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Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#541

Post by kbelder »

yostrovs wrote: post #440
LeoPanthera wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I decided that other people are far more organized than I am and can respond more effectively, so I'm outsourcing political action in the form of donations. I've earmarked 3% of my income every month for a list of selected charities that currently includes the ACLU, the HRC, and a short list of smaller ones. I encourage you to do the same!

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One of the very best things you could do for your cause is to tone down your rhetoric. You're driving far more people away than you're convincing of anything.

There's no shortage of things to criticize Trump for that are clear and hard to argue against. What you're saying is only fuel for the extreme to become more extreme.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#542

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

niceice wrote: post #234
ge96 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I quit reddit too recently, I still look at it for info but I'm not logged in/scrolling through it I find myself reaching for something when I have YouTube/chilling at my desk at the end of the day, can't code anymore/make something just on till I sleep. Sometimes have the desire to play a video game (I have a gaming rig too funny how that works) I've been trying to read HN or IEEE, TechCrunch stuff like that as my "…

I checked reddit recently for the first time in a while, and I was shocked by how radicalized its become. An echo chamber of hateful people and perhaps GPTs that are agitating the big subreddits. The contrast is stark with all the "no place for hate" in the rules and endless banning of microaggressions. I saw dozens of death threats. Even an explicit death threat thread with over 40,000 upvotes before reddit stepped…

> The contrast is stark with all the "no place for hate" in the rules and endless banning of microaggressions.

Please be specific.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#543

Post by zo1 »

dralley wrote: post #529
vaccineai wrote: post #504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look further Data obtained by fox news suggested that migrant arrivals at the southern border declined by 60% in the first week of Trump’s presidency compared to the last week of Biden’s administration. However, this figure differs from Trump’s 93% claim. That's why I said 60-90%

60% reduction of a small number is a small number. Go look at how much the numbers dropped from 2022 to 2024. The problem was effectively solved already.

I did look at the numbers, from the official US dataset published I guess by a Biden-controlled admin.

https://www.cbp.gov/document/stats/southwest-land-border-enc...

And I don't know how you claim such things:

Trump 2019: 977,509

Trump 2020: 458,088 (46.86% from previous year)

Biden 2021: 1,734,686 (378.68% from previous year)

Biden 2022: 2,378,944 (137.14% from previous year)

Biden 2023: 2,475,669 (104.07% from previous year)

Biden 2024: 2,135,005 (86.24% from previous year)

I couldn't find older that 2019, but it's clear that in trumps last year, it more than halfed from his previous year. Then it more than tripled in the first year under Biden. Then almost doubled again in the subsequent year under Biden, and then grew a bit in 2023. Then only in 2024, did it reduce by a tiny 14%. Notably a 14% of what is effectively a number 5 times higher than what Trump got it down to before he left office.

And yeah you could argue (like some of the journalist did) that "oh this is just because Trump created a backlog". Well that's what people wanted, and it stopped the flow of people over the border. That's solving the problem, and really just shows that Biden literally just opened the doors, let it grow huge, and then "claimed success" when it started going back down to it's pre-Trump average. This is why we can't discuss this, we have so many supposedly "smart" people arguing and using the supposed "data" to twist the truth, and then dismissing what every can see plain as day (and is in this case supported by the data).

Oh and let's also not mention that it surged quite a bit in the last few months of 2024 when people I would assume started to flood the border in anticipation of Trump's arrival. So all that supposed work the Biden team did somehow didn't apply then? Of course, because they did nothing and the numbers reflect the fact that the border just lets them go through.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#544

Post by brookst »

keybored wrote: post #269
browningstreet wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that most messaging is propaganda, but that doesn't really counter the real pain that is being inflicted upon large populations of people by these government (and corporate) moves, and being cheered on by pretty large masses of people. The propaganda is like environmental pollution -- hard not to breathe it in. That said, I have no answer here..

Is your comment propaganda?

Yeah we seem to have rhetorical escalation. Opinions are propaganda, beliefs are narratives, etc, etc. It's a way to devalue messages one disagrees with; they aren't just wrong, they're nefarious.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#545

Post by musicale »

boznz wrote: post #448
xorvoid wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but it’s the old skool version of social media and the conversations here are generally higher quality and more genuine. I strongly disagree that it’s “on par with /.,xchan” HN also doesn’t seem to be as susceptible to rage-baiting / outrage-attention-seeking behavior. Not sure exactly what by this is the case but I’d venture a guess it has a lot to do with (1) “dang”s moderation, and (2) not having a personaliz…

There is still a lot of taboo subjects and comments you can make on HN, just look through your comment history on all the things downvoted to hell that you still believe are true. Like a good sheep I now refuse to defend anything that will leave me open to this.

A problem with downvoting on many sites (perhaps HN to some extent) is that people seem to just use it as a generic "I don't like this" button or as part of an upvote/downvote war to make sure that their preferred comment "wins."

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#546

Post by musicale »

sporkydistance wrote: post #391
switchbak wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but it’s also not a useful distinction. There’s a clear difference of kind between modern social media and the forums/usenet of old.

I really would like to know what exactly you consider a "clear difference" between how Usenet and differ conceptually (e.g., ignoring the GUI, the # of users, and mechanics, [e.g., usenet updates diffused around the globe because we didn't have cloud servers]). Please back that statement up with some facts.

1. Centralized control by for-profit corporations (and their investors) chasing perpetual growth

2. Algorithms driving ever-increasing "engagement" to deliver advertising

3. Surveillance capitalism

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#547

Post by solaire_oa »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #535
turbojet1321 wrote: post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a false equivalence which is at the heart of the issue. You seem to be be assuming that "being informed" makes you better placed and/or more willing to take right action, but I'm not convinced that's the case

I'm not arguing. I'm genuinely asking for your approach. I can imagine being overloaded with information. And "research hypnosis" is a genuine thing (and issue I sometimes struggle with). I'm open to accepting I may be falling for it again and am open to other approaches. I genuinely don't know much more to do than keep calling my reps. I still fundamentally believe that an info overload (as long as you are scrutiniz…

Better how? And by what measurement? What are you gaining from info overload opposed to ignorance?

You say you fundamentally believe in one over the other, but you haven't made the case for info overload, and have even made some points against it (hypnosis, futility, etc).

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#549

Post by lmm »

_DeadFred_ wrote: post #453
taurknaut wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

/r/worldnews is one of the most astroturfed places on the internet. Some of those commenters are so nationalist and bloodthirsty they unnerve me. The ban hammer is extremely active on this sub, and for saying completely innocuous political statements about personal preference. I'm absolutely sure this is broader than just that sub but I've probably heard this specific complaint from probably a dozen other people too.…

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> Wasn't it formed when the mod got called out in a different sub?

Most subreddits gets formed by someone who's tired of the existing subs, gets into one too many arguments with a mod, and thinks they can do better. I don't know anything about these specific subs but I wouldn't see "this guy formed this sub after getting called out by a mod in another sub" as any kind of red flag.

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