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Comment by somenameforme | Hacker News Reader

Do you even realize that one of the only reason anybody still supports this war is precisely because of comments like yours? By dividing people into teams, and antagonizing them, you result in people never willing to stomach giving an inch and doubling down on stupid.

Obviously this war has been the US' latest great failure, and at the beckoning of a foreign power which makes it especially catastrophic. If people could focus on this, rather than trying to divide things into teams and then sling mud, they'd have vastly better outcomes come November (and on) than just using it for divisive mudslinging which does nothing but ensure that all elections, regardless of how bad the decisions of a incumbent, or how awful a challenger, will remain these sort of 50/50 coinflips.

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“Someone was wrong, now I need to pretend they weren’t so that their feelings don’t get hurt so that we can all pretend it didn’t happen”

I am saying that adding your tribal bit to your post is just completely self defeating. And yes, the goal is indeed to avoid hurting people's feelings. I don't know why you'd mock that. People are not machines, and when you make somebody angry at you, or otherwise make him feel insulted - he'll happily argue that 2+2=5 just to avoid giving an inch to you.

Bridge building hasnt worked. Hillary's biggest campaign failure was drawing back from her deplorables comment, she should have leaned into it - thats what Trump did, go harder into division, and he's president now. Instead of being milquetoast corporate stooge full of fake politics talk, she might have seemed to actually stand for something. You're bringing 1990s politics into the 2020s and its proven multiple times it doesnt work any more. A small group of fanatics is actually more powerful than a large cohort of half-committed these days.

It's not about bridge building, but rather not bridge burning. When people are antagonistic to 'the other side', it means the last thing in the world they'd ever think of doing is aligning with you. 2028, after Iran, should be a landslide. But watch - it's going to be another coin flip. And people themselves are creating that scenario by acting like half-witted tribal kids on a playground, instead of actual thinking/empathetic adults.

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. (Nietzsche)

Not even many MAGA supporters were in favor of war with Iran. Bots on Twitter, sure.

> Do you even realize that one of the only reason anybody still supports this war is precisely because of comments like yours

that seems like a moronic reason to support a moronic war.

It's universal. Politics in the US has become so completely broken. Last presidency was Weekend at Bernie's, now we have one where El Presidente is trying to LARP as General Jack D. Ripper.

The reason people accept, and even defend, all of this is solely because they find "the other side" detestable, and people like our GP here play exactly into this by making themselves completely detestable to anybody that's already not as far out, and in the same direction, on the partisan horseshoe of stupidity as they are.

Do you realise that the only reason the average US taxpayer keeps getting wrecked into one pointless forever war after the other no matter who is in power is because the elites are never held accountable for their mad self-enriching adventures?

Holding people like Hegseth (who literally insider traded defense equities right before the start of the war) and Trump accountable (who practically made a gazillion insider trading each mad meme he posted while the world burnt) is not "dividing people into teams"

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