I do not tweet. Neither do my friends and few programmers I know.
The new silent majority: People who don't tweet
441–450 of 784 posts
Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet
#442Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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…
What is politicized about that? I had no idea the name had ever changed, but thanks to your comment, just spent the last 20 minutes trying to figure out why and no Internet sources citing the fact that a rebrand happened give a reason at all. The only somewhat "political" theory seems to be a Reddit thread citing a Dutch publication claiming the rebrand happened because of pressure from Palestinians complaining that…
It is being politicized, just not by the makers of Catan.
Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet
#443Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a European, comments of this nature confuse me a little. This comments suggests an equivalency. But from this side of the pond I haven't seen the Democrats you describe actually in power and implementing policy. Can't say that about the other side. So why would any Democrats who are liberal but not "woke" be frustrated since those elements of their party wield little if any influence.
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…
Razor sharp analysis, well done.
From my European perspective, I've always considered the Democrats to be a right wing party. Things implemented in other advanced economies decades ago, the very basics of progressive policy, are just nowhere to be seen: a livable minimum wage, universal healthcare, affordable schooling, employment protection, the like.
In other countries, this isn't even called progressive, just "basics". Not even right wing parties try to abolish or undo this foundation.
We do see that media is far more left than the actual population, which is typically center to center-right. The way I see it, the population of almost any developed country is center-right. It makes sense when you think about it. Due to the population pyramid, most people are middle-aged or older. They're already planning for the exit so they want to protect whatever they got. No funny stuff.
The young want to change everything but that's easy when you have no responsibilities or stake in the game. As soon as they acquire the basics of life, they'll join the rest, and try to protect it.
That is the gigantic failure of the left, the inability to connect with the vast majority of the population. Here in Europe, the left has abandoned the (white) working class somewhere in the late nineties, and they've been failing ever since.
Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet
#444I 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…
For a while, I resolved "OK, if anyone retweets this stuff, I will simply unfollow them"
You can also turn off retweets for those people. Twitter does seem to have some idiotic take on what I want to see.
Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet
#445Earlier quoted context omitted.
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-Le…
> It has only hurt him with voters on the Right
Unless you are referring to the Democratic neoliberal center-right, which has been and remains Biden’s main base of support (and I don’t think you are), Biden didn’t have any support on the Right to start with.
> 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.).
That’s why the strongest minor party in the US is…the right-libertarian (with candidates frequently ex- and/or future-Republican candidates) Libertarian Party. The DSA isn’t a third party, and the Green Party is smaller (in both membership and, at 0, elected state-level or higher representation, than the Libertarian Party (also the Independence Party of New York, and the Independent Party of Oregon, and on at least one and possibly both than the Vermont Progressive Party; it is also recognized in fewer states than the Libertarian Party.
The Right is more active in politics in general in the US, more active in major party politics in the US, and more active outside of major party politics in the US.
Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet
#446Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Every time, I would respond with the Navy Seal Copypasta, broken into eight twitter sized parts. Eventually they banned me for this. yeah, people like you should be banned
User who is receiving unsolicited messages from strangers should be the one banned because he decides to respond with a little joke?
I think he spammed the same text every time. Definitely worthy of a ban for any community online or offline.
Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet
#447Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Why do you automatically assume wanting to ignore politics translates to support of the status quo? I've heard this argument before a lot, and it just seems like a massive assumption. You can't read peoples minds. There are several plausible reasons to ignore and not discuss politics: - You don't want to argue - You don't think it will change anything - You don't want to lose friends and acquaintances - You don't wan…
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Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet
#448"Never pass up a chance to keep your mouth shut" Words my Dad taught me as I was growing up, but only really sank in the last 5 or so years ago.
When I was young someone told me something similar (but not exactly the same) - "imagine you have a zip on your mouth and you have to unzip it before speaking". The point was not the zip, but to take the time to think before speaking rather than just saying the first thing that pops into your head.
Social media not only removes that moment of reflection, but it actually spreads explosive verbal diarrhoea. The commercial platforms are incentivised to encourage conflict and divisiveness because it drives traffic therefore profits. If everyone was encouraged to be nice and friendly on social media, people wouldn't spend as much time on it, so less eyeballs on ads and less profit.
I don't think that is the complete picture though. Having spent some time on alternative platforms that don't have the profit motive, I have noticed there is still a tendency for many people to be slightly outrageous, presumably simply because it attracts more engagement, and those sort of people like the attention. Say something sensible and you're not going to get loads of people replying "I agree", so after spending a lot of time writing sensible comments you end up wondering if anyone has actually even read them and you start to think - what's the point?
I wonder how (or even whether) you could design a platform that encourages sensible and penalises outrage.
Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet
#449Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe, but you have to imagine at some point, things that are in the news will get discussed over a beer. And again, I'm talking about fairly fundamental things here. If someone is pregnant, that's pretty conversation worthy. I also can't imagine someone not discussing seeing a new partner. Ironically, the things you can "agree to disagree" on tend to be the ones that might not come up.
Since when has "I'm pregnant" been a socially-acceptable cue to start ranting about your views on abortion in either direction?
Generally, no, one does not respond to someone saying they're pregnant by suggesting an abortion. That's usually considered rude :D
But not all pregnancies are wanted. I have had friends talk to me about their decision wrt an unwanted pregnancy.
Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet
#450Earlier quoted context omitted.
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It isn't what he said, but it's apparently what he meant. Again with the mind-reading. Maybe people don't want to talk politics because so many people debate in bad faith and not only put words in peoples mouths, but thoughts into their heads.
There's a reason they call Twitter the hell-site. Arguments like this run the place.
Like covering all your food in a bottle of Sriracha, political Twitter can be fun at first, but eventually you're going to get sick with diarrhea and need a break. In my case, a permanent one.
I am happy to do real things for marginalized people, like vote, hire fairly, support progressive policies, etc. but exposing myself to that place does no one any good.