Social Media and the state

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

I can't keep these baby avatars straight

 

[WeFlossDaily]

Why do intelligent people believe stupid things? I thought this was a pretty interesting video. I don't care if anybody watches it or what anybody thinks of it, though. Consider it a parting gift or a middle finger, I don't care which. I don't like most of you. I'm done with these forums. There's plenty of better stuff I could be doing then wasting my time here. I reject you as a community.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

There is no such thing as the far right or the far left. Constantly trying to prefix left and right with the word far in front of it is an extremely lame attempt to try to make whatever you are talking about sound more problematic than it actually is.

Like Soen, you lost me here too. I just could not read past this point because it has become abundantly clear you have not been paying attention to current events. You have become so convinced that the media is gaslighting us that you've painted ALL news sources with the same broad brush. Given that, it really begs the question, where ARE you getting your information? Because, wherever it is, it is not serving you well at all.

You're right about one point though: There is no far-left in the US. But there damn well sure is a far-right, and they are damned sure reading right out of Hitler's playbook right now. We are standing right on the brink of losing America to outright fascism, and it is due to people like you who decided to just stand on the sidelines and watch.

Edit: Did she just flounce?

 

[Casey Pelous]

Edit: Did she just flounce?

I had to unignore her to find out.

She did not. She gave us a "parting gift" and a middle finger, then announced she was rejecting "you" (?? Pronoun reference missing.) as a community.

So, definitely not flouncing. Definitely.

My word, she did yammer on.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Why do intelligent people believe stupid things? I thought this was a pretty interesting video. I don't care if anybody watches it or what anybody thinks of it, though. Consider it a parting gift or a middle finger, I don't care which. I don't like most of you. I'm done with these forums. There's plenty of better stuff I could be doing then wasting my time here. I reject you as a community.

Predictable, inevitable. The chip on your shoulder was visible on your way in.

Allow me to flip the tarot cards...
Temperance: you'll bide your time.
The moon: you'll return under a cloud of secrecy behind a new name.
The chariot: you'll race into a new conflict.
The tower: you'll make a mistake that reveals who you are, and crash and burn, flouncing away a second time.

 

[Noodles]

There is no such thing as the far right or the far left.

Trump doesn't qualify as an extremist anymore than Biden or Harris or Zenlenskyy or Macron or Olaf. . . .

This one is easy.

Biden/Harris/Etc, = Right

Trump and crew = Far Right.

 

[Noodles]

Why do intelligent people believe stupid things? I thought this was a pretty interesting video. I don't care if anybody watches it or what anybody thinks of it, though. Consider it a parting gift or a middle finger, I don't care which. I don't like most of you. I'm done with these forums. There's plenty of better stuff I could be doing then wasting my time here. I reject you as a community.

I didn't watch your video, but no one who is actually intelligent, ever talks about "High IQ."

No one.

 

[Soen Eber]

Why do intelligent people believe stupid things? I thought this was a pretty interesting video. I don't care if anybody watches it or what anybody thinks of it, though. Consider it a parting gift or a middle finger, I don't care which. I don't like most of you. I'm done with these forums. There's plenty of better stuff I could be doing then wasting my time here. I reject you as a community.

Useful video until it started cavilating about Wokism and showing its bias..

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Why do intelligent people believe stupid things? I thought this was a pretty interesting video. I don't care if anybody watches it or what anybody thinks of it, though. Consider it a parting gift or a middle finger, I don't care which. I don't like most of you. I'm done with these forums. There's plenty of better stuff I could be doing then wasting my time here. I reject you as a community.

I watched the whole video. The first few minutes are interesting and true and worth watching, but then the speaker kind of falls into the very trap he warns against; and really straw mans a lot of the "woke" beliefs he tries to argue against. He also partakes in some anti-intellectual nonsense of talking about academia like they are a hivemind when in reality there has always been A LOT of infighting. I've never seen someone use the word "workeism" unironically that wasn't a bit of a fool and this is no exception.

I do certainly agree that winning a debate isn't the same thing as searching for truth... but the trouble is, EVERYBODY sees themselves as the rational truth seeker, even if there is plenty of research to suggest that humans actually rationalize what they want to hear. And I think sentiments like this are very comforting to shallow thinkers who can't defend their beliefs in debate.

In particular, that video attacks the idea of transgender people. ...but I think "let's be nice to queer people" might be a less powerful or clouding bias than how transphobes just find trans people to be very "icky." And the video attacks the idea of sex as a spectrum but makes no mention of important other dimensions of the topic such as sex vs gender or what we know about the brains of people who experience gender dysphoria. The video was great for explaining biases but then really fails to apply that knowledge. They also repeat the tired trope that academics are encouraging kids to be queer.

To be honest, WeFloss, I think your actual viewpoints weren't that weird or crazy and would have been just politely disagreed with if not for your tendency to fire much bigger personal attacks in response to every perceived slight. This became a big flame war because you made it one.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

I didn't watch your video, but no one who is actually intelligent, ever talks about "High IQ."

No one.

Agreed, though that's not really what the video does.... It starts out talking about biases, and how you can still be very bias even if very intelligent. Which is all true! But then it goes on an anti-intellectual rant about academia being "woke" and that's when it kind of goes down the tubes.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

There is no such thing as the far right or the far left. Constantly trying to prefix left and right with the word far in front of it is an extremely lame attempt to try to make whatever you are talking about sound more problematic than it actually is. It's typically a sign that you are reading media devoted to one side or the other, it's non-objective, arguably anti-journalism, dishonest, and a clear gaslight.

Well, this line of thought sounds really suspiciously like something Alice Weidel came up with during the last few weeks. In case the name doesn't ring a bell - Alice Weidel is the president of the new right wing party AfD in Germany.

Weidel called Adolf Hitler in a recent interview a communist. Why? Because his party was named Nationalsozialismus, so in her view Hitler was a communist. This serves two fold purposes, namely moving him to the other end of the political spectrum and two putting all communists in a bad light. In other words fabricated, bad context.

What you are doing here is nothing more then Dialektische Rabulistik, a bad form of sophistry, which Arthur Schopenhauer wrote down in the 19th century.

In other words you are using the same technics well known right wing nut cases are using to legitimate their stance, making one look less dangerous and such. You should be really proud about yourself to have joined their ranks.

 

[Noodles]

Agreed, though that's not really what the video does.... It starts out talking about biases, and how you can still be very bias even if very intelligent. Which is all true! But then it goes on an anti-intellectual rant about academia being "woke" and that's when it kind of goes down the tubes.

Having the thumbnail with "High IQ" like it does, it was pretty much given that would be the case. The same people who think that "High IQ" is a thing anyone cares about, are the same people going on about alpha and sigma male shit and trad wife life. Its insecure people trying to come up with "cool labels" for their insecurity to feel better about it. This is also the ame people bitching about Woke shit all the time.

But hey, look at me, falling into the self fulfilling trap of the video topic and being biased and sterotyping idiots for being idiots.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Having the thumbnail with "High IQ" like it does, it was pretty much given that would be the case. The same people who think that "High IQ" is a thing anyone cares about, are the same people going on about alpha and sigma male shit and trad wife life. Its insecure people trying to come up with "cool labels" for their insecurity to feel better about it. This is also the ame people bitching about Woke shit all the time.

But hey, look at me, falling into the self fulfilling trap of the video topic and being biased and sterotyping idiots for being idiots.

You have the right idea, even if you are getting some details wrong due to not watching the video. I can't tell you with a straight face it's worth your time. It doesn't say anything about macho or alpha males or trad wives.... I do think the speaker implicitly tries to label themselves as "rational" and uses that as the cool label to feel great about their opinions.

 

[Soen Eber]

You have the right idea, even if you are getting some details wrong due to not watching the video. I can't tell you with a straight face it's worth your time. It doesn't say anything about macho or alpha males or trad wives.... I do think the speaker implicitly tries to label themselves as "rational" and uses that as the cool label to feel great about their opinions.

Yeah. Researching "After Skool" it's apparently in the same mode as Prager U and all the other pseudo-rationalist-indoctrination-complex media which make you feel slightly "off" upon viewing. It doesn't "look" unhinged at first blush, until you start digging or they throw up hot-button issues.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Adam Bienkov (@adambienkov.bsky.social)

First X and soon TikTok. State-controlled social media here we come

bsky.app

Going to be interesting when the EU and the UK start sanctioning both the co-president's X and the part-US owned TikTok for hate speech, disinformation, etc.

 

[Soen Eber]

Adam Bienkov (@adambienkov.bsky.social)

First X and soon TikTok. State-controlled social media here we come

bsky.app

Going to be interesting when the EU and the UK start sanctioning both the co-president's X and the part-US owned TikTok for hate speech, disinformation, etc.

I look forward to the sparks flying.

From what I've observed, the right can play a short-term media campaign that can really rile people up. But if the game goes into extra innings, when the jingoistic monolog starts running into reality-based flak over several years (such as Brexit or the war with Iraq), the tide goes against them and they're forced to either up their game or take their losses. Two years of having the papers and news media full of counter-positioning from the U.K. and E.U. might just persuade enough voting Americans of the merits of bias-free reporting and democracy, or at least the consequences of the current position.

I want to see sparks fly until the metal is ground down. That is how victories happen.

 

[Monica Dream]

Two years of having the papers and news media full of counter-positioning from the U.K. and E.U. might just persuade enough voting Americans of the merits of bias-free reporting and democracy, or at least the consequences of the current position.

At this point are there any major media outlets that aren't owned by billionaires or batshit conservatives?

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

At this point are there any major media outlets that aren't owned by billionaires or batshit conservatives?

Major? No, not really. At least not in the US.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Major? No, not really. At least not in the US.

Plenty of other international English-language sources, though.

 

[Soen Eber]

And also Public Radio. He's going to make a play for it, but the amount of money they get is minuscule, it's almost totally member funded. Most of the government funding goes to rural areas for public radio expansion. I keep current with the Guardian and the Washington Post, whose future is now in doubt. Al Jazera, the Christian Science Monitor, and Deutsche Welle may have to supplement that.

Can anyone recommend some good international media? Maybe we could put together a list so users here can promote it on their own social media posts.