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Originally Posted by bitontheslide
what is the reaction from people over there in your world of acquaintances. Have people noticed, do they care?
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People do notice things and Biden's mental status is known, but I'd say most are checked out. We can only laugh. You do get the occasional person that still seems to be emotionally invested in current narratives, especially social media fodder, but it's less common now. Polled husband also and with what he does (works in criminal justice), they do talk politics and it's more or less the same. It really does not feel like an election year. The debate felt a special program, a popcorn hour if you will, but nothing substantial was going to happen. More like a comedy hour or a football game of sorts. "What silly things are we up to now" sort of thing.
Other things I've noticed... more and more people are turning to Local news. They are still through the affiliates, but are usually more subdued and less offensive to the masses. We have about 4-5 news stations here where we are that compete with pretty good coverage and when I do talk to people, they're quoting local and not national. During COVID times, we could walk into a doctors office and other businesses, a national news station would be playing, which used to be reserved to airports, etc. Many more are tuned to local news and even radio and paying less attention to national media.
Corporations seem to have caught on because in shops where political slogans, propaganda, etc were flooding in hardcore through product and displays has died way down. It's not as common now to find anything overt. Even though it's pride month, I've only seen an endcap or two, but nothing that screams at me.
It's more like normal times. I love it. I don't think about politics hardly at all. Nobody seems that stressed about it, either. Yes, things are more expensive now, inflation has fully kicked in, the deficit is worrying. I hear more about local concerns, like the power grid or issues with our water, issues that actually impact people and they feel they have a say. National though? It's not like much can be done about it, so people have accepted their past voting choices and seem to be focusing more on getting their own stuff in order. For example, we lost power for nearly a week from the Derecho storm that came through and in that time I realized most of our neighbors have purchased generators. Everyone seemed much more prepared. The feeling I've been getting when out and about is that people take less for granted, seem less rushed and take things slower, and thus have less to complain about. We still enjoy a decent living standard even with all that's wrong in the world and I think the moaning has really worn thin with some. They'd rather do something about it than sit on Twitter and complain, I guess.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bitontheslide
The word on the street is he will be gone by tomorrow
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I had this horrible image of a party of interns watching from around a corner for him to walk down the hall so they can jump out and shout "Surprise!!!". Maybe they were going to congratulate him on having a great debate and offer him some ice cream... then we find through CNN later about how his party murdered him.
"The last thing he ever saw was his ice cream. He was so happy"