You just made me realize one thing. Yes the republicans are THE problem, but democrats are like an accomplice.

You just realised that now? This is what others have been saying for a long time! As an outsider looking at American politics, the Democratic party is the opposite cheek of the same ass, in which the other cheek is the Republican party. It’s unbelievable that many Americans refuse to see this. I get that the US has first past the post and has to vote for “lesser evil”, but other countries also have the same system, and yet these countries have third parties gaining seats and influencing policies massively. Heck, even one hundred years ago, third parties are getting elected in Congress and Senate.

Why are third parties aren’t getting elected anymore? The American public has been pacified by corporate mass media to think within a narrow and curated worldview. To quote Noam Chomsky: the smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum. Americans have been conditioned to think it’s only liberals versus conservatives, and Democrats versus Republicans. Meanwhile, both parties are in the pocket of the oligarchs.

It’s good that more and more Americans have been waking up, in an unironic sense, to think outside the corporate narrative, because the No Kings protests is a start for the mass mobilisation and activism. But this is useless if the movement does not translate to substantive electoral changes. Even many Americans still assume that the next presidential election will be establishment Democrats versus the far right Republican. And those who make assumption repeat the Democratic party thought terminating cliché of “vote for lesser evil” and “perfect is the enemy of good”. That said, it is good that many Americans gradually turning away from the corporate establishment worldview, and starting to become more politically active by now discussing to primary progressives into power to circumvent the first past the post system.

Democrats: We have rich people to appease!

Newsweek is sensationalist. They only care about clicks.

Times New Roman is precisely what Trump admin wants. You know, since the far right has a hard on on the Roman empire.

Me: Maybe in a few MORE DECADES people will wake up!

What Westerners don’t realise is that Facebook’s main audience are people from developing countries. FB provides free and unlimited access to everyone even without internet data. But the actual price? You guessed it.

I can’t be bothered to fact check but my teacher once said that anyone who left 20 km from their residence are technically tourists.

Degrees and grades only matter for younger and less experienced folks.

Conservatives: Then get a high demand and high paying job!

the field becomes too competitive and saturated and couldn’t find jobs

Also conservatives: Then work in a factory!

factory jobs gets taken over by AI

Conservatives for the final and umpteenth time: Fuck you!

I actually liked Nike, until I heard of sweatshops, and now this.

Could anyone recommend an ethical alternative that is also high quality?

Trump is just in it for himself. He plays the game to gain power and wealth. Unlike other despots who still mind the state (like Stalin and Hitler), Trump doesn’t care about the US.

I don’t know if it’s unintended, because many racist parents will say there are too many minorities in schools. This is what they prefer over having less white kids.

Exactly. The shutdown is a blessing in disguise for Trump and Republicans, because it delays the economic data. The stock market is still on the rocks because of delayed data from October.

Instagram is just as bad. Some accounts make provocative comments but never reply. Looking at their profiles as well, they have little to no followers or no post at all. It’s like with Reddit in which accounts that are months or years old with no activity, and then suddenly become activated posting hateful single issues.

The intention is to divide the people so that powers-that-be hoodwink us while stealing from our pockets. Many of us know better that the posts are ragebaits. However, social media companies do nothing about bad faith actors because they benefit from angry discourse to inflate engagement and attention for more traffic and advertising. You wonder who are the people are surprised by this? It’s mainly those who don’t expand from their narrow experience and like digital brain rot contents.

Yup. Sounds like a Ponzi scheme.

Yup, pretty much. Merit still matters more, but confidence matters just as much. And look, put yourself in the employer’s shoes, if the candidate is slouching, jittery and looks underconfident, what would you think of that candidate? Would you feel hiring that person? Would he be able to handle stress and unforeseen circumstances if he’s this nervous? Everyone has to fake it until they make it. Lemmy rightfully criticise the system, but truth of the matter is that we’re still reliant to having jobs to feed ourselves. It’s important to recognise what’s in one’s control and what’s not. We can’t control the world, but we can control how we respond to it.

If you mean networking sounds like nepotism or cronyism, it’s not really if a company do its best to have set rules and grade the interview candidates with set objective criteria. Not all companies are like that though.

I was going to mention this in my original comment, but I thought I would do so if someone mention the introvert vs extrovert personalities in jobs.

There is no other way of gently putting it, but if you are an introvert, you just have to suck it up. The job won’t come to you. You just have to fake it till you make it until you get a job. Or, while at work, be good and professional enough that you will get good reputation. You don’t have to be best buddies with the boss or coworkers outside of work.

That’s a good point you raised about if someone just moved to a new city. All I could say is that this is why it’s important to secure a job first, before moving to a new city or town, if the person could. But if you moved to a new environment and have been job searching, there are job fairs you could attend. Again, this is where “fake it till you make it” works again; tell the employer that the company is your dream job and all that jazz. And ask how you could apply for the role etc. This worked for me but before I moved out to the new city I am in now.

It’s not necessarily nepotism or cronyism but some places are indeed more corrupt in this regard. I have seen it in my previous company where there is a middle manager, whose position is unnecessary and just annoy the grunt workers. But for the most part, I don’t really see much cronyism and nepotism, although I guess it is because I am not up high in the career ladder yet to witness behind the scenes corruption.

This is why it’s more important to network and have a good work reputation. 70% of job hires is through networking. It makes sense because from employer’s perspective, there is a higher chance that the person recommended is reliable than the candidate who hasn’t been heard of before. It corroborates my own experience as a jobseeker before. A couple of the best jobs I have had was through connections.

Reminds of a scene in Saving Private Ryan when the US soldiers captured a German POW, and the POW started blabbing American pop cultural references like Steam boat Willy, Betty Boo, he said I like America and then sanf the Star Spangled Banner so he won’t be shot.

Are we Trump’s prisoner then?

Quiet quitting is such a bizarre phrase for me as Irish. As long as we do our jobs right, we can do whatever we want. At the end of the day, a job is meant to put food on the table, not be your life. Even some of the worst companies I have worked have a laidback attitude compared to workplaces abroad.