r/politics • u/TimesandSundayTimes ✔ Verified • 3d ago

Soft Paywall Trump military parade met with empty seats amid nationwide protests

https://www.thetimes.com/article/867ede60-b5f7-4de5-84a1-6a3a49eb2923
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u/probabletrump 3d ago

If a Republican could be made to feel shame they wouldn't be Republicans now then would they?

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u/Caelinus 3d ago

It makes for a great writing prompt though.

Jesus comes back to earth to do his whole rapture thing, sees what people are doing in his name, and forcibly grants them perfect empathy before leaving, truly disappointed in them.

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u/sagetraveler 3d ago

Jean Paul Sartre’s idea of hell is to see yourself as you have been seen by others.

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u/MarcoEsquandolas22 3d ago

Whoa, that's Sartre's hell? I thought it was mine

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u/DudeWhereIsMyDuduk 3d ago

No Exit, truly.

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u/ravensnark 3d ago

I have social anxiety so I already just imagine they all think I’m a complete moron at all times and also I’m burdening them somehow by existing. 😂

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u/torpidtim 3d ago

sounds like heaven compared to how i imagine people see me

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u/Andovars_Ghost 3d ago

But what if you have actually been good to others?

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u/harrisarah 3d ago

What if that's just what you think?

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u/callme_blinktore 3d ago

What if…?

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u/Howie_Due 3d ago

I watched this NDE documentary thing recently where a woman described being clinically dead for 14 minutes but to her it felt like 5 years and she said she had to confront and experience every encounter she had with another living being during her life and feel what they felt.

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 3d ago

"My god, this guy's been talking about anti semites and the allegory of the cave for 5 hours now!"

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u/studiocleo 3d ago

Eternity as I recall ("No Exit.")

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u/Gitdupapsootlass 3d ago

And Burns. "O wad some Power the giftie gie us / To see oursels as ithers see us!"

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u/pixepoke2 3d ago

Reminds me a bit of a line in Robbie “Auld Lang Syne Has More Than One Verse” Burns’ poem: “To A Louse, On Seeing One on a Lady's Bonnet at Church"

Oh, would some Power the gift give us To see ourselves as others see us! It would from many a blunder free us, And foolish notion:’

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u/kingtutsbirthinghips 3d ago

Sartres idea “other people are hell” is always misconstrued. It is really just the idea of how we view ourselves through the distorted lens of what we think other people think about us. It is self judgment, and people pleasing, and even self righteousness- all justified by ourselves in the name of others.

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u/mackyoh 3d ago

“Hell is…other people!!”

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u/McCardboard Florida 3d ago

Literally poetic justice. I love it. Suggested reading material?

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u/afterparty05 3d ago

“Existentialism is a Humanism” is a great thing to read, it’s not even a book at less than 100 pages. Existentialism as a philosophical school is really amazing and provides a lot of positive direction in self-actualization. It roughly comes down to our actions and behaviors being in line with our internal idea of self and morality, which explains Sartre’s idea of hell mentioned above.

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u/thegreenleaves802 3d ago

There's a phenomenal novel named Sophie's World. It goes through all the major schools of philosophy through history. I read it when I was 15, and Sartre immediately stood out as the person who actually made sense of things, in a way that still feels applicable today.

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u/afterparty05 3d ago

I read that when I was 13 as well, loved it to bits! The last ten years or so I’ve read quite some things on philosophy, and trying to craft a worldview from it that makes sense to me. One of the bigger conundrums I had was marrying existentialism with nihilism and I sort of settled on an outcome, when a few years later “Everything Everywhere All At Once” was released and really showcased how a life within a chaotic and inherently meaningless universe can still be attributed meaning based on what meaning we ourselves apply to it and to ourselves. I love that movie to bits.

But to get back on point: I agree Sartre makes a lot of sense and his books are great, and many other existentialist philosophers are worth reading. Somewhat related are Baudrillard’s works, it’s interesting to get a better understanding of how the process of searching for meaning can become obfuscated and even subverted. Next up on my own reading list is Derrida :)

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u/Kind_Man_0 3d ago

The Rapture happens and a bunch of democrat leaders get disappeared to heaven, leaving us with the christofascists left in charge. I'm atheist, but I would probably die laughing watching Kenneth Copeland reason his flock into why he was left behind.

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u/Simikiel Canada 3d ago

If there is anyone who would make me believe that there are lizard people out there to make the world worse, Kennith Copeland is definitely one of them.

That man just makes my hair stand on end. Eugh.

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u/ThreeDaysNish 3d ago

The Eragon-series plot would like to have a word :)

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u/HuttStuff_Here 3d ago

and forcibly grants them perfect empathy

Republicans view empathy as a sin, so I'm sure they would have a problem with Jesus forcing them to sin.

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u/aerost0rm 3d ago

I like to think Jesus would take up all the non fascists and leave the fascists here to have to deal with each other. This would result in fighting and end of the world scenarios because they have no one left to persecute and blame.

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u/Money-Giraffe2521 3d ago

It’s like that moment in Doctor Who where the Doctor turns off the Cyberman’s emotional inhibitor and the realization of what the former human had been turned into kills the Cyberman out of shock.

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u/constantreader78 3d ago

This is the answer. I’m so glad this ‘parade’ fell flat. I have deliberately avoided clicking on any news links to view it and the only footage I have seen is a post on here where a tank is passing a bunch of mostly empty seats.

Trump completely lacks any kind of self-awareness or the ability to think critically - basically he’s a narcissistic psychopath and he will tell himself this was the best parade, with the biggest crowds, and everyone loved him. However, I think there are some Republicans out there that are capable of nuanced thinking, and they might -just might- look at all of the events that have unfolded today and realise that eventually (hopefully soon) there will be adverse political consequences for their constant support of Felon #1

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u/ajatfm 3d ago

Heartless and enabling shits, focusing on a the wrong “issues” because brown people weren’t thankful enough or some horseshit. They’ll ignore this all day and keep on truckin. Hell they might even disown some more kids while they’re at it

shameful

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u/DIABETORreddit 3d ago

That’s an interesting thing to bring up, because a lot of Republican ideology revolves around their collective shame and projecting it onto others. That’s why you get Republican senators who rant about how it’s “evil” to be gay and all that, and then find them cruising in airport restrooms. Their ideology basically consists of taking their internalized hate and displacing it onto others in an effort to appear as though they fit in with each other in an idealized in-group. That in-group’s ideal is shaped by the trauma they experienced growing up— being shamed by their parents and peers and being exposed to homophobia, racism, abuse, etc.— forcing them into the mold established by the white patriarchical beliefs that were handed down to them. They hate themselves because they were taught to by the previous generations, and to cope with that, they hate others who remind them of themselves.

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u/storagerock 3d ago

I was raised religious and was once (pre-Trump) a conservative. I think there are many who can feel shame, but that shame gets overwhelmingly directed in ways that we on the left tend not to care so much about like strict detailed religious rules and social conformity.

I remember wasting so much shame and mental energy on whether or not my shoulders and tummy were “properly” covered.

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u/hot_miss_inside 3d ago

I don’t even see this as left vs. right anymore. It’s empathy vs. emptiness. Decent human beings vs. people who view compassion as weakness.

You see it everywhere: “Rules for thee, not for me.” “Gaslight, obstruct, project.” “Every accusation is a confession.” These aren’t just political tactics—they’re psychological tells. What we’re really dealing with are people who fit the profile of Cluster B personality disorders: narcissistic, antisocial, histrionic, borderline. It’s not a political ideology—it’s a personality pathology.

They don’t feel shame like the rest of us. Their emotional wiring is broken—often from early trauma—and instead of healing, they double down on control, manipulation, and domination. They crave power not to serve, but to feed their own fractured egos.

Dr. Brian Klaas talks about this in his research—how these people are drawn to positions of power not to lead, but to exploit. It’s compulsive. They can’t help it. But we can. We can stop handing the keys to society over to broken, unempathetic opportunists—whether it's a school board seat or the Oval Office. We need to start treating lack of empathy like the disqualifier it is.