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
@adwright depends on what experts you're listening to.
I've been hearing from a whole lot of professors and other researchers in the field trying to push back against hysteria around this topic because it's not helpful to their fields.
But yeah, it seems like the whole world is broken when people can't tell what's true and what's not, with no way to sort out whose claims are actually true.
Is Europe really so monolithic and homogeneous as to have one version of those things?
@sb there are an awful lot of experts offering really good content on substack.
A friend would embrace the value that the other friend is trying to share by providing that content.
A friend actually listens to what the other friend is sharing and judges based on content, not slamming based on not only the identity of the speaker, but the identity of the identity of the speaker.
@RickiTarr No I say you duty to consider alternate beliefs so you can be sure that they are lies and that what you believe is actually true.
That is, you need to do that if you want to have a higher level of confidence in what you believe, especially in what other people have convinced you of.
There's no alternative to the scientific method.
@flexghost You're falling for the myth that so many politicians sold us, that it was all McConnell's fault. We should not have bought into it then, and we should correct the record now to hold people accountable.
Senate rules do not allow any member, including the majority leader, to dictate direction like this. The Senate is free to completely ignore whatever the leader says. No member gets to override the rest of them.
But it was convenient for the rest of them to escape tough votes by just pointing the finger at this one guy.
A lot of senators who we keep reelecting were responsible for all of the things that you're complaining about here. We really need to emphasize that because they are escaping accountability every time they come up for re-election and get re-empowered.
Firstly, to emphasize it, we can show Americans that the legal process can support the cause of dealing with rapists.
But back to my response:
In a way that's my point.
Americans don't care... even though caring would get them closer to their goals. The point is to communicate to Americans why they should care.
The failure of the left goes hand in hand with Americans not caring about legal process. That needs to change, and it can change, if only the left would bother.
The problem is, everyone would agree that museums should do proper things.
The rest of this is just posturing.
It's not the descent into fascism so many frantic about. It's just dumb marketing from a snake oil salesman.
The key is that the American left needs to talk not about opposing getting rid of murderers and drug dealers but about the processes by which we do that fairly and legally.
And they have to talk about it in a coherent, accessible, and most importantly, accurate way.
The #MAGA crowd rose in an environment where the left stopped addressing them and explaining the real answers to their concerns, instead dismissing them out of hand... and giving those votes and minds over to the likes of #Trump.
The left has so much of civics on their side, but they continue to ignore that opportunity, allowing the right to march forward in ignorance.
But we don't have to wonder. We've watched Trump pivot on issues and seen his champions go right along with him, as if he's always had those opinions and he was always right.
YES Trump does oppose himself. He's really inconsistent, sometimes switching opinions within a single interview.
@nutomic Yes, exactly.
I think this is a case of needing to maintain the mindset of working WITH the technology instead of against it: some ideas about mod functions just aren't really compatible with the underlying infrastructure.
IMO, ActivityPub often lends itself constructively to separating presentation from processing.
Someone else mentioned modding through metadata, and that seems reasonable. You don't delete or edit posts as that runs up against reliance on unreliable federation, but flagging posts allows user interfaces to Do The Right Thing (for the end user) based on the metadata.
This is fundamentally a broadcast platform. There is no end-to-end moderation functionality here, so don't try. Instead, broadcast hints that end user clients can use to do right for the end user.
Don't overlook the perspective that many of us simply value seeing what the original author put out there.
It's not free speech on someone else's dime; it's not a claim of entitlement. Heck, a lot of people don't even care to speak, as they're looking for the experience of others' work, that substantial moderation interferes with.
This isn't point isn't about entitlement to speech. This is about the rules that shape the shared experience.
@stevevladeck.bsky.social I don't think such statistics are very meaningful even as folks on both sides of issues try to leverage them.
For example, one side will say Trump is making all of these appeals while the other side says courts are causing Trump to make these appeals.
Yeah, thinks are different now. That's really all that can be said, but people project onto it what the differences are.
@haverholm No you have it backwards.
This proves that the remote server does not decide whether you are allowed to do so.
Yes, this is a questionable decision of the engineering that underlies the Fediverse. This isn't a problem of Pixelated: If you don't like this behavior, then blame the authors of ActivityPub and maybe find a different platform that behaves the way you would prefer.
This is just how this platform was designed to operate, for better or worse. I think for worse, but here we are.
@Lost_My_Mind I do not.
@jbcrawford to add to that, I have interacted with so many people who did not understand the privacy implications.
So whatever steps the mastodon interface is taking, it's proven to be not enough in the real world.
This is a drum I beat every time I can, and people are being misled by it on this platform.
It's like, you know who this is not going to fuck? Elon Musk. He'll be fine.
You know who this is going to fuck? A whole lot of workers who need the job, everyday customers, the environment that needs electric vehicles, and on and on.
Anyone engaging in this stuff is just plain stupid.
@maccruiskeen Well think of it this way: have you ever had a family member, maybe an older one, who thinks they know what's good for you better than you do? Who has inappropriately tried insert themselves into your business with the best of intention even if they're, well, full of it, and it's not appreciated?
Yes, a couple of these people are sociopathic fucks. I actually agree with that.
But I think a lot of them are just well-meaning but really really stupid, and really really out of touch, and really disconnected from reality.
I think it's a really common experience when somebody with best of intentions tries to tell you what to do with your own life because they think they know better, even though they're completely off base. I think that explains a whole lot of what we're seeing out of the folks in charge right now.
@walterolson.bsky.social frankly, if you didn't imagine he would try, you haven't been paying attention 
He has a long history of just throwing things at the wall to see what would stick.
No, he doesn't have the authority to do it. No, that won't stop him from trying. And I honestly don't think he even knows that he doesn't have the authority. Or cares.
@apas_csc I don't know if you spend a lot of time around folks who buy into the philosophy of hate the sin but love the sinner, but that's a very common way of talking.
This administration seems to come from a culture that leans into that sort of rhetoric.
I emphasize the thing I emphasize a lot: Trump is an absolutely dreadful communicator, and even his supporters occasionally accidentally admit that. This whole administration is shaped by talking in ways that are are ineffectual both in terms of communication and policy making. It's one of the most regressive parts of having this guy in office.
But, It's one of those know thy enemies things where you have to understand what they're saying if you want to counter them and defang the offensive things they do on substance.
Otherwise, you end up attacking the red towel instead of the Matador, and it just plays into their game.
I'm not even sure this leak was an accident because so far what I see is a lot of people reacting to it in ways that benefit them.
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
