SecondJon @SecondJon@qoto.org
I'm interested in being just not civil, but excellent in interacting with others of different viewpoints in an online world where we can so viciously defend our echo chambers and be so dismissive of other perspectives.
Because this is less and less possible here, I'm largely offline and am not sure if I'll be returning. It was fun back when civility was a trend on qoto.
Joined Aug 2018
SecondJon
boosted
Bill Maher defends Elon Musk's right to speak his mind without regulatory retaliation because "he lives in America and he can do that."
So much money being put into the Harris campaign. The wealthiest seem to be aligned with Dick Cheney this election.
So every FaCt ChEcK saying "but wait, crime is down" was wrong. Every one. #Crime went up, not down, according to a silent revision of the fbi numbers. The only published info about the numbers is from a year ago still boasting, falsely, that the numbers went down. One has to get to the data and analyze it to see it's been revised and the press release is untrue.
How much more violent crime? "80,029 more violent crimes" than the prior year. That's not a decrease. That's a huge increase.
The government can't guard us from #misinformation. The government is producing the misinformation.
Excerpts from the article:
[in 2023 the #FBI ] reported that the nation’s violent crime rate fell by 2.1%. This quickly became, and remains, a Democratic Party talking point to counter Donald Trump’s claims of soaring crime.
But the FBI has quietly revised those numbers, releasing new data that shows violent crime increased in 2022 by 4.5%. The new data includes thousands more murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults.
...
“This FBI report is stunning because it now doesn’t state that violent crime in 2022 was much higher than it had previously reported, nor does it explain why the new rate is so much higher, and it issued no press release about this large revision,” said David Mustard, the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Professor at the University of Georgia who researches extensively on crime. “This lack of transparency harms the FBI’s credibility.”
Uspol
We've all lived through, and survived, four years of #Trump and four years of #Harris...unless you're under eight years old.
We know what to expect from both.
The world didn't end under either.
Maybe we can have conversations rather than just making up boogeyman scary stories?
Looking at the federated timeline I mostly just see boogeyman after boogeyman.
Also, there's much more going on with the world and we can affect the world in ways better than we can by imagining nightmares about our less favored politician.
Go out and do some good. Sponsor a child living in extreme poverty. Fund a clean water project. Lots of easy ways to do real good and make a significant impact for someone today.
Reading my first Charles Williams. The Place of the Lion. Great read so far. I will look for more Williams.
In one sense, and that the eternal sense, the thing is plain. The answer to the question “What is Wrong?” is, or should be, “I am wrong.” Until a man can give that answer his idealism is only a hobby.
From the Daily News, August 16, 1905
Sir,—I must warmly protest against people mistaking the uneasiness of “A Heretic” for a sort of pessimism. If he were a pessimist he would be sitting in an armchair with a cigar. It is only we optimists who can be angry.
One thing, of course, must be said to clear the ground. Political or economic reform will not make us good and happy, but until this odd period nobody ever expected that they would. Now, I know there is a feeling that Government can do anything. But if Government could do anything, nothing would exist except Government. Men have found the need of other forces. Religion, for instance, existed in order to do what law cannot do—to track crime to its primary sin, and the man to his back bedroom. The Church endeavoured to institute a machinery of pardon; the State has only a machinery of punishment. The State can only free society from the criminal; the Church sought to free the criminal from the crime. Abolish religion if you like. Throw everything on secular government if you like. But do not be surprised if a machinery that was never meant to do anything but secure external decency and order fails to secure internal honesty and peace. If you have some philosophic objection to brooms and brushes, throw them away. But do not be surprised if the use of the County Council water-cart is an awkward way of dusting the drawing-room.
Government will not solve the core problems of society. Your favored political candidate will not solve the root causes of the main problems in society. If you're voting for a savior you're doing it wrong.
Or as #Chesterton said,
“Political or economic reform will not make us good and happy, but until this odd period nobody ever expected that they would.”
More from GCK in the comments
Glad to see an open minded and informed public having such thoughtful and constructive dialog after the VP debate.
Phew, #qoto is back.
"America, on the other hand, still has plenty of fight left in her. Further than that, I genuinely believe America will be the last stand for the West - for Christendom. If America falls, we all fall. There is a lot riding on this upcoming election. What a time we are living through. "
Calvin Robinson on his move to accept a new role in #michigan
#anglican #uspol
My troubled teen is about to turn 18 years old. It's been a very long journey and there's so many unknowns ahead. But I'm very grateful that he's alive at 18.
Trump is "literally worse than Hitler" per Chompsky and other democrats... and...you're glad he's okay?
SecondJon
boosted
Are any Harris voters asking themselves how they came to be on the same side as Dick Cheney - a man they called literal Satan?
I assure you that Dick Cheney has not changed.
SecondJon
boosted
2.2 million views in less than 24 hours. The truth about humanity’s darkest day will not be suppressed.
SecondJon
boosted
If I was in #Congress, I'd propose two common sense gun violence bills:
1. Make mass shootings in gun free zones illegal. Mass shooters should not be allowed to kill people.
2. Make violating state #guncontrol laws illegal. Too many mass shooters violate #guncontrol laws to get their weapons of war, this must be stopped.
1. Make mass shootings in gun free zones illegal. Mass shooters should not be allowed to kill people.
2. Make violating state #guncontrol laws illegal. Too many mass shooters violate #guncontrol laws to get their weapons of war, this must be stopped.
It's strange that the #harris party, the guardians of #Democracy, are investing so much time and money to try to remove opponents from the ballot.
After they killed #Kennedy campaign, they're next going after Stein and the Green Party.
https://apnews.com/article/jill-stein-wisconsin-president-ballot-2024-e8cb52080dc7ba32997642e962dc0b06
"Not only has #Harris received 66% more airtime than former President Donald #Trump, but the spin of Harris's coverage has been more positive (84%) than any other major party nominee, even as Trump's coverage has been nearly entirely hostile (89% negative)."
Or as #Chesterton wrote in Orthodoxy, "We do not need a censorship of the press. We have a censorship by the press... It is not we who silence the press. It is the press who silences us."
I'm interested in being just not civil, but excellent in interacting with others of different viewpoints in an online world where we can so viciously defend our echo chambers and be so dismissive of other perspectives.
Because this is less and less possible here, I'm largely offline and am not sure if I'll be returning. It was fun back when civility was a trend on qoto.
Joined Aug 2018
