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@unearth Don't we? I was trad-style homeschooled and I sure did. What do they teach you guys in public schools!

@PublicLewdness It's funny when someone complains about something literally by doing the exact thing they're complaining about.

@quercus24
So we have these three ~facts
* old people are more likely to vote
* young people are less likely to be "conservative"
* Johnson (admittedly?) was trying to squelch young people vote (very patronizing, in addition to shady)

But what I said could still be true: it just doesn't work. Even if some of Johnson's aides admit intent.

In the past, voter suppression was more effective: you have to own land, or the ids cost money, or straight-up poll taxes, or ... But these days it seems like voter id laws just don't really work as a suppression tactic. (I don't know whether they work for other purposes, so I'm not like trying to argue for voter id laws here.)

@collectedoverspread I'm not sure if it has an official name, other than like "missing the point".

It needs a bit more to be a good argument: it implies that a law won't do X amount of good; ok fine – the obvious thing you need to examine is how much good, <X, *will* it do, then? And weight that against the costs. So it's like just the first part of a coherent argument, at best.

@sully1503@mastodon.online Isn't this a reasonable thing to do? Why is this shameful?

@quercus24 Are you worried about perpetuating this sort of stereotype that conservatives are more likely to have their act together enough to do basic adulty things like get a free id, register, and mail in their ballots? IOW if conservatives (Tories? Whatever you call them over there) are actually doing this for this reason – will it work? It sounds... unlikely.

I mean, maybe your point remains that it is a pointless barrier to voting, and bad just for that reason, but does it really bias the results of elections?

Here's a study (US, but still) showing that yes, despite what old curmudgeons think of kids and hippies, progressives can actually manage to vote even in the face of such overwhelming odds: cato.org/blog/do-voter-id-laws. (Link has an amusing anecdote about DeSantis' ballot getting thrown out.)

@AstraKernel support for floats is a separate library you have to explicitly link in because it is so huge. That is very thoughtful.

@apl_discussions If you're wondering where the name for C++'s std::iota() comes from, now you know.

@dclr42 heh it's easier to do pretty much everything. 😂

OTC cold meds are nearly useless and can be harmful. Same old ingredients with a new advertising twist every few years.
@https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-cold-drugs-dont-work/

@quercus24 driving licenses I'm guessing cost a lot more than that if you also count the classes & training? 😂

Is there a free easy-to-get alternative? I know in some times & places it hasn't been, so that's a poll tax.

@freemo yeah the identity-lefty movement that's kind of picking up steam in the last decade or so does not tolerate dissent.

The thinking is roughly: everything anyone does is about identity oppression, so if you disagree with me about anything, you must therefore be an oppressor, i.e. a Nazi. Punch Nazis.

There is no room for nuance.

They have a huge presence on the main Mastodon instances.

I appreciate the enthusiasm, but it really makes it weird when you're debating something banal like minimum wage.

These are such good questions:

* Are you capable of entertaining real doubt about your beliefs? Or are you operating from a position of certainty?

* Can you articulate the evidence you would need to see in order to change your position? Or is your perspective unfalsifiable?

* Can you articulate your opponents perspective in a way that they recognize? Or are you straw-manning?

* Are you attacking ideas or attacking the people who hold them?

* Are you willing to cut off close relationships with people who disagree with you, particularly over small points of contention?

* Are you willing to use extraordinary means against people who disagree with you?

(These are the “discernment questions” Megan Phelps-Roper poses in “The Witch Trials of J. K. Rowling”. The podcast much recommended in entirety.)

@ZhiZhu This strip sort of glosses over some important free speech issues. The idea of losing your job for something you say, for example, is a big deal; establishing norms around what justifies that kind of response, whether those responses do more harm than good, etc are important conversations.

@quercus24 Do any places in the UK or US that require IDs to vote make it particularly difficult, or not free, to get an ID?

@billstewart415 yes. It's changed, now, though, to be slightly less ridiculous.

What a weird headline and story frame.

It makes it sound like stripping the right to vote is just a little bump in the road for a party that wants to take its ball home now that no one wants to play with them anymore.

Our national media (which is our only media these days. See: Gatehouse) continues to fail us.

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QOTO: Question Others to Teach Ourselves
An inclusive, Academic Freedom, instance
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Hate speech and harassment strictly forbidden.