Earlier quoted context omitted.
No offense, but neither the 2 major parties in the US are left/workers rights. I don't see any candidate running on the "improve quality of life for wage earners" platform. for example Joe "nothing with fundamentally change" Biden...and well the last 4 years.
That's what people missed about Trump's supporters in 2016. People genuinely believed he was going to work for the common man. He talked about workers rights (in a xenophobic sort of way, but still) he talked about increasing pay for blue collar workers, and about restoring the lost legacy to places that have been abandoned by globalization. That never got talked about by Trump detractors. Union working class Joe-Sch…
A Worsening Culture War
81–90 of 284 posts
Re: A Worsening Culture War
#82The real question to me is whether FaceBook and Google are _deliberately_ complicit in creating devisive bubbles through recommendation systems or whether that’s just an unfortunate byproduct that’s unfixable? In Taiwan they have social media designed to reward agreement - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/27/taiwan-civic-h... - whether it’s truly successful or not I can’t say but if so, then Facebook and Go…
It's not that people want to create division. But the left becomes upset with your product if you show them rightwing opinions, so if you want to have rightwing content you have to make bubbles so they don't see it. This is what I have seen professionally. Edited a bit.
It's funny, but it's actually the opposite.
The right wing folks using Facebook become so incensed and outraged at being shown left wing content that they complain all the way to Congress, and the radical right-wing politicians who are slaves to the whims of the populist movement then haul social media executives in front of Congress and literally pepper them with ignorant conspiracy theories.
Facebook has notably had to wine and dine famous radical conservatives for years to prevent negative press, something they never have to do with the left.
Facebook notably even created "Conservative-only" high level level positions to ensure that their entitled right-wing users were placated. They added outright propaganda outlets to their "Fact Checking Initiative" not based on any objective metric, but on the political calculus of "Both-sides-ism -- we'll put your fact checker next to this liar, both sides get a spot at the table".
When you look at the radical right-wing populist movement, the search for Parler and more right-wing safe spaces, and how they use their fact-free media and conspiracy theory-friendly politicians to push truly ridiculous nonsense, I think you can see the full picture of a quickly-radicalizing right wing populist base that becomes incensed and even violent when viewing left-wing or moderate/centrist content.
Remember, this is an America where Fox News is currently being abandoned for being "part of the Left", and there are millions who are abandoning Facebook and Fox News for Parler and OANN, so you have to see this as the radical right actively seeking out and creating ever more ideologically pure safe spaces.
Re: A Worsening Culture War
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Excuse me? Germany tries buying gas from Russia and the USA sanctions the fuck out of companies that are even just marginally involved in it. As for innovation, that's relative. Europe, for centuries, was the undisputed worldwide leader in innovation, now that has shifted a bit to the USA and seems to be on its way to shift to China or maybe India in the next few decades. There's also the problem that Europe can't re…
> Germany tries buying gas from Russia and the USA sanctions the fuck out of companies that are even just marginally involved in it. Good! Russia is an enemy.
Re: A Worsening Culture War
#84The craziest part of this american culture war, to me, is that it seems to spill over to the rest of the world. My sister and I, living in Germany, have a very loving relationship, but we absolutely disagree on almost everything political and basically are stuck in our seperate bubbles. This gave us an interesting observation: 5 years ago it took us about two to three months, to have a fight over something that start…
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Maybe the latter is what you do after you finished your beer and popcorn, but it wasn't quite clear in that case.
Re: A Worsening Culture War
#85This is just another blame-the-rich piece without any evidence. I guess blaming the rich is very popular right now. The article is really interesting, so it's too bad he mars it with this kind of unproven, cruel and vitriolic thesis.
Not sure how you can say there isn't any evidence? The wealthy most certainly donate to political causes, campaigns and opinionated non-profits. It wouldn't be a stretch to argue that such money amplifies those entities' power, thus causing societal level problems with the amplified power of their wealth. It's not 100% valid or exhaustive proof, but at the very least shows that it's a reasonable avenue of exploring r…
In fact, the Dems' agenda is anti-rich (raise taxes enormously, etc.) and the Republicans are currently controlled by non-college-educated blue-collar people.
This is obvious. If Taibbi has a counter-narrative to the obvious, that's fine, but he needs to present evidence.
Re: A Worsening Culture War
#86The craziest part of this american culture war, to me, is that it seems to spill over to the rest of the world. My sister and I, living in Germany, have a very loving relationship, but we absolutely disagree on almost everything political and basically are stuck in our seperate bubbles. This gave us an interesting observation: 5 years ago it took us about two to three months, to have a fight over something that start…
Re: A Worsening Culture War
#87Essentially, in the wake of Trump, the political class is accepting the inevitability of culture war, and urging it on, as something preferable to populist revolt. In a rare inversion, the headline is more correct than the article. The wealthy (really, the elites: a wealthy small business owner has nothing to do with this) want culture wars because they want the middle and bottom fighting with one another, rather tha…
In my experience, the “elites” support better wage laws and worker protections. It’s the small business owners I know that rabidly vote against better protections for wage earners as it would lower their profits, and might affect their lifestyle.
Small businesses suffer much more from a minimum wage increase, so of course their owners are against it. Meanwhile, large business owners benefit from a minimum wage increase thanks to the ensuing reduction in competition.
I'm not arguing for or against a higher minimum wage here, but saying small businesses owners "rabidly vote against" it simply because it "might affect their lifestyle" is disingenuous. Both types of business owners have clear incentives which have nothing to do with altruism or avarice.
Re: A Worsening Culture War
#88This is just another blame-the-rich piece without any evidence. I guess blaming the rich is very popular right now. The article is really interesting, so it's too bad he mars it with this kind of unproven, cruel and vitriolic thesis.
I think the theme is more along the lines of blame people with power, do not blame people without power. It just so happens that people who focus on accumulating money, are usually focused on accumulating power.
Re: A Worsening Culture War
#89Social media has made it wildly easy and incredibly cheap to propagate any misinformation. Head over 4chan and you'll see a factory line of ideas being thrown at the wall to see what sticks - which is then further spread across social media. If you were a foreign power and wanted to sow discord in a rival country, you had to buy off dozens of journalists and funnel money to media houses and hope that they'd at least…
The is true and is just more proof of the oligarchy we live in brainwashing us to believe the "other side" is the enemy while the rich and powerful robs us blind.
Re: A Worsening Culture War
#90This is just another blame-the-rich piece without any evidence. I guess blaming the rich is very popular right now. The article is really interesting, so it's too bad he mars it with this kind of unproven, cruel and vitriolic thesis.
He makes specific points about the ways the rich have abandoned social responsibility and the knock-on effects. If you’re looking for a convenient lie, there are plenty of sources for that.
Don't be nasty. Engage in legitimate conversation or be quiet.