Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats

[ThatNickGuy]

(Almost posted this in the movie thread but decided this felt more appropriate, since it's not really a movie review.)

So I'm watching The Social Dilemma. And yeah, it's ironic I posted this on Facebook& Twittee, too, which is ironic. And it's largely information I knew before. That it's not so much our data specifically being sold but our statistics.

And of course, they talk about algorithms and manipulation while, as with any piece of media, is also manipulating your emotions with how it sets the stage, frames the narrative, the spooky music to keep you uneasy.

But...it did make me consider something. There's been talk of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg getting into politics. With all the data his company has gathered from other countries and elections, what kind of manipulative power would he have to "win hearts and minds"?

Someone made a good point about how all the disinformation spread through social media is great for authoritarian powers. We see that with the severe misinformation with Trump, Covid, climate change, etc. It does make me wonder what Zuckerberg may do with his algorithmic power.

The documentary doesn't quite motivate me to delete my social media altogether, but it did get me thinking about its addictive nature. I've never gambled but one compared swiping down to refresh like pulling the handle on a slot machine and that's an accurate analogy.

I might try using the Freedom app more, I think. At the very least, limit my use a little more. Because I'm aware that a lot of my usage is just mindless scrolling.

 

[PatrThom]

Someone made a good point about how all the disinformation spread through social media is great for authoritarian powers. We see that with the severe misinformation with Trump, Covid, climate change, etc. It does make me wonder what Zuckerberg may do with his algorithmic power.

It's only valuable because it is as accurate as they can make it.
Once the populace starts catching on to the methods and starts retaliatory "ballot-stuffing," their carefully curated data collection will become significantly less useful for their goals.

--Patrick

 

[blotsfan]

Making my Father's Day phone calls has even further revealed to me how my family's politics are all 20-30+ years out of date. Siiiigh.

Sometimes I think I would be less frustrated if my dad was a full-blown trumper rather than someone who believes that trump is a weird aberration and the mainstream republicans will put a stop to the insanity. At least “I’m a Republican because I hate minorities” is a stance based in reality.

 

[blotsfan]

Voting for president in November: wait in line for 45 minutes.

County sheriff primary election today: spend 5 minutes making sure I’m actually at the right place, get cheered by election workers as the first person to show up (polls had already been opened for an hour and a half).

My old man rants at cloud issue is gonna be about how people don’t vote in smaller elections.

 

[jwhouk]

Meanwhile, they're still counting the damn ballots here in Arizona.

 

[Frank]

So you guys are fucked right? Manchin and Sinema are going to block everything until Republicans take over forever in a few years. Back to the good ole days where only white land owners can vote and it's illegal to be poor punishable by fines.

 

[Krisken]

I can't tell if this country is naive or ignorant. Hard to tell which is worse.

 

[sixpackshaker]

I can't tell if this country is naive or ignorant. Hard to tell which is worse.

Complicit?

 

[blotsfan]

In local news, the 4 term incumbent mayor of Buffalo seems to have been unseated by a DSA-backed candidate. And a similar situation is happening in Rochester.

Long story short, we are now the most progressive region of the country.

 

[Dei]

In local news, the 4 term incumbent mayor of Buffalo seems to have been unseated by a DSA-backed candidate. And a similar situation is happening in Rochester.

Long story short, we are now the most progressive region of the country.

Oh boy I can't wait to hear about this on the phone.

 

[PatrThom]

I can't tell if this country is naive or ignorant. Hard to tell which is worse.

Ignorant. Naïve would imply that it's unintentional.

--Patrick

 

[blotsfan]

Oh boy I can't wait to hear about this on the phone.

I mean, the old mayor was black and a democrat so just tell them its swapping one socialist for another.

 

[PatrThom]

FYI Desantis is currently the 2nd most popular Republican for 2024 behind only trump himself.

DeSantis signs law which says that Florida students [will be] required to register political views with the state to promote ‘intellectual diversity’
From another article: "DeSantis is apparently hellbent on destroying the value of a Florida college education. But no matter, it's precisely the kind of move that will convince the GOP to nominate him as their presidential candidate."

--Patrick

 

[AshburnerX]

DeSantis signs law which says that Florida students [will be] required to register political views with the state to promote ‘intellectual diversity’
From another article: "DeSantis is apparently hellbent on destroying the value of a Florida college education. But no matter, it's precisely the kind of move that will convince the GOP to nominate him as their presidential candidate."

--Patrick

I'm pretty sure it's illegal to reject applicants to Florida universities on the basis of political affiliation, as political affiliation isn't a protected class like race or religion.

 

[Tress]

DeSantis signs law which says that Florida students [will be] required to register political views with the state to promote ‘intellectual diversity’
From another article: "DeSantis is apparently hellbent on destroying the value of a Florida college education. But no matter, it's precisely the kind of move that will convince the GOP to nominate him as their presidential candidate."

--Patrick

Oh, I’m sure THAT won’t be abused by DeSantis and the GOP.

 

[figmentPez]

Oh look, more Republican hypocrisy.

 

[PatrThom]

I'm pretty sure it's illegal to reject applicants to Florida universities on the basis of political affiliation

I'm sure it's not even about denying admission to the college, it's instead about forcing a publicly recorded admission of affiliation from the students.

--Patrick

 

[Bubble181]

And provide further "proof" that colleges are liberal brainwashing facilities and aren't neutral centers of learning etc

 

[Dubyamn]

So you guys are fucked right? Manchin and Sinema are going to block everything until Republicans take over forever in a few years. Back to the good ole days where only white land owners can vote and it's illegal to be poor punishable by fines.

Short answer yes. Long answer is I think it will have more to do with Democrat activists undergoing a herculean effort to get a Democrat majority and being rewarded with nothing for all their efforts which is going to be the real death knell for the republic as a lot of people who were really fired up this go around just stop going out to the polls.

 

[Bubble181]

Short answer yes. Long answer is I think it will have more to do with Democrat activists undergoing a herculean effort to get a Democrat majority and being rewarded with nothing for all their efforts which is going to be the real death knell for the republic as a lot of people who were really fired up this go around just stop going out to the polls.

The "no matter what, nothing changes" feeling is echoed around the world. In most democracies there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference anymore to be made. Our current government is the green, socialists and liberals, yet somehow, they're mostly just continuing on with all the programs the nationalist-neoconservative previous government started. And vice versa, for that matter, when the roles are reversed.
People expect politics to change overnight, "we've now got Obama instead of Trump, we're all saved!" while in practice some things take decades/generations, and some simply aren't feasible. And nobody wants programs to disappear over night, obviously.
The People - on all sides - are malcontent, things are slowly but surely getting worse for regular people and that's been going on since at least the '90s, you can easily say '80s. The old lines (socialist vs catholic vs liberal or worker vs elite) seem gone, while the new separations are more haves vs havenots. Society is changing, not fast enough for some, far too fast for others, but always towards "more power to corporations and the rich and less power to the little guy".
People vote for handgrenades (to take Gas' description) because nothing else works. Sadly, the people who are populist enough to get those votes tend to be the ones with the worst ideas.
There's no real good solution I can see.

 

[PatrThom]

There's no real good solution I can see.

There definitely are effective solutions, but they mean reducing profits and would require that many people part with a not insignificant portion of the wealth/status/influence they currently enjoy.

—Patrick

 

[Dubyamn]

The "no matter what, nothing changes" feeling is echoed around the world. In most democracies there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference anymore to be made. Our current government is the green, socialists and liberals, yet somehow, they're mostly just continuing on with all the programs the nationalist-neoconservative previous government started. And vice versa, for that matter, when the roles are reversed.
People expect politics to change overnight, "we've now got Obama instead of Trump, we're all saved!" while in practice some things take decades/generations, and some simply aren't feasible. And nobody wants programs to disappear over night, obviously.
The People - on all sides - are malcontent, things are slowly but surely getting worse for regular people and that's been going on since at least the '90s, you can easily say '80s. The old lines (socialist vs catholic vs liberal or worker vs elite) seem gone, while the new separations are more haves vs havenots. Society is changing, not fast enough for some, far too fast for others, but always towards "more power to corporations and the rich and less power to the little guy".
People vote for handgrenades (to take Gas' description) because nothing else works. Sadly, the people who are populist enough to get those votes tend to be the ones with the worst ideas.
There's no real good solution I can see.

Would argue that the last hand grenade the US threw at DC only made the problems of the republic worse.

And I fundamentally disagree that only hand grenades are capable of changing things up. Every Republican is a hand grenade at this point. Reasonable governance would be the most radical shift there could be.

 

[Tress]

I'm sure it's not even about denying admission to the college, it's instead about forcing a publicly recorded admission of affiliation from the students.

--Patrick

Mark my words: if this is not stopped, it won’t be about rejecting student applications. It will be about cutting funding for any university deemed “too liberal” and possibly about directly controlling what is taught in K-12 schools to foster “intellectual diversity” (they will literally try to brainwash kids into being conservative).

 

[PatrThom]

It will be about cutting funding for any university deemed “too liberal”

Coincidentally enough, the requirement does only apply to the state's public colleges.
Also I have corrected my mistake above: The law requires the collection/registration of the political views not only of the students, but also the faculty and staff.

--Patrick

 

[Tress]

Coincidentally enough, the requirement does only apply to the state's public colleges.

--Patrick

Yes, I’m sure that is merely a coincidence and not part of the plan at all.

 

[jwhouk]

Is it trolling if I went out and bought this?

 

[Krisken]

It's weird watching Joe Walsh gain consciousness.

 

[ScytheRexx]

The dude was basically turned into a conservative pariah because he didn't want on the Trump bandwagon, and ever since then he seems to be awoken to the conservative misinformation machine that used to fuel him.

 

[Frank]

Everyone who works for min wage should just quit. I mean it, everyone in North America. Steal to live. Fuck these ghouls.

 

[Bubble181]

View attachment 38196

Everyone who works for min wage should just quit. I mean it, everyone in North America. Steal to live. Fuck these ghouls.

The American idea that tips can and should make up an important part of wages in hospitality is incredibly toxic.
I'll happily give a tip for exceptional service or really good assistance. I absolutely hate feeling obligated to give it.
Just like not including sales taxes and VAT and whatever (I'm aware there are some other reasons for that), it's just another way of displaying fake prices to push a burden onto the consumer.

 

[PatrThom]

Everyone who works for min wage should just quit. I mean it, everyone in North America. Steal to live. Fuck these ghouls.

"How about if instead of us paying them more, YOU pay them more?"
Look, Mr. SmallTime Bossman, I know you're jealous of all the REALLY rich people out there, but you're never going to be one of them, so stop starving others' income in your attempt.

I'll happily give a tip for exceptional service or really good assistance. I absolutely hate feeling obligated to give it.

This is Goodhart's Law in action: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." When tips go from being a reward for service to an expected portion of a business' revenue stream, then they are no longer a reward.

--Patrick

 

[GasBandit]

Clarence Thomas says federal laws against marijuana may no longer be necessary

"The federal government's current approach is a half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana,” the conservative Supreme Court justice wrote.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Frank]

Christ, if there's one thing about the 21st century to like it's that we can finally all enjoy pot (eventually) while the world burns (literally) around us.

 

[Krisken]

News flash Thomas, they were never necessary. They were always in place to punish blacks and leftists. If you can't enslave them, incarcerate them.

But I'm sure he knew that.

 

[GasBandit]

Tucker Carlson Jeopardy