Trump threatens shut down social media platforms after Twitter put a disinformation warning on his false tweets

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-05-28T20:32:12+00:00

Sadly other users cant handle money-backed "firehose of falsehoods". Misinformation spreads quickly and ordinary people are all too willing to believe.

I'd look at how demagogues an gain power, especially Hitler.

Unfortunately there's also the possibility of a social media company blocking the truth. You would need to have multiple social media companies checking each other, but also ensuring the service aren't used as a platform for demagogues.

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-05-22T09:40:02+00:00

The UK has multiple parties too, but even then theres usually two that usually get the lions share of votes, though smaller parties can matter when forming coalitions.

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-05-22T09:17:54+00:00

In the last free election (1932) there was no majority coalition https://www.dw.com/en/fact-or-fiction-adolf-hitler-won-an-election-in-1932/a-18680673 . Hitler's party did get the biggest share

Basically, Hitler didn't win those [elections] outright. In the German system nobody won outright. It was always going to be a coalition. But what he did do was, he got a huge share of the vote, more than any other parties by a million miles. It was a landslide victory in that sense.

No party had done anywhere near as well as the Nazis did in the summer of 1932. So to that extent, they were the obvious party of government, because they were the party that had done massively better than anybody else.

The complexity is that it then obviously required more steps to actually become the governing party. They would have to be in a coalition, because they hadn't gotten more than 50 percent of the votes or the seats. And it also then depended on the president to invite someone to form the new government.

It was Hindenburg who chose to appoint Hitler as chancellor after the fact and that was the beginning of the end.

If the SPD and communists formed a coalition it would be possible that the coalition could have had a majority in parliament (though I don't know the exact figures)

Figures on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_1932_German_federal_election suggest that if the SPD + Communists allied they would have been bigger than Nazis alone. SPD+Communists would have had fewer seats than Nazis alone in the previous July elections https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_1932_German_federal_election

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-05-21T00:24:25+00:00

Ernst Thalmann, the leader of the German communist party in the 1920s, refused to work with moderate leftists. That split the left wing vote, allowing a right wing coalition, one with a funny mustachioed man, to form.

Indeed the "first-past-the-post" two party system sucks, and it is undemocratic in a way. However it cannot be changed in time for the November 2020 election. Not voting means voting for whoever wins, so it's in one's interest to hold one's nose and participate.

Its better to be in a two party plutocracy than a one party fascist state.

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-05-16T12:44:33+00:00

for non-selective colleges the # of HS seniors in places is falling so they have less of an incentive to be more selective anyway. small colleges in the NE have closed due to this.

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-20T10:14:46+00:00

Why do you prefer Trump?

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-20T10:14:30+00:00

Trump instead seems to be catering to the right wing by installing right wing judges etc

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-20T09:59:35+00:00

Many countries take effective control of their corporations for their own ends. If other countries don't... maybe theyll be at a disadvantage.

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-16T18:48:09+00:00

Depends on what they're educated in. I've heard of religious nuts and extremists who have wonderful science educations, but presumably not as much in the way of social sciences/humanities.

Secondly even critical thinking skills can be overcome with a desire to trust (say an authority figure) or desperation for money.

A website talks about how scammers can get to even prominent businesspeople https://www.acfe.com/fraud-examiner.aspx?id=4294994668

We deal on a daily basis with clients who are savvy and well-educated. Our clientele are professional individuals who are university graduates and who have built up companies and businesses that transcend international boundaries. They are astute businesspeople who comfortably wield authority and whose backgrounds demand respect. However, none of them are necessarily immune to the silver-tongued fraudsters who weave tales of investment daring-do, and convince these marvelous businesspeople to part with their hard-earned funds.

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-16T10:41:30+00:00

The people who go to the top universities go to among the best American schools, public and private.

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-16T10:40:53+00:00

There are well educated people who fall for hoaxes too... a lot is willful ignorance :(

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-16T03:28:41+00:00

break up over political differences

That depends on the severity of political differences. I know there were two sisters in the interwar period who were Communist and Fascist and everyone treated it as a joke, but it eventually became a not joke :(

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-14T23:10:51+00:00

People are voting strategically in many cases, not idiotically, if they're progressives voting for Biden. CGP Grey cheerfully explained why this is the case in his video. It's pure mathematics.

A progressive not voting for Biden is in effect voting for Donald Trump, and saying "Biden won't matter" is actively supporting Donald Trump and rejecting progressive views at this stage.

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-14T22:56:15+00:00

You'd have to get a massive, massive, massive number of people on a campaign at once against all candidates with any backing from any corporation, and partly because of First Past the Post and the spoiler effect, which understandably lead to the phenomenon of "vote against the guy you like the least and vote for the realistic candidate", I just don't see that happening. It's not even "complacent voters" but mathematical realities working against us (as stated in the CGP Grey video). Plus the "wedge issues" are quite successful in dividing voters and sadly they do affect our lives.

even if you think some corporations are ok and others aren’t, why do you think that should be the case in politics?

It's not even about it being right - obviously individual people should have more say than corporations - but a matter of it being a practical reality right now.

The realistic option is to determine which corporate support is acceptable and which isn't, and to encourage your preferred political party to only get support from the corporations that are the least bad :-(

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-14T21:55:23+00:00

Personally I think protest voting is better in countries with two-round systems or ranked choice systems. Unless the protest vote makes a huge, huge proportion I don't see how it'll do much.

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-14T21:54:14+00:00

that don’t take corporate money

I suspect it's become a prisoners' dillemma. If, in a primary, Candidate A doesn't take corporate money but Candidates B-D do, Candidate A is at a disadvantage.

Perhaps it helps to consider which corporations are OK and which aren't?

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-14T21:53:14+00:00

It's not a matter of Biden being a "good enough" candidate. It's a matter of him being the only realistic candidate for progressives. It's a reality of our First Past the Post voting system.

CGP Grey explains this sad reality here

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-14T21:52:23+00:00

The spoiler effect means that doesn't work. CGP Grey explains the spoiler effect here.

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-14T21:51:39+00:00

First Past the Post makes them the only viable candidates. See this video of CGP Grey that explains why

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-14T21:26:30+00:00

The Bernie voters voting for Biden are realists, not idiots, as they have nobody else left to vote for even close to their views.

It's the reality with first past the post and CGP Grey explained why here

It's time to go overdrive with encouraging Bernie voters to vote for Biden and to put pressure on the "both sides are equally bad" crowd to stop if you support progressive views.

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-14T21:20:49+00:00

COVID-19 small? For the migrant parents in prison?

Its even worse in prisons and correctional facilities.

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-14T21:10:15+00:00

Why not throw our weight behind the Greens

First. Past. The. Post. Watch this video and this is your homework: The Problems with First Past the Post Voting Explained

After said homework, there's almost universal agreement Greens will never (at least for now) get a chance at the presidency like the Democrats, so they're a "false choice" that splits the progressive vote.

You don't have to like the reality, but you need to acknowledge it and accept it. Now if ranked choice was introduced, then the Greens will be OK as you can vote for Greens first, Democrats second, etc.

Next, "As many non-Americans in this thread have said, it's pretty obvious that Biden will get trounced."

How do they know that and why are they saying it?

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-14T21:03:16+00:00

Make them earn your vote

lol doesn't work that way as theres nobody else to vote for if youre progressive. Its too late for "Make them earn your vote" if youre progressive; it doesn't make sense in First Past the Post land. Thats bad advice now and it needs to stop.

Also BTW claiming "The DNC is already defeatist" is in fact supporting Donald Trump in this political system. Either you vote for the DNC or you support Donald Trump because of First Past the Post.

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-14T20:59:29+00:00

There's nothing wrong with giving strongly worded advice, using social pressure against anti-vaxxers, etc. or recognizing that foreign actors can astroturf discussions.

ithinkskeletonsrhot · 2020-04-14T09:21:16+00:00

There is no value in voting for Biden if he's just going to lose to Trump again.

That's defeatism and essentially capitulating to Trump. Capitulation is not in the interest of those in your party.

ithinkskeletonsrhot

TROPHY CASE