Was about half of this country always fucking insane?

[mobeau69]

Went to a $ general store to get some supplies and there was a lady behind me at the checkout line without a mask. I asked her "Where's you mask?" She mumbled something but was keeping her distance so I just let it go. Then a hillbilly in front of me looked back and I said "You don't have one either!". He started going ballistic and told me masks are slavery and it's more dangerous to wear one 'cause you can't even breathe with one on. Then he said he's not getting a damn vaccine either 'cause they will kill you.

Like that wasn't bad enough, another one walked into the store without a mask wearing a "Fuck Joe Biden" ski cap.

I hold Trump responsible for a lot of the lies these idiots believe.

[chowder66]

1. My guess is yes and they have found each other via social media and are now emboldened.

[BainsBane]

2. No, I don't think so

I think social media has made it easier for lunatics to find validation and encouragement. Then the insanity spreads like a contagion.

[In_The_Wind]

3. Maybe.

I suggest you shop elsewhere if possible.

[VickiSmith]

4. YES

And they outnumber me in TN...……even some of my own family.

Trump and FOX NEWS, taking advantage of the elderly and dimwitted.

[mobeau69]

7. Welcome to DU!

[JustAnotherGen]

5. Yes

But I hold 50 years of GOP fuckery responsible - with MF45 giving the MAGATS to say the quiet part out loud.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

6. 30 some years of right wing talk radio

24/7 and 20 some years of Faux News has taken a toll on our country. Having said that, I do believe that about 30% of my fellow citizens just aren't very bright.............

[turtleblossom]

8. Yes, exactly the type of people blacks had to deal with for generations

They are dumber than a box of rocks. And they're very violent people.

[turtleblossom]

9. I believe they have a family tree that shapes like a fruit loop.

[GoCubsGo]

10. No, just a third of them.

There has always been a 30-35% who are just nuts.

[sciencescience]

28. Agreed nationally, I notice this percentage range a lot in polls

I also notice that when something is left-leaning and polls at around 65%, it means the left, independents and lightweight republicans agree. It's difficult to get any higher than that.

[LizBeth]

11. Lots of normal got sucked into Q, Trumpco, Antifa, per Fox News.

[peacebuzzard]

13. welcome to my world, yes, half of the population just doesn't get it.

I was at my physician's office the other day, and the nurse who had previously been absent for my last visit answered my question "Are you ok? You were not here last time." I had suspicions because about 10 months ago they (yes, an MDs office, and I am speaking to the nurse practitioner) did not think it was a serious thing. (Ok the outbreak was only on the west coast at the time)

But during this visit a few days ago, she confided she had covid and was out for a while, nothing serious (she said) just lost sense of smell and tired. Got it from a patient ( she said) who refused to wear a mask.

But when the consult was over and I was out in the check out area I saw her young son (maybe 7 to 9) running around without a mask, touching everything. The receptionist looked overwhelmed.

I left.

Entered the elevator and the trip down stopped on another floor. I only noticed the other passenger was without a mask after the door closed. I asked where her mask was. She said, "in here" motioning to her purse. I grunted. Door opens and I ran out in front of her.

They are everywhere.

[Celerity]

14. shithole, low IQ, high-violence quotient people scientifically programmed for maximum shitbaggery

It will unfortunately, given the right set of continuing negative inputs and feedback loops at both macro and micro levels, plus a lack of mitigating forces, quite possibly lead to violent, kinetic civil war down the road.

[JHB]

15. Yes and no...

There's always been a fair chipmunk like that, but they get bolder when they feel outside support (like social media and Trump playing to them). When they feel isolated they keep those tendencies more under wraps.

[UCmeNdc]

16. Right Wing mis information has done its job on Joe Republican.

Propaganda works!

[d_r]

17. About half of this country has always

Had a below average iq

[Progressive Jones]

18. They were assholes before Trump. Trump just smelled like them. Birds of a feather... nt

[jcgoldie]

19. Before Trump they thought they had to keep it a secret

Racist dog whistling and such back to Willie Horton and uncle Ronnie's welfare mom's and beyond. Trump taught them to just yell about it on twitter or wherever they want.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

20. There's been insanity among right-wingers for as long...

... as I can remember, but it keeps getting worse.

It's mostly their alliance with evangelical Christians since the late-70's, believing whatever they WANT to believe, that has sped up the craziness.

Guys like Norman Vincent Peale (friend of the Trump family) were very popular among conservatives going back even further.

Norman Vincent Peale Was A Conservative Hero Known Well Beyond His Era
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/24/894967922/norman-vincent-peale-was-a-conservative-hero-known-well-beyond-his-era

[LeftInTX]

22. Peale's stuff was pretty benign compared to many others

He's nothing compared to the Falwells, Swaggert, and Trump's religious advisors in the WH.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

23. I viewed him as dangerous, nonetheless.

Whenever "positive thinking" takes precedence over looking at the outside world and ourselves as truthfully as possible, there's going to be problems.

[mobeau69]

25. Spot on. Nt

[I_UndergroundPanther]

34. I hate positive think

It pisses me off that some therapists in the name of cognitive behavior therapy and evidence based bullshit promote it.

Last therapist that tried it got a sarcastic rant for the ages. This woman also told me I was an indigo child..lol

I got a different therapist.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

36. My evangelical sister used to read those Peale books...

... in the 60's.

I'm not sure if Peale was the main source of her later craziness, but she'll sometimes act like she can just wish away problems. She inherited a very rare genetic condition (like me) that can cause blindness, but if I mentioned new research about it to her she'd reply, "I will never claim any such condition!"

EDIT:
Meanwhile, reality has repeatedly slapped her across the face over the years and yet she still never really learns from it.

I asked if she had suffered from amnesia a few years ago, after I brought up something unpleasant about our elderly and dementia-suffering grandmother before she died. When I kept asking how she could possibly not recall it, she eventually screamed, "I remember, okay?! I just don't like to think about unpleasant experiences!"

[I_UndergroundPanther]

37. I have a friend who is like this

She isn't a magat but she thinks lizard people are real and that the government has nothing better to do than listen in on our phonecalls..lol.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

38. Those thoughts would be too unpleasant for my sister.

She's little Miss Happy-happy, Joy-joy... to a fault.

I'm at least grateful that QAnon totally creeps her out. She doesn't even like Fox News very much, but watches it with her phony "born-again" husband.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

41. Thanks

For that Ren and Stimpy clip. That cartoon was spot on for me in the 90's when positive think was all the rage in psychology. Seeing that happy helmet episode was really cathartic for me,hell all of Ren and Stimpy was cathartic,never mind me laughing so hard I felt like I was having an aneurysm ...lol

[Lady Freedom Returns]

21. The little old lady might not have due to having to decide between a...

mask or affording other things like meds or eating. So I would grant her a pass. But the other two, they deserve a tongue lashing.

[mobeau69]

26. Gotta ask. What little lady?

[JI7]

24. It comes down to race , slavery, civil rights etc

[Hermit-The-Prog]

27. You need to shop elsewhere and it's about 30% rather than half.

It's a little higher right now because of amplification of propaganda.

[mobeau69]

30. They're always recuriting new idiots. 30% is scary in the FB age.

They're talking to unknown numbers on the internet, not just a few wacko friends in your manacave.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

32. Have fun.

[mobeau69]

33. Try to make the best of it.

I live in the country and only have to deal with them when I go into the towns. I don’t go in unless it’s absolutely necessary!

[Retrograde]

29. Probably: we just didn't hear about them as much (n/t)

[MarcATL]

31. It's not Trump's fault

All he did was bring what was always there out of the open.

[mobeau69]

35. Trump got them out from under their rocks dangerous with his lies. Nt

[DesertRat]

39. I think that the pandemic has intensified it

People are at home with their thoughts and fears with the future completely uncertain. It brings out the crazy that's been there bubbling beneath the surface.

[Ace Rothstein]

40. The internet has made it easier for the craziest to find each other and to indoctrinate others.