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Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

reuters.com

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Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#231

Post by kmeisthax »

breadwinner wrote: post #190
DC-3 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not even American and yet where I'm from it's common knowledge that literacy tests were used to systematically disenfranchise black people from voting.

Right, and that was apparently constitutional. If so we can bring back the law, but this time to disenfranchise dumb voters.

Why would this be a good thing?

Keep in mind that the word "dumb" gets thrown around in all sorts of situations and has no objective, easily-verifiable test for "dumbness". It's entirely plausible that merely "making a decision I disagree with" could be construed as "dumb". Imagine if, say, Biden and Fauci had decided to disenfranchise anyone who refused the COVID vaccine as "dumb", or, worse, Trump and RFK decided that taking those vaccines made you "dumb". See how easily this can be abused?

Even with that aside, the natural consequence of disenfranchising "dumb" people is that you want to fuck them over somehow. No thanks.

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#232

Post by conception »

psychlops wrote: post #185
throwaway3485t8 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that people are being arrested for the most stupid reasons in Turkey, I can understand people not wanting to put their life on the line. 10 years ago I could have seen people protesting (see Gezi park protests) but now ? Not really. What's worse is that somehow plenty of Turk are fine with it. Inflation above 100% for long time, crappy salaries, people can't even afford rents but the leader's party still get ab…

Trump can't run for election again as it's his second term. Voting doesn't apply.

I assume they’ll say he was robbed in 2020 and it’s two consecutive terms he gets. And congress won’t stop him. At least 40% of the electorate will support him. Most states will put him on the ballot, threatening to remove the democratic candidate if the others don’t. He will be in charge of the FEC and the various enforcement mechanisms, as he is now. So then what?

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#233

Post by Teever »

ok_dad wrote: post #174
Teever wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that it's rude per se, it's that users of this site who aren't from the US find it irksome when a subject that isn't the US comes up and someone invariably pivots it to talk about the US and current events. It's okay to talk about stuff that isn't contemporary American politics or even sit the conversation out and observe others talking about non American subjects. Not everything has to be about America.

Unfortunately, a lot of countries are doing a similar thing as these countries, there’s a lot of authoritarians taking over all over the world. I think people should talk not only about the history or events in one country, but also talk about how other places are following in their footsteps and how we can prevent it from going forward where we can. Also, interestingly, when folks talk about how the USA is sliding i…

Sure I see that trend of downvoting too, but I also see a trend where the American users on HN hijack topics that aren't about America to talk about America because they feel that there isn't enough content on social media about America or something?

It's a phenomenon that I think many users from outside of the US will agree is a pernicious problem on all social media platforms.

Americans should be more aware of this and aspire to not be so self-absorbed.

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#234

Post by actionfromafar »

cko wrote: post #221
labster wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, damn, that was my strategy to deal with Trump, waiting on the economy. I guess it’s all joever for American democracy. 250 years was a pretty good run all things considered.

We had Japanese internment camps, Jim Crowe laws and McCarthyism and survived. Let's not write off American democracy just yet.

These things were despicable but not an attack on the system itself. This time is different. I haven’t written American democracy off yet, but I wouldn’t bet the farm.

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#235

Post by BrandoElFollito »

dylan604 wrote: post #230
BrandoElFollito wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet when you look at the great espionnage stories, the perpetrators were citizens of the country. When you look at people who were "almost born" (came to the country as toddlers) or naturalized because of the love of their new country, purple claiming that they are second category citizens are hard to listen to.

Maybe because the policy exists that people have not so easily been able to get to the top position. Remove that policy and Putin himself could run for the office. It's an idiotic comment for an idiotic misunderstanding of why the policy exists

You seem to put people in the category of "born here, so good" and "birn elsewhere, less good". Fair enough.

If you are a supporter of, say, Trump you therefore say that Biden or Harris are much better than any other, naturalized citizen, as presidents?

It's hard to see the logic here, probably because I am an idiot, but if where you were birn defines the man for you then fine - everyone has their opinion.

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#236

Post by tlogan »

There’s a noticeable inconsistency in how Hacker News community reacts to electoral controversies in Romania and Turkey. In Romania, the Constitutional Court disqualified candidate Călin Georgescu based on unproven allegations that he was influenced by Russia. In Turkey, opposition leader and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was barred from running after his university degree was annulled under dubious circumstances.

Both cases involve actions that directly impact democratic processes—effectively ensuring that those in power remain in power. Yet, the reactions to these events seem to differ significantly.

Does this reveal an inherent tribalism in our thinking? If HN represents a community of intellectuals, are we truly guided by reason and intellectual honesty, or are our responses shaped more by instinct and bias?

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#237

Post by JambalayaJimbo »

echelon wrote: post #204
Quarrel wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Having someone born in the country they are looking to lead seems silly to you? Whether it is silly or not, I'm not sure, but it certainly doesn't seem very democratic. IMO Arnold Schwarzenegger, to pick a random foreign born politician, should be able to stand for President. People can choose not to vote for him if they've bothered by him being foreign born. FWIW, in Australia, no member of Federal Parliament (so…

> IMO Arnold Schwarzenegger, to pick a random foreign born politician, should be able to stand for President. The reservoir of potential candidates is vast. The risk this mitigates seems important enough to give up on additional potential candidates. It's not like other countries aren't protective. Have you looked at trying to even just immigrate to Japan? Regardless of how you feel, a country should be able to set i…

Well the American born presidential policy is just strange because it seems so un-American. You’d think the country would have had at least one range to riches president who was a refugee from some war torn country by now, it’s just such a fundamental part of the nation’s mythos.

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#238

Post by TheBigSalad »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #198
dylan604 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having someone born in the country they are looking to lead seems silly to you? With that restriction, it has taken quite some time for a foreign adversary to have a puppet elected vs just shipping in some carpet bagger. Having a minimum age also allows for some decent life experience. After all, 35 years old is not that old.

Yes, it seems silly. Which countries have had a foreign puppet elected because they lack this provision?

Traditionally most other countries don't have as many immigrants as the USA.

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#239

Post by pstuart »

bamboozled wrote: post #59
fracus wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this just the latest cut in your democracy's death by a thousand cuts?

Seems like for much of the world?

Sadly, yes. I'm not sure what it will take to make people realize that a "strong man" is not the answer.

Re: Turkish university annuls Erdogan rival's degree, preventing run for president

#240

Post by [deleted] »

tlogan wrote: post #236

There’s a noticeable inconsistency in how Hacker News community reacts to electoral controversies in Romania and Turkey. In Romania, the Constitutional Court disqualified candidate Călin Georgescu based on unproven allegations that he was influenced by Russia. In Turkey, opposition leader and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was barred from running after his university degree was annulled under dubious circumstances. Bo…

[deleted]
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