Is the US a dystopia?

option 3 ftw

US perfidy always comes back to tea

not really

hm sounds like you're either a "no" or "The Beatles" but afaict you can still secretly vote however you wish

it's going to take a lot of restraint not to shoehorn this in to thread connections

I figured it was what it was for.

least serious answer is the correct one

by that you mean "yes"?

oh misread "least" as "last" nevermind

This question is unhelpful and I have no idea why it is being asked.

Badly trimmed shrub = dystopiary

Dropped the clay - dyspottery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jeu3iH0R_GM

I mean, pulling up the forecast today and seeing tornado warnings for Chicago in mid-December doesn't make me not think it's a dystopia.

an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic.

not imagined, authoritarian rather than totalitarian and pre-apocalyptic instead of post IMO

so maybe it's not a dystopia but merely dystopic

dystopic? I dunno. but ilx is def dyspeptic today.

I did not remotely intend this thread to be serious, but there's an argument to be made that 1492 counts as the apocalypse

Can the apocalypse be local?

Americans rly struggle with not being the world and i think its quite telling tbh

let it beatles

Climate catastrophe is going to be pretty universal IIRC.

which is v little to do with the point about 1492 is it

you can get with dystopia, or you can get with datopia

just throwing this out there but maybe dystopia fans are blind to dystopias

I dunno I think most fans of the crust punk band Dystopia probably would agree that the USA is a dystopia fwiw

let me see, is the US a dystopia.

the republican party is trying to actively KILL a lot of people. let me just see how that plays in the polls

The approval rating among those who voted for [Biden] has dropped from 80% to 69% in the April survey. There have been notable declines among Americans 18-34 and suburban residents, both of whom, in dramatic swings, now register net negative views on the president.

As bad as Biden’s number may be, the polling data for Democrats in Congress is far worse.

Republicans now sport a historic 10-point advantage when Americans are asked which party they prefer to control Congress, holding a 44%-34% margin over Democrats. That’s up from a 2-point Republican advantage in the October survey.

In the past 20 years, CNBC and NBC surveys have never registered a double-digit Republican advantage on congressional preference, with the largest lead ever being 4 pints for the GOP.

“If the election were tomorrow, it would be an absolute unmitigated disaster for the Democrats,″ said Jay Campbell, partner at Hart Research Associates and the Democratic pollster for the survey.

yes it's a full blown dystopia

nah but rich people have never had it better tho

A 4 pint lead is difficult to overcome tbh. sorry

Can the apocalypse be local?

Americans rly struggle with not being the world and i think its quite telling tbh

― fix up luke shawp (darraghmac), Friday, December 10, 2021 8:10 PM (one hour ago)

I was addressing "the apocalypse" that it could be argued helps to confirm the US as a dystopia, the subject of this important poll. So I guess I do think it can be local, idk, why not? Anyway Columbus never even entered future-US territory, it's more of a symbolic hinge year for everything being terrible from then on

I'd figure most people using the term think in the sense of dystopian science fiction and I kinda think 2021 has quite a few elements that seem like out of such.

There's no utopia that's not someone's dystopia, and vice versa.

The notion of local dystopias is an interesting one. Could be that there was an egalitarian paradise unfolding just a continent or two over from Mad Max.

If the US ticks all the boxes- and there's a case- then clearly plenty of very nice places to live in exist besides so id say thats a clear yes

Have we ever not been? Slave state — apartheid state — Vietnam/Watergate — Corporate state — Fury Road (2016-present)

the people in the mayfield candle factory that collapsed worked 12-hour shifts that paid $8 an hour. 110 ppl were inside. 40 ppl are still unaccounted for. they haven’t recovered a survivor since 3 am. pic.twitter.com/CsIIfLw3Pc

— Tracy Moore (@iusedtobepoor) December 11, 2021

it’s legal in kentucky to fire someone for refusing to work mandatory overtime

— Tracy Moore (@iusedtobepoor) December 11, 2021

The notion of local dystopias is an interesting one. Could be that there was an egalitarian paradise unfolding just a continent or two over from Mad Max.

Zardoz is another one. Although The Eternals are mainly a bunch of insufferable bores and their egalitarian paradise is pretty lame, but you wouldn't complain about it if you were being held captive by Charlotte Rampling.

Slave state — apartheid state — Vietnam/Watergate — Corporate state — Fury Road (2016-present)

We didn't start the fire, etc.

Let's see what all we have...you got this one.

US combined laissez-faire capitalism on it's drug industry and combined with heroin blow-back from the 'war on terror' created the opioid epidemic for fun and profit killing over a million Americans since 1999.

Getting back to the topic at hand, Le Guin wrote a book about a moon. Also was there some Cold War global political framework in her gender-bender book? I don't recall.

Climate catastrophe is going to be pretty universal IIRC.

― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, December 11, 2021 1:14 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

which is v little to do with the point about 1492 is it

― fix up luke shawp (darraghmac), Saturday, December 11, 2021 1:17 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

It is though (unless I'm misreading). The USA is the biggest historical contributor to the climate crisis. An argument could be made that if 1492 never happened, there would be no global crisis. Same for much of global environmental destruction -- Amazon forest all gone? Thank Ronald McDonald.

Local teachers in South Dakota “Dash for Cash” to help their classrooms by fighting over $5,000 in $1 bills while the crowd hoots and hollers. pic.twitter.com/azwGJKhaKU

— Eoin Higgins (@EoinHiggins_) December 12, 2021

they're going to remove that rug at some point

and then charge them for it!

An argument could be made that if 1492 never happened, there would be no global crisis.

Are we talking a world where Europe never came into contact with the Americas?

I can’t live without potatoes

-LL McCooljay

It would have happened eventually.

I can’t live without potatoes

OTM

Lol, Neanderthal.

xpost sounds like the basis for a Tim Robinson movie

i honestly doubt they're there for headcracking - they're more their to stand and look the other way as paramilitary forces and local police do the really fucked up stuff

I assume that Nat'l Guard troops must learn some crowd control tactics as part of their basic training, yeah? Like for the Rodney King riots, etc.
So I don't know why they need a 'strike force' in North Dakota, unless they'll be vetted for their loyalty to fascism

(A bit needlessly combative up there, z_, while self-back-patting)

I assume that Nat'l Guard troops must learn some crowd control tactics as part of their basic training, yeah? Like for the Rodney King riots, etc.

Bad assumption. Riot control isn't basic training for the Nat'l Guard. It is specialized training, which is one reason why this order from the feds to form specialized units is so unusual.

ymp i'm just curious what you mean by that - the self-back-patting - meaning, noticing fascism? or the image of national guard people talking to their families about what they're being asked to do and if they should do it (which, to be clear...i bet there would be zero conversations like that. it's just a dream, not what people actually do). or about being related to someone so annoying that he got shacked up by a boat full of colonizers?

Are you a descendent of John Billington?

It does seem like thus far, the Nat Guard aren't really all that useful as fascist stormtroopers. OTOH all the videos I'm seeing coming out of Chicago make it clear that ICE are pretty useful as fascist stormtroopers, so I'm honestly not sure what the point of the NG shit is beyond the theatre of it, or maybe trying to implicate less ideologically cooked people into the fascist project.

ymp i'm just curious what you mean by that - the self-back-patting - meaning, noticing fascism?

The tone sounded like "I, z_tbd, am one of the Good People who notice and call out fascism, unlike you, waterface, who is trivializing this Very Serious Issue."

I dunno maybe you and waterface have preexisting beef or something but it just seemed (as I said) needlessly combative. Nobody here has a monopoly on being aware of the monstrous pile of suck in the news, or reacting to it in our own ways.

ah, that makes sense! i wouldn't say preexisting beef sandwich but yes, i do think they often trivialize those who worry about fascism, and then paint themselves as "optimists" and others as "pessimists". but yes, you're right that my opinion has roots in previous things they've said, and even with context, i feel silly.

as always, i hope the optimists are right

I understood the recent context of z’s enquiry and it was neither needlessly combative nor individually autocongratulatory

it had a context but yeah i shouldn’t have said anything, i had no point, i’m happy to move on and not bug waterface about stupid shit

Are you a descendent of John Billington?

i checked in with the relative who had told me everything about all this, and she said Edward Doty, and i think doty’s story may have been conflated with billington’s in my mind. doty turns out to have been a big notorious asshole, but not a violent one, just more of rich asshole landowner energy

California police boost patrols at grocery stores as millions set to lose SNAP benefits

maybe our allies can airdrop ramen packages, like berlin in '45

the average SNAP food benefit, which 42m (roughly 1 in 8) americans receive, is, per month, $190 per person or $356 per household

far better to spend that money on cops, or ballrooms, or bombs /trenchant

We must hire more police to protect the food that is not going to be sold now.

I understood the recent context of z’s enquiry and it was neither needlessly combative nor individually autocongratulatory

― fall of the house of urrsher (sic), Wednesday, October 29, 2025 5:18 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm. and the fact that z responded to this weird commentary how they did, rather than how i would've, is yet more evidence that they are reliably one of uspol's best posters

maybe our allies can airdrop ramen packages, like berlin in '45

― Andy the Grasshopper,

We have allies?

Argentina maybe , but it is more of a dependent.

It does seem like thus far, the Nat Guard aren't really all that useful as fascist stormtroopers. OTOH all the videos I'm seeing coming out of Chicago make it clear that ICE are pretty useful as fascist stormtroopers, so I'm honestly not sure what the point of the NG shit is beyond the theatre of it, or maybe trying to implicate less ideologically cooked people into the fascist project.

― rob, Wednesday, October 29, 2025 4:11 PM (yesterday)

hm just watched a video of a man getting arrested in Chicago for yelling at Nat Guard and federal agents. Insignia on the pigs in the video included Police (not sure what this means as I think ICE uses these?), FBI, and Park Police, so I retract this

ICE goons wear uniforms that say POLICE ICE which kind of amuses me.

Wax a chump like a candle

(POLICE ICE baby)

who ices the ice men

lol I've seen that too. Is it possible the NG are wearing POLICE vests?

We put the ICE back in POLICE ICE

I prefer to think of “POLICE ICE” as an imperative statement

POL-ICE-ICE BABY

Stop, collaborate, and listen--these guys are Under a lot of Pressure

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is the preferred Democratic candidate for the 2028 presidential elections in the early primary state of New Hampshire, according to a new poll from the University of New Hampshire.

Of those in the Granite State who say they plan to vote in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary, 19% said they would choose Buttigieg if the election were held today, while 81% of those surveyed had a favorable opinion of him. The ex-transportation secretary topped California Gov. Gavin Newsom by 4% and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) by 5%.

Kind of an odd way to write that Newsom is at 15% and AOC at 14%

https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/29/how-chicagoans-are-helping-kids-have-a-safe-and-ice-free-halloween-this-year

sounds like these kids are letting ICE live rent-free in their heads

As if ICE would ever pay rent

_Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is the preferred Democratic candidate for the 2028 presidential elections in the early primary state of New Hampshire, according to a new poll from the University of New Hampshire.

Of those in the Granite State who say they plan to vote in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary, 19% said they would choose Buttigieg if the election were held today, while 81% of those surveyed had a favorable opinion of him. The ex-transportation secretary topped California Gov. Gavin Newsom by 4% and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) by 5%._

Screeeeeeeaaaaammmming and not in the good way

Ban New Hampshire.

i think NH is the 4th “whitest” state (fact check) but if he’s not at 20% in the place where his Good Son shit works the best, i don’t take that as a good sign for him

People who ran for President before usually have name recognition and at least some popularity in NH and Iowa.

What’s Driving Gun Suicides Among Older Americans?
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/09/gun-suicide-data-older-americans-men/

the last Iowa caucus completely blew up in about three ways and Buttigieg’s team, which I think still had Lis Smith involved, just arbitrarily declared victory before anything could be tallied

kind of a baller move but probably not from him. the rapidly aging base of 60- and 70-something state democrat diehards might go for him, though

thanks for that link, elvis telecom... a harsh toke but good to know about

There's a little childish part of my mind that is saying "ugh, god, on top of everything else we have to select a presidential candidate in order to regain power?

I mean I know, objectively, that this is how things are normally done but, whine whine whine, do we have to? Like, one single fallible human individual to not only unite us in opposition, to not only overcome the electoral headwinds - and then go forth and govern effectively? In a way that both helps undo years of damage but also moves the nation forward into a more equitable and just future?

It's just an enormous amount of weight and expectation to put on one person who will immediately be milkshake ducked because of some stupid shit like having allegedly cheated on a third-grade spelling test or dressed as Robespierre at a costume party in 1991.

Wish we could instead elect a committee, with rotating responsibilities or something. Or just hold up a photograph of the current president and his ghouls and say, "See this? Yeah. Not that."

https://i.imgur.com/VNvLDBC.jpeg

Doctors muffled as Florida moves to end decades of childhood vaccination mandates

We Asked DHS if Federal Agents Wore Horror Masks on Raids. They Responded ‘Happy Halloween!

“They have fun while doing it, which is deeply disturbing. We expect some level of decorum from government officials,” says Phoebe, a member of Harbor Area Peace Patrols, who snapped the photo of the masked agents driving out of San Pedro on Tuesday morning.

https://lataco.com/federal-immigration-agents-halloween-masks

if only we could get seth meyers or jimmy fallon to turn this into some kind of joke or skit? that would show them

I mean I know, objectively, that this is how things are normally done but, whine whine whine, do we have to? Like, one single fallible human individual to not only unite us in opposition, to not only overcome the electoral headwinds - and then go forth and govern effectively? In a way that both helps undo years of damage but also moves the nation forward into a more equitable and just future?

This. It's so exhausting--the sense of impending doom you try to battle against versus the "shit, again" inevitability of the election cycle

Wish we could instead elect a committee, with rotating responsibilities or something. Or just hold up a photograph of the current president and his ghouls and say, "See this? Yeah. Not that."

― putting the cad in decadent (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, October 30, 2025 10:16 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

This is indeed all the Democrats did in 2024 and it didn't work out very well.

Here’s an old demented guy. No? Here’s the replacement the demented guy chose for you.

This. It's so exhausting--the sense of impending doom you try to battle against versus the "shit, again" inevitability of the election cycle

― a (waterface)

this is a lot of why i push hard to get people to stop seeing political action entirely in terms of "who do i vote for for president every four years"

i can't think of a better way to induce learned helplessness in people

except maybe the internet

yeah. it really should be local first, then moving up the chain in terms of importance. then again, that’s a republican small government ideal (although not in practice at all) so idk