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What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

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Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#31

Post by WillPostForFood »

ThomPete wrote: post #4

It's pretty simple in my book and is why I expected Trump to have a good chance of winning the election. Both Trump and AOC are populists. They care less about what's factually true and more about whats emotionally true. Politics is not about being factually correct. You can be correct but still not have it your way. This is what Trump knew. Perception is reality. That's why it never make sense to judge a politician…

Who do you think the was last president to win on facts and not populist appeals to emotion?

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#32

Post by antt »

zzzeek wrote: post #9

[flagged]

>I also call them "unindicted co-conspirators in multiple federal crimes". Now who does everyone think I'm describing?

The Clintons?

> There is no comparison to anything here not even Richard Nixon.

I'd compare him to Kennedy. Minus the mob 'losing' a few ballot boxes for him.

It's unfortunate that otherwise intelligent people minds shut down when partisanship comes into play.

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#33

Post by Disruptive_Dave »

jjoonathan wrote: post #15
axaxs wrote: post #6

For anyone just skimming comments - this is a very well written, well researched, thoughtful, and objective piece. That's pretty rare in today's climate. Definitely worth the read. It's the first time I can remember signing up for a newsletter voluntarily, despite my general distaste for those types of popovers.

The introduction's tacky and condescending tone lost me. Does it get better?

Same here, I ducked out. The title as well.

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#34

Post by zzzeek »

MereInterest wrote: post #25
macspoofing wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you proved OPs point.

I don't think that is the case. You can make any two disparate groups look similar by leaving out crucial details. For example, suppose I describe a "Band of misfits from the middle of nowhere, working against the Empire that brought war to their homeland, striking against a symbol of that Empire." That could describe either the Star Wars Rebellion, or the 9/11 terrorists. The key is that I left out critical details…

this is exactly the technique that the author used and the willingness of even highly intellectual readers on HN to fall right for it reveals to me a strong emotional urge to normalize the current state of affairs, so that they can go about their day and not really worry about it. The current state of affairs is not normal. There is no US historical precedent for it.

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#35

Post by garg »

philwelch wrote: post #13
zzzeek wrote: post #9

[flagged]

AOC is also under investigation for violating campaign finance laws, so...

The FEC has only confirmed that they've received the complaint from the right-leaning National Legal and Policy Center, but have not commented on whether they are investigating anything.

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#36

Post by mirkules »

martythemaniak wrote: post #10

One thing that I find interesting is how none of the great dystopian works of the 20th century featured celebrities as the ruling class. The antagonists are like Bond villains, smart, sophisticated, rational, cruel. A worthy adversary you could respect and feel good about struggling against. Our reality is that we've made our lives so advanced and comfortable, that our fantasies can try to become our reality. I guess…

There was a PBS documentary almost two decades ago called Merchants of Cool, which discusses exactly the issue of celebrity status and how it is used to buy and sell “cool” to teenagers in order to influence their buyin decisions. What is scary is that this documentary was shot long before smartphones and social media - I imagine the effects are amplified by orders of magnitude since the proliferation of social media.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctC56owCBJg

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#37

Post by haolez »

martythemaniak wrote: post #10

One thing that I find interesting is how none of the great dystopian works of the 20th century featured celebrities as the ruling class. The antagonists are like Bond villains, smart, sophisticated, rational, cruel. A worthy adversary you could respect and feel good about struggling against. Our reality is that we've made our lives so advanced and comfortable, that our fantasies can try to become our reality. I guess…

I’ve noticed that he villains are almost always corporations, or backed by corporations in a way or another.

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#38

Post by ModernMech »

philwelch wrote: post #13
zzzeek wrote: post #9

[flagged]

AOC is also under investigation for violating campaign finance laws, so...

Not all campaign finance violations are created equally. The difference is that someone was already indicted and is going to jail for Trump's violation. If he weren't president, he'd be indicted as well. As another example, Ted Cruz was just fined $35k for his recent violation, no jail time. Even Barack Obama was hit with a huge fine for campaign finance violations.

Re: What the Hell Is Going On? Effects of Information Abundance

#40

Post by shereadsthenews »

jolux wrote: post #29

Comparing AOC to Trump got a laugh out of me. Acting like they’re even comparably detached from reality is ludicrous. Having political ambition and a vision of a changed society is not a bad thing if the thing you’re railing against is real and dangerous (climate change inaction). Leveraging the pervasive racist elements of American society into executive power for the purpose of building an expensive, unnecessary, a…

The introduction was so dumb that I almost closed the tab. But the rest was a lot better.
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