Are people bigger assholes ever since Trump took office?

Without a doubt

Depends on where you live. There have always been a lot of Teslas - sales are down in every country, so you're not seeing necessarily new ones being bought. Elon knows that.

The cyber trucks are 50/50 - so many of them ordered and paid for them years before they arrived and now they're stuck with them. SOO many are for sale.

Tesla is not a sign of anything. I don't see more aggression and assholery - but I see a lot of people getting fed up with Trump - even Trump supporters.

I know a couple of Tesla owners who bought the cars several years ago and have listed them for sale. No one want to buy them.

I’ve noticed the trolls are out there more than ever. Just looking at random comments on Instagram or a TikTok (I know, I know), there will be totally unrelated comments slamming Dems/liberals on posts that have nothing to do with politics.

Clearly.

In my experience Republicans started being rude and aggressive in the Reagan era and just never shut up.

Because they don’t understand math or politics the Trump supporters have this mistaken belief that they won in a landslide and that secretly the entire world agrees with them but has been too afraid to say so. Based on that belief they’ve cranked up their rudeness and attacks. It’s tiresome in the extreme.

I live in a blue island in the middle of one of the reddest states. The MAGA folks are really arrogant but they’re getting a lot more pushback than they expected. It’s been fun to watch.

I don't see much pushback, especially from Democrats and the media. I see a lot of supporters still cheering him on no matter what shit he's doing.

I think people have been bigger assholes since COVID. All the isolation and paranoia and being in your own thought bubble and doomscrolling didn't help mankind AT ALL.

They certain drive like bigger assholes since.

I do think a lot of people feel emboldened to say whatever they feel, NO FILTER, because they are seeing that at the top level of world leaders (TRUMP). Oh yeah, TRUMP was in office during COVID, too.

Major assholes. Because of Trump--not COVID.

Classless, crude, rude, uncivilized, uneducated, bigoted, impolite pieces of garbage.

Yes absolutely, for all the above reasons. I include myself in this too because I'm so pissed off.

It's not healthy. We'll all keel over from this bullshit before the fat orange one does.

[quote] I don't see much pushback, especially from Democrats and the media. I see a lot of supporters still cheering him on no matter what shit he's doing.

The media isn't covering a lot of the Dems who are having town halls or the Dems who are sponsoring to challege Trump, Musk, etc.

Ever since Trump took office I find it so disheartening that more than half the country supports his bigotry, lies and crooked policies. Both the American flag and Christianity have been tainted by the stench of Trump. Things are not the same as they once were and everyone seems to hate each other more than ever.

What is actually going on with the media. Is Trump paying someone to make them do or say with whatever he wants?

All I notice is that people want to bring division through politics into every conversation

The media is largely by wealthy Republicans who benefit from Trump's policies so they "sane wash" him

There are Dems who are pushing back on Trump via sponsored legislation, but they aren't getting a lot of coverage over than the CSPAN. CNN, and MSNBC only gives a fuck about very popular Dems like AOC, Crockett, and Bernie Sanders part because Bernie brings them ratings and AOC and Crockett are attractive women. Most Democratic women in Congress and the Senate aren't pretty so CNN and MSNBC pretty much ignore them despite many of those women being hard workers.

AOC and Crockett's pretty privilege will only take them so far. They will end up like Gretchen Whitmer.

[quote]I think people have been bigger assholes since COVID.

THIS.

It's true....

Yes. If you glance at the social media MAGAs consume, you'll see so much virulence. It's framed as "finally, I can speak my mind and let it out." But it's just propaganda fueling their anger.

Like you could tell around here!

Speaking as a trans Chinese lesbian this really resonates with me.

Remember when the teacher left the room and the bully would spit in your hair?

I comment on various sites - even YouTube - when I see this shitty, racist attitude:

“It must be sad to be so mean.” Or “ so angry” or “so hateful”. I will sometimes add a kindly worded sentence that we are all humans who want to be loved and happy.

I hope it’s disarming; I hope it makes them think about their anger. It makes me feel like I’ve done a tiny bit of protesting.

Yes.

That bloated orange cunt gives other cunts a license to cunt off constantly.

Most of them need a swift kick in the cuntbone. Repeatedly.

I have become disenchanted with a lot of people since 2016. Former classmates, coworkers, even friends. One was a mentor of mine. Oh, didn't know you were an asshole, too. Terrific.

I’m in New England so I wouldn’t notice. New Englanders are horrible people to deal with.

Definitely

Yes, OP, and the sky is blue.

Here’s an example of people acting badly for no good reason

There have always been assholes and their assholery. We all had the grumpy, crazy uncle, neighbor, or workmate. We heard them at family gatherings, across the hedges, and at work. The proliferation of public platforms for us all -- social media -- has exposed us to the multitudes of them. Then came that Dangerous Idiot who spoke like them -- a public figure who spoke their thoughts. And then came the pandemic on which they could attach and amplify their grievances. All these storms came together. It is like the biblical Flood.

Good description BPC r30

Sans doubt

The Internet is the real Pandora’s box. I preferred it back when I didn’t know how awful people really are

R30 we kept a lid on those crazy uncles and bitter nerds by keeping them shunned and isolated, the way nature intended it

YESY YES YES YES YES YES…

But no, here CA I see a lot of Teslas for sale.

Emboldened Impunity

Trump has given people the license to be terrible human beings.

I am old enough to remember the novelty of signing on to AOL and responding to the "Where do you live?" questions and thinking the internet was going to be a wonderful, global unity project. Facebook united me with all these people that I loved and missed and then I began to see just what assholes a lot of them were, as their FB posts became ever more polarized and polarizing. FB, at least, remained fairly transparent until 2015 and you could mostly interact only with friends. In 2015, there was a flood of bots and trolls and it never receded. Twitter, on the other hand, was just pure anonymous venom and propaganda from the beginning.

People have been cooked in propaganda and most of it is designed to enrage us. If we hate each other, we are more likely to forget that we are being exploited for labor by an overclass that is planning on enslaving us. So far, it's been very effective.

[quote]The Internet is the real Pandora’s box. I preferred it back when I didn’t know how awful people really are

Social media revealed how nasty people are. Trump revealed how stupid they are. I'm with you, I was happy to live in ignorance of these realities.

"How dare you call me an asshole? I'm speaking MY truth, and you WILL respect me."

I'm a bigger asshole, if that was possible, watching Trump and MAGA fuck up the country during the pandemic.

The plus side is that I now love to be homebound after I retired and am doing a PhD in Curmudgeon.

The combination of Trump/Covid turned people into absolute cunts.

R39, your second paragraph should be read by everyone. It is absolutely true. Social media keeps us in fight mode 24/7. Not a lot of time to really think about other things, especially long term, or see the big picture (the rich are fleecing us, one and all).

On Datalounge?

Yes, since 2016!!!!!

Trump IS Covid and will be again.

I live in Georgia, USA. Assholes have always been here and many of them show out. But I don't hang out in clubs or go where they are, mostly in Northern GA. I live in Metro Atlanta area. I don't go out of my way to avoid them, but I just don't lead a life where I encounter them very often. Gotta watch out on the freeway for drivers who are nasty.

The drugs have something to do with it, along with the Orange Menace, COVID, the internet and the economy.

People never used to decide they wanted to get off the plane at 33,000 feet and try to open the door. Or walk up and down the aisle naked. Or claim the passenger next to them wasn’t real. Or masturbate under the blanket.

r43, that's me.

.

r42

[quote]The combination of Trump/Covid turned people into absolute cunts.

From afar, there may be something to that. Other countries suffered many deaths and long periods of confinement, but snapped back as if making up for list time. Only the US had its unique paired burden, but it doesn't seem ever to have quite recovered on the human level (even as economic and other indicators showed a return to past levels.(

Yes, all of the worst people are emboldened now. Just look at the return of the "R slur." Yes I know people here post it constantly, but we all know some of the worst people post here regularly, too.

I won't use it though because a loved one who impacted my early life had a developmental disability. I rank it with any slur gay people are targeted with, which conveniently are seemingly interchangeable with the R slur for the awful subset that uses them. Hell, they use "gay" the exact same way.

Anyway, you never heard it outside of the internet or a playground lately, but suddenly it's back and MAGAs are using it everywhere. I'm overhearing other people using it in public now. Joe Rogan hailed its return as the "greatest culture victory" of the Trump presidency.

Remember, cruelty is always the point with conservatives. They live for the suffering of others.

Barbra is here to help retarded children

r52, I prefer the socially abbreviated TARD.

I knew the mouth breathers here wouldn't disappoint after my post. So predictable, and with the intelligence of a 12 year old.

RETARTET!

r55, you cannot mandate words be forbidden.

And a faggot is a gay gentleman who has left the room...

Why haven't you gone after Moron and Imbecile?

And this thread is ABOUT assholes. Go crawl up someone else.

Oh, and because r52 is such a fucking, bleeding cunt, I will probably see you in a few days.

The idiots of this country are finally being listened to. They feel emboldened. Not only that they feel like what they have to say has value and they’re out to hurt.

I’ve muted or unfollowed so many people since November on social media. I hardly use it at this point.

Young people are seeing this and following suit.

Welcome to my block list r57. Proof before you post, btw.

The R57s here honestly make me sad. That is one damaged individual, and those are clearly trauma responses. Every minority group has that minority that lives to prove their superiority over other marginalized people. It's soothing to them, I guess.

I'm grateful for the queer elders who evolved with the times, and especially the ones who were never assholes in the first place.

The same old assholes that are always with us do seem to be more expressive. For example. I live in big white truck country and if I don't want one inches from my bumper I have to pull over a lot more recently to let them pass. The message I get is they are dominant and one as a small car driver must be made to understand is submissive. They want you to know where you stand in the pack hierarchy. They pay a lot of money for a weaponized vehicle and want you to know they could use it if they chose.

R60 I experience the same here in Los Angeles. These assholes are everywhere.

r60 those assholes who ride your bumper to try and make you pull over or switch lanes should be shot. I HATE those people!

I feel like people have gotten worse every year since Covid. Angry, short fused. And a weird one: suspicious. It’s hard to fully describe, but walking around NYC I feel like so many people look at each other with skepticism. Darting eyes, unforgiving expressions. There is a skittishness now about being in public that I never noticed a decade ago.

r58, thank you. Your intolerance in a thread about intolerant people is quite amusing.

Do you think that YOU have become a bigger asshole?

Just wondering if you really blocked me, ya tard cunt.

I slow down when a giant truck gets on my bumper (and I am not a slow driver). Their intimidation tactics have the opposite effect.

And why do you need a giant truck when you live in an urban area? It's not like you own a ranch and use it as a work vehicle. Sometimes I wish gas prices would skyrocket so these assholes would be bankrupted by their giant gas guzzlers.

[quote]And why do you need a giant truck when you live in an urban area?

I ask myself this question all the time. Giant trucks and SUVs in urban areas. It's not like they live in the mountains of Colorado!

[quote)And why do you need a giant truck when you live in an urban area?

Because toxic masculinity. Because by now generations of men have grown up with the conditioning that they must always appear not just strong, but stronger than anyone else, they must always be the biggest and the baddest, and that true power comes from appearing threatening at all times and always intimidating anyone perceived as weaker. You can't maliciously tailgate a Subaru while driving a Subaru. I mean, you probably could, but these guys always have the dial set to 11 lest anyone else show up looking even stronger and more threatening.

Remember when being masculine meant being helpful and looking out for others? Being, yes, strong and in control , but using your strength and power to help others? Opening doors, carrying packages, giving up your seat. Being a stand up guy, a good guy, a mensch. That's the masculinity I was taught. Nowadays it's something a lot different.

Can we still use the term “prostatut”?

I am a true introvert and a homebody (and have always been), so I’ve never understood how people go nuts like they did during Covid lockdown. Very little of my actual day-to-to life changed during that time. I’m thinking, “What about this is a ‘sacrifice’? This is heaven on earth.”

Hell is other people, as a brilliant person once said.

I remember an old hbo documentary called Hate.com. They talked about how there has always been bigots and crazies in every town, but before the Internet, they were isolated and relatively benign. The Internet gave them the ability to congregate and gain a sense of power they never had before. Trump emboldened them even further by legitimizing them on a national scale.

So many people who were seemingly normal completely lost their fucking minds during the Covid lockdowns. Being home with nothing to do but sit on Facebook all day and communicate with crackpots and get lost in conspiracy theories and lies.

Absolutely. I think Mount Vesuvius was his fault too. All those poor people getting killed. Everything that ever went wrong is about to go wrong is Trump's fault.

Now that Trump has rejected Elon, all those remaining Teslas once driven to own the libs might soon be hitting the market.

[quote]Hell is other people, as a brilliant person once said.

And a ham...