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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.

#961

Post by AtlasBarfed »

throwaway201103 wrote: post #411

To me what this election (as well as the 2016 election) illustrates, is what a poor set of choices we have had. In no sane world should it have been difficult for the Democrats to defeat Donald Trump in 2016. He had no history in political office, and he lost the popular vote to just about the worst candidate the Democrats could have put up. Had the Democrats put up anyone who was less divisive than Hillary Clinton t…

Demographics show that whites really really really like Trump, and everyone else doesn't. Which mirrors the rhetoric of Trump I (hope) any rational person can agree.

In the case of such polarized racial politics, the Democrats needed a white male to try to not further inflame the white base and pick off as many white voters as possible. That left a nonrepresentative candidate for the almost-majority minority "everyone else".

Racial politics have underpinned presidential elections since... well, slavery. This one was no different, it just had the sad spectacle of overt racism rather than at least SOME window dressing overlaid on the "Southern Strategy" since the civil rights era.

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

#962

Post by higerordermap »

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…

> 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.

I think it's inevitable when majority of people that surround you have conservative views. Don't feel bad about that.

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

#963

Post by amanaplanacanal »

ABCLAW wrote: post #913
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…

>People on the left think that anyone on the right is a lunatic, and everyone on the right thinks the same thing about the left. I firmly disagree. Not all political climates and discourses are as poisoned as they are in the US. That said, not all political disagreements are created equally. We can have a rousing polite disagreement about immigration levels, national financial priorities, cultural values and so on, b…

I’m fairly lefty, and used to have quite a a bit of respect for the right, since I am at heart a bit of a libertarian. I’ve lost quite a bit of it though after seeing how so many of them lined up to support sometime so obviously amoral as the current President.

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

#964

Post by tacitusarc »

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…

>I cannot point to any coherent, constructive thought, mostly feelings of entitlement and an unwillingness to put myself in the other’s shoes.

You point this out as if it is some moral failing on the right. In fact, this is a personal failing. It should be simple enough to recognize that for any ideology that is large enough there almost certainly exists coherent and constructive thoughts within it. If you have yet to discover them, this is not because they do not exist, it is because you're not actually looking for them. I think this is done by people on both the left and the right all the time. They fail to deeply investigate the ideas of the other side, and then criticize the other side for having no good ideas.

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

#965

Post by isabelc »

The division will not be fixed until they realize that the division is not ideological.

Most of these comments imply that the division is just ideological. I guess everyone here is so financially well off as to never having been too poor to afford health insurance but just above the cut off to get free health insurance. Families with kids and high living costs, and then being forced to pay over $2000 as penalty for not affording healthcare, it broke many spirits.

It was the ACA "Individual Responsibility Mandate" and it is the reason why all the hispanics in Florida without health insurance that I know, voted for Trump in 2016--because he said he'd get rid of that depressing $2000+ fine. Which he finally did.

Simple as that, and certainly not as idealistic as these comments imply. Those who don't see that did not have to pay that ACA "Individual Responsibility Mandate" while being poor in an expensive city.

A "new direction for divided US" would mean that these politicians stop pretending people vote idealistically versus based on finances. Reading these other comments, one would think all the brown Floridians who voted for Trump are white supremacists. I thought Hacker News was above that simplistic rhetoric.

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

#966

Post by greggturkington »

jonhohle wrote: post #123
softwaredoug wrote: post #81

On the data nerd side I continue to be shocked at how people misinterpret the certainty of polls/forecasts. Forecasts give us probability distributions based on historical polling error data. Not infallible predictions the expected value will 100% happen. It’s fairly revealing of society’s general innumeracy, just as it was 4 years ago when Trump won.

But the polls then and now weren’t just bad, they were shockingly bad and not representative of any real population that matters in an election. I’d expect something like this from junior engineers looking at metrics for the first time, but these are supposedly the most respective organizations in their field that have failed spectacularly for the second presidential election in a row. What value do they possibly ser…

Biden was already ultimately declared the victor.

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

#967

Post by nojvek »

tinus_hn wrote: post #400

I wonder what Biden is going to do about the coronavirus. Trumps denials don’t work but the things people expect Biden to do (mask mandates etc.) aren’t a magical solution either.

Mask mandate is not a magical solution, however it will significantly reduce the spread.

Basically the only option we have is to reduce the spread of the virus without really massively hurting the economy. At same time give scientists and labs everything they need to create a working vaccine verified by FDA rigorous quality process.

A vaccine that kills even more people due to side effects and not vetted thoroughly is even a worse solution.

Biden can’t close businesses and go on full lockdown. Everyone can wear masks in public and still go to work. That is not a huge ask. There are many pragmatic options.

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

#968

Post by secretsatan »

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…

That’s a very long winded way of saying supporting a man who went on stage and openly opined that ingesting disinfectant could be a solution for covid is very sane

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

#969

Post by greggturkington »

isabelc wrote: post #965

The division will not be fixed until they realize that the division is not ideological. Most of these comments imply that the division is just ideological. I guess everyone here is so financially well off as to never having been too poor to afford health insurance but just above the cut off to get free health insurance. Families with kids and high living costs, and then being forced to pay over $2000 as penalty for n…

I guess "the hispanics I know" forgot the proposed revisions to Title X and slashing across the board to any ACA outreach, much to their detriment.

>I thought Hacker News was above that simplistic rhetoric

Nope. Ideas like "hispanics voted for Trump [because of the mandate...], simple as that" are still abundant.

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

#970

Post by JPKab »

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…

I think you speak as if you don't currently have a bias. yet something I've noticed and even had to correct amongst coworkers who came to the United States via a student visa and then eventually obtained a green card is that they have a huge bias towards large parts of the United States. This bias has been created in their minds by university professors who have never been to these parts of the country themselves. The bias manifest in things like a coworker being afraid to accompany me on a business trip to Walmart headquarters in Northwest Arkansas thinking it was dangerously racist. I had to explain to him that there are multiple cricket leagues in the area in that racism is not nearly as prevalent in the south as Hollywood would have him believe. He ended up enjoying it so much there that he later relocated there from Fremont. Living near Boulder I routinely encounter the exact same ideological brainwashing amongst people who came to the US as students. I say this is someone that is done extensive volunteer consulting work for the Democratic party including my last gig in 2014 for the midterm elections. I agree with the vast majority of the Democratic party platform but have become very dismayed at them overemphasizing race as a motivating factor for their opposition. I can promise you that for most southern Americans that vote Republican abortion is a much bigger factor in their vote than race. and economics is much bigger than either those categories.
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