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Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

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Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#691

Post by SoSoRoCoCo »

opportune wrote: post #600

My biggest concern is how seemingly so many conservative people are becoming huge conspiracy theorists. I don't mean normal conspiracy theories like there being something more behind the JFK assassination, but like QAnon, Bill Gates injecting people with microchips, Pizzagate, etc. A lot of people in my own family in a rather backwards state believe that stuff. It's making me completely lose faith in this country and…

> How do you even begin to "meet in the middle" or have reasonable conversations with people who believe in that stuff?

This is the Overton Window on steroids. I've struggled to put aside my partisanship in discussions with different opinions, I have trouble even when the other person is being rational and informed, but to go against flat-out-batshit-insanity?

How did that happen? Did we just assume people always want to be smarter, and that was wrong?

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#692

Post by [deleted] »

softwaredoug wrote: post #81

On the data nerd side I continue to be shocked at how people misinterpret the certainty of polls/forecasts. Forecasts give us probability distributions based on historical polling error data. Not infallible predictions the expected value will 100% happen. It’s fairly revealing of society’s general innumeracy, just as it was 4 years ago when Trump won.

[deleted]

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#693

Post by ptero »

ablekh wrote: post #659

OK, so the transition from Make America Great Again slogan to Make America Decent Again (and Better) reality is inevitable and welcome. It is easy to get overjoyed by results of the U.S. Presidential Election (and some celebration certainly is in order). Uniting the country is definitely a commendable goal, though it is easier said than done. The election results across all levels clearly illustrate just how divided…

> Uniting the country is definitely a commendable goal

This is hard and may backfire in a deeply divided country. To me, instead of trying to achieve a common ground (which, in the current situation often means forcing 49% to the position of the 51%; with the chance of a swap in 2-4 years) we should learn to live, share space and collaborate with folks who hold different political views.

We can disagree on politics, but it should not prevent us from working as a team on software or sharing a beer after work. We are not at war with the other half of the country. We should respect their opinions and avoid unnecessary confrontations. My 2c.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#694

Post by kzrdude »

artificialLimbs wrote: post #687
ablekh wrote: post #659

OK, so the transition from Make America Great Again slogan to Make America Decent Again (and Better) reality is inevitable and welcome. It is easy to get overjoyed by results of the U.S. Presidential Election (and some celebration certainly is in order). Uniting the country is definitely a commendable goal, though it is easier said than done. The election results across all levels clearly illustrate just how divided…

This site used to not be filled with leftist cheerleaderism, as far as I can remember. Shocking that such a nebulous non comment is at the top. It's my opinion that freedom should be of primary importance in America, not feel good authoritarian inducing woo.

What kind of freedom? Many would like to be free to be freelancers without having to worry so much about health insurance. How do we get there?

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#695

Post by ablekh »

harimau777 wrote: post #671
ablekh wrote: post #659

OK, so the transition from Make America Great Again slogan to Make America Decent Again (and Better) reality is inevitable and welcome. It is easy to get overjoyed by results of the U.S. Presidential Election (and some celebration certainly is in order). Uniting the country is definitely a commendable goal, though it is easier said than done. The election results across all levels clearly illustrate just how divided…

Is there really any common ground? My experience talking to the other side during this administration is that they are completely unable and often unwilling to consider any argument or information that conflicts with their views. How do you debate with people who don't care about facts or reason? In addition their leadership appears to be completely unwilling to act and good faith and the rank in file appear unwillin…

I sincerely believe that there is definitely some common ground. Otherwise I would not have posted that thought.

Is it easy to find that common ground? Of course, not. Will it take a lot of time and effort (from all sides)? Absolutely. But, in the end, it is certainly worth trying, at the very least. That is why I have listed the areas, which I think represent some aspects that I hope we all could easier agree on than some other aspects.

Finally, I think that it is important not to generalize people, based on our own (limited) experience. Some people on other side(s) are more flexible than others. Moreover, I believe that people can change, including their point of view on various issues. If we will dismiss the idea that others are or can become open minded, we will shut the door to a potential dialog, which could bring us even more trouble.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#696

Post by refurb »

Nesco wrote: post #408

Personally I think we are watching the slow death of the USA. May be from France I am not getting all the subtle details about the situation on the ground but the country seems to be completely divided. There is almost nothing now that holds America coherent as a country. It has too much variance to form a sensible cluster. It went from a basically almost racially homogeneous, English speaking, Christian - with a lot…

There have been predictions of the slow death of the US since the 60’s.

I won’t hold my breath.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#697

Post by troydavis »

ablekh wrote: post #659

OK, so the transition from Make America Great Again slogan to Make America Decent Again (and Better) reality is inevitable and welcome. It is easy to get overjoyed by results of the U.S. Presidential Election (and some celebration certainly is in order). Uniting the country is definitely a commendable goal, though it is easier said than done. The election results across all levels clearly illustrate just how divided…

Anyone read a practical 20 year plan to decrease divisiveness in the US (say, to 1990s levels)?

Or: Ignoring funding, what would you do?

An example year 1 goal: "Get X million people to watch 10 hours/year of strangers who they would normally not encounter or agree with, and to see them as real people."

To do that, produce and televise + stream a long-form TV show, like a version of Braver Angels' Red/Blue Workshops[1] that's actually fun to watch. Imagine a well-produced show with deep participant profiles - a cross between a reality TV show and a HBO/Netflix long-form movie.

It would humanize the participants first, then after viewers care about them, their lives, and their families, the actors gradually explain their backgrounds and opinions - some of which a viewer will disagree with. Viewers would "meet" people they may not interact with regularly. (Sarah Silverman's "I Love You, America"[2] is the closest I've seen to this, and it's not all that close.)

This would need to be a multi-decade plan, probably with philanthropic and public funding.

[1]: https://braverangels.org/what-we-do/red-blue-workshops/ [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmQpf-B94mc

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#699

Post by [deleted] »

artificialLimbs wrote: post #687
ablekh wrote: post #659

OK, so the transition from Make America Great Again slogan to Make America Decent Again (and Better) reality is inevitable and welcome. It is easy to get overjoyed by results of the U.S. Presidential Election (and some celebration certainly is in order). Uniting the country is definitely a commendable goal, though it is easier said than done. The election results across all levels clearly illustrate just how divided…

This site used to not be filled with leftist cheerleaderism, as far as I can remember. Shocking that such a nebulous non comment is at the top. It's my opinion that freedom should be of primary importance in America, not feel good authoritarian inducing woo.

[deleted]

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#700

Post by [deleted] »

jonhohle wrote: post #123
softwaredoug wrote: post #81

On the data nerd side I continue to be shocked at how people misinterpret the certainty of polls/forecasts. Forecasts give us probability distributions based on historical polling error data. Not infallible predictions the expected value will 100% happen. It’s fairly revealing of society’s general innumeracy, just as it was 4 years ago when Trump won.

But the polls then and now weren’t just bad, they were shockingly bad and not representative of any real population that matters in an election. I’d expect something like this from junior engineers looking at metrics for the first time, but these are supposedly the most respective organizations in their field that have failed spectacularly for the second presidential election in a row. What value do they possibly ser…

[deleted]
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