I think the downside is that it inevitably leads to disappointment when someone cannot deliver on their promises in much the same way religion does when it comes to unanswered prayers.
He'll need to win the primary first.
A few of the candidates seem to care about real issues, but caring is not enough. They need plans that have a realistic chance of getting passed, and none seem to have that. That is not to say that some of them don't have plans that I and others on the left like the sound of; they do. The problem is that anyone familiar with Congress has to know that none of the more radical plans have any chance of passing. A president cannot single-handedly bring about "free" college or Medicare for all, resolve the global climate crisis, reverse over 100 years of income inequality, and so on. Presidents do have great power, but they don't have this kind of power. Nobody is predicting that 2020 will put a Democrat in the White House and Democratic super-majorities in both houses of Congress. Without that, most of what the more progressive candidates are promising will never come about.
I agree for the most part. The only exception I can think of would be that encountering a brand new meme one has never seen before can occasionally stimulate productive thought. Of course, one must wade through more than 100 one has already seen countless times to find that one new one. It does seem lazy, and I think it is unfortunate that many people seem to prefer memes to meaningful original content. But as Keulan suggested above, it probably is a generational thing. If one wants to appeal to younger people, memes may be the way to do it.
My "problem" is limited to the fact that I have little interest in seeing them. Fortunately, it is a fairly easy problem to solve by making sure that I'm not contributing to it.
I'll be surprised if Trump doesn't win another term regardless of who the Dems run against him. I hope I am surprised.
Good point about the friendly vs. vengeful god. I was mostly lucky in that regard too, but I do recall fearing it and wanting to appease it.
It seems like there's always some sort of drama taking place in the online atheist community. I nearly identified the one I had in mind in this post, but I quickly realized it really doesn't matter. The point would be the same regardless of the particular drama.
I suppose most people view their own time as valuable. I've heard some insist that they should be paid for the effort they invest in their product even if it is a product nobody is willing to pay for. I don't think it works that way, though. Most people are looking for some sort of value when they think about where to spend their money. If they don't perceive the product as having sufficient value, paying for it would be little more than charity.
I think what you said about evil might be even more important than the emotion vs. reason thing. Both have decided that those who disagree with them are necessarily evil. Once that corner is turned, they experience no guilt from treating others poorly. Some probably believe that they are morally obligated to do so. Crushing the enemy becomes the only viable solution.
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