ABrockwell @aebrockwell@qoto.org

"Not the odds, but the stakes."

That's my shorthand for the organizing principle we most need in journalists covering the 2024 campaign. Not who has what chances of winning, but the consequences for American democracy.

Not the odds, but the stakes.

Here's the New York Times with what I mean by the odds:

"Can Mr. Trump show enough restraint to persuade moderate Republicans and independent swing voters to choose him over President Biden in 2024?" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/21/us/politics/trump-2024-campaign-indictment.html

#journalism #uspol

Just accidentally misread a reference to "Bard" as "Brad" and that's how we all have to call it now, I don't make the rules

In honour of new book Koala by Danielle Clode, what is your favourite Australian mammal?

Twist: I could only do four choices and the koala isn’t one of them.

#Straya #bookstodon #Australia

I’m puzzled that our major national #journalism outlets, especially the resource-rich NYTimes, have given so little attention in news coverage and followup to #Florida’s book banning, speech regulation and political interference in education. Little sense of historic context and precedents, who’s affected, who’s fighting back, much more.

#DeSantis campaign coverage mentions this as political strategy only

#USPol #journalists #NewYorkTimes

"Imagine if you will that you watched me gather the following ingredients: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened; 1 cup granulated sugar; 2 large eggs; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1/2 cup whole milk.
“Ah ha,” hypothetical you hypothetically says. “He is making a lovely cake.”
Now, imagine that when hypothetical me hears this, I get upset with hypothetical you. No, not upset—furious."– @JuliusGoat
https://armoxon.substack.com/p/they-know-exactly-what-theyre-doing

Big Journalism has offered a spate of both-sides and extremist normalization coverage in the past several days. The NYT's ridiculous Biden-McCarthy (let's see, which one is wrecking democracy...hmmm...can't tell from the story) piece and WashPost's Pence "finds his old voice" (hmmm, you mean right-wing extremist, yes?) are classics in the genres.

Face it: Big Journalism will never, ever find a pro-democracy voice -- because it thinks that's just one contestant in a horse race.

"Hey, can you switch instances? Your admin favorited a joke that I didn't appreciate once. Might need to block you otherwise. Oh, and that crowdfunding platform you use? Back in 2006 they let an organization I don't personally align with use their platform. You should abandon that. Also, -"

Shhhh. Let people enjoy things. I am all for being socially conscious but we can't boycott everything. We are so tired. Please go outside.

In our book Calling Bullshit, Jevin West and I provide the following definition.

Bullshit involves language, statistical figures, data graphics, and other forms of presentation intended to persuade by impressing and overwhelming a reader or listener, with a blatant disregard for truth and logical coherence.

Notice that this is what large language models are designed to do. They are designed with a blatant disregard for logical coherence in that they lack any underling logic model whatsoever.

On 16th March, 1968 Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jnr was flying helicopter reconnaissance for an attack on an alleged North Vietnamese-controlled village at My Lai.

As the ground attack developed below, Thompson realised he was in fact witnessing something something else:

A massacre.

He decided to act. /1 🧵 #history #histodons

@Swede1952

Bears are also masters of camouflage.

"It’s baldly incorrect to say that 'the use of language like "mistake" and "apologize" is commonly used in human-computer interactions.' I have been using computers for 40 years and literally no software has ever used such language in its interactions with me." #AI #ChatGPT http://www.briggeman.org/wordpress/posts/talking-chatgpt-with-chatgpt/

@pbump

All of us, esp journalists, need to stop using “woke” in the context of GOP’s word salads, repeating & repeating & repeating the word associations they’ve chosen to suit their propaganda campaigns. The media did this ad nauseum with “political correctness” & “multiculturalism” & “culture wars” & it worked out for the GOP. Just describe who they hate & who they attack. “GOP attacks trans people” “GOP funders fear open public criticism of white supremacy” etc

Before you close a web page make sure you scroll up to the top, so it’s in the right position for the next person

Militant decency.

#Gnu #TerryPratchett

"I used to think the top environmental problems facing the world were global warming, environmental degradation, and ecosystem collapse, and that we scientists could fix those problems with enough science. But I was wrong. The real problem is not those three items, but greed, selfishness, and apathy. And for that, we need a spiritual and cultural transformation. And we scientists don't know how to do that.”
- Gus Speth, U.S. Natural Resources Defense Council

LEARN MORE HERE -- https://medium.com/@thelandoft/good-science-isnt-enough-be307e594729

#Science #ClimateChange #BiodiversityLoss #Ecology #Environment

Reading this, and all the other hype pieces like is watching a really crappy magic show at the local community theater—except somehow magician is getting paid billions instead of fifteen dollars and dinner at Elias Brother Big Boy.

Everyone WANTS to believe.

Pointing out that even the examples they choose to share all suck, I feel like the kid saying “Dad, you can see him putting the rabbit up in the hole under the table” and everyone going “Sssh, you’re ruining the show for the rest of us”.

NYT tech reporting is unbearable.

Many folks, including me, had a lot of questions after the news of Silicon Valley Bank’s implosion landed. In my piece today, I explain as best I can, given that I’m not an economist or banker, what happened, what it means, and what’s next. Hope it’s helpful! https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/what-many-including-me-didnt-at-first?sd=pf