A lot of replies here (obviously from people not already aware of The Discourse on this point) were genuinely confused variants on “But why, they’re right, that’s a valid concern.” Let me leave a short thread for future readers explaining why that stuff is always unwelcome on here. (1/n)
It’s totally understandable if you’re dooming about any facet of the American experiment right now. So your feelings are “valid” in the sense that they represent real anxiety, and I get that. But to vent that anxiety in other people’s spaces is wrong for three reasons.
First, it’s factually wrong. There will be elections in 2026 and 2028 under Trump, just like there were elections last year under Trump and during his first term. This despite one of the two major parties now harboring a lot of anti-democratic elements and ideas.
I’m not particularly interested in convincing anyone on this point and won’t try, the future is the future. But if the left side of the political spectrum is still the domain of scholarship and expertise, take note that you don’t find scholars and experts you worrying about canceled US elections.
Second, and probably most importantly, it’s tactically wrong. “No point discussing political opposition to fascism, there won’t be elections anyway” cedes victory to your enemies. It’s defeatism and nihilism.
Finally, it’s wrong AS A MATTER OF ETIQUETTE. Entering a total stranger’s discussion and leading with your private anxiety is as off-putting in social media replies as it would be in real life. If you wouldn’t interrupt a stranger at a party to announce that America is doomed, don’t do it here.
If you are anxious and sad about the state of the world, that’s fine, and there are plenty of strategies for dealing with that. But I think you already know that drive-by online dooming isn’t a strategy. It’s selfish and adolescent. It’s a contagion that only spreads the worst of you, not the best.
Take a second and think before posting the easy Eeyore reply. You might have something substantive to say instead. Or, even better, you can say nothing at all.
https://bsky.app/profile/kenjennings.bsky.social/post/3mbuedepurs2x
I’m not a doomer about having elections. We repeat the same dismal spiral and the shitshow that is election season is an important part of making me hate living with all of you even more every year.
He lost me at “but to vent that anxiety in other people’s spaces…”.
It’s not “your space”, it’s a public forum.
Don’t want people commenting on your opinion? Don’t air it in public, or just block and move on.
No need to write a book about how they’re wrong to express their opinion in the same way you just did. It just comes off as sanctimonious.
Fell free to point out my own hypocrisy and we can go in circles.
It’s not “your space”, it’s a public forum.
I’d argue there’s a spectrum from a totally public forum to a totally private forum, and replies to social media posts on platforms where users are followed are somewhere in the middle.
It’s kinda like comments on a blog post. The blog owner still controls the space, including the power to block users and delete their comments from that page, and enjoys a privileged position with respect to what is essentially publishing and moderation powers in that particular space.
It’s within that particular accountholder’s powers to block, ignore, or mute other commenters’ ability to interact with the content posted (including simply turning off replies for certain users or all users). So in that sense, the platform itself is public while that particular user’s profile page and the feed of that user’s posts is curated by that user.
And perhaps most importantly, these commenters are leveraging Ken Jennings’ account popularity to magnify their own comments’ visibility. They could post something on their own, but they also know that their replies to Ken Jennings have a much higher reach than their own original posts would.
In other words, there’s a fundamental difference between capturing a screenshot and posting a reply somewhere else, versus replying on platform.
Entering a total strangers discussion
Yeah, you lost me here. You posted it ON THE FUCKING INTERNET FOR EVERYONE TO SEE. Heaven forbid someone comment and interact. Oh no! Woe is you!
What a load of entitled bullshit.
Suck an egg.
If you are anxious and sad about the state of the world, that’s fine, and there are plenty of strategies for dealing with that. But think you already know that drive-by online dooming isn’t a strategy. It’s selfish and adolescent. It’s a contagion that only spreads the worst of you, not the best.
This is the juice for me. Worried about the next election? Me too! What are you going to do about it? Dooming in the comments isn’t action, and if you’re trying to get me to act, then insisting that there’s no point in any of this is a weird way to do it.
If you believe that and don’t think there are any action steps, fine. But don’t slather that despair everywhere. We don’t need it; we’ve already got enough despair. Some of us are trying to do something about it.
Have a plan, try to get people on board with it. But just insisting that everything is doomed is just as useless an online activity as insisting that everything is great.
If you think you’ve already lost you’re guaranteed to lose. Hope is NECESSARY to make a successful attempt.
I’ve been saying that all along. These people who say we can’t run on punishing Trump, we have to have something to vote FOR, need to understand that until we crush MAGA, and purge it from our government and society, we can NEVER move forward. MAGA is a SERIOUS National Security Threat, and if they aren’t dealt with decisively, they’ll keep destroying any good in this country, until they are.
I’ve got a list of improvements America can make, including Medicare 4 All and Campaign Finance Reform, but right now, crushing MAGA is absolute top priority. The time for diplomacy is far past. We need Warriors to be candidates, not appeasers. It’s time for LEGAL retribution for their CRIMES, not their politics.
I’ve been saying that all along. These people who say we can’t run on punishing Trump, we have to have something to vote FOR, need to understand that until we crush MAGA, and purge it from our government and society, we can NEVER move forward. MAGA is a SERIOUS National Security Threat, and if they aren’t dealt with decisively, they’ll keep destroying any good in this country, until they are.
Democrats ran on that once already but were unwilling to actually do it. They have no credibility now.
I’ve got a list of improvements America can make, including Medicare 4 All and Campaign Finance Reform, but right now, crushing MAGA is absolute top priority
Centrist democrats won’t crush MAGA. They’re ALLIES. Schumer and Jeffries just fucking proved it.
Oh, yeah, if the Dems can get the majority in the House, the first rule of business needs to be to fire the MAGA comedy act of Schmuck & Jeffries. We need to meet toughness with toughness, and we need leaders who are willing to do that.
Simple: We need to punish MAGA, but it can’t be what we run on.
Remember: Trump did not mention annexing Canada or Greenland once on the campaign trail. It was literally the day after the election he first mentioned it.
I can’t take a chance on a candidate, only to find out after he’s elected that he wants to follow an appeasement strategy, like Obama. At the time, I said that if we didn’t slap down the Bush administration for their crimes, things would only get worse, and here we are.
Nope, they can talk about all the other things they want to do, but their priority has to be dealing the the serious National Security Threat that is MAGA. Anybody that doesn’t take a strong line on that issue is t going to have my attention for anything else they want to do.
You act as if anyone is actually running on punish Trump. They aren’t. They’re running on “ignore all the bad things about me or we’ll force Trump on you again.”
its hardly pointless dooming when trump has literally expressed vivid interest in getting rid of elections because he is terrified of losing and facing accountability.
But if the left side of the political spectrum is still the domain of scholarship and expertise, take note that you don’t find scholars and experts you worrying about canceled US elections.
Sure Ken, that’s because all the scholars and experts on fascism have already fled the country.
Wow all of them? Not a single scholar left in the entire country?
This is gonna age like milk lol
Maybe, but saying that there wont be elections helps ensure that there wont be elections.
Its the climate doomerism side of climate action. The doomers and the deniers are part of the same coin that gets us no closer to a solution.
Wow that’s a lot of projection from someone terrified that erudite and well reasoned civility politics might not actually be a good assumption to just carry forward.
But if the left side of the political spectrum is still the domain of scholarship and expertise, take note that you don’t find scholars and experts you worrying about canceled US elections.
Oh, really Ken?
Its that simple huh?
https://theweek.com/politics/america-competitive-authoritarianism-trump
Yeah try maybe actually catching up with the experts on how fucked the situation actually is.
Yeah yeah there are likely to technically be elections, but they’re likely to not really be legitimate or actually serve truly democratic (small d) purposes.
This is a cope turned into a scold about Ken’s little fantasy hugbox reality not being respected by actual reality.
Grow the fuck up.
Hugbox is the right term. The line about invading someone’s personal discussion, that you posted yourself in the fucking internet, reeks of so much entitlement. This wasn’t a good take by Ken at all. Very out of touch.
wow ken jennings is a price of shit
It’s amazing how angry people get when someone reminds us that we don’t have to take the extreme position on everything all the time
Lily white rich cishet celebrity throwing toxic positivity at everyone nearer to the business end of the “then they came for” list than he is. Surprised he’s not singing “Imagine.”
I don’t think it is toxic positivity to identify a problem, wants a course of action to fix it, and pushes back on people saying don’t do it because it is too hard.
I think it’s toxic positivity to tell people to just not be scared of fascism because it won’t be a problem for Ken Jennings personally.
Shit give Ken Jennings a position in the next administration. I have no idea what he’s qualified for, but I do know for a fact he’s good at trivia so he knows some things, and going by this tweet he believes in the rule of law.
Bam, yuh hired. Based on those 2 qualifications alone he’s already more qualified for the highest office than 100% of the Nazis in the current administration.
He’s a game show host. Apparently that qualifies him for the top of the ticket.
True, I guess if it’s a prerequisite we only elect U.S. TV celebrities, Jeopardy is going to be the closest we could hope for to provide somebody remotely qualified. He may be humanities last hope.
I don’t think hosting Jeopardy gives any kind of special status, but I’d argue that being one of the greatest contestants in the history of the show counts for something.
But honestly if you absolutely had to choose between putting your own life and the entire lives of the entire country in the hands of the host of jeopardy vs any other American game show or talk show host, or reality TV star, who would you assume is most likely to fuck things up the least?
He’s super smart, and has morals. He could do anything better than 90% of the current politicians of either party. Hell, I’d vote for him for president over whichever tokens the parties put up on 2028.
I’m mildly interested in the prosecute the current regime candidate, but I would rather vote for the make all of their delusions of persecution real candidate.
