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How Twitter poisoned politics

prospectmagazine.co.uk

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Re: How Twitter poisoned politics

#101

Post by Chinjut »

naravara wrote: post #95
Natsu wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, there's a very long history of political assassinations, civil wars, etc. all of which predate Twitter. Everything is just more public now.

I love how every example of "It was always this bad" involves people reaching back to before the '60s and, in some cases, before The New Deal. In most cases, reversing several decades of stability and progress would have been considered a very troubling development.

You think the examples are all before the 60s? There were some very prominent political assassinations during the 60s, Watergate happened during the 70s, etc.

Re: How Twitter poisoned politics

#102

Post by chiefalchemist »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #88
chiefalchemist wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Was there a time when politics wasn't full of poison?" Short answer: Nope. A couple years ago I read "Freedom for the Thoughts That We Hate." Aside from the history of the 1st Amendment, my #1 takeaway was: "politics has always been ugly and dirty." That said, I think what's difference now is more and more people are less and less aware of history , as well as the fact that the MSM has finally figured out how to m…

> I think what's difference now is more and more people are less and less aware of history... More and more people that other people are listening to are less and less aware of history. The internet has given a platform to many more voices. Some of those new voices have worthwhile things to say. And others are coming from places that are rather disconnected from reality. Before, the only place those people got heard…

I'm not going to disagree. But perhaps it's a chicken v egg situation? That is, people would be wiser about who / what they listened to __if__ they were more aware of context. What is at play is confirmation bias gone wild. Start with a false / flawed idea and there are plenty of ways to reinforce that.

Re: How Twitter poisoned politics

#103

Post by boomboomsubban »

slg wrote: post #79
ordinaryperson wrote: post #34

Was there a time when politics wasn't full of poison? By the end Thomas Jefferson hated George Washington so much he refused to attend his funeral. And that's just 242-year history of America, you can go back to Rome, Greece or Ancient Egypt and see thousands of years of vitriol inside any large human collective. Modern tools could do a better job, sure. Twitter, FB, YouTube and the rest could use some kind of reputa…

Politics may never have been pure and things today aren't as bad as they were at certain points in human history, but I am honestly surprised that people here aren't recognizing that there has been a pretty stark change in how politics have been progressing in the last decade versus the several previous decades. The polarization has increased drastically and the civility of political discourse and faith in institutio…

> It doesn't matter which side of that issue you are on, but something is happening here that would be unthinkable a couple decades ago.

Robert Bork, the man Nixon promised a Supreme Court seat to for assisting with the Saturday Night Massacre, was fairly close to making it to the supreme court. He blamed "ultraliberals, radicals and leftists" and their dangerous tactics for his vote failing. Hardly unthinkable.

Re: How Twitter poisoned politics

#104

Post by justtopost »

komali2 wrote: post #43

I just wish it wasn't full of bots... facebook is my only actual way to put a thumb on political opinions across the spectrum I have access to (friends in SF, Texas, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and then internationally). Despite subscribing to one of those bot blocklists, it's still incessant. There's just so many bots . It's become a mild hobby of mine to hop on the latest "Twitter Moment" about politics just to refr…

> facebook is my only actual way to put a thumb on political opinions across the spectrum

I... uhh... think that is arguably just about as biased as twitter.

Maybe go talk to people, you know, outside? A dark bar if outsides not your thing? If you feel someones online statements are the truth in their heart, I am afraid we are at an impasse.

Re: How Twitter poisoned politics

#105

Post by refurb »

bliblah wrote: post #80
slg wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politics may never have been pure and things today aren't as bad as they were at certain points in human history, but I am honestly surprised that people here aren't recognizing that there has been a pretty stark change in how politics have been progressing in the last decade versus the several previous decades. The polarization has increased drastically and the civility of political discourse and faith in institutio…

I think this is the issue; at least in the U.S. EVERYTHING is becoming more politicized no matter how inane. You are also EXPECTED to have a binary opinion on all these issues with no room for differing opinions. Look at the NFL protests during the anthem. Kneel and you are a bleeding heart liberal that hates the cops. Stand and you are a red hat conservative promoting police brutality and the Private Prison Complex.…

I blame the media. They only ever cover the most extreme viewpoints. They wouldn't get clicks otherwise if an article was titled "Voter aren't sure what to make of the Supreme Court nominee".

I've overheard a few conversations of my coworkers (yes, anecdote) about the whole Kavanaugh debate and pretty much every one of them was pretty common sense (e.g. not sure if I believe her, but Kavanugh certainly sounds like he isn't an angel).

Re: How Twitter poisoned politics

#106

Post by [deleted] »

refurb wrote: post #105
bliblah wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is the issue; at least in the U.S. EVERYTHING is becoming more politicized no matter how inane. You are also EXPECTED to have a binary opinion on all these issues with no room for differing opinions. Look at the NFL protests during the anthem. Kneel and you are a bleeding heart liberal that hates the cops. Stand and you are a red hat conservative promoting police brutality and the Private Prison Complex.…

I blame the media. They only ever cover the most extreme viewpoints. They wouldn't get clicks otherwise if an article was titled "Voter aren't sure what to make of the Supreme Court nominee". I've overheard a few conversations of my coworkers (yes, anecdote) about the whole Kavanaugh debate and pretty much every one of them was pretty common sense (e.g. not sure if I believe her, but Kavanugh certainly sounds like he…

[deleted]

Re: How Twitter poisoned politics

#107

Post by [deleted] »

refurb wrote: post #105
bliblah wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is the issue; at least in the U.S. EVERYTHING is becoming more politicized no matter how inane. You are also EXPECTED to have a binary opinion on all these issues with no room for differing opinions. Look at the NFL protests during the anthem. Kneel and you are a bleeding heart liberal that hates the cops. Stand and you are a red hat conservative promoting police brutality and the Private Prison Complex.…

I blame the media. They only ever cover the most extreme viewpoints. They wouldn't get clicks otherwise if an article was titled "Voter aren't sure what to make of the Supreme Court nominee". I've overheard a few conversations of my coworkers (yes, anecdote) about the whole Kavanaugh debate and pretty much every one of them was pretty common sense (e.g. not sure if I believe her, but Kavanugh certainly sounds like he…

[deleted]

Re: How Twitter poisoned politics

#108

Post by zapita »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #100
dkubb wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he means Mainstream Media. It's the first time I've seen that abbreviation too.

Sorry. I thought it was the common abbreviation. Maybe MsM then>?

I see. How do you define “mainstream media”? Outlets with a very large audience? In the sense that large media outlets covered Barack Obama one way, and small media outlets another?

Re: How Twitter poisoned politics

#109

Post by debaserab2 »

refurb wrote: post #105
bliblah wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is the issue; at least in the U.S. EVERYTHING is becoming more politicized no matter how inane. You are also EXPECTED to have a binary opinion on all these issues with no room for differing opinions. Look at the NFL protests during the anthem. Kneel and you are a bleeding heart liberal that hates the cops. Stand and you are a red hat conservative promoting police brutality and the Private Prison Complex.…

I blame the media. They only ever cover the most extreme viewpoints. They wouldn't get clicks otherwise if an article was titled "Voter aren't sure what to make of the Supreme Court nominee". I've overheard a few conversations of my coworkers (yes, anecdote) about the whole Kavanaugh debate and pretty much every one of them was pretty common sense (e.g. not sure if I believe her, but Kavanugh certainly sounds like he…

You could take that a step further and blame media consumers then - the media promotes the stories that bring in ad revenue more than others.

Re: How Twitter poisoned politics

#110

Post by oldsklgdfth »

refurb wrote: post #105
bliblah wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is the issue; at least in the U.S. EVERYTHING is becoming more politicized no matter how inane. You are also EXPECTED to have a binary opinion on all these issues with no room for differing opinions. Look at the NFL protests during the anthem. Kneel and you are a bleeding heart liberal that hates the cops. Stand and you are a red hat conservative promoting police brutality and the Private Prison Complex.…

I blame the media. They only ever cover the most extreme viewpoints. They wouldn't get clicks otherwise if an article was titled "Voter aren't sure what to make of the Supreme Court nominee". I've overheard a few conversations of my coworkers (yes, anecdote) about the whole Kavanaugh debate and pretty much every one of them was pretty common sense (e.g. not sure if I believe her, but Kavanugh certainly sounds like he…

I would go one step further and say that I blame the medium.

TV and visual information mediums are very effective at promoting emotions, but make it very difficult to convey rational arguments and thoughts. Notice how easily you can be distracted by the appearance of the messenger and not pay attention to the message itself.

There is a very good book on this called "Amusing ourselves to death", by Neil Postman. He wrote this in 1985 and he was far ahead of his time.

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