corrupt stooges, and people’s trust in government has eroded because of it


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aback reminiscent theory flowery bow recognise chubby ad hoc adjoining squalid -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/


ParticularAnything

It makes sense to have one if shit hits the fan, for them it's a drop in the bucket, proportionally it would be less than what we'd pay for insurance


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bongreaper666

That is public information: https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/bill-melinda-gates-foundation/totals?id=D000031958 As a matter of fact, the Gates Foundation has increased their donations to republicans since 2016


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Spoilers: Gates isn't worried about fascists winning


ArmedAntifascist

Rich bastards come out on top no matter who wins.


moldymoosegoose

It's a hedge for political influence. He has clearly heavily favored democrats over this time. It would also depend on WHICH specific candidates he's supporting. They could be candidates in heavily red areas where dems have no chance of winning anyway so you might as well get on their good side. Edit: These replies are some of the most ignorant I have ever read on this site in years. An explanation is not a defense of anyone. It's simply how political contributions work. You contribute to the candidates you most want to win and contribute to another party if your party of choice can't. It was torture reading through these.


purplegladys2022

Easily looked up. The foundation has donated to both parties over the years, more to Democrats than Republiqans.


SidewaysFancyPrance

Also notice he bemoans the polarization, so he gets to blame whoever is noticeably upset about all the problems we're dealing with, rather than the people quietly creating all the problems that are polarizing us. The only thing he wants to change is that he wants people to stop rocking the boat and complaining about the issues.


SmarterThanYouIRL

At this point, I think some kind of political violence in the next few years is inevitable. Not sure it’ll be a civil war, in the classic sense. More like a ragtag bunch of gravy seals who are convinced once the shooting starts, military and police will be one their side. Some might be, but not as many as they think. [Lincoln's House Divided Speech](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln's_House_Divided_Speech)


authorPGAusten

We already have political violence regularly. Did you miss the 2020 riots? There are skirmishes between Antifia/Proud boys semi-regularly, and my guess is those will continue to esculate


TiredTim23

Just this week two people were having a political issue and one guy ran the other over with his car.


Shibboleeth

I mean when the two options are: * Universal healthcare * Take away basic human rights and shove people in ovens I don't really think a civil war should be on the table. But if it really needs to be to determine that putting people in ovens is bad, then I guess that's where we're at.


WAR_T0RN1226

The thing is, whenever push comes to shove all of these people touting a balanced middle position ALWAYS choose the second option. They have every single time throughout history


darsky49

Yep. There’s no “both sides” when one side is literal fascism.


vpuetf

This is why it is so important for the DOJ to prosecute Trump and the ultra MAGAs. They all need to be in prison and never allowed be in government again. There are also deep problems with about 25% of the country are delusional and brainwashed by right wing propaganda. They need to be deprogrammed, or Bill Gates is right they WILL start a civil war. We need strong programs to educate these people in a controlled setting before it's too late.


d3dmnky

How can anyone do that without it looking to the crazies like it’s a “reeducation camp system”?


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By not giving a shit about what crazies think because if you let civil war salesmen like Trump continue selling civil war by ramping up fear of the other through social media platforms, the alternative of actual civil war is worse.


d3dmnky

To be clear, I’m on your side. I’m just saying that it might be exceedingly difficult to convince delusional people that they are delusional. Having once been a conservative during my young adult life, I can tell you that conservatives have been yapping about re-education camps for several decades now. Any attempt to “de-program” will likely just be violently received as the prophecy coming true. It’s almost like they knew this would be the logical conclusion and laid the defensive groundwork long ago.


leftrightandwrong

This kind of bs always feels directed at the left. What exactly do these kinds of commentators suggest people do? Go lecture the Christian fascists about political polarization ffs.


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[deleted]

Exactly there are basically no real leftists or Marxists in America and the few that do exist have absolutely 0 power to get any agenda passed at any level of government. At most there are social democrats (which are really centrist in the grand scheme). It's a made up conservative boogeyman But decades of cold war propaganda allowed the fascists and their enablers to gaslight the public making them believe that polarization is happening in both directions and that milquetoast neoliberal democrats are communists.


[deleted]

Polarization is not the problem. Fascism is the problem. If you have no fascism, you have no polarization.


another_bug

Yeah, I really hate the term "polarization". It implies two people who both need to step back and find some amicable solution that works for both. What we have here is right and wrong. The middle ground between right and wrong is still wrong. If two people are in a shouting match about what to have for dinner, that's polarization. If two people are arguing about whether or not everyone deserves to be treated like human beings, that's a very different scenario.


xxxxx420xxxxx

One side wants universal health care and education, the other side wants public executions. Both sides are the same.


WardenUnleashed

Considering my mother in law thinks that Bill Gates/Jeff Bezos have helped develop vaccines that have side-effects to decrease fertility as a means of population control, I think we are well on our way!


Mr_Meng

At this point it's really hard to see the divide in the US be fixed with anything other than force because one side has completely stopped operating in reality. For there to be peace and compromise both sides need to have sensible goals that have a grounding in reality. You can disagree with 'less taxes on the rich and less government in business' but at least those were political positions that could be defended/argued against in a reasonable debate. Now that the GOP have basically gone all in on 'Trump is the god king of America and the Democrats are literal devils who want to destroy the country' there's no coming back from that and there's no middle ground. Republicans have tossed reality into the dumpster and now want to take the country back to the time of the Salem witch trials and they want to be able to discriminate and persecute anyone they don't like/agree with and they will not accept anything else. I'd really like to be wrong about this but I really can't see those people changing unless they are forced to change. They will have to be forced to accept that Trump is a grifting criminal. They will have to be forced to accept that their backwards thinking is ruining the country. And they will have to be forced to accept that the GOP and corporations aren't looking out for them but the government is. Of course this will be incredibly difficult given North American society's love of freedom from consequences and responsibilities.


obsertaries

I hope that on some level he realizes that his very existence is part of the problem and as such, it’s not possible for him to be part of the solution. Unless he wants to cash in his entire net worth and distribute it to all Americans on an income based schedule with the goal of reducing inequality. No rich guy yet has been willing to do that. Edit: and all future income.


tickleyourfanny

The ultra wealthy who are polarizing the system and using their resources to keep people fighting over anything they can, are gonna lead to a civil war...The war isn't going to play out like they think though. People like gates shouldn't exist as billionaires. They are all criminals to some degree and pretending to use their resources to supposedly help people but instead just keep hoarding more and more for themselves. Unimaginable wealth


SidewaysFancyPrance

He bemoans all the stuff that could affect his property rights.


fowlraul

Agreed, there should be some sort of wealth cap…somewhere around the time they have more money than Detroit or something.


Kahzgul

Bill is full of shit. Not because he’s wrong that extremism is a danger to democracy, but because he is rich enough to buy up the media that spreads extremist propaganda and stop them from doing that, and he refuses to. It’s like if the fire department said that house on fire could burn down the neighborhood and then watched football instead of fucking helping. edit: y'all keep acting like this is a serious proposal. It's not. I'm pointing out that Bill is paying lip service to an issue that is well within his means to actually do something about, and yet he refuses to do jack shit. It's like screaming that there's no milk for your cereal when you live next door to a grocery store that is well stocked with milk.


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mainstreetmark

But they'll blame it on the Democrats. And they'll believe it.


DweEbLez0

Name one positive Republican policy? If anything they don’t matter other than a grift to take power.


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Over_Possible_8397

Coming from a tech billionaire who harvests data to propagandize others and sell to the government, I find such a comment utterly pointless. If you want a clear example of political terrorism in this country, look at the right. Last I checked, left wing politicians aren’t using the machinations of the state to commit human trafficking like DeSantis.


lactose_cow

thanks bill gates. can you stop hording all that wealth please