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Frontline: 'Divided States of America' premieres 1/17, 1/18 @ 9-11pm EST on PBS.

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dakini

Member
Just finished watching part one and it's eerie seeing what happened during the beginning of Obama's first term and knowing now what the result is. The documentary makes it seem like everything that happened with the 2016 election goes back to what happened in the 2010 midterms.
 
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Lkr

Member
Tea party rallies then: bunch of racist obama posters and innuendo, equating him to the devil and hitler. Government health care is gonna kill us all!
Tea party now: why can't we all just get along and support trump? He won get over it!
 
M

Magwik

Banned
UltimaPooh said:
Yeah.

I remember the McCain concession speech and the Town Halls he had...

and seeing it now this far away from it... I'm just like... yup there's the moment... bunch of old white people being afraid of a black dude as President. And now we're here.
Click to expand...
The town hall in the video McCain had just saddens me. Right then and there you can tell it was all because they were afraid of a black man having power. Even though he brought Sarah Palin into the fold, I have nothing but respect for him and how he defended Obama back then.
 
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Lkr

Member
OG Shaka Zulu said:
Are all episodes available online?
Click to expand...
Yeah on pbs.org if you have an American IP. No authentication required

The bit about the beer summit is so fucking maddening. Oh my god the president invited civilins to the White House for a normal discussion. It's not like presidents haven't been doing this for ages.
Also the bit where conservative talk radio portrays Obama as literally the worst person ever for criticizing the police. Ffs he's the president! How dare the person at the top of the government criticize someone at a much lower post in public service.
 
D

Dylan Sexbang

Banned
Almost done with part 1 and... There's so much anger in this country. I was only in my Sophomore year when Obama took office, so I wasn't so much paying attention to this as I did this cycle. But there's so much anger and ignorance, it hits home, this is my home.
 
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deadbeef

Member
Spike Spiegel said:
FRONTLINE released a clip from Part Two this morning, featuring everyone's second-favorite spray tan aficionado (after George Hamilton), and the night in 2012 when Romney lost his presidential bid.

Clip: Romney's Loss, a Trump Tweetstorm, and a Telling Trademark (2:03)

Part Two airs and uploads tonight at 9pm Eastern.
Click to expand...

Wow had no idea he trademarked Make America Great Again immediately after the 2012 election.

Part 1 was amazing. This country is in dire straits. Like was mentioned in Part 1, it's like the middle has completely collapsed
 
O

OG Shaka Zulu

Member
I'll check this out. CBS Pollster Frank Luntz commented this was the most divided he's ever seen this country, and i thought he was being hyperbolic at the time. After the election results and the lunacy from some friends and family I now believe him.
 
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Dr Campino

Member
Caught the 2nd hour of part 1 earlier, ready for part 2.

Can't believe these snippets of talk radio I'm hearing. I'm embarrassed to hear that stuff.
 
S

Spike Spiegel

Member
They're working on it.

UynNjmX.jpg
 
Wulfric

Wulfric

Member
Is Part 2 streaming yet?

The vitrol in those crowds is heartbreaking. It's like 2008 woke up a wasp's nest in central America. I don't even know how you even begin to reach these people. It's like proposing universal healthcare and accepting the effects of globalization aren't even rational concepts to them.
 
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NullPointer

Member
paskowitz said:
I got the impression from part 2 that conservative talk radio is basically the cliff from which humanity falls.
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Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, among others.

What in the world do you do to fight against their brand of toxicity? How can an alternate message break through when all other avenues have been closed off or are written off as the enemy? How can facts penetrate when those facts come from distrusted science, distrusted sources and are dismissed out of hand because they aren't parroted from the right wing spin machine?

You can't force people to change the channel. You can't censor those voices of paranoia and apocalyptic extremism. You can't force people to confront what they have absolutely no interest or desire to. You can't assail the voices or the underlying rationales if you're not listened to, and even if you succeed its seen as pure partisanship for its own sake.

Its like all you can do is to allow history to repeat itself and hope that when things go to hell again that a new straw will break the camel's back and the pendulum will swing the other way, even if most of that new political capital is spent on just trying to dig the country out of the holes left behind.

Its maddeningly demoralizing when facts and rational debate and honest compromise are no longer tools that can be utilized.
 
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muu

Member
paskowitz said:
I got the impression from part 2 that conservative talk radio is basically the cliff from which humanity falls.
Click to expand...

They're podcasts for people that don't know how to internet

Stepdad listens to the shit all the time, and I do wonder to what degree the lack of similar content that leans left has on these people.
 
R

Rayis

Member
Watching this documentary makes me feel like a lot of white people really wish we were back in an America before the Civil Rights Act, we have to fight these people tooth and nail and tell them to fuck off back to the 50's.

EDIT: watching more of it, seriously, fuck right wing punditry and the idiots who listen to that garbage.
 
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mreddie

Member
I get freedom of speech but man, these people abused it heavily and now, all goes to hell.

Again, Palin started the bullshit and now, she's talking against Trump.
Beck was part of it and is now a borderline right wing/left wing
Hannity...well, he's waiting for Trump-pai to notice him.

The irony.

Everything the civil rights movement fought for and everything is almost right back to zero.
 
S

Steeped in a Sea of Games

Member
NullPointer said:
Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, among others.

What in the world do you do to fight against their brand of toxicity? How can an alternate message break through when all other avenues have been closed off or are written off as the enemy? How can facts penetrate when those facts come from distrusted science, distrusted sources and are dismissed out of hand because they aren't parroted from the right wing spin machine?

You can't force people to change the channel. You can't censor those voices of paranoia and apocalyptic extremism. You can't force people to confront what they have absolutely no interest or desire to. You can't assail the voices or the underlying rationales if you're not listened to, and even if you succeed its seen as pure partisanship for its own sake.

Its like all you can do is to allow history to repeat itself and hope that when things go to hell again that a new straw will break the camel's back and the pendulum will swing the other way, even if most of that new political capital is spent on just trying to dig the country out of the holes left behind.

Its maddeningly demoralizing when facts and rational debate and honest compromise are no longer tools that can be utilized.
Click to expand...

The answer to all (or at least most) of this is education. If people aren't educated on the methods these voices use to stir up fear and resentment, then emotion will always trump reason.

There's a reason why demagogues and fascists attack education and the educated first of all.
 
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dakini

Member
Just finished part two. Wow. The documentary really puts things into perspective. It's almost like Trump was destined to be president as soon as Obama was elected back in '08.
 
T

TaterTots

Banned
So, I have to give props to Mccain. I had no idea he kept defending Obama on the campaign trail. Wtf happened to politics or should I say, the right?

EDIT; Just called him a good man and that people shouldn't worry if Obama is elected. That comment was met with massive boo's. Sad.
 
Wulfric

Wulfric

Member
NullPointer said:
Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, among others.

What in the world do you do to fight against their brand of toxicity? How can an alternate message break through when all other avenues have been closed off or are written off as the enemy? How can facts penetrate when those facts come from distrusted science, distrusted sources and are dismissed out of hand because they aren't parroted from the right wing spin machine?

You can't force people to change the channel. You can't censor those voices of paranoia and apocalyptic extremism. You can't force people to confront what they have absolutely no interest or desire to. You can't assail the voices or the underlying rationales if you're not listened to, and even if you succeed its seen as pure partisanship for its own sake.

Its like all you can do is to allow history to repeat itself and hope that when things go to hell again that a new straw will break the camel's back and the pendulum will swing the other way, even if most of that new political capital is spent on just trying to dig the country out of the holes left behind.

Its maddeningly demoralizing when facts and rational debate and honest compromise are no longer tools that can be utilized.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I've been trying to articulate. What are you supposed to do when the other side simply doesn't want to debate? What happens when facts are handwaved away and dubious ethics are ignored?

I don't want to say fighting fire with fire is the answer (because it's not), but you can't just ignore this vast portion of the country which is content with having incompetent cabinet appointees and distrusts anything that isn't from Infowars or an AM radio station.

Things are gonna get real dicey very quickly. I don't even want to know how Trump would react to the next school shooting or the inevitable protests that are on the horizon.
 
H

hydragonwarrior

Member
NullPointer said:
Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, among others.

What in the world do you do to fight against their brand of toxicity? How can an alternate message break through when all other avenues have been closed off or are written off as the enemy? How can facts penetrate when those facts come from distrusted science, distrusted sources and are dismissed out of hand because they aren't parroted from the right wing spin machine?

You can't force people to change the channel. You can't censor those voices of paranoia and apocalyptic extremism. You can't force people to confront what they have absolutely no interest or desire to. You can't assail the voices or the underlying rationales if you're not listened to, and even if you succeed its seen as pure partisanship for its own sake.

Its like all you can do is to allow history to repeat itself and hope that when things go to hell again that a new straw will break the camel's back and the pendulum will swing the other way, even if most of that new political capital is spent on just trying to dig the country out of the holes left behind.

Its maddeningly demoralizing when facts and rational debate and honest compromise are no longer tools that can be utilized.
Click to expand...

I believe in Canada, we don't allow such extreme forms of obviously politically biased media to be created (like Fox News or Limbaugh) - or at least, that's the only reason why I think we don't have anything of the like up here.
 
F

Fallout-NL

Member
TatorTots said:
So, I have to give props to Mccain. I had no idea he kept defending Obama on the campaign trail. Wtf happened to politics or should I say, the right?

EDIT; Just called him a good man and that people shouldn't worry if Obama is elected. That comment was met with massive boo's. Sad.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was just tragic. Hard to watch. Major props for McCain for being a stand-up guy amidst so much ugliness.
 
A

Apt101

Member
I just finished it. They paint Trump like some kind of great public relations strategist who struck when the anvil was hot, but really he was just some moron who found himself in the right place at the right time, after Fox News and the like had already softened up the gullible electorate for him. Brazen, I'll give him that.
 
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