But they're too much in denial to bother.

Last edited Sun Dec 7, 2025, 05:34 AM - Edit history (1)

Are for staunch allies of MAGA-whether deliberately or inadvertently I don’t know (and don’t care by now). The lightweight politics of the allies of technofascists who shift the centre of society right, libertarian, tabloid and draconian.

They represent the shallow, mindless solutionism of Californian Ideology (pitched by that cult out in Si Valley) to the max.

I am glad they no longer fool everyone. I found the years those types were considered liberal painful.

hasn't it? Very odd that that group of con men can get loyalty from almost all the shitty corners of our society, including the shitty people it hurts the most.

Funny anecdote - I was looking for a post by DUer CrispyQ with a cool graphic from Indivisible and instead I got directed to Ayn Rand’s “Anthem” and some rubbish about the virtues of selfishness .

Shills for the “virtues of selfishness” (those tech bros and shills for the Californian Ideology) were good at perverting real cooperation and solidarity while claiming that the failure of completely bogus versions of those things is the failure of the real thing.
God they are stupid. Why would bible banging or Maha “community” work for some random left-liberal feminist you kidnap and shove into some awful thing? Just as a hypothetical. Not that anyone precisely does that. I just mean that the failure of coexistence with unrelatable humans is not a repudiation of real cooperation or a defense of selfishness. All hypotheticals.

Prisoner’s Dilemma is such garbage framing.
It starts off on the assumption that the persons involved are felons/hucksters/scammers. How is that not extortionate from the get go? God those people are morons. Why would a normal person see themself as a criminal whose survival must depend on game-theory based on some felonious type? It’s such trash. That’s also the same worldview as the religious who see one as a sinner from birth.

It’s also a CS worldview that assumes that entire classes of personality (e.g.: real grass roots activists like the little old ladies, public school teachers etc who worked for many of the rights we all enjoy without ever playing some damn game, don’t even exist). And there’s a time and a place for games. Even I play a puzzle game. But not all of reality, (e.g.: serious activism) and the gazillion things that make up reality so implicitly that you never even thought about them can be replaced by some sort of foul game or rubbishy VR. It’s such broken thinking.

If…if such a “game” were even possible (ActivismGame!!!!) it would be immediately defunded by the national security state and media corporations. How is that not obvious? If it worked (except completely performatively) it would not merely be shut down, all the players would be charged by our beloved oligarchs and their politicians. You gotta have some awareness of the reality you exist in instead of scamming people. All hypotheticals..

I was just trying to infer the thought processes of some completely inane people.
Reality is in itself far more interesting. If it isn’t, it’s not because you aren’t playing a foul game. It isn’t interesting in any fun way mostly, but it’s certainly not dull.

I can see why this fucked up nexus between two types of creeps-1) libertarians (who think everyone but parasitic, overhyped & mediocre tech billionaires is a useless eater) and 2) the religious (who believe in original sin) works.

Tech creeps are basically just tech versions of Cato/AEI. They swopped out suits and fossil fuels for hoodies and data-as-oil. It’s the same damn creeps ffs. Robber Barons. Just different aesthetics.

Same whine in a new bottle. Nobody needs their garbage tech.
Low tech with decent humans and a healthy human brain can beat junk tech and awful creeps any day.

But individually as well as the populations as a whole have to get over these shocks first.

I owe DUers CrispyQ and BigmanPigman for these two posts:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220595286

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220794222

My ex mother-in-law, whom I am very fond of and was close to, is a public schoolteacher. She was familiar with activism of this kind.

Unlike left working class mobilisation or other grassroots activism like this, white collar workers of my generation or professional type have no real concept of how to go about that. But we will have to learn, adjusted for new realities that won’t involve (in my case) any books or products just law changes that help rebuild a livable, functional society wherever one is. Not more drivel like the tumorigenic and parasitic “growth” tech billionaires shill which I viciously attack when I can.

These are really horrible people and they are making life hard for so many people. How many people are potentially worried about homelessness, lack of healthcare or just chronically stressed because of some genuinely selfish, callous and sleazy billionaires? We have to organize and stand up for everyone when we have some resources left.
I am myself allergic to power, histrionics and attention (that too for all the wrong reasons or unconnected to a specific piece of pushback). That’s why this is a good time to fight.

I read earlier this year that the Bernie/Aoc voting types do best when out of power. There is some truth to that. The point is not that winning is bad. But that some personality types(that do not fit this completely moronic Prisoner’s Dilemma model) only can get jerked out of social awkwardness etc when things are bad enough that you get over self consciousness and decide to fight back. The spiteful shit aimed at federal workers throughout this year by creeps like Vought and those twerps of DOGE-the cruelty is the point. At least some of those people would be like I was. It’s not being old and lame and not having maps etc as those pathetic tech creeps put it. We are not familiar with a world with no real rules or HR where you are supposed to rebuild fake versions of the rights women or workers fought for with a lame Facebook or Google product tacked on. This hateful shit was not unprecedented in my experience and it is not kayfabe etc. These people really are that shallow, awful, that stupid and they do destroy lives.

Speaking for myself, I was never cut out for politics or media, but necessary activism without any product or theatre is different.

Yikes long post. My head is very full these days and it keeps spilling out..

of some of the current problems we are facing as a society going forward. Thank you for this post. These people have great momentum at this point and access to misinformation networks and money like never before in history. Combine this with a large population of barely literate and easily manipulated and the future looks like a true battlefield for common decency.

A lot of insidious 'wellness' folks there. IE Anti Vax, Anti Science, etc. etc.

But of the 6 Costco's I have within an hour from me are all crawling with MAGA types. These jokers are all fueling their trucks with Costco gas, buying offroad tires, loading up their carts with steaks and ribs. Can't escape them even in California.

The stupid red hats have disappeared.

After a couple of nasty grams Car Quest told their manager to ditch the Trump flag. I suspect sales were declining.

I don't

And I was going to add bookstores. But I used to work in a book store back in the mid 90's And every shovel-brained, inbred, redneck, illiterate moron would come in to the store to get Rush Limbaugh's latest publication of printed transcripts of his shitty radio show; copies of "The Bell Curve", which "proved" people of color were intellectually inferior to white people, Laura Schlessinger's hateful crap masquerading as books, etc.

I guess they wanted them to display on whatever passes for bookshelves in their little hovels. Keep their right-wing street cred up to date.

The place is crowded with kids and parents. Pretty sure that crowd has a high percent of MAGA in them.

For anti-vaxxers, woo-woo religious, Quiverfull idiots, MAGA and RFK lovers. And since most home schoolers can't afford the expensive text books of highschool, they frequent the libraries to compensate.

Every afternoon our local library is swamped by ragged kids and sullen teenagers. I try and get there in the morning when the homeschoolers' mothers are mostly still asleep. It's almost always the mother's burden to do the homeschooling. Never seen a father in the library trying to explain how to use the library to their school aged kids.

In my experience they are as MAGAtty as they come.

I was thinking about the Dentists and staff. Have quite a number of relatives that are dentists and others that work in dentist offices, MAGAts one and all.

Not my dentist so much, but his new hygienist. OMG what a loon!

They offered to pay for her schooling to become a dental hygienist. She declined, thought it sounded like too much work.

Why work hard? Trump promised to halve prices and give away houses for free.

Who works half days for my brother who took over my father's business. She's really looking forward to working half days. I haven't heard whether that's my brother's plan (he's one of the more tolerable MAGAts I know, his wife and kids are another story).

Not to mention a shitty father.

MAGATism runs deep with the dentists that I know.

rather than the politics of dental professionals

Sort of like asking for the COVID vaccine when they're dying in the ICU.

But her patients are of all stripes, one time I showed up for my appointment and Fox "News" was on the TV in the waiting room - discussing Hillary's emails. Her assistant came in, changed the channel and apologized, said that the older female patient before me had requested it...

Especially independent bookstores. Locally owned coffee shops. Mexican tiendas (which often have good prices on staples).

Where the cuisine has not been co-opted by national chains.

My local Ethiopian restaurants are safe.

On Edit: Patronize these NOW, before the owners get deported

They can't lead. So, they need to follow or get out of the way. (To paraphrase Ted Turner)

In the wise words of a friend who is one tough cookie and the best stick nurse in America, imo...

"If you're scared, get a dog."

At food bank or homeless shelter.

Check out books at library.

Deliver meals-on-wheels.

I'm looking for a new dentist right now because I went in to make a hygienist appointment and one of the staff was wearing a "Justice For Charlie Kirk" t-shirt.
An overt political display in a professional office is already a bridge too far, but its even worse that she picked such a controversial figure.
The dentist was standing right there, so this must be ok.
It's so unprofessional that I won't go there now AND it was MAGA. So the dentist office isn't necessarily an safe space from Maga-try.

Political tee shirts in a dentist office? Hard pass. That's a sign of very poor judgment on the part of the dentist.

Exactly why I'll never go back.

when I have to go in.

I'm sure there are MAGA at yoga studios and dentists, too

Only guarantee - our home!

Dentist’s offices seem to always have FOX Swen on.

But there is a special group for them, called Densa.

certified maga free.

Pretty much any kind, preferably without cocoanut or nuts. Please and thank you!

and many nonreligious charity centers for helping others.
Independent ethnic restaurants and markets might be too diverse for MAGA.
Community centers who teach classes on various useful topics that MAGA would be against.
Drag brunches
International travel outside of cruise ships and all inclusive resorts.

Didn't Rush Limbaugh mock the whole idea of community service, saying it was for convicted criminals?

Jazz clubs, international grocery stores, tai chi classes, meditation centers….

A broad generalization and stereotype, but I get the point. Of course there are vast exceptions, but we should pigeonhole them like they pigeonhole everything in their own lives.

The ballet, the symphony, the opera.
Unitarisn Universalist churches
Natural food stores

Any place feminists gather.

Any Drinking Liberally meeting.

Any Dem meetings.

Our love for Pilates so we all get along in the studio.

She needs to try again.

Like atheist get togethers, hanging out where people don’t speak English, gay communities things like that.

I know several anti-vax, anti-immigrant, bigoted assholes that are vegan. It's part of a bigger discussion we have in the vegan community as well. "How could they possibly..."

It's a smaller percentage, but they definitely exist.

On second thought, lots of rich R-types go there to be seen by High Society and sleep through the music.

If it hasn't been mentioned yet, another place('s) is establishments that display PRIDE flags.
We have a few in our town that we support. It's always a great place to shoot the breeze.

on Kauai's Costco... Farmers Markets, too.

I know it's all Different over here. 💙

But I see them everywhere. Remember, there was over 70 MILLION of these toopid asswipes.

This will all go away when we take over in a landslide. Everyone. Everywhere.

and anything to do with bicycles.

The hundreds of local, regional, national, and international environmental, environmental justice, and climate justice Groups including:

Greenpeace
Natural Resources Defense Fund
American Lung Association
Sierra Club
World Wildlife Fund
Environmental Defense Fund
Earthjustice
Friends of the Earth
National Wildlife Federation
Audubon Society
Isaak Walton League
The Wilderness Society
National Parks Conservation Society
Indigenous Environmental Network
Earth Island Institute
Rainforest Action Network
Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
Oceana
Whalewatch
Center for Biological Diversity
Earth First!
Break Free From Plastic
Environmental Working Group
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society...

No MAGATS there.

they don’t operate on a capitalist model.