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Extremist group tries to game Digg

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Re: Extremist group tries to game Digg

#121
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, that's the content they're getting rid of. But that says nothing about the content they're posting. If it's freep threads, that's unfortunate; if it's links to GNXP.com or Paul Romer, or touting Angelo Codevilla's new essay ( http://spectator.org/archives/2010/07/16/americas-ruling-cla... -- read it!), that's something completely different. To someone who disagrees with all of it, Codevilla is just Glenn Beck…

If they're exercising such intellectually dishonest and, to me at least, morally deficient behavior with suppressing other stories ("even if you agree with it"), then any content they post is probably of similar character. Regarding "someone should have asked a conservative", that just goes to show how deeply the "we'll just believe our own facts, thank you" is embedded in the conservative movement. http://www.conser…

Contrary to popular belief, conservatives are actually an intellectualy diverse group, not a centrally planned hivemind.

Re: Extremist group tries to game Digg

#122
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, that's the content they're getting rid of. But that says nothing about the content they're posting. If it's freep threads, that's unfortunate; if it's links to GNXP.com or Paul Romer, or touting Angelo Codevilla's new essay ( http://spectator.org/archives/2010/07/16/americas-ruling-cla... -- read it!), that's something completely different. To someone who disagrees with all of it, Codevilla is just Glenn Beck…

If they're exercising such intellectually dishonest and, to me at least, morally deficient behavior with suppressing other stories ("even if you agree with it"), then any content they post is probably of similar character. Regarding "someone should have asked a conservative", that just goes to show how deeply the "we'll just believe our own facts, thank you" is embedded in the conservative movement. http://www.conser…

I'm not sure you understand my criticism. I'm not arguing that they are doing something good or useful. But I'm not sure you can deduce that they're posting low-quality content because of the tactics they use to subvert other people's content.

I don't think the writer of the original story is a good source for judging the quality of content written from a conservative perspective, due to his/her existing views.

I would bet that most conservatives disagree with most of what is written in the two examples I gave, so I doubt that conservatism is an intellectual monolith. Within the conservative movement, there's plenty of lively debate; when a traditionalist Souther Agrarian can claim to share the same party as a hedonistic libertarian psychonaut, it's unlikely for there to be "1 answer."

Re: Extremist group tries to game Digg

#123

This is slightly off topic, but why do people do things like this? I don't understand why anyone would go to such lengths to do something like this. I just don't get it. I see people around me fighting over parking spaces. I see people holding conferences on how to fight over parking spaces (that guy is muscling in!). I see people do the same for roughly every damn topic in this world, and sometimes it gets really me…

Fighting for parking spaces... you might be surprised how underhanded even that can get. The state of California has a rule in the vehicle code about abandoned cars. It's clearly intended to deal with cars people just walk away from (without intent of coming back), and perhaps some that are left in unsafe places (on the freeway etc.) The code mentions the court system addressing some aspects of it. The city of San Lu…

Wow. The city of somerville, ma has some what i consider draconian enforcement (street sweeping days so you must remember to move your car to the other side of the street or $100, unposted "snow emergency" rules with $100 and towing fines if you don't get your car off the street, regardless of whether snow actually falls).

They also have a 72h rule but it is not enforced (they state this) unless you don't clean the snow off your car after a big snow fall. Surprisingly reasonable of them...

Re: Extremist group tries to game Digg

#124
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The right-wing is well-entrenched, so 'progressive' is not always that progressive. You have to give up a little ground to avoid looking psycho.

On the other hand, America is much more statist/socialistic in some regards than they like to admit. E.g. the state gives lots of support for home ownership, including government sponsored mortgage guarantees. Or the power of all those crazy unions. Nominally more social-democratic Germany or Scandinavia look tame by comparison on those aspects.

Um... A quick Google reveals:

Union membership as percent of workforce in: Sweden: 78.0% (2003) United States: 12.0% (2006)

I don't think you have proper appreciation of the historical power of the unions in Swedish politics. In comparison, the U.S. unions are a fringe.

Re: Extremist group tries to game Digg

#126
post #124
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, America is much more statist/socialistic in some regards than they like to admit. E.g. the state gives lots of support for home ownership, including government sponsored mortgage guarantees. Or the power of all those crazy unions. Nominally more social-democratic Germany or Scandinavia look tame by comparison on those aspects.

Um... A quick Google reveals: Union membership as percent of workforce in: Sweden: 78.0% (2003) United States: 12.0% (2006) I don't think you have proper appreciation of the historical power of the unions in Swedish politics. In comparison, the U.S. unions are a fringe.

I was not talking about the membership numbers. The Economist recently ran some quotes contrasting a Swedish union boss with nominally centre-right Sarkozy.

Anyway, just retract my claim about Sweden. I don't know nearly enough about it.

But I know that in Germany unions are in general quite business friendly, and not nearly as inflexible and insisting on entitlement as, say, the UAW was portrayed in what I read.

Re: Extremist group tries to game Digg

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well said. Seems like I remember a while back (several election cycles) they did a poll not on how reporters voted but on who they donated money to. Where something like 90% of most media organizations reporters/staff/etc donated to liberal candidates, at Fox News only 75% donated to liberal candidates.

Do you have a cite for that? I couldn't find anything googling quickly and it sounds awfully suspicious. In any event, I'm not sure it means much: most news organizations operate out of major cities, and major cities tend to have more liberal populations. If it was economically feasible to start a world-class news organization in a rural part of the Bible-belt, things might be different, but apparently it is not.

Sorry I don't. This was quite some time ago, like maybe Clinton's first term. It was probably something I read in print rather than online.
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