Is the US a dystopia?

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.

NEW: Drone startup BRINC, which just pulled a $25 million VC round, says it was inspired by the 2017 Vegas shooting to build non-violent robots. I obtained a video showing their original mission was a border patrol drone system designed to tase migrants https://t.co/TclkWOO3eM

— Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) December 13, 2021

It would have happened eventually.

Right but I'm saying the timeline where America turns the Earth into a toilet wasn't necessarily predetermined.

Maybe ecocide is the dharma of the human race idk.

this is all god's fault. god put the oil in the ground, fully formed, 8000 years ago

it was all predetermined

idk these guys predicted it pretty early

https://i.ibb.co/f4P96K0/index.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/cFmrLPX/index.jpg

Yeah I never loved the band but those album titles stuck with me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CczFit6tGhs

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kentucky-tornado-factory-workers-threatened-firing-left-tornado-employ-rcna8581

personally idgi. fresh produce in american supermarkets is quite bad and expensive, every major city in the world has decent markets, etc. i guess it's better if it's brightly lit and you can listen to an instrumental soft jazz version of after the gold rush? https://t.co/g3b5LOgBcD

— joolsd (@joolsd) December 14, 2021

which Publix plays that?!? I'm happy if I get early '80 Boz Scaggs.

I regret starting a thread that functions as an invitation to post the most depressing news you can find, but more narrowly the degree to which the US seems to be embracing core elements of the most prominent fictional dystopias is pretty striking! Sadly not cyberpunk this time:

https://pen.org/scope-speed-educational-gag-orders-worsening-across-country/

And it’s getting worse. In the month since the report’s release, state lawmakers introduced 12 new bills, bringing the total to a staggering 66 educational gag orders for the year in 26 states, 12 of which have passed into law.

Here’s what’s happening:

The recent group of bills includes seven in Missouri and one each in New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.
All 12 of these bills target K–12 schools, four include provisions that would impact colleges and universities, and four include a focus on state agencies, other state-funded institutions, and “places of learning.”
Six of these bills specifically ban “critical race theory,” making a total of 20 state-level bills introduced this year with such explicit prohibitions.
Six of these bills contain explicit prohibitions against teaching or using curricular materials from “The 1619 Project,” bringing the total of these to 17 for the year.

xxp I remember back in the 80s, we hosted some soviet kids. When we took them to the supermarket, they lost their shit.

I think the original tweet is referencing that, not that Safeway is better than a local French produce market.

we do have abundant food (not everywhere, of course) of mostly mediocre quality. it's ok.

the critical race theory mess is one of the factors in favor of dystopia

to me

xxp I remember back in the 80s, we hosted some soviet kids. When we took them to the supermarket, they lost their shit.

I think the original tweet is referencing that, not that Safeway is better than a local French produce market.

So was communism.

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

we all knew it was happening, but here's proof

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/04/us/ice-impersonators-on-the-rise-arrests-made-as-authorities-issue-national-warning

ICE impersonators immediately hired by ICE

Its a hell of a job application

I would really prefer them to arrest each other: "I'm ICE. Stop resisting." "No, you idiot, I'M ICE." "Yeah, right. On the ground NOW."

ha, well, funnily enough

"When he was arrested, he said, 'I'm ICE, boys'"

[two spidermans meme.jpg]

U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols

The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”

see the politics thread, apparently that WaPo story is bogus

I think the gap in story's reality is the difference between drafting and adopting. If the leak of the draft results in bad enough blowback maybe whichever Trumpy political appointee who's behind this will be foiled.

see the politics thread

can't take it

sorry

'Unignorable' flying billboards are slated to come to California

“Airspace is becoming the next battleground for audience attention,” especially as foot traffic ramps up for major events, a recent HELI-D press release explained. The company isn’t limiting its clients to just corporations, either.
The U.S. midterm elections “are on the horizon, and the landscape of political advertising is evolving faster than ever,”

Can you 3D print a SAM?

wake me up when the billboards hit the bottom of the bathtub, where i spend some time submerged upside-down with my eyes open, screaming

HELI-D

For when you need a giant floating D

Why not just bring back skywriting?

How long until we have those floating sci-fi ads that follow us around until we pay for them to go away?

https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780553104028-us.jpg