Monitoring Biden and other Contemporary Events

@Region Philbis,

Nicely worded from Clinton. I'm not a fan of the word "evil" because of its religious baggage but there's really no other term I know of which more properly describes the influence of Murdoch and his son on the world.

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How Harmful Is Social Media

Quote:

In April, the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt published an essay in The Atlantic in which he sought to explain, as the piece’s title had it, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.” Anyone familiar with Haidt’s work in the past half decade could have anticipated his answer: social media. Although Haidt concedes that political polarization and factional enmity long predate the rise of the platforms, and that there are plenty of other factors involved, he believes that the tools of virality—Facebook’s Like and Share buttons, Twitter’s Retweet function—have algorithmically and irrevocably corroded public life. He has determined that a great historical discontinuity can be dated with some precision to the period between 2010 and 2014, when these features became widely available on phones.

(...)

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@blatham,

blatham wrote:

Nicely worded from Clinton. I'm not a fan of the word "evil" because of its religious baggage but there's really no other term I know of which more properly describes the influence of Murdoch and his son on the world.

I'm not a fan of the word "Amen" because of its religious baggage, but there really is no other term that describes my feeling for this post of yours, Bernie.

AMEN!

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@blatham,

Gawd, Blatham, (I have no problems with religious tones). I've been reading about all this steadily for a good while now which why at times I actually feel it's almost not worth even talking about because either people are buying into it in droves or they are just apathetic or the democrats have not been able to find a winning strategy which addresses the problems we are all facing in our country. Namely, inflation and the high cost of gas. That is really all most nonpolitical junkies are thinking about and since in theory democrats are in power, we are blamed for both, not to mention the never ending COVID-19 which hasn't gone away.

I doubt Bannon really needs to go to all that trouble for the mid-terms.

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The greatest problem for me in the current political atmosphere is; there is simply no place for a Centrist to settle down! As long a the RW is pure "evil" in its entirety - the Left is the only way to live!

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@BillW,

BillW wrote:

The greatest problem for me in the current political atmosphere is; there is simply no place for a Centrist to settle down! As long a the RW is pure "evil" in its entirety - the Left is the only way to live!

I've thought about that a lot...and the only thing I have been able to come up with is that the DEMOCRATIC PARTY must change.

I know, I know. The disgrace to our nation and to sanity is the Republican Party...but I have come to the conclusion that the GOP cannot change. It must remain the racist, misogynistic, anti-intellectual cesspool that it is...or it will lose the base upon which it is built. If it were to lose the racists and the misogynistic, anti-intellectual element of its make-up...the common-people scorning billionaire class remaining would be able to hold its national conventions in a local Elks Club dining room.

The GOP must cater to the nut cases, because they are the foundation of the party...they are almost all they have.

The Democratic Party must go back to what it was during the 1950's...a political party composed of a liberal AND a reasonable conservative one. It must reach out with appeal to conservatives as well as to progressives.

Yeah, some of the racists who have always infected American conservatism may gain a toe hold...but not much of one.

I realize this cake is still only half-baked...and I am still working on it. But here it is for consideration. I'd appreciate any thoughts you have on it, Bill...or anyone else considering it.

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@Frank Apisa,

Trouble is Frank, it takes a left wing of the Republican party to kept the right wing of the Democratic Party honest........

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@hightor,

Quote:

How Harmful Is Social Media

We've all lived through this and watched it in real time. Even Robert (who created this site and was once deeply optimistic in the potential of the democratization of speech afforded by the medium) no longer holds the views he once held.

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@Frank Apisa,

The singular situation where using religious terms is acceptable is when one is complimenting me.

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@revelette1,

Though not a happy thought, I'd say that the Dem "failure" to find a winning communication strategy is rather similar to, say, the problem of Bertrand Russell speaking in an auditorium filled with people all relentlessly shouting out idiocies. This really isn't just a matter of framing or finding the right message. I think we're passed that. As Bannon has famously put it, the strategy is to flood the zone with ****.

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@BillW,

Quote:

As long a the RW is pure "evil" in its entirety - the Left is the only way to live!

I'd perhaps temper the first bit but I'd still end up agreeing with the last.

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@Frank Apisa,

Quote:

The Democratic Party must go back to what it was during the 1950's...a political party composed of a liberal AND a reasonable conservative one. It must reach out with appeal to conservatives as well as to progressives.

I'm not at all sure that we can use the model of that earlier period as a strategy, Frank, merely because the world has changed so much since then and the GOP has degraded into something almost unrecognizable (other than historical instances of burgeoning authoritarian movements attaining power).

I have no good answer for you. But it seems to me that the only strategies the left might take up that would not be destructive is far, far more investment in organization from the ground up. We can't, I think, adopt the successful agitprop techniques the right has used to enrage its base with lies, distractions and fear-mongering with fake issues because then no one has integrity any longer and the traditional Dem base will be lost.

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@Frank Apisa,

Weren't the segregationist supporting Dixiecrats part of that broad 1950's church?

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@izzythepush,

Roosevelt's coalition was all encompassing. Every stripe of politician held it together.

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........and, it begins!!!!

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@blatham,

I was actually thinking more of a winning message to articulate an actual plan to deal with both kitchen table issues which would have the effect of busting through their gaslighting. (heard that on MSNBC and thought it was a good word)

Watching tonight.

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The first installment of the hearing was quite a lot better than I had expected. I'm very impressed. And as critical as I've been regarding Liz Cheney over the years, she's done herself proud here.

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Very good presentation.

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@blatham,

blatham wrote:

The singular situation where using religious terms is acceptable is when one is complimenting me.

Oh, Jesus H. Christ!

1 Reply

@blatham,

blatham wrote:

The first installment of the hearing was quite a lot better than I had expected. I'm very impressed. And as critical as I've been regarding Liz Cheney over the years, she's done herself proud here.

I agree...enthusiastically.

Cheney and Thompson both kept their focus...and this did not seem like a political attack at all. I hope that the other members are able to project that same attitude. I think that is essential to getting swaying some people in the correct direction.

This insurrection is something that MUST be handled. And Trump's role in it MUST be dealt with...or America goes down the drain.

1 Reply

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