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George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

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Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every gaffe was reported on and some of it also not true What wasn't true? Honestly curious as I don't remember any truly spurious accusations against him. > All of this just for profit and tv ratings. There is also ego in there because who want's to be the last to break a story. Certainly, but that doesn't discount the validity of the reported incidents. > We see the same thing happening when a disaster occurs. Fo…

There's a meme that Trump is anti-gay or even dangerous for LGBTQ people when he's pretty liberal-to-ambivalent about LGBTQ issues. At least given his statements and positions so far.

Peter Thiel got the same treatment despite being gay and clarifying his position, which wasn't at all unreasonable.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#393

Kind of ironic given Bush and Obama were the ones to expand the surveillance state, Hillary demonised the shit out of Russia to try create an enemy/scapegoat, and here Trump is, only a few days in power, not having done anything particularly bad. Also, I should add - for Democrats out there who keep trying to compare Trump to Hitler, say he's fascist, etc... That weak rhetoric is what gave you guys your worst electio…

I'm down-voting you, here's why: This is a headline and an article about "alternative facts", relating them to a book about comprehensive "alternative fact" propaganda. Not about any of things that you listed. You didn't add any meaningful information to the discussion, but have added divisive and heavily argued opinions, in a way that only furthers their divisiveness. This is not a comment on your opinions. This is…

I don't see the phrase "alternative facts" (or even the word "facts", for that matter) in either the headline or the article. Nineteen Eighty-Four is very much about surveillance and totalitarianism (which is why, here in the UK, it seems even more prescient right now) so, while I disagree with Mikeb's political stance, I think your dismissal of their comment as not contributing to the discussion is unfair.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's taken the appearance of many steps. Owning a farm is a little different to being involved in sprawling international ventures that leave you open to pressure from foreign powers.

Since he's gifting all profits from foreign ventures to the US Treasury, there is no "pressure".

Even if that was true, this would not solve the issue. Consider if any Trump company decides to pursue a big new project in, oh, say China.

Consider that just the knowledge of that, which might not be more than he might read in the papers, could very well cause him to adjust his policies either in the hope of favours, or even just subconsciously to avoid causing trouble for them.

Beyond that there is plenty of scope for outright blackmail. E.g. what if some Chinese representative whisper in the ear of some Trump employee that significant legal problems might appear as long as China's relationship with the US is still strained over Trumps apparent lack of support for the One China principle. They'd not even need to mention his company, for that matter, or contact him.

A slightly pointed press release about how there will be a crackdown on companies believed to not represent interests that don't fully support the One China principle would work too.

Chances are we'll never find out how Trumps policies are affected (or not) by foreign interference, but it'd be naive to think that there aren't multiple powers that have people considering how they can take advantage of Trumps business ventures presence or prospective interests in their country to curry favour with him or try to pressure him right now.

I know if I was running a country, then at this point I'd have a whole team on looking into opportunities, because even though it'd be rather unethical I'd want something in my back pocket in case Trump were to do something unpredictable that'd harm our interests. I'm sure there are plenty of regimes with less scruples about unethical methods.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In one respect, the gaffe is insignificant to current events. In another, it's vastly more important, because while small it erodes the underpinnings of the system by which we actually disseminate information. It's like having to choose between being upset about the person that mugged you for $500 on the street, or the bank that surreptitiously added 0.05% APR or the loan you just got for your house. One feels more i…

The cynical among us have been saying that nothing presented by the White house (and any other government institutions) can be trusted at face value for years. I guess now is the time where everyone becomes a cynic. But is that such a bad thing? They say access journalism is dead, but access journalism is just repeating stuff said by people with power. Making them accountable is a good thing. Trump may have unintenti…

> I guess now is the time where everyone becomes a cynic.

For a transition of normative systems it seems that it is required that at some point people "don't believe in anything" anymore.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#396

Kind of ironic given Bush and Obama were the ones to expand the surveillance state, Hillary demonised the shit out of Russia to try create an enemy/scapegoat, and here Trump is, only a few days in power, not having done anything particularly bad. Also, I should add - for Democrats out there who keep trying to compare Trump to Hitler, say he's fascist, etc... That weak rhetoric is what gave you guys your worst electio…

The worst result in 80 years is winning the popular vote with a margin of about 3 million?

Oh you want to go with popular votes? Then Bernie Sanders should have been your candidate by a big margin but was prevented by the DNC's superdelegate system.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're seeing two pieces of outrage over Trump. The first is the predictable liberal outrage: he's proposing policy that conflicts with what liberals want. Then there's the anger and fear from what appears to be fascist, authorities tendencies in Trump. That's one reason why a President Pence doesn't scare me (and apparently others who are calling for Trump's impeachment). Sure Pence won't work for liberal in…

Where is Trump actively working to gut free press, due process, and a free and fair voting process? Can you share sources with those claims?

On his efforts to undermine a free press, just a couple that come to mind:

  - he threatened legal action against the NYT [1]
  - he said he would 'open up those libel laws' [2]
  - he lies about falling subscription numbers at the 'failing NYT' [3]
  - in his first press conference in the White House he attacked a reporter as 'fake news', and refused to answer questions by CNN [4]
  - he tweets [5] incorrect ratings numbers about Fox vs CNN, calling CNN 'fake news'.
  - he's been singling out and attacking/mocking individual reporters [6], [7]
All these actions are efforts to undermine and discredit the free press. They should be alarming to anybody who cares about the US democracy.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/14/us/politics/donald-trump-...

[2] http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/02/donald-trump-...

[3] http://fortune.com/2016/11/17/trump-new-york-times-subscript...

[4] http://uk.businessinsider.com/president-elect-donald-trump-c...

[5] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/82407841721374720...

[6] http://fortune.com/2016/11/03/donald-trump-katy-tur/

[7] http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/11/26/donald-trump-mocks-r...

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lying isn't usually a crime It also isn't lying if the person saying it believes it to be true.

What is it then called when you could and should have easily verified your belief and even after pointing out that your belief is wrong, you refuse to admit that your belief was actually wrong, if not lying? "No, sir. I did not lie in my CV. I _believe_ that this funny looking letter I received from my mother some time ago means that I have Ph.D from MIT"

> even after pointing out that your belief is wrong

Some people believe their arguments are so strong that the other person must have been secretly convinced, and is therefore lying.

Setting aside for the moment that people often believe their arguments are far more convincing than they actually are, people can and do believe anything, so a better reason than that is necessary to accuse people of lying.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#399
post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He should have done that. There is absolutely no reason why other people should pay for someone's abortions.

The US already had a ban against paying for international abortions. This is a ban of funding organisations that even talk about abortions, even if the US funding isn't related to abortions. (I also disagree with your point from an ethical point of view, but that's not relevant here.)

Federal funding. You are free to fund it yourself.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#400

Kind of ironic given Bush and Obama were the ones to expand the surveillance state, Hillary demonised the shit out of Russia to try create an enemy/scapegoat, and here Trump is, only a few days in power, not having done anything particularly bad. Also, I should add - for Democrats out there who keep trying to compare Trump to Hitler, say he's fascist, etc... That weak rhetoric is what gave you guys your worst electio…

The worst result in 80 years is winning the popular vote with a margin of about 3 million?

Congratulations for winning a game that wasn't being played.
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