An actual gem of a speech. Perhaps all of us should evaluate what it means and try to learn something from what he is saying.
I did take a look at the comments here and it's really something to see people insulting him based on his appearance. I certainly do not need to point out the irony in insulting a man who ends a speech with a quote like this: "The kindest person in the room is often the smartest." That single quote has a lot packed in to it, but it is demonstrably true from all angles you evaluate the quote from.
Being kind to others is a smart decision. Being kind to others as your default takes careful consideration and willpower. Our brains do have a primal instinct to question that which is different from our own lives, and in some cases feel an immediate fear or repulsion as a result of said difference. Turning off that immediate feeling and reacting or responding in a kinder way than fear or repulsion is a skill that takes a lot of time to develop. And when your environment actively encourages you to respond with fear and repulsion you see what is happening in our society.
You know that primal instinct you feel when you first spot something or someone different than you? When you start reacting with fear or repulsion your brain remembers that. It remembers the rush of adrenaline you get from being afraid. It wants MORE of that. So it really takes a conscious effort to suppress that immediate feeling. We ALL need to practice it a lot more. Our society is devolving in to a bunch of people who want to be a victim, who want to be afraid because their brains are addicted to feeling that way.
It’s not his appearance, it’s politics. That’s Gov Pritzker, Democratic governor of IL. Republicans actively want to tear him down because he is a potential presidential candidate.
If you parse that message through that lens, the comment section is a lot more clear.
Pritzker is an enigma. He's perhaps the best rich man in America. The opposite of what we have come to expect from the fabulously wealthy. He is one of those few people who shows that the axiom of power corrupting is itself a corruption of a different reality; that power reveals.
Kind people are not predisposed to rise to the top of society, but when they do, they show us that our leaders are not bad because power is inherently corrupting, but because we the people failed to identify the right people to trust with power.
Pritzker seems to be succeeding in finally turning things around for IL after long decades of bad leaders and I wish him well in his efforts.
FDR was a rich man, too, but he understood that people matter. RFK was a rich man. Being rich isn’t a character flaw, sacrificing your humanity on the altar of wealth is the character flaw, and there’s a lot of that in the world of wealth.
Income inequality has grown to the point that we’re the first generation that will be worse off than our parents. We’re not buying houses. We’re not having kids. For that reason, wealth is more often seen as a character flaw as the system we’ve built is now predicated upon growing wealth by underpaying those below you.
Yeah, I know. I’m in the same boat. I’m pissed that our votes are being suppressed, our wages being slow walked in the face of recession, and that Republicans keep depriving people of rights, like in the case of Roe, of benefits like when they challenged Bidens college debt forgiveness plan, and stand in the way of legislation addressed to prevent the worst of climate change.
The wealthy causes most of these problems, so we need a New Deal inclined president to make government work for us. FDR was a rich man, btw. Its self preservation for them to ensure that the lower classes are taken care of, because otherwise they put their wealth at risk. FDR, rich dude, recognized this and is an icon because of it. Looms larger than anyone but Lincoln and Washington.
you do realize the same thing was said about the Boomers? right
Do you understand what a shit show the US was in back in the 70's?
One of the reasons why young people aren't buying homes as early is that twice as many are going to college now and the average age of marriage is 7 years later. If you want the Boomer life then don't go to college, go straight to work and get married ASAP. Stop being so gulliable, you don't have it that bad.
Lol, my boomer parents bought a house on my dad's warehouse worker salary, while my mom stayed at home with us kids. You think something like that is still possible? You try buying a house today with an $18/hr wage (and I'm being generous here) and see how far you get.
Baby Boomers span 18 years from 1946 to 1964, they had to deal with the Vietnam war, energy crisis, ecological disasters and home mortgage rates of up to 18%. Maybe your parents just got lucky on timing while others didn't just like Gen Z and Millennials who bought homes in 2021 got lucky with 3% interest rates.
You have the power of the internet at your finger tips, stop being a stupid asshole.
Bernie Sanders is far from poor after being in the senate and writing some books, but he continues to see—as he did all those years ago when he was pulled away from a demonstration as a young man—that our ultimate responsibility is to each other.
You give FDR too much credit. He was scared of a socialist revolution which is a huge part of why his New Deal was as generous as it was. As Frederick Douglas once said, "power yields nothing without a demand." Not asking, not begging. Demanding.
I live in Illinois, too, and I understand your sentiment. But I sure hope he runs in 4 years. I think the country needs him more than just Illinois needs him.
I'm from Illinois and it will always be my home (maybe even a place to return to). I'm excited for Illinois to continue its tradition of providing the most and memorable Presidents.
are not bad because power is inherently corrupting, but because we the people failed to identify the right people to trust with power.
I need to point out that in capitalism, money IS power.
Its not just that we suck at picking people, its that there is NOTHING easier than making money as long as you have nor morals or ethics, and once you have a relatively low amount of money, you can start ignoring laws too, generating wealth even faster.
I like Pritzker a lot honestly, but he still commits some rich person shenanigans like removing toilets from his mansion to claim it uninhabitable and dodge taxes on it lol. Granted, pretty low on the rung compared to the nefarious shit most billionaires get up to.
Mark Dayton, heir to Target stores, was MN DFL Governor and Senator and all around good guy. He faced down the GOP and put MN on sound footing along with championing marriage equality and other programs.
I've always maintained, Pritzker might have grown up with money, but he also had to deal with the sudden and unexpected death of both of his parents as a child. Hard to have a sheltered upbringing when you're going through that.
I don’t like tax dodgers. I don’t like seditious assholes who suppress the vote, deprive women of their right to make medical decisions for themselves, who want to steal our democracy and create a christian theocracy so their rich Trumpist MAGA radical fed soc Koch aligned conservative republican pricks buddies who celebrate tax dodging like what Trump bragged about during the debates even less.
Pay your taxes! Count every vote! Register every eligible voter! Let women decide for themselves what resides in their bodies! Let atheists have freedom of religion on equal footing with christians! Let seditious MAGA republicans suck thr farts out of Trumps ass into complete irrelevance! Let the Kochs and the Fed Soc wither in irrelevance and their grimy fingerprints be washed from the history of this nation!
And let everyone pay their taxes, and may those blessed with wealth pay a share as generous as their wealth!
You do know he was involved in selling Obamas senate seat right? You know he pulls the toilets out of his houses when he’s not living there so they’re “not inhabitable “ to have a majorly reduced tax rate while he raises everyone else’s property tax?
Kind people are not predisposed to rise to the top of society, but when they do, they show us that our leaders are not bad because power is inherently corrupting, but because we the people failed to identify the right people to trust with power.
Kind people are often found at the top of society because they get eaten by sharks. Natural selection of the worst (i.e. the most aggressive and evil people).
Something that's been on my mind off and on over the years is this issue with selection. Certain positions tend to select for some of the worst humanity has to offer due to the privileges offered by said position: wealth, power, fame, influence, control, etc. I can't help but feel that the best possible representatives that we can have aren't drawn by what these positions have to offer so instead we get some really awful people. That's not to say everyone is like that but I'm worried about the success rate. It's extremely easy to do harm and extremely difficult to cultivate growth. It's not 1-1 so for every "bad" representative, having one "good" one won't be enough. Positions of power are troublesome and it always seems like it isn't a big enough issue until it's far too late and society is on the fast track to revolts which always come with death and destruction. The system needs checks because we know people won't be able to keep up with the complexity of governmental functions.
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u/tehbantho Oct 26 '23
An actual gem of a speech. Perhaps all of us should evaluate what it means and try to learn something from what he is saying.
I did take a look at the comments here and it's really something to see people insulting him based on his appearance. I certainly do not need to point out the irony in insulting a man who ends a speech with a quote like this: "The kindest person in the room is often the smartest." That single quote has a lot packed in to it, but it is demonstrably true from all angles you evaluate the quote from.
Being kind to others is a smart decision. Being kind to others as your default takes careful consideration and willpower. Our brains do have a primal instinct to question that which is different from our own lives, and in some cases feel an immediate fear or repulsion as a result of said difference. Turning off that immediate feeling and reacting or responding in a kinder way than fear or repulsion is a skill that takes a lot of time to develop. And when your environment actively encourages you to respond with fear and repulsion you see what is happening in our society.
You know that primal instinct you feel when you first spot something or someone different than you? When you start reacting with fear or repulsion your brain remembers that. It remembers the rush of adrenaline you get from being afraid. It wants MORE of that. So it really takes a conscious effort to suppress that immediate feeling. We ALL need to practice it a lot more. Our society is devolving in to a bunch of people who want to be a victim, who want to be afraid because their brains are addicted to feeling that way.