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
@paninid they're different things, though: an oligarch doesn't necessarily derive power from their bank account.
Political power is kind of priceless.
@indivisibleteam those aren't accurate descriptions of their policy positions, though.
This post is promoting fear and chaos while chaotically positioning itself as if it was opposing fear. It's doing the opposite.
@stribeprogblog notice that the headline doesn't really reflect the quote in the article.
There's general agreement that the US can improve health policy. He merely reflected that with his quote.
@faab64 keep in mind that there have been reports saying flat out that Bezos was not pushing it.
This just goes to show the crisis of journalism that we can't even agree on the crisis because journalism has fallen so far.
volkris
boosted
I have to stop posting active links to our content on Mastodon.
Every time I do so now, it brings down our website for up to 5 minutes.
We've tried pretty much every claimed fix, including third party caching (which in turn breaks other elements of our website's dynamic display abilities), code changes and such on our back end code, and more stuff I don't understand at all (but have spent money paying our WP developer to implement). None of it has worked.
The #fediverse powers that be need to fix this growing problem of the #MastoDDos effect on websites. The more followers and more servers your followers are from, the more impact this has on literally bringing a website to its knees with all the DB calls.
For instance, this morning, I posted the lovely article our creative writer Ethan wrote, which ended up only getting 2 boosts and one "favourite" here, but it brought down our website for 4 minutes and 12 seconds.
That's not sustainable.
@mhjohnson I think it's so noteworthy that the new systems and guardrails put into place by Congress really updated the existing systems and guardrails that we were told definitely didn't exist even as they were being followed during the last election.
It just goes to show how the public is completely unaware of how this stuff really works, and how easy it is for politicians to lie about it.
@northernlights stuff like this comes to mind.
Harris has not really shied away from promising to overrule the democratic process, which is kind of fitting considering her path to the nomination.
@scattapilla meh, If a kid needs to be picked up from school or groceries need to be acquired the elite will just pay someone else to do either one.
Blocked highways means that the poor worker rushing to get off the job and get to their kid will be disproportionately punished, the people least able to take the blow.
The rich don't care. Stop blocking highways because it just ticks off the common worker, leaving them less interested in working toward whatever your cause is.
@gearhead Oh the Atlantic. No surprise here, but it's funny to see them say it's not about partisanship, but it's about partisanship.
And clicks, but they didn't say that part out loud.
The critical thing to keep in mind is that #Trump was elected the first time by a coalition of different groups with often absolutely contrary positions, for example, free traders and isolationists looking to put up tariffs.
That coalition collapsed, but #Musk is part of a new coalition now as one can see from the diversity of speakers at the MSG event over the weekend.
It's really a coalition of people expressing backlash against #Harris and the #DemocraticParty powerful who nominated her without considering the general public skepticism of her as a candidate.
If Trump is reelected then it won't be a story about Musk or any other billionaire buying the election, but rather a rebuke from the general public, people from all walks of life, rejecting the power play of Democratic elite.
Musk here represents not the rich but rather the breadth of the coalition that Democrats misjudged.
@brownsbay It's nonsensical considering that democracy is what is funding their toys.
No, they're not fighting to throw a democracy to protect their toys, and they couldn't if they wanted to. That's not how democracy works.
This is just conspiracy theory stuff.
@breedlov wow no.
This comes across as people assuming that everyone else are obsessed with the exact things they are.
It comes across as pretty out of touch.
I completely believe that JD Vance hasn't seen the joke. Seems like he probably has better things to do with his time than go watch something that a bunch of loudmouths are saying isn't funny.
Just because some clickbait news articles are trying to get advertising bucks off of highlighting a bad comedian doesn't mean most of us are falling for it.
@realTuckFrumper did you watch much of the rally?
It wasn't racism filled. The focus was surprisingly upbeat because Republicans feel, rightly or wrongly, that they are cruising to victory.
@Fred@allthingstech.social The problem is that as I listen to conservative media, what you said in the article just doesn't match what I see with my own eyes.
I'm opposed to Trump. I really don't care about his moral character, I think he's just a moron who doesn't know how to be president, which is why he failed so badly during his first term. I think he doesn't have a place in the Oval Office because he's simply not cut out for the job, regardless of his moral character.
However, when I actually listen to the guy what I hear doesn't match what you wrote. You say every third sentence is an attack on someone, but I look at, say, his MSG appearance over the weekend and see a lot more positivity than that.
He makes a lot of promises that he absolutely will not fulfill, but those promises are a lot more positive than every third sentence is an attack on someone.
You say he's never turned a screwdriver, but I watch him rolling up his sleeves and doing just that.
The thing is, if we had spent years focusing on Trump's real flaws, the fact that he's a giant loser who doesn't know what he's doing, we would have been better able to counter him.
The things you're focusing on here aren't going to be compelling for his supporters because they know better.
@breedlov this is really something. It sounds like the reporting has been debunked, but the article is spinning the debunking of the sensationalized story as if it was proof and more runway for continued sensationalized reporting on this thing.
The conspiracy theory has been debunked, but apparently that's just more proof of the conspiracy theory.
@renzelen this really comes across as targeted at people stuck in echo chambers where they don't actually hear what Republicans are saying.
No, this description doesn't bear any relation to what I'm actually hearing from actual Republicans and conservatives.
Ugly and angry? As I'm listening to conservatives these days they come across as kidding themselves about everything being hopeful because they seem to think the country is falling in line behind their offerings. If anything they seem way too positive, not angry and ugly.
They seem out of touch and positive. This article itself ends up sounding ugly and angry, but not capturing what Republicans are actually offering.
@festal It never was going to be a big event.
All of the people running around screaming that the sky was falling were obviously making a mountain out of a molehill.
And we should remember that next time they start yelling about whatever they want to yell about next.
@nopatience The thing is, a lot of people want it this way, a lot of people are proud that there isn't a more intelligent way of perusing it.
So many people proudly declare that there is no algorithm here, they don't want to develop a better way.
So yep, it does feel ancient, and it's almost like Luddites clinging to old ways.
I mean, just goes to show that apparently Washington Post subscribers weren't particularly bright.
@stanstallman you went off the rails at your second bullet point.
To be convicted of treason there must be two witnesses? No, that's not how this works.
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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