volkris @volkris@qoto.org
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
@SaanichGuy Each and every representative in the House was elected by their district.
If we decide to elect people who toe a line with a political party, well we get what we vote for.
We should probably stop re-electing these jerks, but step one in that is calling them out for what they actually do.
And then voting for other people next time.
@squig@mastodon-uk.net meh, the simpler explanation is that he has a career of profiting off of attention even running for president gets him a ton of attention.
Which you are giving to him here.
So I don't think we need to assume all of these extreme explanations when the simpler explanation suffices.
@getalifemike this makes me think about the really fundamental philosophical idea that a person should not be punished for something they didn't do.
To hold automakers financially liable when someone kills a person with their product is to find them guilty of something they didn't do.
It's always a red flag that it's not such a good idea.
@erikalyn Well right, this is pretty much the natural and expected result since given the voting strategies, Republicans have no choice but to seek permission of a handful of awful members.
So long as Democrats continue to vote as a bloc, moderate Republicans don't have the numbers to vote a decent person in, so they have to court the extremists to get the vote over the line with awful candidates.
No matter what happens from day to day, we can expect this result from that situation.
@Jgmeadows I'm emphatically saying we should blame every representative for how they DO vote, not how they don't.
Democrats voted to shut down the House setting the stage for Jim Jordan to become the leading contender for Speaker.
If you really want to focus on Jordan for some reason, well, keep in mind that Democrats basically voted to support him.
It's cold comfort that Democrats later chose to vote in a way to keep the legislature shut down rather than for him to take the gavel, but it's a situation they set up with the votes they actually made.
@arush when did Trump shit on American Jews?
(I mean everything that comes out of his mouth is shit, but I don't remember a particular occasion)
@courtcan I mean, chilling is how a lot of these students came to be in the first place!
@Jgmeadows I know you are, but that's not really the story here, and that's my point.
The GOP is largely unified. 90% of the members are on the same page, as evidenced by the voting roles and their ease of selecting a majority leader.
The problem is that electing a Speaker isn't up to the GOP. It's up to the entire House. So if you're focusing on GOP infighting when talking about electing the speaker, you might as well be talking about your infighting with the guys at the bar.
It's really not core to the process, and focusing on it lets other officials off the hook for their responsibility to get it done.
Every single member of the house needs to be held responsible for their votes that shut down the House and keep it closed for legislative business.
@neekerbreeker@mastodon.green the issue is that regardless of what you and I think of it, these two were not doing their jobs as representatives since they weren't representing the positions of their constituents.
So I wouldn't be so quick to praise them for doing the right thing when by doing the wrong thing, in terms of the democratic process, they undermined their positions and gave ammunition to their detractors.
In the broader picture they came across as just out of touch.
@Jgmeadows It really needs to be emphasized that the #Speaker is elected by the whole house, not just the majority party.
Folks misunderstanding that is a large reason why we're in this mess in the first place.
@argumento Exactly, so let's focus on what's happening today and maybe try to prevent more suffering today.
Oftentimes it's counterproductive to start trying to get people to talk about what happened generations ago because then you end up arguing about all of that stuff while today's problems just get worse.
And yes, you can argue that today's problems arose out of what happened in the past, but again, going down that road is often a distraction, no matter how theoretically sound the argument may be.
@argumento but at the same time we can't let the past prevent us from moving forward.
@tristansnell never forget the option that whatever Trump is doing or saying, he's doing it purely because he feeds off of attention and he believes doing or saying the thing will get him attention.
As this has.
I honestly don't think he is sufficiently in touch with reality to freak out. I think he wants to stay in headlines and keep getting mentioned on social media, and here we are.
It plays into his game to post about him.
@MattFerrel Yeah, I agree that is most likely, but it's a chaotic system so it's hard to predict with certainty at this point.
Small changes may have big impacts.
@pbump The real test will come with the first primaries.
Given the structure of the US election system, everything changes once the field is narrowed down.
So we'll see what happens. Trump is extremely vulnerable, but it's hard to predict how that vulnerability will play out once there's someone in a position to really take advantage of it.
@squig@mastodon-uk.net goes to show the danger of ignoring populations who might be susceptible to such an offer.
Remember, these people are symptoms of underlying causes.
@CarolineMalaCorbin It seems like the ruling might be overstating the breadth of religious exemption requirements.
We'll see if it holds.
@squig@mastodon-uk.net Well I think it's mainly that Trump's whole deal is getting attention and getting mentioned, and hey you're mentioning him, so it looks like his strategy is working.
@NanoBookReview I'm definitely against those laws, but let's not devalue Jim Crow by equating it to repercussions for behaviors like these.
Jim Crow laws attacked people for what they were. These laws, stupid as they may be, respond to choices people make.
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
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