What Am I

Yes, but it's an example where exposure to new ideas produces a productive, self-fueled obsession. It was the same for me when I first started actively caring about my own health beyond the base level of merely staying alive. As you can imagine, my quality of life has been transformed now for many years. Similar to an RPG video game, the act of continuous self-improvement becomes gamified, and the desire to keep pushing flows naturally and easily. If the right starts spreading this same mentality to the masses, that alone will account for radical changes in the nation's health. It'd be tough to knock them on that form of propaganda.

Sounds powerful to me.

Yeah, probably so. I'm sure there are some (or many) in which no effort towards finding common ground is given. When it is possible, though, conciliation still seems like the ideal method to me.

I get what you're saying, but I wonder if we maybe just shouldn't rip into others, even if their ideas are shit. Take myself for example. Do you often see me aggressively tearing someone down in conversation? The viewing of opinions I don't like usually isn't enough to make me lash out. I think it's just simply not an effective strategy for persuading others to your point of view, or even just for a productive back and forth conversation to search for a middle-ground truth.

I think the constant environment of extremely negative discourse around Trump nudged many to be hesitant in vocalizing their support. This applies to regular people as well as major influencers. A few examples would be Lex Fridman, Joe Rogan, and Aubrey Marcus, along with so many others who are finally making their full opinions regarding Trump known. A really surprising example is Ana Kasparian. I'm sensing that she'd like to throw in her support and express her enthusiasm, but she's still a little afraid of the stigma that's developed over time. So I believe it's for this reason that his actual popularity has come as a shock once again.

Perhaps, but Dems are caught in a catch-22. Ripping into him for daring to question is exactly what his post is about, while he's also making the point that he's being met with the opposite attitude from the right. By continuing to advance that predictable pattern, he'll be pushed rightward even quicker. At least in terms of allegiance if not policy.

Ana must have whispered sweet nothings into Cenk's ear.

Exactly, it's been a common occurrence for decades at hacking conferences like Defcon, where exploits are demonstrated on voting machines. I'm more on the blue team in security, but I bet even I could flip votes if given access. And those are just the vulnerabilities we know about. It may be an "emperor has no clothes" situation where the public perception is concerned.

I appreciate you being willing to take the plunge with me in voicing this opinion. I bet we're not the only two who suspect it. This is probably something many on the left (which I realize doesn't strictly define you) secretly assume, but they don't dare voice it due to all the tripwires and social stigma involved. And I guess even if it's true, it probably wouldn't be for the best if it was part of common parlance on both the left and the right.

Gandhi was awesome where consciousness is concerned, but all people have their complexities. I'm not sure any living human is the perfect picture of heavenly light and perfection that some of us hold in our minds. Taking Gandhi for example, he would regularly sleep in the same bed as 12-year-old girls, with the intention of exercising his ability to maintain his celibacy. Can I say for certain that he didn't in fact fondle these little girls over and over? I'm just not sure. But he wouldn't be the first accomplished guru who gets caught up in sex scandals. And in the eyes of many, just performing the act of deliberately sleeping next to the girls was a very inappropriate display of a power imbalance. To be clear, I don't necessarily care what Gandhi did or didn't do. I'm just presenting an example where some people would judge him harshly for his actions.

Kind of a side question but also kind of related; did you ever end up doing the mushrooms you discussed a few months ago? It may be easy to have a shallower idea of what awakening means until you've witnessed what's really possible in consciousness.

Very true that it could be interpreted as sincere. And I'd be lying if I didn't admit it's a possibility in the future. I certainly hope not.

Thanks man. I appreciate it, even if your post may be based in sarcasm as well, lol. I try hard not to spread the very negativity that I detest, but it can be tough.

Sorry, lol, I was being sarcastic. I was dealing with some extra annoying stuff at work and made a snarky post. My bad.

So very sneaky. One thing that's becoming clear to me is that they're up to something, more so than I realized before. And it doesn't seem like recent events are just the results of happenstance. It's too bad that "conspiracy" has become such a dirty word, because it's likely appropriate.