Random Thread

[keenir]

so, if the majority vote that Trump got this time around, indicates that America has become evil...what does it mean that Obama got overwhelming majority vote at least once in the same country.

Times have changed and the US electorate has clearly moved far to the right.

wow, Obama gets elected and its clearly nothing permanent; Trump gets elected, and suddenly you think human brains work like concrete.

But you're saying that all they need is enough propaganda...and yet that propaganda hasn't ceased since its days of Westboro Baptists protesting funerals and Faldwell commenting on hurricanes.

...so clearly the "give it enough time" view doesn't actually work.

The Westboro Baptists did not have anywhere near the funding or finesse of contemporary right wing propagandists. Most people regarded them as obvious kooks and didn't take their message seriously. They hardly compare to Fox News or even Prager University in terms of reach and influence.

no, lots of people consider Prager and Fox to be kooks too...just better funded kooks. "finesse" is harder to pin down.

fortunately, we actually can answer this: for over a decade, we've been seeing in the news reports about violence against African-Americans...has that caused the USA to change its thinking to "its perfectly okay to hurt African-Americans" ?

Nope.

Those news reports have not unanimously declared all Black people dangerous vermin, though.

They've been saying since that before Rwanda(sp)'s radio stations were calling their minority cockroaches.

Official accounts have ranged from hostile to sympathetic depending on which channel you're watching. When every single newspaper, news channel, and social media influencer defends police brutality against Black people, it will definitely impact public opinion.

he's been suing people since before that thing with a pronstar before his first presidential term. hasn't exactly gone swimmingly for him thus far.

He recently sued ABC for defamation and forced them to recant.

which is weird, given how he keeps saying he's too busy to be back in court.

He can easily apply the same tactic to any other news channel that criticizes him and his handpicked judges will rule in his favor.

Given how often Trump's hand-picked judges kept ruling against him and his buddies, thats doubtful.

It will not take long before all new media avoids any negative coverage just to avoid lawsuits.

But until that day in the distant future, its not happening.

[Ares Land]

Trump isn't worth getting that worked up about. George W. Bush was about as bad, and who even thinks about him now?

Would you feel the same about Le Pen, who seems almost guaranteed to win the presidency given the surging far right and unpopularity of mainstream liberalism? For that matter, it has always disappointed me how everyone forgot about how much Bush sucked.

If she does win the presidency -- which is possible but not guaranteed -- then the right thing to do would be to protect people as much as we can and make sure she finds the experience as unpleasant as possible. It would be cause for anger (it is cause for anger), not existencial despair.

Same feelings about Bush! I believe he did more damage than Trump (and Reagan did even more) -- the encouraging thing though is that their presidency suggests the American electorate hasn't move that far to the right. It does suggest Americans have this periodic need to punish themselves

[malloc]

no, lots of people consider Prager and Fox to be kooks too...just better funded kooks. "finesse" is harder to pin down.

But enough people respect such "news" sources for them to wield considerable influence, whereas the Westboro Baptist Church has never enjoyed that status. You must also consider what happens when Fox News becomes de facto state media and Prager U material becomes an important component of educational curricula, as many are seeking. Since the election, I have read over and over again that the deciding factor was the massive groundswell of right wing propaganda that leftists and centrists never noticed. The right has an overwhelming advantage in media production and getting out its message and that gap is going everyday as opposing media outlets fold or embrace self-censorship.

[Linguoboy]

The right has an overwhelming advantage in media production

[citation needed]

[Zju]

An AI algorithm walks into a bar. It wants to have what everyone else is having.

[WeepingElf]

An AI algorithm walks into a bar. It wants to have what everyone else is having.

That's a good one. Thank you!

[alice]

An AI algorithm walks into a bar. It wants to have what everyone else is having.

Good one!

How about: ... ouch! It wasn't trained on that type of bar.

[malloc]

The right has an overwhelming advantage in media production

[citation needed]

Surely you have heard the same thing in all the postmortems you have read since the election. Time and time again I have read and heard about how figures like Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson have radicalized young men to reactionary positions, how newspapers and broadcast are sanewashing Trump, and so forth. Just to list some citations from cursory google searches though:

https://www.vox.com/donald-trump/391810 ... s-register
https://www.vox.com/technology/383336/t ... nformation
https://www.salon.com/2024/12/19/the-we ... ournalism/
https://www.salon.com/2024/12/17/abc-ne ... can-media/
https://www.salon.com/2024/12/18/the-pr ... treatment/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-sees- ... offs-loom/
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1 ... dia-stupid

[zompist]

One of the least trustworthy types of opinion pieces is the election postmortem. Can’t blame the pundits, because they have to publish something, but there’s just not enough info to base conclusions on.

Raw vote totals are more solid. In 2020 Trump got 74.2 million votes, in 2024 he got 77.3 million. That is, 3 million more. That is not overwhelming nor evidence of radicalization. It’s more or less a statistical blip.

Of course our political system turns such a blip into an entire presidency.

There is a lot to worry about, resistance to organize, people to help. But catastrophizing and helplessness are not useful reactions. Apply your churning brain to the question of how you could make at least some people’s lives better.

[keenir]

no, lots of people consider Prager and Fox to be kooks too...just better funded kooks. "finesse" is harder to pin down.

But enough people respect such "news" sources for them to wield considerable influence,

Thats one of the outcomes of having to always broadcast news 24 hours a day - you always need to have something on air.

whereas the Westboro Baptist Church has never enjoyed that status. You must also consider what happens when Fox News becomes de facto state media

Never gonna happen. And not just because they mistreat their own employees.

and Prager U material becomes an important component of educational curricula, as many are seeking.

Give it time. Not even all creationists like Prager; much less all Christians.

Since the election, I have read over and over again that the deciding factor was the massive groundswell of right wing propaganda that leftists and centrists never noticed.

Maybe stop re-reading that article.

and that gap is going everyday as opposing media outlets fold or embrace self-censorship.

Company A decides to retract one or two articles =/= Self-censoring on a topic forever-after.

[keenir]

I nearly posted this in the US Politics thread, but I feel this addresses statements in this thread more than that one; if I'm wrong, I apologize & request it be transferred over.
Thank you.

Given the overwhelming saturation of social media with MAGA propaganda and legacy media cringing before the threat of defamation lawsuits, he will never have to worry about bad press again.

Actually, as I learned from this little video - https://youtu.be/SRVXKcTwDCE?si=jXmImccNO3y7Kdze - it is entirely possible for judges to not only throw out cases (been known to happen), but also to throw the proverbial book at the people making the accusations and calling for judicial actions.

aka "boomerangs"

[malloc]

Here is the most likely scenario facing us now: https://religiondispatches.org/even-if- ... n-learned/

[rotting bones]

Here is the most likely scenario facing us now: https://religiondispatches.org/even-if- ... n-learned/

I'm not confident. People who don't have the luxury to follow politics vote using a simple algorithm: If essential goods become harder to afford, they vote for the other party.

It doesn't matter if the other party is fascist. Many of them don't understand what's wrong with fascism. Talk of "freedom" sounds like gaslighting to them because very little in their lived experience feels like freedom.

[rotting bones]

Both Chinese and Korean ethnicities call themselves Han. Did this ever cause confusion?

[Raphael]

Does anyone know where this cartoon I found on social media is originally from?

bafkreiefrds6k7c4cyicij5qk3grklqgmtyv6r7rohnnnrgh2a52qipi3e.jpg (182.33 KiB) Viewed 120 times

[zompist]

Both Chinese and Korean ethnicities call themselves Han. Did this ever cause confusion?

Not in Chinese, because they have different tones and characters. They’re homophones in Korean though.

[rotting bones]

Not in Chinese, because they have different tones and characters. They’re homophones in Korean though.

Since there's a different name for the Chinese in Korean, maybe it's never an issue.

[Zju]

more from reddit

The autopilot tends to lean to the far right this days.

X marks despot