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I liked John Stewart's recent bit on this. He showed Biden talking super slow and un focused, and spent 5 minutes ripping on him. When you think Biden is thoroughly trashed he then shows a clip of trump saying "you can pour water on magnets to end them." And suddenly you remember who the competition is.
Here's the problem I don't want to play the dementia olympics for the president...
The fact that DNC insists that Biden is the only one they have that can beat trump should scare the shit out of you. That basically guarantees an authoritarian in the next 8 years because the republicans have a deep back bench of ghouls to replace trump when he dies.
And I'm just saying if trump wins and we can't defeat his geriatric thug version of fascism, then America will just fall to the next charismatic fascist wanna be that stumbles by.
DNC should just pick Jon Stewart or Tom Hanks or somebody. The previous president demonstrated that there are no qualifications beyond people liking you.
People act like he was a warning sign for why unqualified people shouldn't be president, but I kinda took it the other way around. If Trump, who is both incomprehensibly stupid and actively malicious, trying to hurt the country as much as he could, could manage to have his damage so limited, even with Republicans enabling him all over the place, then it stands to reason that anyone who is genuinely acting in good faith and wants to do the job well can manage it pretty okay, especially if they're ready to listen to available experts on everything.
How would the dems running someone else mean the repubs be suddenly decent?
The idea of a second trump term scares me.
As it should, I'm saying the republicans will not get better, they've got a roster of worse already in fact.
That the democrats are so convinced that Biden is the only one from their party who can beat trump, is a terrifying, because I don't know what charismatic demon the republicans are going to run next, but if Biden is the best they've got we're fucked.
The fact that the American system can't rid itself of a virus as decrepit and criminal as trump is a warning that whoever replaces him will waltz in without hassle...
I mean the reason they're so certain Biden is their best bet is the incumbent effect, which is REALLY HARD to beat. I think AOC is like the main example of someone being able to beat a big wig incumbent and she had some pretty extraordinary circumstances and personal talent to make that happen.
I'm just crossing my fingers that Whitmer goes for it next time because she seems like she's got a lot of credential to her portfolio already.
Wasn't Palpatine a perfectly normal age for a human politician? I mean, he ate his own Force Lightning to the face and only came out looking like a melted wax statue.
Whereas Yoda being three days older than dirt legitimately did cause problems... Among them, Palpatine.
He would've been relatively normal aged in episode 3 but by the time of Yoda's death he was geriatric.
Also pretty sure his "deformation" was due to his corruption from the dark side and he simply hid it using sith powers and used the force lightning thing as a ploy to help make him seem like a victim
Also Yoda dies like 3 days after this. And Palpatine lives for 30 more years. Somehow.
The Jedi... the Sith... you don't get it, do you? To the galaxy, they're the same thing; just men and women with too much power, squabbling over religion, while the rest of us burn. At least the Sith are honest about what they're killing for. The Jedi are pacifists... except in times of war. They're teachers... except when it comes to telling their students the truth. And when they save you, it's only so you can suffer more.
Strangely, the message of this quote sorta fits in USA’s politics today.
EDIT: more gooder english
at least the Sith are honest I mean, no, the MFers lie to everyone about everything because others are just means to an end so Sith manipulate others to get the desired reaction/outcome. Lie, truth, doesn't matter. Say whatever gets you more power.
And even if Sith were honest about why they wanted to kill you, they are still trying to kill you.
It's intentionally weak logic. You could flip it on its head by arguing that at least the Jedi are trying to help you dispute their flaws.
Atton Rand, the character that says this in KotOR2, is a perfect example of the problematic nature of this both sides view. Yes, the Jedi were not perfect and their flaws ultimately led to incredible suffering and the collapse of the Republic along the way. But the Sith were actively trying to collapse the republic and cause suffering. The Sith created a facist state that (if it had been successful) would have created persistent suffering indefinitely, with no hope or escape. No one thinks Luke is the bad guy form overthrowing the Empire and restoring the Jedi because the empire was utterly evil.
Like Atton Rand (depending on the path chosen), a reasonable person should realise that it is better to work with a flawed agent/system trying to do good, than to allow those flaws to cause ambivilance toward both the flawed agent/system and an obviously evil one.
Atton Rand (who's name was chosen for its similarity to "atone" as in atonement) can change from this view and end up rebuilding the Jedi order (if you play light side). Likewise, the correct answer to the "both sides" argument is to throw off ambivlance and work to fix the broken but beneficent system while fighting evil. The Democrats in the US, and left-center liberals in other countries, have flaws. Fight to fix them. Don't both sides and allow absolute evil to eliminate the flawed good.
Palpatine can solve the climate crisis with green free UNLIMITED POWER
GOP voters: "Yoda has a speech impediment; therefore, we must vote for Palpatine."
It's only because American Democracy is dead and burried that there are no other choices than these two geriatics.
Healthy and trully Democratic systems naturally respond to a situation such as this by having more choices.
... which many countries don't have, because 'First Past the Post' systems naturally lead to only 2 viable choices.
They'll also be an election coming up soon in the UK - I can choose between 'Sensible Conservative' or the currently ruling 'Lunatic Conservative', but anything else would be a wasted vote.
Somewhere between -'anything else is a wasted vote' and 'leftists who refuse to vote for the lesser of two evils are enabling fascism' - is political leverage to push for better policy.
Republican alaska instituted a four candidate IRV system. Its bonkers that people aren't talking about reforming the US presidential election system to something similar. Not to mention a national initiative system. I know these would require constitutional amendments but it doesn't require an amendment to talk about it.
It’s not an indictment of the American system that the choice is between two geriatric men that unquestionably support weapons exports to a potentially genocidal state because my favorite Disney franchise also has old people in it.
The current American system is that you can protest and mock one for supporting genocidal state. The other will kill you for embarrassing him and his supporters will cheer him on.
The Jedi Order's problem is Yoda. No being can wield that kind of power for centuries without becoming complacent at best or corrupt at worst. He has no idea that it's overtaken him; he no longer sees all the little cumulative evils that the Republic tolerates and fosters, from slavery to endless wars, and he never asks, 'Why are we not acting to stop this?' Live alongside corruption for too long, and you no longer notice the stench.
"have you heard him speak? Obviously the dude is mental"
America, hate to breake it to you: If you have no choice (and Trump isn't one) your democracy is already dead.
Palpatine is a stupid bitch. Just wait for him to shoot his dumb ass lightening and then reverse it on him.
HE ALWAYS FALLS FOR IT
biden is not comparable to yoda though.
star wars is an allegory to the vietnam war. the US is the empire.
Star Wars is often "Schrödinger's Political Allegory" - the Empire is British/Roman/German but also American (if Endor = Vietnam, and Jedha = the Middle East), but the Rebels are somehow American too. Whatever side you're on, you can use Star Wars to cast yourself as the good guy, and the other side as the baddies.
the rebels are supposed to be vietnam
I realise that Lucas has said that the ewoks in Return of the Jedi were representations of the North Vietnamese. If you look at Rogue One, though, Saw's men are called terrorists, they use IEDs, it's a desert environment ... so the Rebels are, um, ISIS? Who do we want to win again?
Star Wars has always been too flakey to say Rebels are definitely this, or the the Empire are definitely that. It's popularity, and it's use by people on any part of the political spectrum as a a recruitment tool, depends on the fact that the US is magically both.
Yoda was blind to the rise of fascism and got overrun by the emperor. He also supported a questionable system that clearly had lots of issues for hundreds of years.
Antiques Roadshow... anyone know what I'm talking about? Woot woot! :-P
All I know is that following this logic, Trump must militarize seagulls:
Isn't there a younger Sith that we can support?
Average senate member age.
Yoda didn't live long after that picture was taken...
Nailed it.
