Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

whaletacochamp t1_iu4cuvj wrote

Holy fuck I didn’t realize there were so many idiotic Vermonters drinking the Russian kool aid wtf the comments on this post are disgusting.

69

cohray2212 t1_iu4p4vl wrote

Vermonters like to think we're somehow ahead of the rest of the country on political and social issues but in reality we have just as many backwards dumbasses as anywhere else. It's a miracle our elections turn out the way they do.

That being said, r/vermont and r/burlington are brigaded constantly by a very loud minority that post misinformation and propaganda daily.

28

whaletacochamp t1_iu4xk0w wrote

Yeah, /r/burlington has a whole slew of issues, /r/vermont hasn't been as bad but does seem to be heading that way.

And you're right - the amount of people I know with absurd political beliefs in VT is wild. IDK if they don't vote or what but you're right, outside of the more populated areas you will especially find folks with VERY interesting political beliefs.

9

cohray2212 t1_iu4yj0n wrote

I like to call them "politically challenged" because so many people are normal until you hit a trigger word or topic that Fox News has Manchurian Candidated them on.

You could basically skirt a normal topic like the fact that kids should be given healthcare and food and they're totally normal. "Of course sick kids deserve to be healthy and fed" they will say. And then you bring up school lunches or the cost of insulin and their faces steel over and they get grouchy. Then the canned responses come about Canadian wait times, welfare queens etc.

9

whaletacochamp t1_iu51duz wrote

Yup. Makes it pretty easy to navigate if you are even slightly politically engaged/informed. Generally I already know before talking to them if they are this type. And as Im sure you know, there's no point in debating those topics with them. Especially if you have any sort of relationship with the person.

7

cohray2212 t1_iu53g8e wrote

Absolutely. It's a cult, they need to be deprogrammed. No debate or discourse is going to snap them out of it. It takes a professional.

My mom is one of these people. In the early 2000s it was Oprah and magnets that cure cancer that western medicine doesn't want us to know about, "toxins" and an obsession with organic food. Now it's Trump, Covid is the flu, and the vaccine is evil.

We can talk about "western medicine is inherently flawed because of the for-profit system" and we can say other countries could seek cures where there's less incentive here. We can even talk about the flaws that insurance has where there's never an incentive to cut costs because higher costs means booming business for insurance. As soon as we talk about socialized medicine it's back to square one after a few canned responses about freedom of choice and wait time propaganda and how an imaginary 50% of all money earned in Canada is taxed toward health care.

2

whaletacochamp t1_iu5clem wrote

Ugh, I’m sorry someone so close to you is like that.

My dad definitely has the potential to be like that but has tended more toward the liberal side of things. He will watch Fox News for the sole purposes of screaming at rhe TV for a few hours. I’m honestly amazed he didn’t have a heart attack during the Trump administration.

The funny thing is that sometimes he will pull out a SUPER ignorant and conservative point of view on something. I don’t get it lol.

I really think a lot of it comes from the older generation just taking what society feeds them on their TV channels of choice. I can’t even tell you the last time I watched cable news - instead I read a variety of mostly unbiased news sources that I seek out myself, or read stuff from a number of maybe biased sources and create my own understanding based on all the facts. Our folks are basically “they said it on TV so it has to be true!”

2

random_vermonter t1_iu5v12v wrote

My dad is the same way. He'll watch CNN and then switch to Fox and sometimes he'll say a liberal talking point and other times, a conservative one. He's confusing. I think he enjoys the theatrics of it.

2

whaletacochamp t1_iu5w9f1 wrote

Yeah that’s pretty much it. And a lot of it comes down to “politicians are all horrible!” Which is totally fair.

3

ranaparvus t1_iu6bc9n wrote

Adding: VOTE y’all. Don’t take your perception of VT as a democratic haven for granted. In 2016 my former bucolic VT village voted for Trump (since moved). There’s a pretty healthy Confederate, Don’t Tread On Me and white “patriot” contingent here.

4

cpujockey t1_iu4kv2f wrote

folks are keeping up with the status quo.

a lot of folks are pissed at the amount of spending we've been doing with regards to what's going down in ukraine - and I am one of those people. However, I believe ukrainians need freedom and putin should eat a dick. Just shitty we did not just take real action against putin and spend that money on solving shit like the homeless crisis here.

also,

fuck putin. he's a piece of shit fossil from the past that should have coagulated into something my chevy burns.

7

chriswasmyboy t1_iu6gvn1 wrote

>a lot of folks are pissed at the amount of spending we've been doing with regards to what's going down in ukraine - and I am one of those people. However, I believe ukrainians need freedom and putin should eat a dick.

Have to push back hard on this very misguided and wrong statement. We were spending $300 million a day/$100 billion a year on Afghanistan and getting absolutely nothing in return for it. We were/are no safer than we were on September 12, 2001 as regards to Afghanistan.

We are now redeploying that wasted money, and spending an equivalent amount of money arming Ukraine, and supporting democracy in a society that is pro-democracy unlike Iraq and Afghanistan where we wasted trillions. Ukraine is a military beast with our help, and the participation of many NATO countries. It has exposed the Russian military as inept with very old and outdated equipment. It has weakened Putin significantly. A huge amount of Russian military equipment has been destroyed or abandoned to the Ukrainians. All the while, there are no American boots on the ground, and no American blood spilled. The US is admired in Europe for the enormous support we have provided Ukraine, their heroic president and brave people who love freedom. NATO is more united than ever, and with 2 new members in Finland and Sweden when they officially get admitted.

This is the best return on investment the US has ever made with money for military spending. What about this makes you pissed off?

5

airlokita t1_iu4mnpd wrote

I'm pissed too - we're not spending nearly enough. 40 billion is a rounding error.

4

nlpnt t1_iu6dius wrote

Personally I think it's the best bargain America's gotten in a long time.

$40 billion and no American blood (apart from one or two Americans who volunteered for the Ukrainian foreign legion) has bought us;

  • A re-energized NATO

  • Russia outed as a paper power

  • China forced to think twice about its' plans to invade Taiwan

  • The most forceful argument possible against the myths that had come back around about the so-called degenerate West ("They/them army" > was/were army).

5

cpujockey t1_iu4n8xc wrote

> we're not spending nearly enough.

look, we can't be the only one making REAL contributions to the war effort. We could have ended this shit a long time ago, instead we've been acting like cucks and watching ukraine get fucked from the sidelines.

I am sorry, but sending enough money to a country that could make a meaningful impact on the housing crisis just doesn't resonate with me.

What resonates me is the USA waving our mighty erect cock at putin and giving him the deepest dicking he's ever experienced.

−1

airlokita t1_iu4obut wrote

100% agree re cucks -- totally in favor of direct action. Send them back to the stone age and keep them there.

But since direct NATO action isn't going to happen, then the taps need to be wide open.

We have a massive GDP. We can do both. Unfortunately I don't see my copious amounts of tax dollars going anywhere more useful soon.

−3

cpujockey t1_iu4pc8x wrote

> Send them back to the stone age and keep them there.

no, this is not the fault of the russian people, but the actions of a piss baby in power. the russian people should not be held to account for the sins of their leader.

>Unfortunately I don't see my copious amounts of tax dollars going anywhere more useful soon.

Yes, but that doesn't just make it ok to dump tons of fucking cash when our own people are hurting. The US military has an operational budget that is already rubber stamped and allocated - make it their problem.

0

ranaparvus t1_iu6bkt0 wrote

Schooling Putin in Ukraine is a LOT cheaper than confronting him in the Arctic, which is his ultimate goal.

2

cpujockey t1_iu6v625 wrote

The Arctic? That's neutral ground.

1

Corey307 t1_iu72foa wrote

My thinking is any state that spends more federal dollars than the state pays in taxes shouldn’t bitch about how the federal government spends money. Vermont gets a lot more federal dollars per year than we pay in federal taxes, It’s more like Californians and New Yorkers are footing the majority of the bill and let’s be honest the people that scream the loudest about how government money is spent are probably getting a full tax refund because they don’t make shit.

2

PTech_J t1_iu5ydf3 wrote

I pass a truck with a confederate flag license plate almost every day on my way home from work.

So...yeah...

6

Corey307 t1_iu727d8 wrote

I moved here a few years ago and I’ve been on pleasantly surprised by the stupidity I have encountered here. I knew not everybody was going to be progressive and educated but it’s surprisingly bad, what passes for progressivism here it’s like a first semester college student telling people how they know how to fix the world.

1