Sadly, the effect of not voting for one of the 2 candidates is to intensify the power of the most extreme views. Say 100 people can vote. 25 on each side are going to vote for their party no matter what. 20 want something crazy in one direction and 20 in the other direction, and both sides are likely to protest and/or not vote if their guy doesn’t pander to them. That leaves 10 persuadable people – mostly people who are busy with other stuff and not paying attention to the minutia of various policies and the likely after effects they will cause.

What is a candidate to do? They pander to the crazies. They can hardly bother to assuage the persuadables because those folks aren’t paying attention anyway. They have to go after the people who might bail if they aren’t appeased. I hate the system, but there it is.

I have my TV, sound system, and computer all in my living room. They all use the same amplifier and speakers. Would that work for your situation?

I used to visit communities like you did, then I took an arrow in the knee.

But no, seriously, if you don’t like the how people are talking, don’t bother going there. I don’t know people who use Steam’s community hubs for actual community. I see them getting used for info/joke sharing about their given games, but not for social bonding. Personally, I like the guides. Sometimes I search the discussions for a piece of information on an issue that I’m hoping someone else has already encountered and worked around. That’s about it.

That said, I generally don’t mind that people make memes. If it makes them happy, then good for them! If other people get a chuckle, that’s even better. For me – and like my opening line – any amusement quickly turns to eye rolls as the same things get repeated over and over and were never very funny from the start.

Both tburkhol and I posted about Coon Chicken Inn – a place for white people BY white people with a denigrating caricature of a black man as their logo (on their delivery vehicles, menu, and even entrances).

spujb links to the chicken stereotype.

It is one thing for a group of people to choose what food to serve themselves, and something else when an oppressed group is mocked, denied rights, and then illustrated as liking foods that EVERYONE likes as if those foods are somehow a hilarious thing for them to eat. Side note: Sooo many places serve fried chicken that the only reason it is racist is associations like Coon Chicken Inn (and the racism leading to its creation). Lots of BBQ places in particular serve collards as well as Caribbean spots. Jollof is specifically African (not American). If I see Jollof or Fufu on the menu, I’m hoping for cassava leaves instead of collards, but I understand it isn’t as available in the U.S.

Came here to say that. Barring a few contrarians, EVERYONE likes both watermelon and fried chicken. I know vegetarians who will admit that fried chicken tastes fantastic, even if they no longer eat it.

I also wanted to link to some info about the “Coon Chicken Inn” chain – founded by a white guy, of course.

• http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/coon_chicken.htm
• https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/links/essays/chicken.htm

off topic piece on collectors’ racist items

No, but if you use natural peanut butter (even Costco has natural peanut butter) and an actual a whole wheat bread without all the additives, it isn’t the worst meal. Maybe throw a sliced banana in there to help round it out.

Also, the low-sodium soup base is still rather salty, so you end up with a dip that has more than enough salt to go with (also salty) potato chips – and even enough salt for a crudites dip to serve with celery/carrot sticks or whatever.

Oops, I will edit the post to be more specific. I mean the Kirkland brand “Organic No-Salt Seasoning” in the 15.5 oz square plastic jar.