When I was 9, there was this boy I liked, and I was so overwhelmed with these feelings that I used every opportunity to talk about him. The tenor of the discussion was almost always very negative because I didn’t want anybody to know how I felt. I persecuted everybody with stories of how mean, ugly, stupid and hopeless this boy was.
I grew up since then and now express my feelings in more productive way. But I remember those times when I see people for whom absolutely everything that happens is a reason to mention Trump.
“Nice weather today!”
“Yes. Of course, it’s a result of global warming that Trump is making irreversible.”
“Look at these Halloween decorations! They are spooky!”
“Well, I find few things as scary as Trump, to be honest.”
“Is that a new coat you are wearing? I love it .”
“I was so distraught over Trump’s latest antics that I had to do something nice for myself, so just went and bought it. I have no idea how I’ll pay for it but with all that Trump is doing to hasten global warming, we’ll probably all be dead soon anyway.”
It takes all I’ve got not to respond with “Trump and you were sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”
I agree completely. I had a boss like that who brought nearly every conversation around to global warming, eventually. He was a global warming denier but that wasn’t mainly what bothered me.
What annoyed me to no end was that any comment was an excuse for him to discuss why global warming was fake.
Me: “I didn’t have to wear a jacket today, even though it’s almost Christmas!”
Him: “Well, you know, there’s natural weather variability, and always has been. It’s not global warming.”
Me: “Umm, ok….”
Me: “The data center is pretty cold right now. We could probably turn the AC up a bit. There’s no reason for it to be like that.”
Him: “They say we’re going to have use more AC in the future because of global warming, but it’s just not true.”
Me: “Alright then. Not sure what that has to to do with upping the AC right now, but ok.”
You get the idea. As I said, even if he’d been the most ardent climate change believer and advocate in the world, it still would’ve gotten on my last nerve. If he hadn’t been my boss, I would’ve done more, but I’m more wise than I used to be.
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Exactly. And it’s so annoying. It’s not about agreeing or disagreeing, it’s about not having to listen to a broken record.
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Is anyone who does an analysis of and warning about some form of evil therefore a co-conspirator in that evil? I think not.
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Ok. I have to admit that I’m a bit like this over Brexit, as I’m in the UK. Apologies…
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Brexit also seems to be an unmitigated evil, yes. No reason to apologize, I think.
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I know Brexit supporters and I assure you that they are wonderful, very non-evil people. :-))
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No, sugs, you are nothing like it. You are great.
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Very sweet of you to say so. x
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Wikipedia defines the Ugly American stereotype as: loud, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless, ignorant, and ethnocentric (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugly_American_(pejorative))
That pretty much sums up Trump. The problem seems to be that they recognise a side of themselves, or at least America, in Trump which they would rather not confront.
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