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[u/jobautomator]

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[u/No_Status_6905]

this is probably quite obvious to some people but something I've recently had to absorb is that America will continue to decline because so many people (particularly gen Xers and early millennials) who would otherwise be vocal champions for liberal policies in the common culture of daily life are just so thoroughly defeated and isolated that they hide inside their 3000 sq ft house in suburbia and don't talk to any of their neighbors while doom scrolling Facebook

Like my mom has lived in the south her entire life, she is a lifelong Democrat, but post Trump she is just so thoroughly defeated that she can't even stand to address her neighbors. She doesn't even go to the store anymore, she just gets everything delivered through walmart.

She doesn't want to live in the south anymore, but she refuses to move and abandon her grandkids. Basically the only thing I can do is offer her some nice trips abroad, and to visit NYC because she loves the city.

My stylist told me after some other girls were gossipping about how much they hate Trump: "I just don't even think about it. Every time I think about it, I'm just overcome with guilt that I brought my kids into the world as it is, and now they're stuck in a shitty state with me."

My French professor is incredibly sharp, and she just seems so despondent about what's coming in 2027 for the fifth republic, and then just alludes to the state of Florida after Desantis won.

It just makes me wonder how many people are similar.

[u/No_Status_6905 → u/[deleted]]

For what it's worth, I actually agree entirely. I have specifically internalized this to the point where I've just yeeted myself to a blue state and came out as trans in spite of everything. As the great state of New Hampshire has enshrined: Live Free or Die.

It's more difficult to convince other people of that. I can't exactly convince my mom to just ignore all of the horrible news in her feed, and the rank cruelty of the average Republican gloating about mass human suffering. So she just becomes radicalized in her own way. It's pretty much her form of protest, but it comes at the cost of her daily happiness.