• givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    It’s not the benefit of the doubt.

    If a stroke changes you it changes you. If it makes you an asshole, it’s not just ok to be an asshole.

    Every other asshole also has a reason to be an asshole, recency doesn’t matter.

    But I legitimately don’t know if he took AIPAC money in the primary before the stroke. If he did, then yeah, he was already an asshole before the stroke. Doesn’t mean a stroke couldn’t make him a more blatant asshole. Lack of impulse control is also a common symptom, people lose their filter and that’s rarely a positive thing.

    It’s not excusing it, but we need to understand it so we learn how to deal with it and hopefully prevent the next person from being an asshole.

    • Sundial@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      The man is able to connect the dots of receiving lobbying money and advocating for a certain position. He should be able to connect the dots of civilians dying, and saying that’s bad. Lots of people who suffer from strokes learn to control themselves and their personality changes. Fetterman just isn’t one of them.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        We’re saying the same thing.

        An asshole is an asshole, it doesn’t matter what lead them down that path.

        Understanding why people are assholes is worth it because we learn how to deal with them, and maybe even prevent less people from becoming assholes later.

        Every society has X% of assholes, there’s never zero assholes, but it’s worth getting that number as low as possible.

        I think everyone agrees there’s more than there used to be, and would enjoy less assholes.

        • Sundial@lemm.ee
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          1 month ago

          I see what you’re saying. My mistake, I misinterpreted your comment. You’re honestly a better person than me that would see someone have this kind of stance and say “Let’s see where they’re coming from”. To me, it’s just another asshole that society should not even have to tolerate.

        • Understanding why people are assholes is worth it because we learn how to deal with them,

          I guess the question here would be - if the stroke made him more of an asshole, then - as you seem to be implying - what’s the cure? Or if you acknowledge that there’s not really a cure, how does knowing that a stroke caused this help inform our ability to deal with this?

          and maybe even prevent less people from becoming assholes later.

          How would that work in this case? Preventing strokes definitely seems like a good idea, but that’d be something already being pursued to the fullest even without the additional personality change angle.

          Or are you suggesting that there’s a way to help a stroke victim prevent their personality change, lessen it, reverse it?