I'm a veteran.

PTSD from combat and gun stuff.

I call the crisis line due to PTSD episode and panic attack.

Cops with guns drawn show up to determine if I should be committed against my will.

I have to fake my way through a panic attack to convince them I'm fine.

They believe me and leave me alone.

I wonder what the next steps are.

Fuck cops.

Our police come from organizations that were used to round up slaves. There is less logic to this and more historic leftovers.

Welcome to the US department of Veterans Affairs.

Remember all of those guys with Gulf war syndrome whose doctors told them they were faking it until they killed themselves? Ends up. They were exposed to nerve gas and doctors aren't trained in that. Oopsies!

The same is happening within the VA today. Too many of my friends have killed themselves.

I agree with you and have studied this from my role as an intelligence official and former interrogator. The lawyer who prosecuted the Nazis at the Nuremberg trials stated that the real problem wasn't the evil but the apathy of the masses that allowed a few evil people to do big evil things.

The fact of the matter is that human reactions to certain information are well known from our centuries of study of propaganda and marketing and psychology. At this point it is easy for the government to manipulate messaging so that the people are misled enough to allow evil.

It is the simple stuff and even smart people are influenced by it over time. It is a well studied phenomenon. No one is immune. For example, Trump saying that he has the most transparent government ever while specifically taking away rights and doing things in secret.

The propaganda tool has been efficient for our governments, especially since the advent of the internet. Also, keep in mind that roughly half of the population has a two-digit IQ. Some people will never admit that they are dumb and therefore will never admit that they have been deceived.

The fact that US citizens are scared to stand up to their government because the government police will abuse them shows where we are as a society. We are deeply fascist and the illusion of democracy hasn't been functioning in Congress for quite a while. The illusion of the checks and balances has worn thin as well.

So I agree with you. Our society is diseased. But it's not necessarily the faults of the individuals.

I'm a disabled veteran in California. I hear you. The government chooses my quality of life and they have chosen poverty.

"Thank you for your service!"

Me. Be American. Serve my country in uniform for 8 years until I get blown up on my second deployment. Never return home so I can serve the federal government in DC and progress career. Serve as a government civilian for another 12 years.

Medically retire because I can't drive to work anymore and most of my day is spent in the bathroom for one reason or another.

Move back home because that is where my support network is because I have almost daily medical appointments. Can never work again because of medical issues.

Rent on a two-bedroom apartment takes three quarters of my disability pay. A cell phone, internet, and electricity take the rest.

Food puts me slightly in debt. So do girl scout fees and karate classes for my daughter but I will provide no matter what.

Medical expenses that the government is supposed to pay often comes out of my pocket because the Department of Veterans Affairs is responsible for my care and they are efficiently killing veterans.

People call me a leech on society and make me reprove my income almost monthly for any social programs. I am constantly stressed so I'm starting to look the part.

Eventually the debt will catch up to me and I will be on the street with a "disabled veteran please help" sign.

The US department of Veterans Affairs will still claim that there are no homeless veterans.

He's not going to be remembered. He's just another village idiot in the grand scheme of things.

He is doing 57 months because he is serving for multiple crimes simultaneously.

Police who violate the law should not be allowed anything but the maximum sentence non-concurrent with other crimes.

But cops protect those who have power and those who have power. Don't want to piss off the cops so here we are.

TLDR: Our government is for sale and two corporations apparently give instructions to the entire IRS and tax system because they pay a "subscription fee" to our politicians.

All as designed by the supreme court.

The rich damned us.

Funny! In America it is against our constitution but we allow the NSA to do it because when we protest we get killed, arrested or our lives ruined.

I protested the illegal separation and detention of children at the border. It was literal torture. The government later found that their own actions were illegal. In the meantime, I was arrested and beaten and on bail conditions for over 6 months before being found not guilty. The officers who beat me were given immunity. They decided not to keep the tapes at the facility after we requested they keep them because of the assault.

I am a disabled veteran and was a career federal employee.

This is America.

Thank you. I have so many engrained habits from Reddit that I'm not using Lemmy to its potential.