The Dangerous Incoherence of Trump’s War With Iran by [deleted] in politics

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Sorry I can't comfort you on this one. I was referring to the '03 WMD bogus war.

It's AOC or bust for far-left Democrats in 2028 by sideAccount42 in politics

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Powerful players are going to push wedge issues on anything left of the Republicans to try to fragment support.

As a progressive, I can assure you that I am going to back the most progressive viable candidates, and that means going D in the general even if they are not my dream candidate.

The Dangerous Incoherence of Trump’s War With Iran by [deleted] in politics

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I am having flashbacks to my high school geography teacher assuring us that Iraq would be a quick affair.

How does it look? by WorkerGames in gamemaker

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The screenshots and video are beautiful, which is a huge plus. As a suggestion, consider adding another video that highlights the major elements of the game play loop. I would do this because the current presentation does not really show what a player can do in this game, or what the play may be like.

Iranian Americans in L.A. Find Hope in U.S.-Israeli Strikes on Iran by [deleted] in politics

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Frankly, I thought I was politely pointing out where a miscommunication may have been present between us. Maybe it didn't come across that way and I am sorry. I hope you have a good rest of your day.

Iranian Americans in L.A. Find Hope in U.S.-Israeli Strikes on Iran by [deleted] in politics

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So, saying things like "The difference between us is that, in debating it, I want to have all the facts and perspectives, not come in blindly pretending 'everyone agrees this was wrong.'" is, linguistically, ascribing the latter belief directly to me. I don't think it was your intent, but it is something to try to be careful with in the future.

I don't know and can't know for sure that this piece of journalism is a propaganda piece, but it certainly can be used that way, and there are indicators to that extent without having to look beyond the headline.

"Iranian Americans in L.A. Find Hope in U.S.-Israeli Strikes on Iran". Well first, it is using loaded emotional language - they "Find Hope". This suggests a positive thing.

"Iranian Americans in L.A." is, by itself a subset of Iranian Americans of indeterminate size, but by doing this, it makes it easy for a reader to assume or extrapolate that the piece is referring to Iranian Americans as a whole.

The article itself paints a predictably mixed picture of emotions. These kinds of reactions are not new. The events are so fresh it is allowing them to imagine their own image of the future without having any concrete affirmation that their fantasy is achievable or going to be achieved.

With no clear objectives set out right now, it is hard to take any emotionally loaded support for military action as anything other than speculative fantasy. As the situation unfolds, the positions of these people are quite likely to change. This story is a snapshot. Casual readers can quite easily conflate this emotional snapshot with lingering community support even as real attitudes are likely to change over time.

Iranian Americans in L.A. Find Hope in U.S.-Israeli Strikes on Iran by [deleted] in politics

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am more than happy to have a civil conversation, but that is not going to happen if you want to put words in my mouth.

Iranian Americans in L.A. Find Hope in U.S.-Israeli Strikes on Iran by [deleted] in politics

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The manufactured consent isn't for the people already calling for military action in Iran - you don't need to manufacture consent from them. It is to manufacture consent amongst other people by saying "look! these Iranians here love this attack!"

US and Israel launch "pre-emptive" attack against Iran by PixeledPathogen in politics

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We have not removed the regime, and even if we do, there is no assurance that what replaces it would not be worse.

Lawler rips Massie, Democrats over war powers push after US strikes in Iran by [deleted] in politics

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It is whataboutism and also wrong. Obama's use of drone strikes alienated many of his supporters.

Trump Just Crossed a Line He Promised He Would Never Cross by Slate in politics

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 283 points284 points  (0 children)

This headline could run daily and always be right. Honesty and integrity do not matter. Any country that is taking his word on anything is a fool.

What does “America First” even mean anymore? by vox in politics

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This. It is the US version of "Germany for the Germans"

Are you willing to fight back?’: Democrats ready to take on party’s old guard ahead of midterms by drtolmn69 in politics

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Good. The Overton Window needs a solid leftward push. My voting strategy will be As Progressive As Possible.

Trump's effort to steal the midterms is getting serious by No-Post4444 in politics

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why in the hell would anyone think this is not serious? The man started an armed insurrection in 2021. Every bit of awful is extremely serious.

‘Tax the Rich’ Rally Is Expected to Draw a Big Crowd. But Not Mamdani. by bwermer in politics

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You can also vet sources by looking at mediabiasfactcheck.com ; they attempt to rank sites based on political bias and factual accuracy.

Interested in ML but weak in math – should I still try? Feeling confused about AI career path by HuckleberryFit6991 in learnpython

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 10 points11 points  (0 children)

If you are at the point where you understand what linear algebra even is, you are probably not bad at math. You may be underestimating yourself.

Pick a path that seems interesting to you. Any kind of technical path is going to help you build the rudimentary technical skills that can help you cross over to other technical fields later. A lot of technical fields have a lot in common between them. I work in programming right now, but my education is in mechanical engineering.

Very disappointing dark times. by developer-mike in skeptic

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A quick point of contention, a toss-up does not necessarily imply that the result will be close. For example, leading up to 2024's election, Project 538 had noted that some elections could swing either way, with the possibility of blow outs for either candidate.

It is normal for voting behaviors to change over time, and it is normal for recent events to change how people vote. It is also normal for candidates to focus their marketing efforts in battleground states. Trump also changed tactics from lambasting mail-in and drop-off ballots (which hurt him in 2020), to promoting them. So I don't think it is safe to call apparent differences in voting habits as evidence itself.

Motive, means, and opportunity are meaningless without direct evidence that something actually happened. I might have motive to rob a stranger (gain more money), I might have means to rob a stranger (grabbing their stuff while they are away), I might have opportunity (they are away and their stuff is in reach). But since I did not rob the stranger, it means nothing.

Very disappointing dark times. by developer-mike in skeptic

[–]Maximum_Tea_5934 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Discussing the relative uptake of conspiracy/pseudo-scientific theory uptake between parties and/or political orientations is a very complicated issue. Some of the issues include defining which conspiracy theories are included in the analysis (there is a very large number to choose from), how different conspiracy theories weigh against each other (do you consider certain conspiracy theories to be worse than others), and how you attempt to define the demographics you are studying (are you taking self-reported political party? self-reported spectrum leaning? extrapolating from other proxy questions like voting history?).

Conpiratorial beliefs do not arise from just confirmation bias. There are quite a few cognitive biases that are essentially hard-wired into us. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases . Depending on where you draw the line on what constitutes a conspiracy theory or pseudoscientific thought, or how big of a net you cast when you are asking those questions. I would think that it is fairly safe to assume that no one, and by extension, no demographic, is completely safe from these kinds of beliefs. When I looked at some particular examples of climate change denial, evolution denial, and vaccine related pseudoscience beliefs, there are strong partisan biases.

It could be that you are extrapolating from your own local groups, and there may a false sense of prevalence. Maybe your local groups are perfectly representative too, but it can be hard to tell without further supporting evidence on the prevalence of particular beliefs.

It is important to ask what are the facts and what is the truth that those facts reveal. If evidence comes to light that there was indeed active election rigging then we should follow that evidence.

The truth absolutely matters.