> Those are deliberate choices made by people with low impulse control, and China has nothing to do with that.
Not only this is counterproductive, it would be definitely something those hypothetical Chinese agents would say! This sentiment is what you call "the dumbest part of America" - one of personal responsibility when facing dangers that are by design above most people's threshold of self-control. If there is one thing that's likely to destabilize and destroy the western society, it's marketing and advertising industry - it's your own companies that rely on and encourage people blaming failures on themselves, because it lets them use psychological tricks to move wares.
Also:
> Who is being forced to (...) listen to extremist propaganda?
These days, everyone consuming the Internet and western mass media? There are (at least) two extremes in the US politics and culture, and while listening to one may be a choice, it's partly because the other extreme won the meme spreading battle.
Which extreme do you consider to have “won the meme spreading battle”?
Genuine question: I purposely don’t spend any time on social media or any other blog/forum that makes use of Internet “memes” so I’m blissfully unaware of what kind of content is circulated. Also, as (another) European, I try to not let myself be overly distracted by American political drama. I need to have some awareness of what’s going on in the US as it influences the political discourse in the rest of the Anglosphere (Hacker News posts like this one suffice for that level of awareness).
You call it 2 extremes, from European point of view there are just mild variations of the same right wing approach, and result differences are even milder (ie democrats starting/expanding wars, conservatives allowing recreational cannabis etc).
Not criticizing or anything, but actual extremes look significantly different, wake me up when a proper anarchist sits in White house for example
I call it two extremes because a lot of people insist on viewing them as Completely Different Things. After all, they have opposite names - "right wing" and "left wing". I'm from Europe too, and to me the extremes both look the same. The specific beliefs may be opposite, but that's just a free variable. The intellectual dishonesty, the belligerence, the hatred, they're all the same.
Hate to break it to you but the 2 party system is and has been broken for a very long time. You're choosing between two choices that are mostly identical. Introduce some extra parties if you want healthy politics.
While the alternative to a 2 party system may seem obvious, a 2+ party system that's not what you actually get. From a US-type "winner take all" with influential groups & individuals, to preportional representation you end up shifting negotiations into shadowy back rooms amongst unelected officials. In addition, that 3rd option is never coming from the middle. The sizeable movements are even more extreme, pulling the major parties further to some sort of preceived binary position on every topic.
I mentioned I'm in/from Europe, not the US, so the 2-party system doesn't really concern me. More importantly though, my comments aren't about the two US parties, but rather the two seemingly opposite extremes of political ideas, that are typically referred to as "left" and "right".
Not only this is counterproductive, it would be definitely something those hypothetical Chinese agents would say! This sentiment is what you call "the dumbest part of America" - one of personal responsibility when facing dangers that are by design above most people's threshold of self-control. If there is one thing that's likely to destabilize and destroy the western society, it's marketing and advertising industry - it's your own companies that rely on and encourage people blaming failures on themselves, because it lets them use psychological tricks to move wares.
Also:
> Who is being forced to (...) listen to extremist propaganda?
These days, everyone consuming the Internet and western mass media? There are (at least) two extremes in the US politics and culture, and while listening to one may be a choice, it's partly because the other extreme won the meme spreading battle.