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The United States withdraws from UNESCO

state.gov

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Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#201

Post by ethbr1 »

boringg wrote: post #155
lvl155 wrote: post #40

And it’s wild to think that more than 1/3 of the devs I’ve met in my life support this admin. These are seemingly smart people. The past 10 years or so made me realize I don’t know anything about human nature or intellect. Edit: I am in no way saying conservatism is bad and liberalism is good. I have my values in both.

There are so many wide ranging forms of intelligence. Being an exceptional engineer or a high functioning executive/CEO you may have a very narrow slice of intelligence or capability. It does not in any way mean you have an understanding of how the world works or general knowledge. I agree -- it is surprising how many high achieving people have such poor understanding of how the world/society/countries work. It's alm…

It’s prioritizing material wealth above other pursuits.

Not only in their own lives, but as the primary measure of success.

One side effect of this is that they stop investing effort in things that don’t generate material wealth.

Personally, I think that tends to turn people into dicks (non-transaction friendships are valuable to me), but they do them.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#202

Post by jl6 »

saubeidl wrote: post #11

The United States voluntarily gives up yet another piece of soft power. Coming up next: The United States wonders why it doesn't have allies anymore and why the rest of the world starts working around them.

It’s not giving up soft power, it’s gambling with soft power. The outcome Trump hopes for is that UNESCO fires whoever is setting its “woke” policies and comes back cap-in-hand, offering an agenda that is more to his liking. The risk is that UNESCO ignores the US and finds another patron state that wants to buy some influence - and that’s when the US loses.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#203

Post by [deleted] »

lvl155 wrote: post #40

And it’s wild to think that more than 1/3 of the devs I’ve met in my life support this admin. These are seemingly smart people. The past 10 years or so made me realize I don’t know anything about human nature or intellect. Edit: I am in no way saying conservatism is bad and liberalism is good. I have my values in both.

[deleted]

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#204

Post by Aurornis »

lvl155 wrote: post #40

And it’s wild to think that more than 1/3 of the devs I’ve met in my life support this admin. These are seemingly smart people. The past 10 years or so made me realize I don’t know anything about human nature or intellect. Edit: I am in no way saying conservatism is bad and liberalism is good. I have my values in both.

It took me a long time to realize that most people don’t make any effort to understand politics beyond surface level headlines.

A lot of people treat politics like they behave in the HN comment section: They see the headline, arrive at a conclusion based on previous assumptions, and head straight to the comment section to argue their side without ever even making an effort to read the article. With politics, politicians are experts at crafting headlines and sound bites that feed these people their confirmation bias and tickle the part of the brain that says this person is on your side.

I’ve had some success discussing issues with these people calmly and openly, adding facts one at a time until they realize the situation isn’t what they thought. There are a lot of “That can’t be right” lightbulbs going off as the facts start to conflict with their idea of how the world works. This goes for both extremes of the political spectrum, BTW.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#206

Post by notahacker »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #97
pjc50 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

This is may be true of many Muslims, though they should probably factor the possibility the current administration despises them as a demographic much more than it despises LGBT people into their decision making. In any case, views on Christian bakers don't seem to be a particularly good reason to endorse the behaviour of Trump or believe that international trade is a pissing contest, or mass incarceration without due process or many other things the current administration is far more interested in than SCOTUS lawsuits, and I don't think many of Trump's voters backed him out of adherence to Islam...

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#207

Post by [deleted] »

netsharc wrote: post #35
rtkwe wrote: post #15

Another tantrum thrown because the world refuses to align with their twisted view. Shocking to thing we're only ~1/8th through this term.

Why fantasize that the GOP isn't going to do a Putin/Erdogan/Suharto? Those countries have "democratic" elections and keep electing the same president, they must be hella great guys!

[deleted]

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#208

Post by makeitdouble »

Loughla wrote: post #162
mathgeek wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It's different perspectives, I've come to learn. The people I know who support this regime do so because they feel completely left out (they're low income so I'm not sure that applies to software developers). When there's nothing for you why wouldn't you want to just burn it all down? Then you can build a more "fair" system. Please note that I do not agree with literally anything current admin does, this is just the…

I got to think there's more to it than how it is voiced.

They probably also feel left out by their current regime, and "just burn it all down" would be done more efficiently by other ways, or with other choices.

There's still a part that resonates enough that they're willing to support a specific message.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#209

Post by bushbaba »

lvl155 wrote: post #40

And it’s wild to think that more than 1/3 of the devs I’ve met in my life support this admin. These are seemingly smart people. The past 10 years or so made me realize I don’t know anything about human nature or intellect. Edit: I am in no way saying conservatism is bad and liberalism is good. I have my values in both.

Maybe take a few minutes to talk to the other side to better understand their thoughts and why they have such thoughts. Sadly I’ve noticed understanding and tolerance of diverse perspectives went out the window lately.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#210

Post by r2_pilot »

spit2wind wrote: post #130
rexpop wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is the kind of nonsense that makes me want to leave this country. So go, if you're not going to fight it.

Every bit of resistance counts. If you feel the lat-lon-alt suit your tastes, stick around, speak your mind, and don't let the nationalists tell you to get out. :)

Exactly; I rather enjoy telling those who would have me leave my home that they should set the example first. After all, they're the ones pushing for changes they want to see, they can go do that over somewhere else.
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