volkris @volkris@qoto.org
Since I guess everything is political these days, I'll identify as extremely liberal but without a home in US politics.
Mainly, there's so much misinformation out there that people in society have trouble even organizing into coherent political groupings. So I'd rather not talk about politics but instead focus on information and education. Nothing else matters until the bedrock of fact is buttressed.
But... people are always going to be wrong on the internet, as the saying goes.
So: Old man yells at clouds is a famous joke from The Simpsons, and it probably fairly describes what we do when venting on social media.
Just speaking into the void, since I figure it's an exercise in futility to conduct discussions on these platforms.
Joined Dec 2022
@javi but, do you recognize that your users might want to engage with folks over there?
(To be sure, it’s your right to decide as an instance not to allow it, but I always want to make sure actual end users are part of the decision when so often they’re notably absent.)
@mattgrayyes that’s not quite the issue, though.
It’s not so much about data being handled in a foreign country as it’s about China specifically publishing into the US.
(Let me emphasize that I’m very much against the ban.)
You can see that everywhere from the rhetoric of ardent promoters of the legislation through the wording of the legislation itself.
That take really misunderstands the motivation behind the ban.
Many here joined the bandwagon of outrage over #Trump’s use of the word bloodbath, but I don’t think many realize how counterproductive that was.
#Conservatives have been milking that outrage to their benefit, using it to frame anti-Trump speakers as out of touch or flat out duplicitous, saying they’re intentionally misunderstanding or misrepresenting what Trump was saying.
The thing is, what Trump was [apparently] saying is actually idiotic. THAT is what needs to be called out.
It’s just the sad norm of strategic misstep: Trump will say something really stupid, but instead of pointing out how dumb he is, folks give him not only a pass but actual ammunition through unfounded attacks.
And that’s how we got and may get President Trump.
That’s not what happened, though. That’s the opposite of what happened.
The SCOTUS hasn’t effectively invalidated the 14th Amendment, but rather it expressly reaffirmed it.
Their ruling in Trump v Anderson stressed over and over that the 14th Amendment was not only valid but emphatically part of the operation of the US government.
Anyway, the law you propose would interfere with democracy, preventing people from voting for candidates as they see fit.
@Free_Press wow, that’s a misleading news report.
No, Republicans didn’t pull a motion to subpoena Kushner. The motion simply failed to garner support in the meeting.
And the news report saying there has been no evidence stands in contrast with hearing after hearing presenting evidence.
One can say the evidence isn’t strong, fine, but to say it doesn’t exist is simply false.
@Free_Press other words are needed: many are holding out for MORE aid and more effective supplies than we’ve seen so far.
@HistoPol Power hungry?
Thomas often issues opinions that give up power!
When you consider his actual work on the Court instead of all of this sensationalized drama, it paints a much different picture.
@cjammet we see over and over that taxing particular sales to fund social programs causes trouble as those sales can’t provide a consistent and reliable revenue stream.
So no.
If a government program is needed, fund it through a general fund so it doesn’t rely on any particular funding stream.
@iuculano and yet conservative outlets were playing results from the hearings that really supported their causes.
So it really comes down to who you’re listening to, who is editing the claims that show up in your echo chamber.
@BohemianPeasant I mean, sometimes the cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes testimony is simply not particularly convincing.
We don’t really need to go digging deeper to find conspiracy theories or whatever. Sometimes a person makes a claim that just sounds wrong, and they aren’t able to back up the accusations they’re making.
If you’re talking about the relationship between the US federal government and US states, that raises very different complications.
But this is not about what is okay or not okay. It’s about what is.
A government responsive to its people will have policies that restrict what government employees can do.
@Luis_Fierro it doesn’t, though. Rules against racial profiling and harassment are not affected by the Court’s ruling.
This sounds like a politician trying to score political points through trumped up claims.
@tokensane all of them. They all play roles in the system, they all do work even if different types of work.
It’s about power and control, but it’s also about governments striving to be responsive to the populations, even if they miss the mark, since that’s generally the source of notions of right and wrong in the governmental context.
When low level workers use their positions to take ideological stands that go against the ideology adopted by a responsive government as a whole, it’s not surprising that there would be pushback from the top.
So yep, you could say it’s about power and control, to use Machiavellian language, but it’s hard to see how it could go any other way in a governmental institution.
@blogdiva the Supreme Court didn’t have the authority to make slavery the law of the land.
That’s just not how the US system of government works, despite sensational stories that are sold based on such misunderstandings of basic civics.
Truly democratic societies rely on folks understanding the basics of how their governments function, which is why it’s so crucial to correct these misunderstandings of how the different branches of government function in the system.
Sorry you don’t get the joke.
We’re laughing though.
That it continues to go over your head just makes it funnier.
@Hyolobrika @CSB
@ScottLucas you’re getting the system backwards, though: it’s not that disagreeing representatives are roadblocks as much as actors needed in our democratic system to get things done.
YES, I’m critical of representatives and I constantly tell voters to stop reelecting jerks. But so long as people reelect jerks, well, that’s the Congress we have.
If the president wants to get things done then, well it’s rough but he’ll have to work with them. There’s no way around that in the US system of representative government.
You’re not going to get on with anything if you don’t work with the people you need to work with. That’s the whole point.
That approach will simply fail, and fail loudly.
@Remittancegirl they haven’t.
We’ve failed them.
Or rather, the tools are there for us to use, should we want to use them, but unfortunately the population is a combination of misinformed about and disinterested in having a really functioning government.
Take the example of our elected officials declining to hold presidents accountable for breaking laws: it’s not that the checks and balances are failing, but that the representatives of the people sanction the behavior, just as the system was intended to work.
But we keep reelecting those reps, so I guess it’s what we want.
@tokensane yep, so it goes to show the problem with starting down that road, particularly in cases of state actors.
Since I guess everything is political these days, I'll identify as extremely liberal but without a home in US politics.
Mainly, there's so much misinformation out there that people in society have trouble even organizing into coherent political groupings. So I'd rather not talk about politics but instead focus on information and education. Nothing else matters until the bedrock of fact is buttressed.
But... people are always going to be wrong on the internet, as the saying goes.
So: Old man yells at clouds is a famous joke from The Simpsons, and it probably fairly describes what we do when venting on social media.
Just speaking into the void, since I figure it's an exercise in futility to conduct discussions on these platforms.
Joined Dec 2022
