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.

  • It’s incredible how many passes he’s gotten since his stroke. He’s been spiraling hard. Megalomania, paranoia, and overall reckless behavior have become more common traits, but according to him he’s fine, he says while seething through clenched teeth.

      • @gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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        874 days ago

        I have had to watch this happen to a close friend.

        Back in 2015, I had a buddy who got into a nasty bike accident, and suffered a TBI. He was always a bit of a snarky asshole, but we definitely did see eye to eye on political matters before that happened. But during his recovery, he became a lot more viciously vindictive and outright mean, and also ended up going full MAGA later on. It was weird and depressing to watch a close friend spiral out of control and lash out at people who were previously his very close friends, to the extent that he alienated basically all of them.

        It sucks, and it’s very real.

        • @dickalan@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          I have had a couple concussions, and I am generally intolerant of religion as a whole, doesn’t sound like any of the study findings any research on people who weren’t religious to begin with. Unless I’m reading this wrong, which I could be you know, because of the concussions🤣🤣🤣

          • @Shiggles@sh.itjust.works
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            244 days ago

            A link doesn’t mean every single person did - maybe each concussion is rolling a die on the gullible idiot check and you got lucky.

          • @NABDad@lemmy.world
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            144 days ago

            Based on what the article said, your general intolerance of religion might be the very symptom they were referencing.

            Their research doesn’t suggest that damage to that particular area of the brain causes religious beliefs, but rather that it more or less locks you into your beliefs religious or otherwise.

            The injured brain becomes less able to consider other viewpoints, so changing beliefs becomes less likely even when confronted with facts that disprove the belief.

            • @dickalan@lemmy.world
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              33 days ago

              That’s what I’m thinking, if I was already intolerant of religions, then this just made me even more intolerant of religions, it’s not that hard though to not believe in a magical sky daddy, I wish more people followed my lead

            • @Plebcouncilman@sh.itjust.works
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              34 days ago

              Right, it bears pointing out that atheism is in itself a faith, or at least its adherents treat it very much like one to the point that it might as well be one. For me it is the faith in the non-existance of a supreme being or deity.

              • @ExtantHuman@lemm.ee
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                4 days ago

                It really bears pointing out that this is, in fact, not true.

                If I walk up to you and tell you that I can turn lead into gold, and you ask me to prove it, only to have me rebut that telling you to prove I can’t… Did you need “faith” to not believe me?

              • @Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                4 days ago

                I think using the word “faith” here may need more explanation. Would you say you have faith that the tooth fairy, Santa, or the Easter Bunny does not exist?

                • @Plebcouncilman@sh.itjust.works
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                  4 days ago

                  I am an atheist so far as I can say that there is no intelligent deity that snapped its fingers and created the universe. But I cannot definitely conclude that the universe itself might not be the living body of a god. An atheist™️ would say that there is nothing transcendental about the universe itself, despite the proof of their very eyes that it is transcendental. If you’re not in awe at the sheer magnitude of the universe then maybe you’re too self centered to realize how truly insignificant we are in the greater universe.

                  An atheist would say that a god needs some kind of intelligence, but does the lack of intelligence and will makes a being less of a being? What do we make of plants and bacteria then?

                  I know the biblical god isn’t real. I know the Ancient pantheons are also not real. I don’t know that there is no such thing as a supreme transcendent being. But I think there’s enough prove to make an argument that there might be one.

              • @NABDad@lemmy.world
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                44 days ago

                For me it is the faith in the non-existance of a supreme being or deity.

                I agree. I prefer to consider myself agnostic rather than atheist.

                I’m really a dishonest agnostic since I can’t really imagine a proof of deity that I wouldn’t discount as a hallucination.

                I did have a dream many years ago in which I woke up with absolute proof that God existed, but then I went back to sleep.

                When I woke later, I couldn’t remember what the proof was. If the proof was real, and God let me forget it, then he’s an ass and he doesn’t deserve my belief.

                • @Plebcouncilman@sh.itjust.works
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                  44 days ago

                  I think the problem is that most people think of god as non material. In my view m whatever you want to call god is a material thing and you are touching it right now. And there’s absolutely no conclusive evidence to prove that this isn’t true and most thought exercises will have you reach the conclusion that there is a high likelihood that we are indeed part of a bigger thing that could be defined as god.

                  I guess a big divide here is how you define god, for most people it’s this intelligent and willful being. But that’s just what a human, who fashions gods in his image, thinks a god is.

                  For me intelligence is not a requirement for supremacy. I believe the universe itself for all intents and purposes is god. It has no will and no intelligence but that doesn’t make it any less powerful.

              • @Eldritch@lemmy.world
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                14 days ago

                It’s an ideology. The problem with it, is that like any ideology. Many turn it into their identity. And if you attack or even dismiss the ideology, it is as if you’ve done it to them personally.

                That said there’s more clear evidence for atheism than there is for any other theist belief. But it does get tiresome to combat against constant fantastic and unprovable claims.

          • @Ledericas@lemm.ee
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            3 days ago

            i think a stroke is more severe than minor concussions. IN A STROKe there actual death of brain cells in the stroke area.

            • @NABDad@lemmy.world
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              84 days ago

              Do you realize…

              Dude started out by mentioning a couple of concussions and ended by stating he might not understand the research because of the concussions, so perhaps the answer is…maybe not.

            • @dickalan@lemmy.world
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              13 days ago

              It was more of a question, but you kind of inserted yourself into my statement, so I’m not going to engage with you anymore. You can get your feelings hurt elsewhere

      • @AidsKitty@lemmy.world
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        34 days ago

        Yet with your combined superior intellect Democrats have lost control of all 3 branches of government and the supreme court. Maybe you guys are not as superior as you believe you are?

        • @Ledericas@lemm.ee
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          23 days ago

          he was pretty much a A-HOLE before he strokes, the stroke just removed all inhibitions from him.

    • @Ledericas@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      he got the passes til he started to become the AIPAC cheerleading for ISRAEL, and went crying to BILL MAHER of all people.