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Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

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Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#931

Post by ehsankia »

dorkwood wrote: post #819

There's a famous optical illusion with a spinning silhouette of a dancer. When you look at it, you'll swear it's spinning in one direction -- say, counter-clockwise. In fact, you'll be so sure it's spinning counter-clockwise, that the idea it could be spinning in the opposite direction will seem impossible to you. But if you stare at it long enough, and intently enough, you can make it spin the other way. I've notice…

Quite relevant to that, there's this one SMBC comic from almost a decade ago that I've referred back to on a monthly basis, and it just keeps getting more and more relevant every year.

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-04-07

This is what often happens in politics. There are a small subset of extremist on either side, and when people argue, they're pointing out the worst things the other side's extremists did. Calling each other KKK and Antifa and racist and SJW. Realistically, between those two extremes, the majority of people are good well meaning people who just don't know what the truth is anymore due to all the lies and disinformation on the web. All the clickbait shoving the most rage inducing stories about the other side all day long.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#932

Post by romanoderoma »

dorkwood wrote: post #819

There's a famous optical illusion with a spinning silhouette of a dancer. When you look at it, you'll swear it's spinning in one direction -- say, counter-clockwise. In fact, you'll be so sure it's spinning counter-clockwise, that the idea it could be spinning in the opposite direction will seem impossible to you. But if you stare at it long enough, and intently enough, you can make it spin the other way. I've notice…

> anyone on the right is a lunatic

In my country where there isn't a two party only system, but a plethora of positions ranging from the most extreme to the most moderate, for decades the left Vs right battle created a gradient of opinions

There are lunatics on the left and on the right, sometimes they have been violent, sometimes they put our democracy at risk, but in the end both left and right rejected them

We had our momentary lapse of reason when we (not me, but still...) elected Berlusconi, it seemed we lost our mind (we probably did) and nothing worse could ever happen to any other country politically speaking

Trump is on a new level of tribalism, divide and polarization though

How a real lunatic, with evident sever mental health issues ended up at the white house is gonna be a big black spot on American history (the greatest democracy in the World, the greatest country in the world, etc. etc.)

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#933

Post by greggman3 »

pqhwan wrote: post #844
dorkwood wrote: post #819

There's a famous optical illusion with a spinning silhouette of a dancer. When you look at it, you'll swear it's spinning in one direction -- say, counter-clockwise. In fact, you'll be so sure it's spinning counter-clockwise, that the idea it could be spinning in the opposite direction will seem impossible to you. But if you stare at it long enough, and intently enough, you can make it spin the other way. I've notice…

Growing up in a country where I was in the ethnic majority, I went through a period of right-wing political bent as a teenager. Then I came to the US, where I found myself in the minority and leaning left. So I feel that I have some personal insight into the mindset that pushes people right. But... maybe it’s that my past right-leaning self was a teenager with half-baked ideas about the world, when I reflect on what…

Funny but the stereotype is the opposite from the 60s. As the saying goes

If You Are Not a Liberal at 25, You Have No Heart. If You Are Not a Conservative at 35 You Have No Brain

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/02/24/heart-head/

Note: I'm not conservative and I don't necessarily agree with the quote. The point is not that the quote is correct, the point is someone (not me) thought it was the unthinking young person that thought alone liberal lines and the experienced wise person that thought along conservative lines.

Again, not agreeing, just pointing out some feel the opposite, that more experience and exposure to the world leads to more conservative thinking for some people.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#934

Post by ehsankia »

randomsearch wrote: post #919

[This has been hinted at in various threads but I'm stating it clearly here] A fundamental cause of political polarisation is social media. Tech platforms incentivised by advertising to increase engagement have (probably mostly inadvertently) become manipulation engines that have destabilised democracies. I think at this moment in time the tech community should take pause to consider what we have done. We started wit…

I absolutely agree this is an issue, but I honestly think it even transcends social media algorithms. Well, for one thing, the news media is just as much to blame, pushing clickbait and stories that induce the most rage. The next step is, regardless of social media sites, people tend to share said stories far more, so it's a vicious circle. I think any large connected social media site, regardless of the algorithms, will lead to a similar result.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#935

Post by lawnchair_larry »

Justsignedup wrote: post #848
dorkwood wrote: post #819

There's a famous optical illusion with a spinning silhouette of a dancer. When you look at it, you'll swear it's spinning in one direction -- say, counter-clockwise. In fact, you'll be so sure it's spinning counter-clockwise, that the idea it could be spinning in the opposite direction will seem impossible to you. But if you stare at it long enough, and intently enough, you can make it spin the other way. I've notice…

I personally find it hard to look at the right as anything but poison. I can disagree with you on economic ideologies, I can disagree with you on military spending, how to treat the drug epidemic, how to solve the incarceration problem, etc. However when one side literally empowers those that executed my family in WW2, it is no longer a disagreement, but a fight for my life.

Neither side empowers anyone who executed your family WW2. Where on earth did you get such a delusion? Are you trying to turn the “alternative facts” thing around? What a completely insane thing to suggest.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#936

Post by NicoJuicy »

I am very curious on what someone voted for Trump.

And what I ask here, is that I expect someone here to be straight forward and eg. Just mention when they just want lower taxes, for example.

( I'm not an American, just curious about other perspectives, since the groups I'm in are more liberal based, from a US perspective)

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#937

Post by lawnchair_larry »

mxfh wrote: post #909
dorkwood wrote: post #819

There's a famous optical illusion with a spinning silhouette of a dancer. When you look at it, you'll swear it's spinning in one direction -- say, counter-clockwise. In fact, you'll be so sure it's spinning counter-clockwise, that the idea it could be spinning in the opposite direction will seem impossible to you. But if you stare at it long enough, and intently enough, you can make it spin the other way. I've notice…

While this might sound reasonable and balanced in most democracies, it's just not applicable to what is/was happening in the US. Regardless of moderate views of individuals, this election was not about economic policies or other debatable differences, this election was about if we can get back to this described discourse level of coexistence, not where one side's chief strategist says it's required to behead scientis…

> and the general right to exist for minorities was on the table.

No, it wasn’t, obviously. What a disgusting thing to say.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#938

Post by nogglet »

My concern is the mass talk of voter fraud shows how distrustful a great deal of Americans are to their own democratic system. I'm ok with placating the fears people have of election fraud and investigating, given the studies done, it's quite certain voter fraud is a prime example of misinformation.

2016-2020 has been a time of seeing just how dangerous misinformation is in the world of mass social media. All it takes is the spreading of false rumors through various means of the internet and social media for people to lose their minds and question their own democracy. I think both social media, advertising agencies, and the modern media is largely responsible for this. Also, us in the tech industry, who have over these last 4 years began to see the truly ugly side of what we're building. In our constant need to hit KPIs, drive up SEO rank, drive virility, we've slowly fed a monster that is now making itself known, and disrupting the very fabric of democracy.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#939

Post by lawnchair_larry »

leptons wrote: post #924
dorkwood wrote: post #819

There's a famous optical illusion with a spinning silhouette of a dancer. When you look at it, you'll swear it's spinning in one direction -- say, counter-clockwise. In fact, you'll be so sure it's spinning counter-clockwise, that the idea it could be spinning in the opposite direction will seem impossible to you. But if you stare at it long enough, and intently enough, you can make it spin the other way. I've notice…

>We think it's the other side that's crazy, but we're all under the same spell. In this case, one side is provably crazy , and the evidence from our intelligence agencies shows they are dangerous lunatics. The other side wants empathy, equality, science, and truth to rule the day. I'm not sure how you can just hand-wave that away. Your comment is the same old "both sides" fallacy.

Is the provably crazy side the one you’re on? Because this is provably false.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#940

Post by svara »

The sentiment of mutual understanding accross polticial lines expressed in many comments here is beautiful.

However, let's not forget that on election night the current US president clearly proved his staunchest critics right.

What might have happened if Fox News had adopted his "stolen election" narrative?

This is, quite literally, how autocratic strongmen destroy their countries for personal gain. There's more than enough historical precedent from around the world to know the playbook.

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