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The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

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Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#371
post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an American, I'll try to explain how our two parties (and their voters) work in practice. The Left (voters) have two main platforms: economic and cultural. The Right (voters) have two main platforms: economic and cultural. The Left votes for the Democratic Party. The Right votes for the Republican Party. Independents mostly vote one way or another, and a small percentage vote for whoever seems most moderate that p…

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Interesting points. I'm still confused about what cultural policies the "woke" left implemented that would encourage other dems to vote for a third middle way part should one exist. I can see the other side easily.

> I'm still confused about what cultural policies the "woke" left implemented that would encourage other dems to vote for a third middle way part should one exist.

I don't think there are any, but a lot of "independents" are fundamentally moderate and Democrats typically have a lower party-id than Republicans, so they need more independents to break their way to win a national election, hence "distancing" from far-Left/woke positions at election time.

Biden, for instance, made "equity" his priority literally Day 1 in office, and that's a "woke" position. It has only hurt him with voters on the Right, who don't like the Left's cultural platform anyway and can be ignored.

Both the Right and Left frequently talks about 3rd parties because literally half of what they want is never implemented. The Left is far more active in politics, so they tend to actually do something about it (DSA, Green Party, etc.). Republicans mostly just occasionally vote Libertarian, but there's also the occasional Tea Party if the Left gets anything that even looks like a win on economics.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree in general, there are plenty of circumstances where people don't get to not have an opinion about things. For example, you can't "agree to disagree" on LGBTQ rights if you belong to one of those categories. See also pregnant people and abortion rights.

> For example, you can't "agree to disagree" on LGBTQ rights if you belong to one of those categories. See also pregnant people and abortion rights. Why can’t you? Is it impossible to imagine civil friendly people who simply do not share one’s views on these issues?

> Why can’t you? Is it impossible to imagine civil friendly people who simply do not share one’s views on these issues?

For gay, it means keeping secret over pretty large and important parts of life. As was explained to me by gay who was super civil, but did grumbled and complained about a lot of stuff that was said when it was safe to talk more openly.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#373

I tried being a Twitter user for a bit last year, mostly because a lot of engineers I admire use it to communicate about interesting topics and also their work. But after a while, I realized even they will pollute my feed with politically divisive topics, whether it be from them retweeting something, or liking a tweet, or even entering into the fray themselves -- Twitter will find a way to get me to see it. For a whi…

One of my pet theories for why social media is such a cesspool is that it exposes us to the whole of someone else. If I play boardgames with Sue, that's enough. We meet, enjoy a beer and play some Catan and go our separate ways. That's a fine relationship. If I follow Sue on social media, now I know her politics, religion, sex life, drug usage, opinions on every little thing.. and frankly, I don't care or want to. I'…

My conclusion (without any scientific verification) is people make assumption about my social media use. (I feel I've written this somewhere else)

I use Facebook for my entertainment, reacting on car memes, sarcastic memes and genuinely car things and sports. Oh and I watch TV on Facebook. meeting people real life in this city has been.... ehhh special. (But I think the things I do on Facebook isn't special, there isn't that much politics.)

I don't forget the times that I laughed so hard some posts, because it so funny.

But at the end of the day... it's people and nothing is going to fix that.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#374
post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an American, I'll try to explain how our two parties (and their voters) work in practice. The Left (voters) have two main platforms: economic and cultural. The Right (voters) have two main platforms: economic and cultural. The Left votes for the Democratic Party. The Right votes for the Republican Party. Independents mostly vote one way or another, and a small percentage vote for whoever seems most moderate that p…

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Interesting points. I'm still confused about what cultural policies the "woke" left implemented that would encourage other dems to vote for a third middle way part should one exist. I can see the other side easily.

[deleted]

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my pet theories for why social media is such a cesspool is that it exposes us to the whole of someone else. If I play boardgames with Sue, that's enough. We meet, enjoy a beer and play some Catan and go our separate ways. That's a fine relationship. If I follow Sue on social media, now I know her politics, religion, sex life, drug usage, opinions on every little thing.. and frankly, I don't care or want to. I'…

> If I play boardgames with Sue, that's enough. We meet, enjoy a beer and play some Catan and go our separate ways. That's a fine relationship. > If I follow Sue on social media, now I know her politics, religion, sex life, drug usage, opinions on every little thing.. and frankly, I don't care or want to. I'm happy just playing some Catan once in a while. > Historically you didn't need to know everything about everyo…

Living in the hole I am living in seems to shield me from this. I had no idea that "Settlers of Catan" has been rebranded to just "Catan" or why. In my circles we call it "Settlers", "Settlers of Catan" or just "Catan" interchangeably all the time. The "controversial" one is "Settlers" if you talk to someone you might also play a round of Settlers the computer game with (as in these guys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Settlers)

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree in general, there are plenty of circumstances where people don't get to not have an opinion about things. For example, you can't "agree to disagree" on LGBTQ rights if you belong to one of those categories. See also pregnant people and abortion rights.

> For example, you can't "agree to disagree" on LGBTQ rights if you belong to one of those categories. See also pregnant people and abortion rights. Why can’t you? Is it impossible to imagine civil friendly people who simply do not share one’s views on these issues?

[deleted]

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree in general, there are plenty of circumstances where people don't get to not have an opinion about things. For example, you can't "agree to disagree" on LGBTQ rights if you belong to one of those categories. See also pregnant people and abortion rights.

I'm LGBT and I don't consider the other side evil. I also grew up in the south and know that by yelling at them, you only make them turn their heads away. Sitting down and talking with someone is not impossible. We have more in common than not. Oftentimes a position, belief, or disagreement is a projection of other underlying fears and discomforts. Or maybe it's simply rigidly structured views that need additional ti…

The bulk of the Left wing has moved past the whole "coddle them" method where the comfort of the other side is prioritized above all, while the entire time they are passing laws to marginalize and harass people and rolling back the Voting Rights Act.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever one group is deciding on what rights another group has, it seems inevitable that civility and friendliness will at some point get left behind.

Should tha baker have the right to refuse baking a gay wedding cake or some group has the power to decide what rights another group has? As a gay man the LGBT groups keep declining in the quality of their fights and, having survived their own usefulness, they invent fights that inevitably clash with others liberties and belief. No, I do need that cake, there are other bakeries.

Afaik, that baker went out of way to harass them.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is all cute, but the most important quality for getting jobs and moving up the ladder is self promotion, which requires opening your mouth.

Not really. Anyone can open their mouth. The challenge of "moving up the ladder" is in leveraging your resources (which might include your voice) to provide value to people who can help you. Most of these value exchanges do not happen on Twitter or even in public. Besides, how do you even quantify the series of events that leads someone to (for example) an Ivy League university, a job at McKinsey, a private equity fi…

How do you think recruiters will find you if you dont self promote. How do you think you will compete with others in the same org when you dont talk about your achievements. Even best products and services needs great marketing to suceed. When you can talk about F500 executives, you should know that the auto company valued most in the world is run by a twitter troll thriving on attention and promotion.

What you talk about is what I would prefer the world to be, but the reality is everything depends on marketing and especially marketing in social media.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#380
This isn't a new silent majority, is it? Has there ever been a majority of people who tweet?

Twitter is a social media platform with it's own character and culture, and it is a tool for being informed on niche topics in realtime, similar to subreddits. It's not for everyone.

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