YellowKing wrote: Fri Oct 04, 2024 8:08 am
For most of the day yesterday while the Jack Smith doc should have been top news, CNN's headline article was about the three challenges the Harris campaign was now facing (Middle East, dock strike, and hurricane). Most damning list of crimes ever revealed about a presidential candidate, but sure let's talk about all the challenges the Harris campaign faces.
Here are a bunch of horrible things that Trump has personal ownership of, and total complete responsibility for and control over.
vs.
Here are a few things that the world has thrown at Harris and she must be a little to blame, right?
There are times when I can't help thinking that while the internet is one of the best things to happen to humanity, it is also one of the worst things to happen to society. We might have been better off without it.
Blackhawk wrote: Sat Oct 05, 2024 11:32 am
There are times when I can't help thinking that while the internet is one of the best things to happen to humanity, it is also one of the worst things to happen to society. We might have been better off without it.
Every day. I think about this every day. We needed the internet. We were not ready for the internet.
We need the internet, not social media. Worst are the algorithms which push destructive and anti-social behavior.
"A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on." -Terry Pratchett, The Truth "The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to those who think they've found it." -Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment
We were quickly ready for the Internet. We were never ready for the anonymous democratization of the Internet. You could see that in usenet. I dunno about things Prodigy. I never had and experience with that end of things. Don't think you can turn back the clock, but I'd join an Internet 2 (3?) with a gated community.
Zarathud wrote: Sat Oct 05, 2024 11:41 am
We need the internet, not social media. Worst are the algorithms which push destructive and anti-social behavior.
I'd say that the problem of creating customized nation-wide echo chambers predates modern social media. It was a result of immediate feedback on headlines (number of clicks and engagement) turning news media into click-generating ideology hubs that rewarded emotional sensationalism over truth. Social media just picked up and amplified what was already happening.
Blackhawk wrote: Sat Oct 05, 2024 11:32 am
There are times when I can't help thinking that while the internet is one of the best things to happen to humanity, it is also one of the worst things to happen to society. We might have been better off without it.
Every day. I think about this every day. We needed the internet. We were not ready for the internet.
Yep. Every day. Sometimes twice.
Just 'cause you feel it, doesn't mean it's there -- Radiohead
Do you believe me? Do you trust me? Do you like me? 😳
Blackhawk wrote: Sat Oct 05, 2024 5:01 pm
I sometimes also wonder if Musk is also gunning for the job as the next MAGA mascot.
Trump has promised him a role in his administration.
Musk will never be president (he wasn't born a US citizen), but he clearly loves the idea of being an influential presence. He clearly has a weird messiah complex, and *saving humanity* (on Musk's specific terms) is more important than the burdens of office.
If you're not on Twitter, you should know that Musk pushes right-wing conspiracy theories and declares that Trump *must* be re-elected pretty much all day long. And because he controls the algorithm, everyone on Twitter sees his tweets.
Most big economic players hedge their bets and attempt to position themselves for whatever the next election might bring. Not Musk, though. The overall impression is that he is absolutely desperate for a Trump re-election. I wonder why.
Blackhawk wrote: Sat Oct 05, 2024 11:32 am
There are times when I can't help thinking that while the internet is one of the best things to happen to humanity, it is also one of the worst things to happen to society. We might have been better off without it.
Every day. I think about this every day. We needed the internet. We were not ready for the internet.
Same here. But it sort of makes sense. Conspiracy theories aren't anything new. The Sybelline Prophecies of ancient Rome, the witch crazes and the blood libel stories about the Jews in the Middle Ages, the Knights Templar stories spread by the French King used to bring them down, these are all examples from the past. We like to think that we moderns are different, that we aren't prey to this sort of stuff, but we are. Despite the growth of knowledge, people are still people with all that flaws that have been there since the beginning.
Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions. – G.K. Chesterton
3.5 billion years of evolution, 300,000 years as 'humans', 6,000 years as 'civilized', and only about 500 years of being 'modern.'
Our brains are still mostly wired for the 3.5 billion, and most of the rest is in the 285,000 phase. We're aren't 'evolved' by civilization, and if anything, we've rewired evolution into a chaotic version of itself that we won't be seeing the effects of for a long, long time.
Holman wrote: Sat Oct 05, 2024 6:42 pm
Most big economic players hedge their bets and attempt to position themselves for whatever the next election might bring. Not Musk, though. The overall impression is that he is absolutely desperate for a Trump re-election. I wonder why.
Apparently he doesn't need to sell Teslas anymore. Republicans don't buy EVs, and the Tesla brand has become toxic to liberals. Way to alienate your customer base, Leon!
The lawsuit against The Gateway Pundit, its owner Jim Hoft and his brother Joe Hoft “has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties through a fair and reasonable settlement,” lawyers for Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss said Friday.
The editorials editor of the Los Angeles Times has resigned after the newspaper's owner blocked the editorial board's plans to endorse Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris for president, a journalism trade publication reported Wednesday.
Mariel Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review in an interview that she resigned because the Times was remaining silent on the contest in "dangerous times."
"I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not OK with us being silent," Garza said. "In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I'm standing up."
In a post on the social media platform X that did not directly mention the resignation, LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong said the board was asked to do a factual analysis of the policies of Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump during their time at the White House.
Additionally, "The board was asked to provide (its) understanding of the policies and plans enunciated by the candidates during this campaign and its potential effect on the nation in the next four years," he wrote. "In this way, with this clear and non-partisan information side-by-side, our readers could decide who would be worthy of being president for the next four years."
Soon-Shiong, who bought the paper in 2018, said the board "chose to remain silent and I accepted their decision."
Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review that the board had intended to endorse Harris and she had drafted the outline of a proposed editorial.
The Washington Post has decided not to make a presidential endorsement for the first time in 36 years, the publisher and CEO announced Friday.
"We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates," Will Lewis wrote in an opinion piece published on the paper's website. He referenced the paper's policy in the decades prior to 1976, when, following the Watergate scandal that the Post broke, it endorsed Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter. The last time the Post did not endorse a presidential candidate in the general election was 1988, according to a search of its archives.
Colleagues learned the news from the editorial page editor, David Shipley, at a tense meeting shortly before Lewis' announcement. The meeting was characterized by someone with direct knowledge of discussions on condition of anonymity to speak about internal matters.
Shipley said that he told other editorial board leaders Thursday that management had decided there would be no endorsement, though he has known for weeks. He added that he "owns" this decision. The reason he cited was to create "independent space" where the newspaper does not tell people for whom to vote.
Colleagues were said to be "shocked" and uniformly negative.
Lewis held the same role at Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal; served as the editor of the London-based Telegraph, which is closely allied with the Tory party; and was a consultant to Conservative Boris Johnson when Johnson was U.K. prime minister.
Colleagues have told NPR that Bezos selected Lewis in part for his ability to get along with powerful conservative figures, including Murdoch.
Obviously the Inky doesn't have the status of the LA Times or WaPo, but what it has is independence: the former owner actually gave away the paper to a non-profit foundation. It has had its ups and downs, but it is not beholden to a wealthy owner.
This should be the journalistic norm.
(I also have a couple of former students working as reporters at the Inquirer.)
