Freaky coincidence on TV last night.

[Tiny]

So, last night to avoid the Election hype on TV, I was tuned into a "Dead Like Me" marathon (Cable show from 2003/2004) on TV  and one of the episodes had this:

I think my heart stopped for a minute. And then I busted out laughing.  I had to wait until today to confirm I actually saw what I thought I saw via the Google.   I've never had Cable - so I have watched "Dead Like Me" on DVD (thank you Netflix) many years ago - and really enjoyed the dark humor - that's why I was watching it last night. it was either that or Deep Space Nine (and that show sometimes irritates me - and I like the Star Trek universe....)

We'll have to see if the show was strangely prophetic or not...

ADDED:  FWIW the Dead Like Me episode was exploring the human need to feel "liked" and what people will do to be liked and how people feel when they don't have a place to fit in.   It was also alittle bit about "power" and "manipulation".    George has some flash backs to childhood where she had to do something nasty to another 'social' outcast in order to fit in with the "cool girls"  she felt she made the wrong choice - she was 'nice' instead of 'nasty' and didn't get in with the cool girls (and may have even given her a brush with death).    

The scene above is actually older (and dead)  George 'rationalizing' why it was ok that her new "bitch to everyone attitude' was good - it was giving her 'power' and 'respect' things that being 'nice' never seemed to get her when she was alive.

[daisy]

I LOVE Dead Like Me - I own it on DVD and re-watch it periodically, but I did miss that reference! 

[Bonny]

I had made the same analogy to some German American friends this summer. They are in their 70s grew up in Germany, had American fathers but German mothers. After they graduated from school they moved to the US. Over lunch they said that their German friends couldn't understand how we Americans could vote for someone like Trump.

I said that it was the same kind of appeal Hitler had for the Germans. They had been kicked around by their neighbors (even though WWI was their fault) were going through very tough economic times and Hitler convinced them it was everyone else was picking on them and it wasn't their fault. These are angry people convinced that they have been cheated out of their birthright. Blaming others vs taking responsibility for your situation is much easier than making the changes you know you need to do.

I still haven't changed my opinion.

[busymom]

I saw a funny segment on t.v. last night. Anyone ever watch "The Simpsons"? Some years back, they had an episode where the kids had grown up, & Lisa had been elected President. She was in the process of cleaning up the economic mess left behind by the previous President, Donald Trump. The really funny part (or not so funny part) is, that episode was made YEARS ago. Prophetic? We'll see...

[Tiny]

Nov 12, 2016 20:09:09 GMT -5 Bonny said:

I had made the same analogy to some German American friends this summer. They are in their 70s grew up in Germany, had American fathers but German mothers. After they graduated from school they moved to the US. Over lunch they said that their German friends couldn't understand how we Americans could vote for someone like Trump.

I said that it was the same kind of appeal Hitler had for the Germans. They had been kicked around by their neighbors (even though WWI was their fault) were going through very tough economic times and Hitler convinced them it was everyone else was picking on them and it wasn't their fault. These are angry people convinced that they have been cheated out of their birthright. Blaming others vs taking responsibility for your situation is much easier than making the changes you know you need to do.

I still haven't changed my opinion.

I've been watching some shows about WWII on PBS (I'll admit - I thought the whole evil villain building some huge resource intensive thing of destruction was purely a "comedic device" used by Cartoons and old time Comic books - but it turns out Hitler really DID commission and build stupidly huge war things that didn't work all that well.  )
Anyway - a couple of the shows were about Hitler's charisma/personality and HOW that's what really helped him.   What you said above seems to be why he got elected - but then he started doing things that were successful (because other countries were like "ha, he'd never do that!" - and so were unprepared for when he DID do something against tradition.)

That's probably about the only way Trump will become more and more powerful... if he manages to do stuff that quickly helps OR empowers many of the fringe who hoped he get into office.   I'm pretty sure 90% of the people who vote republican and who voted for Trump - aren't "extreme-ists" - but he certainly has attracted and courted that element.  (Have I mentioned Mike Pence - terrifies me?....)

So, yeah, Trump has the Charisma... not sure if he's got the actual government backers that will give him the "power" he needs to become a true dictator.

[Bonny]

Tiny,

I'm not saying that Trump is Hitler; at this point it's hard to tell what he'll actually do. Obviously there's a megalomania in common.

My comment was more about how someone like this appeals to the masses; connecting and stirring up angry people to "break up" or in today's parlance "disrupt" the status quo.

Our government is designed to keep us from having radical change with its system of checks and balances. I think we're going to see a test of how well that works.

And FWIW in my opinion some of the programs implemented over the last 8 years DO need some tweaking; but I think it needs to be done in a collaborative way, not through threats and bullying.