I’ve tried to make this exchange productive by engaging seriously with the points you’ve raised—even conceding that fraud, inefficiency, and poor implementation exist on all sides of the political spectrum. I've acknowledged that progressive and conservative policies both have room for improvement, and I’ve treated your concerns about spending and accountability with the seriousness they deserve. But when every question I pose—about the real economic costs of tariffs, the erosion of trust in U.S. financial leadership, the ethics of cutting aid to the neediest, the long-term weakening of democratic institutions, reasearch, and academic freedom—is simply sidestepped with whataboutism, conspiracy innuendo, or another story meant to provoke moral panic, then we’re no longer having a discussion. You’re performing ideological theater while I am struggling to find traces of good faith or just a single fresh point of view.
Whataboutism is not dialogue. It’s a rhetorical strategy designed to flood the field, evade accountability, and ensure that questions flow only in one direction. That’s not conversation. It’s deflection. It’s why serious questions about economic stability, public trust, and basic decency go unanswered while social media outrage cycles churn endlessly through keywords like “Soros,” “WEF,” and “illegal aliens”—not to clarify anything, but to activate suspicion and tribal rage. If your goal is to reinforce team narratives, to rehearse the enemy lines of a culture war, then I encourage you to take that performance to lists where it still works. There, you’ll find people who confuse slogans for policy and emotional validation for truth. But here, I’d prefer not to waste time. I’ve posed real questions about how your proposals will actually deliver peace, economic prosperity, or trust. I’ve asked where the lower and middle class find the promised salvation in your vision. Where peace on earth is. I’ve challenged the ethics of abandoning the vulnerable when the US budget easily allows for their protection. And I've asked why you keep asking questions in a woke forum while simultaneously repeatedly assuming everybody to be ideologically captured? The amount of posts from you and their deflection makes whataboutism pretty clear by now. If none of those questions merit even a hint of reply—just more deflection—then the conversation has run its course. T Talking to a wall would be more fruitful. At least the wall doesn’t try to rewrite history or ban the books that explain how these systems work. Instead of the constant deflection, just read up on economics, international financial flows, geopolitics, history, or the US constitution... Get a library card with online access before someone decides all of this is too woke to read. On Friday, May 9, 2025 at 1:11:09 PM UTC+2 [email protected] wrote: > Well, the political agenda, paid for, by say George Soros, his baby > brother Klaus Schwab, (Retired!) the EU, the WEF, seem not to function well > at all in the streets of the US or the world. Enjoy the under-funding of > defense, in dealing with Vlad and the embrace of the importation of hostile > foreigners too! Very impressive. > > I am no great US super-patriot, I am more of a pragmatist. Does something > work well, or poorly?I hold this old article to be factual, in any case. > Thus, we all work with what we have got or has got us. > Study concludes: The US is an oligarchy, not a democracy - UPI.com > <https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/04/16/The-US-is-not-a-democracy-but-an-oligarchy-study-concludes/2761397680051/> > > Study concludes: The US is an oligarchy, not a democracy - UPI.com > > A study from Princeton and Northwestern Universities concludes that U.S. > political policy is determined by the e... > > <https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/04/16/The-US-is-not-a-democracy-but-an-oligarchy-study-concludes/2761397680051/> > > > > > On Thursday, May 8, 2025 at 12:45:24 PM EDT, Henrik Ohrstrom < > [email protected]> wrote: > > Spuddude, your MAGA guys are doing serious FAFO nowadays. > The embassy of the USA (soon the people's democratic Republic of America) > demanded of the city of Stockholm that the city are required to stop behave > in an inclusive manner. Just because an embassy says so. > Right, fuck you. > The threat, the city of Stockholm won't be allowed to sell stuff to the > usa, that's is a threat with reaaal weight. Or as the mayor equivalent > says, very literally, the usa can fuck of and import their water, food and > what not from somewhere else. > > We can discuss a reduktion in whatever Swedish policy's when you scrap > your 2 amendment. Afterwards, I mean you are not to be trusted right now, > to much dementia up top. > > > > Den tors 8 maj 2025 17:14PGC <[email protected]> skrev: > > > > On Thursday, May 8, 2025 at 2:36:06 PM UTC+2 [email protected] wrote: > > I am not concerned with gretaness. > > > Then make the list less "gretaness" again. > > > I am concerned with survival. Our ability to survive as a nation state > declined under King Joey. The trust you claim, only ran one-way. The > Europeans protested the install of the Pershing missiles after the USSR > installed SS20's. They danced to the tune that benefited the CCCP. Today? > They dance to Qatari cash which Europe is flush with, all the time > expecting us to fight Putin for them. Incongrience here. The export import > imbalance was a thing by the wealthy to max profit and min loss. It has > failed for the rest of us. Now? We will see if Don's hardball works for us > or not? If not we can always go back to the Socialist International crap. > > > Chill with the straw men and make some attempt to engage in discussion > instead of the whataboutism deluge. It makes your position seem - what's > the Maga term for this again - ah yes "weak". Nobody reasonable would > dispute your concern about fraud or waste—whether it’s in USAID, EV > chargers, or anywhere else. Misuse of public funds should be exposed and > corrected. The fact that you think that "team progressive" is walking > around trying to defend fraud and waste... I admire the openness but you're > proving with every post how you'll believed any contrived, out-of-context > statement. Fraud and waste do matter. But let’s be real about scale and > focus. > > A few bad actors siphoning $6 million or a poorly executed rollout of EV > chargers should be criticized. But these stories are small fires compared > to the inferno of wealth transfer the US continues to quietly normalized. > Trump's 2017 tax cuts handed $1.9 trillion to the top income brackets. His > businesses profited directly from government travel and campaign events. > COVID relief saw hundreds of billions flow to corporations that laid off > workers anyway. So the question isn’t: “Is waste bad?” Of course it is. But > you lack belief in your own judgement and ability to question, instead > always paroting your MAGA media consumption. Because why not ask: "Why am I > only being fed/parotting outrage when it’s helping someone poorer than me?" > > Because let’s face it: a lot of this fraud-flavored outrage isn’t about > corruption. It’s emotional bait. It’s algorithmically optimized to tell you > that someone somewhere—immigrant, aid recipient, poor foreigner—is stealing > your money. But you’re not supposed to get angry when a billionaire parks > your tax refund in the Caymans or buys back stock with bailout money. That > silence? That’s designed. And your whataboutism propagates it. And then we > come to the word you use: survival. If we really mean “survival,” then it > has to mean systems-level thinking: infrastructure, education, housing, > energy, clean air, economic dignity. Not just here—but abroad too. Because > starving kids/parents don’t stay put. Collapsing states become migratory > pressure points. Survival means reducing the instability that breeds > collapse, and that’s what public investment and foreign aid should do—when > managed well. > > And that leads to the heart of it: relevance and responsibility. The > problem isn’t that aid or green tech investments are fraudulent. It’s that > you don't demand better from those with actual power. If you believe in > accountability, then start asking: Why is it that corruption at the bottom > enrages you, but corruption at the top earns loyalty, cults of personality, > and silence? > > If you're serious about national survival, then start demanding returns > from the real beneficiaries of this privileged system built around the > dollar: the hedge/investment funds, the monopolies, silicon valley, the > families with dynastic wealth. And if they scream “class war,” why not let > them? They’re cleaning the floor with you guys; dominating you up to the > flavor/direction of your outrage as I demonstrate here. Helping people > isn’t the problem. Mismanaging it isn’t an excuse. Worshipping power while > punching down is exactly what your dreaded elite wants you to do: Sit > around online and post your outrage instead of getting ahead by asking the > those with the resources/influence where your cut is from the Dollar > privilege and global financial dominion. That would get you your hydrogen > car but I don't think you even want that. You'd rather cling to your > obviously engineered outrage and continue whataboutism. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/098c5b21-3d97-4f2f-8fb5-91199c603e23n%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/098c5b21-3d97-4f2f-8fb5-91199c603e23n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAF0GBnha5pM%3DEJiz5aUQN0zn_63xzihufEu_0Vd0LuE8UG7_8g%40mail.gmail.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAF0GBnha5pM%3DEJiz5aUQN0zn_63xzihufEu_0Vd0LuE8UG7_8g%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. 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