John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight' • Hacker News Board

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#121

Post by forrestthewoods » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:39 PM UTC

jerf wrote: post #83

bmh_ca wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Often it seems that facts, evidence, and observation are derided as "left". I find John's commentaries to be suitably supported by substance, with constructive conclusions. I worry that characterization as "left" is a defence against cognitive acknowledgements that just happen to be dissonant with neurostatic precepts.

Ah, yes, the "reality has a distinct $IDEOLOGY bias" line. No. I've been on the opposite side of some of his rants. You do not get the best counter-arguments. It's just another media spin show where you get the weakest arguments, pre-digested and cued up with the best media management possible for you to laugh at them. He can do a decent job of substantiating his points, but you are not getting anything like the whol…

Where have you been on the other side?

I stopped watching after several episodes in a row felt exceptionally biased and unfair. Alas I did not write down the topics so I've always had trouble describing to people why I don't like John Oliver.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#122

Post by pc86 » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:40 PM UTC

bmh_ca wrote: post #58

bedhead wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You took the words out of my mouth and I'm glad someone else feels the same. It's a difficult thing to articulate but I think he crosses a line into unbearable preachiness and pandering. It's a bummer because I think the guy is a riot, but I just can't take the lectures anymore, and yes, given that this is almost a Daily Show spinoff, it's not terribly surprising to see a heavy left-leaning slant to everything...that…

Often it seems that facts, evidence, and observation are derided as "left". I find John's commentaries to be suitably supported by substance, with constructive conclusions. I worry that characterization as "left" is a defence against cognitive acknowledgements that just happen to be dissonant with neurostatic precepts.

Can you please explain what you are trying to say with "neurostatic precepts?" This thread takes the first two spots on Google for that phrase...

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#123

Post by pfarnsworth » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:43 PM UTC

Aren't there tax implications for forgiving the debt?

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#124

Post by eric_h » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:45 PM UTC

stephen_g wrote: post #75

ColinWright wrote: post #63

Georestricted: The uploader has not made this video available in your country Someone else provided a different link: https://facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=912968418832168&id... That returns with: Sorry, this page isn't available The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed. I look forward to the day we finally realise we are out of the transition period between not having the web at all…

I can't watch the YouTube video either, but searching for the Last Week Tonight page on Facebook I found it there.

Ah yes, Facebook video is still in the pre-Content ID honeymoon period that youtube enjoyed before Viacom (IIRC) threatened to destroy it's business altogether.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#125

Post by 0xfeba » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:46 PM UTC

lujim wrote: post #99

bmh_ca wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Often it seems that facts, evidence, and observation are derided as "left". I find John's commentaries to be suitably supported by substance, with constructive conclusions. I worry that characterization as "left" is a defence against cognitive acknowledgements that just happen to be dissonant with neurostatic precepts.

Not sure what your last sentence means. I get the gist but neurostatic precepts is new to me. Just because data supports global warming doesn't mean everyone agrees how to solve it or likes being berated and shamed because don't drive an electric car or ride a bike to work. Not everyone agrees we should shut off the US economy to slow down global warming. This is where partisan politics gets messy and people start me…

> Just because data supports global warming doesn't mean everyone agrees how to solve it

But that's just it--large swaths of people think it's some higher order conspiracy. That it is all just made up.

> or likes being berated and shamed because don't drive an electric car or ride a bike to work. Not everyone agrees we should shut off the US economy to slow down global warming. This is where partisan politics gets messy and people start merging their facts and their opinions.

No serious group is doing that. But people are trying to ring the alarm bells that we will either have serious economic problems now, or severe ones later. There is no "keep doing nothing" and we'll be fine option.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#126

Post by orblivion » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:47 PM UTC

xhrpost wrote: post #50

orblivion wrote: post #38

There's a program called The Rolling Jubilee which has been doing this for a few years. I think the idea is that it encourages people to help pay off the next person's debt, since the amount they were forgiven is much more than it cost to buy it: http://rollingjubilee.org/ I believe that this is an offshoot of the Occupy movement.

"But as of December 31st, 2013, we have stopped accepting new donations." Would love to see someone new come in and start doing the same.

Oops. Well, looks like they have something new: https://debtcollective.org/

EDIT: I'm not sure what their tactics are or whether I'd support them. I did like the jubilee approach.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#127

Post by Agustus » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:47 PM UTC

pas wrote: post #78

ThomPete wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats the thing though. This is not a question of substance. He can be right in the specifics, but still not provide the only perspective. My problem with him is his facts, but his interpretation of them.

Could you give an example of said facts and an alternative interpretation of them?

His interpretation of the Venezuelan crisis. He pointed to the price of oil driving the issue. Nowhere did he mention the crazy socialist/populist programs that Chavez and his successor Maduro.

The main problem in Venezuela is the erosion of property rights. Nowhere in the report was this mentioned.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#128

Post by ThomPete » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:47 PM UTC

bayesian_horse wrote: post #93

ThomPete wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats the thing though. This is not a question of substance. He can be right in the specifics, but still not provide the only perspective. My problem with him is his facts, but his interpretation of them.

How can you interpret things like "the Trump University fraud case" as anything but a problem for a Trump administration? Even the parts where Olliver makes fun of Trump, for example the epic sagas about his hands or how he impersonated his own press secretary, are very clear signs whom I don't want to see in possession of nuclear launch codes. Or drones for that matter.

Trump in possession of launch codes is not more dangerous than Obama in possession of launch codes.

Thats not how the US system works.

And I am not saying that everything he says is always like that. It's just too much for my taste.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#129

Post by scrollaway » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:48 PM UTC

lujim wrote: post #102

mattnewton wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really fair to call him a "slacktivist"?

Yeah I think so. Using 60k of someone else's money to buy some token debt and announcing it to the world on a TV show isn't exactly saint status. His take on the refugee debate also seemed to wreak of holier than thou preachy hot air.

Jesus.

The guy creates and hosts a weekly political comedy show, researches topics, has a network spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on those topics, and you think it's a fair comparison to someone whose activism extends to "clicking the Like button on facebook".

And you're the one calling his attitude "holier than thou".

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#130

Post by benbot » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:49 PM UTC

lujim wrote: post #56

Justsignedup wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is very preachy but the problem is that often he talks about highly abused topics. - debt collection - voter identification and voter fraud - abortion clinic laws - trump And he doesn't ever state things as "fact" when it is speculation. He only specifies facts when they are facts. And he never tries to push opinions into sort-of-kind-of factual sounding things like most news sites. How would you talk about a topi…

Not saying I do or don't agree with him, but you don't have to be wrong to be preachy. When you're a comedian you need to be at least 80% funny. If you're 50% funny 50% preachy I'm not going to bother. Southpark use to danced this line pretty successfully.

You don't have to be non-preachy to be genuinely funny, though, despite your arbitrary % guideline. Check out Bill Hicks. Nobody has ever accused him of being either too funny or not preachy enough.