Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was meeting last week with representatives from a teachers union in his home state when things quickly devolved.
Before long, Fetterman began repeating himself, shouting and questioning why “everybody is mad at me,” “why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do” and slamming his hands on a desk, according to one person who was briefed on what occurred.
As the meeting deteriorated, a staff member moved to end it and ushered the visitors into the hallway, where she broke down crying. The staffer was comforted by the teachers who were themselves rattled by Fetterman’s behavior, according to a second person who was briefed separately on the meeting.
You’re the only commenter on this post who mentioned his stroke in the context of hoping for his recovery- rather than using it to mock him. So much for tolerance
He got elected as a Democrat with a decently progressive policy platform, had a stroke, then said, “all the progressiveness has left my body” and turned his back on the constituents who elected him. He’ll get sympathy when he resigns for health reasons and not a moment before that.
Until then he’s just another brain damaged liar and a traitor to his constituents, like his new friend Lil Donnie.
yeah, why dont we all have more tolerance for people doing active harm? While we are on the topic, Who speaks for the CEOs here? They are human right? And has anyone asked the zionists about their feelings? their pains and fears?
But also, Fetterman is responsible for his actions and his actions suck. Thats how responsibility works, and leadership comes with a lot of responsibility. Fetterman is blowing it, so as a leader he deserves the ridicule. Politics is not all tea parties, playing patty-cakes, and talking about feelings. You perform or you get what Fettermans getting. Once he gets the eff out, he wont hold that responsibility and can be treated as just another human with human problems again.
yeah, why dont we all have more tolerance for people doing active harm?
Yes. Tolerating someone’s existence and humanity doesn’t mean you have to enable them to do things you disagree with.
While we are on the topic, Who speaks for the CEOs here? They are human right? And has anyone asked the zionists about their feelings? their pains and fears?
Yes. Someone who genuinely believes they are acting morally, even if they do something evil, are not themselves evil. They are misguided. You shouldn’t enable them, but you also shouldn’t be needlessly cruel to them.
But also, Fetterman is responsible for his actions and his actions suck.
Yes, but context matters. People’s motives matter when you judge them. People’s circumstances matter.
Thats how responsibility works, and leadership comes with a lot of responsibility.
Nitpick not about you, but just how people talk about congress in general: let’s just be honest, most of them are not leaders. Or at least not leading anything beyond their team of staffers. And they were not intended to be leaders, they represent their constituents, serving them not leading them.
You perform or you get what Fettermans getting.
What? Ridiculed and mocked by people on the internet who’s primary hobbies are thinking of creative insults and coping? I’m not being facetious, I’m asking what just saying cruel things on Lemmy does thats productive.
Once he gets the eff out, he wont hold that responsibility and can be treated as just another human with human problems again.
Why can’t he be treated as a human now? Just a human who at least you believe is wrong on serious issues, and therefore causing harm based on misconceptions.
The problem of evil is that many of the worst things in history were done by people who believed they were acting morally. The witch hunts, the crusades, the inquisition, and large portions of the genocide of the Americas were done in part with a belief that it was moral. Part of a good understanding of morality is self reflection to understand that one can twist themselves into evil. It’s why I think your calls for compassion here are valuable.
I’m angry at Fetterman, and I’d be fucking pissed if he was my senator. I don’t know if I think he’s outright evil. But I do know that to label a human as good or evil is valuable but risky. It helps us form accountability and to rally each other, but it also leads us to assign people as wholly good or wholly bad when all people have immense complexity to our motivations, beliefs, and actions.
Sounds like everyone else is weirdly angry that he’s STILL IN OFFICE causing problems when he’s clearly not fit for the job, regardless of the reason? Isn’t that the more pressing concern than his health, him being an utter stranger to almost everyone?
Why do people need to be kind and sensitive toward someone’s recovery while that person insists on keeping a position of extreme responsibility, and constantly fucks it up, while “recovering”?
Crappy take, friend. And the “so much for tolerance” is such a loaded phrase, you almost sound insincere, to boot. We don’t owe these politicians a fuckin thing, CERTAINLY not some prioritized level of compassion. Get real!
Crappy take, friend. And the “so much for tolerance” is such a loaded phrase, you almost sound insincere, to boot. We don’t owe these politicians a fuckin thing, CERTAINLY not some prioritized level of compassion.
I think people should be compassionate to literally every other person.
Why do people need to be kind and sensitive toward someone’s recovery while that person insists on keeping a position of extreme responsibility, and constantly fucks it up, while “recovering”?
Probably because he feels passionate about his beliefs and feels its important that he fights for them.
I would feel compassion and I would highly appreciate it if he would take his time to recover, but he doesn’t, and yeah, sorry, in his condition he is clearly not for for this job.
Why do people need to be kind and sensitive toward someone’s recovery while that person insists on keeping a position of extreme responsibility, and constantly fucks it up, while “recovering”?
The “so much for tolerance” is a bit much. But there is a very real conversation to be had about this.
It’s because it’s brain damage. The thing that thinks. The organ in his body that would normally explain to him that something is wrong and that he is no longer capable of making rational decisions… that organ is what is damaged.
The man clearly needs help. This isn’t some Kanye West megalomaniacal breakdown, this is just “the part of his brain that should know better could literally be dead”.
If we had a functioning society, government, and recall system, he would have been removed by now. But expecting a stroke victim to make the right decisions when he’s clearly significantly altered from his baseline mental state… that’s just wishful thinking.
Y’know, trump is literally demented and a malignant narcissist. The article talks about Fetterman repeating himself over and over - we’ve already seen multiple staffers describe trump doing exactly this. Does throwing a plate full of ketchup at the wall count as an ‘outburst’? He’s got more. A lot more.
Just sayin. He does this shit daily and doesn’t get an AP article written about it. Both of them need to step down but only one of them would ever be pressed by their own party.
So be it. It’s been a LONG time in this state. That sucks for him. The outsized damage he’s able to do makes me unsympathetic. He’s just one guy. Boo fucking hoo. The extraordinary damage happening to countless lives in this fucking country today, and we need to have a chat about how much compassion to give this guy? Again, get real!
Edit: I guess your point is about his own inability to see the problem, which I acknowledge. I don’t think he’s due any outsized compassion, at all.
Would you feel the same way if his stroke destroyed his ability to drive a car but he insisted on continuing to do so anyway and kept putting lives at risk? It would be great if if can make a full recovery, and I certainly hope he can, but he needs to get the fuck out of the driver’s seat until he does so.
Would you feel the same way if his stroke destroyed his ability to drive a car but he insisted on continuing to do so anyway and kept putting lives at risk?
Being in political office isn’t driving a car. But regardless, even assuming the analogy were correct, yes I would say you should still be compassionate about it.
So much for tolerance… in anonymous online forums? Schadenfreude for public figures is easy enough to come by in real life that it should be no surprise to see it shine through online
I can understand both sides here.
On the one hand I have empathy with him like with any victim of such a life-altering injury and wish him a swift and full recovery. I don’t want people to suffer and, quite frankly, “the brain doesn’t work right anymore” is one of my personal horror scenarios.
On the other hand this kind of behavior is a huge problem in someone capable of making decisions that can alter the lives of other people – millions of them, in this case. He has enough power to ruin a lot of people’s lives, intentionally or not.
Even as someone who isn’t impacted by his mental fitness in any way, I’d agree that removing him from office seems like a good move. That man needs rest, not the stress of a high-profile political office during interesting times. And his state needs someone with a level head, which doesn’t mesh well with a semi-recent traumatic brain injury.
And, well, this is a politics community so guess which part the discussion will focus on. (Also, this is online so people are inclined to be assholes.)
This is a reasonable position. I just don’t think saying calous and cruel things then justifying it by saying “it’s online” is a good excuse. You can think someone is wrong and causing severe harm without also hating them, vilifying them, etc. Some people are cruel so it’s fair to be cruel back to them, but I don’t think anyone can fairly look at Fetterman and think he actually intends to hurt people.
Oh, please don’t take that remark as an excuse or endorsement. The intended tone is one of resignation – pseudonymity reduces the social cost of bad manners to near zero and there’s not much we can do about it.
I will forgive people for being blunt in their criticism, however. High-ranking politicians are exactly the people who have to be able to take a certain level of verbal abuse since their decisions can change other people’s lives in directions that justify the liberal use of expletives.
Which plays back into my perception that Fetterman is currently not suited to his role.
Most folks are pissed that he is in office, which is completely fucken reasonable. Fact of the matter is a stroke is as much a mental health issue as it is a physical issue. Just like how I remove myself from people when I’m in an autistic meltdown Fetterman should remove himself from politics. But what do I know I’m just a bloodthirsty Californian who wishes to lash 99.9 percent of politicians to crosses.
As others have pointed out the stroke could definitely impair his ability to understand its impact on his mental state.
But also yea no, someone can be very wrong and you can think and state that without being needlessly cruel to them.
As if people are nice here.
Lemmy is for being smug 3rd party and reconfirming your own self held superiority for the basic act of being here.
It was built by a lack of tolerance towards and from others.
I also think we shouldn’t tolerate him taking up one of only 100 seats of an important job while he is unwell and should do so privately.
It’s not smugness, or being mean. This man is a sitting US Senator. His decisions directly affect the well-being of literally hundreds of millions of people.
Shit is far too important to be treated with kid gloves. If you’re getting into national politics, you better stop giving a fuck about people being “nice” to you.
Oh agreed that this is really important. Literally he is taking a seat on a council of 100 people who are supposed to be the best and most representative of their constituents and yelling about people being nice to him. He needs to step down.
But also the comments in here are smug. Lemmy is not a place for nuance or empathy but vague superiority based on some form of intellectualism that is not owed or earned.
People just feel good about complaining about him and view it as a space to dish out their milquetoast worse. Nothing here is helpful for the real world.
Wait, are you being held here against your will?! Blink once for “no,” twice for “yes!”
°_° -_- °_°
Nah I can close this app and not care to check for days.
I want a news link aggregator and a vibe check on where the social liberals are at culturally and so I check here for both.
I have no intention of having the frequent comment and post history of those seeking validation and witnesses for their life actions.
I get the added bonus of about 1-2 hobbies with nearly empty communities though so maybe one day I will blink twice for you.
Edit: there is no formatting syntax escape I guess.
