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There is no ethical consumption of HBO’s Harry Potter series (www.theverge.com)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/television@piefed.social
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[+] -10 points 5 months ago (30 children)

Considering it's a democratic nation, yes they're all responsible. Trump is not some flash-in-the-pan anomaly, he is a direct result of a long-term history and culture that all Americans have been participants in.

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  • [–] 9 points 5 months ago (27 children)

    I, and everyone I know, have voted against him 3 times. We are a Republic, not a democracy.

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  • [–] 0 points 5 months ago (4 children)

    You and everyone you know plus 90 million who DGAF.

    Try to actually hear this: we, the rest of the world, are tired of your shit. Get it together.

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  • [–] 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

    They appear to have it together unless you're suggesting they're obligated to ineffectually martyr themselves for an apathetic population who won't help them. No need to antagonize the minority of good Americans.

    Everyone sucks off Luigi but at the end of the day, everyone there will let the system mulch him.

    You act tough. As a spectator, egging people on but staying out of the line of fire yourself. Armchair Rambo. But if it's your actual life on the line? Hmm, doubt you'd do what you preach if you were in their shoes.

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  • [–] -3 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    They appear to have it together unless you're suggesting they're obligated to ineffectually martyr themselves for an apathetic population who won't help them.

    This is what Americans have bragged about for years, though. The greatest and most free country in the world that could never possibly fall to a dictatorship because the people were armed and would rise up in rebellion. They loved to talk about their violent civil war past, as if some of that bravado still existed inside them. They loved to denigrate the citizens of more authoritarian states: "Why don't they just fight back? Are they stupid or cowards?".

    Yes, if the rest of the world takes Americans at their word then we do expect them to die for the mythology of their country. It's what they repeatedly said they'd do right up until the actual moment came, then they went quiet and either sulked or pretended they were fine with the house burning down.

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  • [–] -4 points 5 months ago (20 children)

    As I said, this is not just about recent history. All adult Americans are culpable for letting their country get to this stage in the first place, not that you'd ever know that from the way they behave online. Still the same massive exceptionalism ego whenever they're confronted with criticism based on reality. Still the same blame games, the same victim mentality. No accountability in sight.

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  • [–] 13 points 5 months ago (14 children)

    Yeah but with that extreme narrative we are all culprit by association with our ancestors. Like because I’m Belgian I am guilty of fucking over a whole continent ? Dude in Iran have it coming because at some point Persia was a bit into forcible borders expansion? And Germans… all of them are in the bag as well? That’s some extremely simplistic view on a very complex world.

    As much as the situation in the states is infuriating we must not generalise and antagonise the good guys over there. We kindof need them to keep steering the situation for a better turn.

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  • [–] 0 points 5 months ago (6 children)

    The whole continent I do not know, but the Congo Belge? Bro you won't get away easy with this one.

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  • [–] 6 points 5 months ago (5 children)

    Yeah because my ancestors who were very busy dying in the mines are complicit with the management of the times. All around good times IIRC.

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  • [–] -3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (4 children)

    I'm waloon too. We are responsable. It's our responsibility to change what we can. We're not talking about self flagellation.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    What would be concrete action to « change what we can » with regard to that past of ours? I’m trying to educate my sons so that they don’t grow being assholes and I behave as much as I can myself… but beside that it’s a bit unclear.

    Also in my understanding being responsible entails to a form of accountability and control over the actions : I am very sure that in my line no fucking one was ever any of that wrt Congo. We’ve been on the poor paysan side for as long as I could dig.

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  • [–] -3 points 5 months ago* (2 children)

    i dont have a precise answer mate, but doing something is better than nothing. Les sages-femmes etaient en greve a l'hopital des marolles, bah j'ai ete leur filer des courses. Quand elle s'est fait interviewe par la rtbf, elles ont dit "on a le soutient des voisins".

    On parle pas de responsabilite personelle, t'as bien raison, c'est pas ma faute si les vieux coloniaux ont ete piller l'afrique, et pareil que toi, mes ancetres etaient cheminots ou bossaient dans les mines ou a l'usine. N'empeche que si on est un pays riche a l'heure actuelle, c'est en partie grace a la colonisation. C'est de la responsabilite societale, pas individuelle.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago* (1 child)

    Je suis pas certain d’être tellement d’accord sur le dernier point. Je suspecte que ce soit principalement des individus qui ont bénéficié des pillages. Il y a eu des retombées evidentes mais la Belgique était déjà riche avant…

    Généralement en ce qui me concerne j’essaie juste d’être qqun de pas trop mal mais je ne lierai jamais ça a une cause historique précise. C’est fallacieux pour moi. Et j’en ai pas besoin. De mon point de vue c’est un devoir absolu d’être qqun de « correct ».

    Mais bon, si se culpabiliser peut aider pq pas…

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    Non bien sur, il s'agit pas de se culpabiliser. Mais bon, au niveau macro, c'est simple, des individus s'en sont mis pleins les fouilles, mais les institutions aussi. La BBL par exemple, ou de grands groupes industriels.

    Bonne journee copain

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  • [–] -5 points 5 months ago (5 children)

    Yes, all adults of a nation are responsible for cultivating the culture of that nation. As I said in another comment, Trump (and MAGA) did not magically come from nowhere. They are the result of everyone in that country celebrating ego over humility, for turning a blind eye to real problems whilst circlejerking about moral authority and greatness, for chasing division over relatively minor issues rather than finding common ground on the major ones of our time. Americans of all political leanings have been projecting their own problems for decades whilst proclaiming to have "the greatest country in the world".

    As much as the situation in the states is infuriating we must not generalise and antagonise the good guys over there. We kindof need them to keep steering the situation for a better turn.

    The "good guys" aren't steering anything. They aren't in control and the idea that things will be fixed if they were completely misses the point here. The American left is just as guilty of self-fellation when their chosen president stands up on a podium and jerks himself off about how his people are the greatest of all.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    The adults of today? Or the children of yesterday when the cards were dealt? Maybe today’s children as well since eventually they are tomorrow’s adults…

    I understand the rage but this is just too simplistic a view. And it doesn’t help, it just steer some shit.

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  • [+] -6 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    The children of today will be adults one day, at which point they will have the same adult responsibilities as any of us. You can't hold children accountable for the failings of adults, though. You seem to be making a backwards-looking, fatalistic argument that no one should be held responsible for anything because it all stems from somewhere in the past long before they were a responsible adult. I'm saying we have a responsibility as the adults of today to acknowledge the impact of history but choose empowerment and action to change our present and future. That starts with awareness and accountability, two things that are significantly lacking in our discourse currently (particularly discourse in the US, as I have been arguing).

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    /u/an4g3l meant in terms of their ancestors. They're not responsible for Belgiums occupation of Congo in the early 1900s.

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  • [–] -4 points 5 months ago

    Yes, I understand that. It was a hyperbolic response that didn't engage with the point I was making, so rather than be drawn into a pointless debate about it I chose to interpret it in a way that allowed for more relevant discussion.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago (4 children)

    Ok buddy

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  • [+] -8 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    How very American of you to use some condescending, throwaway one-liner to exit the conversation and make yourself feel better, rather than respond thoughtfully or even just move on quietly. You may not have voted for your president, but your behaviour is very reminiscent of him. Keep telling yourselves you're winners and belittling anyone who dares to suggest otherwise.

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  • [–] 6 points 5 months ago* (2 children)

    And how very uneducated and frankly argumentative in the least impressive way, while saying so many things you feel are smart, yet actually don't make any sense whatever. Yes I use an exit, because you are a wall of idiot and throwing myself against you is a losing battle, no matter what facts are, because these don't matter to someone like you. I gave up on arguing with idiots like you years ago on Reddit. I'm not starting it here.

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  • [+] -6 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Heavily implying you're more educated than those who disagree with you is also right out of Trump's playbook, by the way. As I said, this is a very broad cultural issue that you guys seem to lack an awareness of and desperately resist having your attention drawn to.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 child)

    I'll take the hit on this one. It's me. My fault. GenX, lower middle class. (Upper lower class?)

    Whatever the case, I've been bitching about the corrupt government since I was 18. Didn't vote until I was over 50.

    In my youth, it seemed like democracy didn't need me. The U.S. was going in a great direction. Under Clinton (1992-2000), we had a balanced budget and started to make reforms with social issues. And yes, there was back-pedaling in the Bush (2000-2008) era, but it seemed like checks and balances were at least working. When Obama (2008-2016) held office, he had us feeling like there really WAS hope and change again. It was mostly smoke and mirrors, lip service to corporations, but it didn't feel that way. It felt like slow progress, even as the corporate oligarchs tightened the noose.

    Then, in a flash, it all changed. When Trump rolled into politics, I didn't take him seriously. Couldn't imagine that a sane person would choose him as a leader. And he won the election.

    At that point, I registered to vote. Too fucking late. And here we are. We'll never see a fair election again. Between gerrymandering and Citizen's United (2010), our elections were already fucked. But now Trump will openly cheat.

    It's too late. It can't be undone now. There's too much money flowing into their warchest. People think the U.S. is "turning" towards authoritarianism. They don't realize that we're already there. All the pieces have been dropped in place. Full surveillance, a corrupt system supported by limitless corporate money, a stranglehold on the world's energy supply, and a military budget bigger than most nations' GDP. And, of course, ICE - Trump's personal army.

    The aggressiveness towards Iran? Nothing new. A different president might have slowly escalated things, smiling and nodding at the cameras while pressuring NATO to help. I'm reminded of Bush in 2002/3, leveraging the 9/11 to attack Iraq. It was nonsense, but Bush brought everyone along with him. He built a case with junk evidence, made grand claims of Iraq's destructive capabilities and deposed a dictator so that the oil would flow to his cronies' bank accounts.

    Trump has pulled aside the curtain and revealed the real America. That's all. It was about oil back then, it's about oil today. It's always about oil.

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