Current Events > when did the american decline actually start?

(+) Yeah! (+)

probably after Kennedy's death and the Vietnam War

9/11 accelerated it. >_>

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Watergate

1945

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The popularization of 24 hour news channels that treat opinions as facts give viewers an escape from reality. It allows them to view their opinions as facts and their opponents as ways wrong.

One side has obviously taken this to a much greater extreme, but these models have greatly reduced the chance for compromise and understanding. Compromise is now a weakness.

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The Civil War.

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1776

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Reconstruction

Probably the 80s. That's when Christianity got super involved with the right wing and Reaganomics became a thing.

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My age is say the mid nineties with Gingrich has been leading to exactly this.

I'm not entirely familiar with how things were before that, but Newt definitely brought some hyper partisan to the mainstream.
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civil war, probably. especially the failures of reconstruction.

ford pardoning nixon is 100% what has led to today's situation, though.

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when columbus first touched ground

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ronald mcfucking reagan

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1913

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The Popo posted...

The popularization of 24 hour news channels that treat opinions as facts give viewers an escape from reality. It allows them to view their opinions as facts and their opponents as ways wrong.

One side has obviously taken this to a much greater extreme, but these models have greatly reduced the chance for compromise and understanding. Compromise is now a weakness.

Yeah the main stream media with misinformation, and out right lieing paired with social media, burying stories that don't fit the narrative.

Janet Jacksons nip slip.

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mcpwnia posted...

1776

This, but...

Socrawheeze posted...

Reconstruction

This accelerated it.

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This topic is sad.
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When a group of colonizers committed genocide to take over land

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Youre exactly right that it was the Kennedy assassination. Thats when George Bush sr basically started to run the show, which he did for the rest of his life. Military spending and trickle down economics became the American way once he got in power (when he was the director of the CIA).

pegusus123456 posted...

Probably the 80s. That's when Christianity got super involved with the right wing and Reaganomics became a thing.

God, that sounds like bliss.

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When jimmy carter become president.

We've been in a long decline tbh

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It started with the murder of Trayvon Martin.

That's what got Trump elected.
That's what started all of this nonsense.

A Black kid is murdered for walking home, and resisting when a psycho wannabe cop decides to interrogate him, and the dividing lines formed between racist fascist psychos and everyone else. ("Everyone else" including the conservatives who aren't fascists.)

Barack Obama's statement, "Trayvon could've been my son," was meant to generate sympathy. Instead, a lot of White Americans projected hostility into the statement. That was when this fuse was first lit.

southern strategy.

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FortuneCookie posted...

It started with the murder of Trayvon Martin.

That's what got Trump elected.
That's what started all of this nonsense.

A Black kid is murdered for walking home, and resisting when a psycho wannabe cop decides to interrogate him, and the dividing lines formed between racist fascist psychos and everyone else. ("Everyone else" including the conservatives who aren't fascists.)

Barack Obama's statement, "Trayvon could've been my son," was meant to generate sympathy. Instead, a lot of White Americans projected hostility into the statement. That was when this fuse was first lit.

I have to disagree. Those White Americans were always going to be hostile. They didn't like the idea of a spotlight being shone on the country's history of racism and violence, but that anger was always there and that racial divide would have presented itself in one way or another regardless.

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You're not going to be able to point to a single event as the genesis of any empire's decline. For America, there are countless factors, including(IMO), but not limited to:

• The inherently (and intentionally) undemocratic nature of our government
• The capture of both parties by special interests
• The failure of Reconstruction
• The disintegration and atomization of America's social fabric
• The incomplete success of the Civil Right's Movement and the partially successful conservative backlash
• Continual erosion of democratic norms over time
• The legally-sanctioned theft of the 2000 presidential election
• The shocking (and unique, among developed nations) cruelty of American society
• The legacy and continued survival of white supremacy as a political force
• The willingness of Democrats to continue to legitimate the Republican Party despite its excesses

ElatedVenusaur posted...

You're not going to be able to point to a single event as the genesis of any empire's decline. For America, there are countless factors, including(IMO), but not limited to:
* The inherently (and intentionally) undemocratic nature of our government
* The capture of both parties by special interests
* The failure of Reconstruction
* The disintegration and atomization of America's social fabric
* The incomplete success of the Civil Right's Movement and the partially successful conservative backlash
* Continual erosion of democratic norms over time
* The legally-sanctioned theft of the 2000 presidential election
* The shocking (and unique, among developed nations) cruelty of American society
* The legacy and continued survival of white supremacy as a political force
* The willingness of Democrats to continue to legitimate the Republican Party despite its excesses

All of this

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Gamergate

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World War I

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The rise of McCarthysm in the early 1950s is what kickstarted it by causing a deep rooted fear of anything even slightly left to full blown capitalism as being communist being built into the fabric of the nation. This in turn led to the rise of powerful right wing propaganda news outlets dominating the media sphere in the 60s and 70s and finally the point of no return, electing Ronald Reagan as president. The decades since of media brainwashing and conservatives dismantling government institutions has lead to where we are today, on the verge of a civil war.

LoudEnough posted...

The rise of McCarthysm in the early 1950s is what kickstarted it by causing a deep rooted fear of anything even slightly left to full blown capitalism as being communist being built into the fabric of the nation. This in turn led to the rise of powerful right wing propaganda news outlets dominating the media sphere in the 60s and 70s and finally the point of no return, electing Ronald Reagan as president. The decades since of media brainwashing and conservatives dismantling government institutions has lead to where we are today, on the verge of a civil war.

Oh, this is a good point. I might change my answer to this.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1796_United_States_elections

Justanotherlark posted...

Watergate

This, as well as Reagan being elected. That was the start of what we are seeing now.

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The Popo posted...

The popularization of 24 hour news channels that treat opinions as facts give viewers an escape from reality. It allows them to view their opinions as facts and their opponents as ways wrong.

One side has obviously taken this to a much greater extreme, but these models have greatly reduced the chance for compromise and understanding. Compromise is now a weakness.

LoudEnough posted...

The rise of McCarthysm in the early 1950s is what kickstarted it by causing a deep rooted fear of anything even slightly left to full blown capitalism as being communist being built into the fabric of the nation. This in turn led to the rise of powerful right wing propaganda news outlets dominating the media sphere in the 60s and 70s and finally the point of no return, electing Ronald Reagan as president. The decades since of media brainwashing and conservatives dismantling government institutions has lead to where we are today, on the verge of a civil war.

This is basically a more concise version of what I came to say. there are many, many valid answers to the question, but I think the one that answers the spirit of the question is the rise of the Reagan republican party and specifically the Iran Contra affair. Sure, the Nixon administration made a lot of people lose trust in the system. The legitimizing of that flagrant ordeal, however, meant open season on the concept of accountability. Everything since has pretty much followed logically from there all up through McConnell's maneuvers which sealed the deal on our democracy.

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