Why do I have to be "for" or "against" anything?
Why can't people evaluate the evidence and THEN decide?!?
It feels like these sorts of things make polarization worse.
Show HN: Mest – Place to talk with those you disagree with
81–90 of 234 posts
Re: Show HN: Mest – Place to talk with those you disagree with
#82There are disagreements over opinions and there are disagreements over basic facts, and I'm just done with arguing with crazy people who have their own weird realities.
Even in the face of basic facts, people are still not very forthcoming in wanting to engage in a rational discourse. For instance, people who lost their minds that Bush misled the public on the WMD's in Iraq, were just fine arguing the fact that Obama lied when he said if I like my doctor, I can keep my doctor or when he said my health care costs would go down $2,500/year. I'm sorry, but you can't accuse one party of…
I think most people would agree "ObamaCare" is a disaster. Most rational people could look at it and go "Yeah, we should do something differently".
"Republicans" say rip it out, go back to what we had before, don't adopt anything from it.
"Democrats" say to keep it and try to fix it.
Can it be fixed? Who knows. But ripping something out because it isn't perfect after two years is completely insane.
The US has a completely broken healthcare system and handing it back to corporations isn't going to fix it.
Re: Show HN: Mest – Place to talk with those you disagree with
#83What is the origin of the name Mest? I can't help but think of that emo band from the 00's.
It means "revenge" in russian.
Re: Show HN: Mest – Place to talk with those you disagree with
#84Hi everyone, Recently, given the results of the election and the divisiveness that's been revealed because of it, it seems like the country isn't talking to one another anymore. We're afraid of one another and the polices the other political party will put in place. A lot of this, I think, has to deal with the lack of communication between actual human beings that lie on both sides of the isle. I made this app, Mest,…
Yo great idea. Its timing out though. Plz fix! Use Firebase!
Re: Show HN: Mest – Place to talk with those you disagree with
#85I'd be interested in a non-binary option. I am neither for nor against Trump, rather I'm interested in the relative merits or faults inherent in his policy proposals (where possible to investigate) and discourse.
This tool is still very primitive (i'm still working on it) but it does what you're looking for:
http://consensus-148618.appspot.com/
You construct an argument like a proof, with supporting arguments. People can share their opinions on each step of your argument.
It doesn't allow direct back and forth yet; you'd ahve to pass the link around.
Re: Show HN: Mest – Place to talk with those you disagree with
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even in the face of basic facts, people are still not very forthcoming in wanting to engage in a rational discourse. For instance, people who lost their minds that Bush misled the public on the WMD's in Iraq, were just fine arguing the fact that Obama lied when he said if I like my doctor, I can keep my doctor or when he said my health care costs would go down $2,500/year. I'm sorry, but you can't accuse one party of…
I think most people would agree "ObamaCare" is a disaster. Most rational people could look at it and go "Yeah, we should do something differently". "Republicans" say rip it out, go back to what we had before, don't adopt anything from it. "Democrats" say to keep it and try to fix it. Can it be fixed? Who knows. But ripping something out because it isn't perfect after two years is completely insane. The US has a compl…
The other thing is that it's the first thing they want to do now that they have both houses of congress and the white house.
Problem is, they don't have anything to replace it with yet.
I don't think the Republicans want to go back to what it was before. I think they want to keep some of the good things about it like being covered for preexisting conditions. I also know Republicans want to allow insurers to sell across state lines which would increase competition and drive down costs. People on both sides of the aisle have been saying this for years.
confirmed:
Modify existing law that inhibits the sale of health insurance across state lines. As long as the plan purchased complies with state requirements, any vendor ought to be able to offer insurance in any state. By allowing full competition in this market, insurance costs will go down and consumer satisfaction will go up.
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/healthcare-reform
There's actually some other good ideas in there too.
Re: Show HN: Mest – Place to talk with those you disagree with
#87There are disagreements over opinions and there are disagreements over basic facts, and I'm just done with arguing with crazy people who have their own weird realities.
Even in the face of basic facts, people are still not very forthcoming in wanting to engage in a rational discourse. For instance, people who lost their minds that Bush misled the public on the WMD's in Iraq, were just fine arguing the fact that Obama lied when he said if I like my doctor, I can keep my doctor or when he said my health care costs would go down $2,500/year. I'm sorry, but you can't accuse one party of…
You'll have to define lies. To me one sounds more like a hypothetical, this is the plan and this is what we hope the outcome will be like. While the other is more of a standard lie, like, I know this isn't true, but I'm telling you otherwise.
Maybe if you had more similar examples?
One thing we have to be careful about is wrong associations, equating two things that actually differ subtly. As they say, the devil is in the details.
Re: Show HN: Mest – Place to talk with those you disagree with
#88If the experience I'm having is any indication (very clunky, conversation works 50% of the time), I think you might want to iron things out a bit more before a Show HN like this.
Re: Show HN: Mest – Place to talk with those you disagree with
#89While I think that tech tools like this have the potential to be great, so far I think technology has made the problem worse. My conclusion from my recent experiences over the last year or so with the election and before (and volunteering/organizing volunteers therefor) is that people don't just need to communicate, we need to interact, and my observation is that this needs to happen (or at the very least works best)…
You're basically saying that there is no hope of fixing the problem since what you're suggesting is never going to happen at any scale. If nothing else this tool, even if imperfect, offers some hope.
Re: Show HN: Mest – Place to talk with those you disagree with
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think most people would agree "ObamaCare" is a disaster. Most rational people could look at it and go "Yeah, we should do something differently". "Republicans" say rip it out, go back to what we had before, don't adopt anything from it. "Democrats" say to keep it and try to fix it. Can it be fixed? Who knows. But ripping something out because it isn't perfect after two years is completely insane. The US has a compl…
The other thing is that it's the first thing they want to do now that they have both houses of congress and the white house. Problem is, they don't have anything to replace it with yet. I don't think the Republicans want to go back to what it was before. I think they want to keep some of the good things about it like being covered for preexisting conditions. I also know Republicans want to allow insurers to sell acro…
This always happens, one party rarely destroys the previous party work, what they often do is claim to completely undo it, but in reality they simply build on top of it. It's a marketing game. This way, you can claim the previous party was completly 100% wrong and did nothing good. And we rebuilt from scratch and deserve all the credit. Then you can say: See, we should have been the elected party all along.