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
Yeah, that has been consistently the only solid thing Trump has had to say about the war.
Everything else was just talk, whatever words he could try to string together in the moment between the personal insults.
#BrianKilmeade guest, accidentally admitting something:Trump's policy on the #Ukraine war has been consistent: the war wouldn't have started under...
volkris
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#ClayAndBuck, a gold mine today, talking about #NoKings: you know, there used to be times when an heir would become king as a child, and he wasn't mature enough to actually rule. Wait, they clarified, turns out they had Biden in mind, seemed oblivious of how that might come across. #USPolitics
volkris
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#ClayAndBuck say they can't imagine why the Republican wouldn't drop out of the #NYC mayoral race unless he's being bribed not to. Can't think of a single reason why elections don't work according to their worldview. That's even after hearing the candidate try to enlighten them. #USPolitics
I think this is an example of influencers on the #conservative side with this recent approach to treating all politics as if it was a team sport when it's absolutely not, and they don't know what they're talking about.
But no, all the people saying that the #NoKings demonstrations would have #MAGA folks terrified were obviously not understanding what they were fighting against.
Whether they should be scared or not, that's just not how that mindset perceives the world.
#ClayAndBuck: The #NoKings protests were rallies attended by people who joined the losing team and now keep on losing.#USPolitics
No, #Trump isn't "terrified" of #NoKings protests. He doesn't even know they're happening if his handlers don't tell him.
The #GOP In general isn't terrified about it, they welcome it, because they're going to use framing of it in their campaign materials. It plays into their game.
These protesters are being played.
#LarryKudlowShow, among others: We already have a #NoKings day, it's called Independence Day, don't these kids know that?#USPolitics
Listening to #C-SPAN covering the #NoKings rally in DC, #BernieSanders is giving his speech and completely misrepresenting what the legislation before the Senate includes.
Can somebody please poke Bernie and have him actually read the legislation that he is voting against? He's holding up funding for the federal workforce, holding up all of those paychecks, based on his misunderstanding of what the legislation actually says?
He is a very powerful person who is harming a lot of people and putting it on display right now. Maybe it's time for him to retire. Maybe other powerful people need to stop propping him up.
But mainly, we need to call out powerful people like Sanders who are really doing a lot of harm to a lot of people here.
If he's unable or uninterested in understanding the legislation that he is supposed to be working on as part of his job, then he needs to step down, not promote misinformation to his echo chamber at these silly protests.
I don't know why anybody takes #BernieSanders seriously. He's been completely out of touch with reality for years.
Right now he is complaining about the shutdown of government that he's been voting for. Has anybody told him how his votes work? Does he care what's happening in reality?
It's like his handlers just stand him up so he can spout rhetoric that they benefit from.
The state of #USPolitics...
DC #NoKings speaker being broadcast on #C-SPAN:
They say we are living in an echo chamber, but [goes on to say a bunch of ignorant stuff proving that he is living in an echo chamber]
This is why the whole event is so silly. It is an expression of the echo chamber, really proving the point and buttressing the arguments of their opposition. They are playing into the hands of their opposition.
#NoKings protests are a tremendous example of strawman argument that will probably be counterproductive but take a tremendous amount of social resources to engage in.
A whole lot of people yelling no kings! while their opponents simply say, yeah, right, no kings... we agree, so what are you on about?
That pointless interaction has already been showing up in media, substantial messages being lost in the straw man.
It's a symptom of people being locked in their echo chambers. It's sad, it's pathetic.
#BBC, talking about the meeting with the Ukrainian president: Everyone knows #Trump likes to plays cards close to the vest.
Yeah but never forget he likes to hold his cards close to his vest while he's actually playing checkers and his opponents are playing chess.
The guy never has any idea about what's going on around him, and we need to emphasize that constantly to fight back against the conspiracy theories, and his own supporters.
volkris
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#Hannity, ad libbing and having his normal problems stacking idioms meaningfully: "this is the mother vein, this is the secret sauce" The guy really doesn't seem to know what common phrases mean, but uses them anyway, a trait shared with #Trump. Interestingly #AI -like, though. #USPolitics
volkris
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Today #ClayAndBuck again expressing an approach elections with the attitude of choosing the lineup of a football game with zero familiarity with the idea that voters might simply want to support a candidate they don't personally approve of. It's a foreign concept for them. #USPolitics #democracy
volkris
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#ClayAndBuck: Nobody who is food insecure in America is starving. In fact, a lot of them are fat. Also there was no starvation in #Gaza. #USPolitics
To understand the #GOP and the #MAGA phenomenon, keep in mind that so many folks backing that side have trouble understanding other perspectives, instead projecting their own viewpoint onto others, assuming everyone else is just like them.
It's a big problem that folks can't seek consensus when they start with different sets of facts, and this is one of the major sources of that.
Here #Kilmeade has a personal respect for force so he assumes everyone else does too.
#BrianKilmeade, illustrating the usual projection:There will be peace in the middle east this time because Egypt will join our side because they s...
volkris
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#BrianKilmeade, illustrating the usual projection: There will be peace in the middle east this time because Egypt will join our side because they saw how cool #Israel is when they used their bombs on Iran. #USPolitics
It's a know your enemy sort of thing to say, no, #Trump is not a king. He's a stupid brand. And recent events just highlight that as he slapped his name on the #Gaza agreement.
I keep thinking of the Trump brand of wine.
Trump didn't make that wine. I doubt he knows how wine is even made at all. He's notorious for not drinking, so how would he even know if the wine is good or bad? He doesn't know anything about it, he just slapped his brand on it.
To counter Trump it's foolish to approach him as a king. In fact that might might make things worse because it brings more attention to his brand.
The #nokings stuff is foolish because it misses what's going on here. And it will serve to actually embolden and strengthen Trump.
Know your enemy. He's not a king, he's not that smart, he's just a brand hopping from issue to issue the same way he hops from crappy wine to crappy steaks.
It's a know your enemy sort of thing to say, no, #Trump is not a king. He's a stupid brand. And recent events just highlight that as he slapped his name on the #Gaza agreement.
I keep thinking of the Trump brand of wine.
Trump didn't make that wine. I doubt he knows how wine is even made at all. He's notorious for not drinking, so how would he even know if the wine is good or bad? He doesn't know anything about it, he just slapped his brand on it.
To counter Trump it's foolish to approach him as a king. In fact that might might make things worse because it brings more attention to his brand.
The #nokings stuff is foolish because it misses what's going on here. And it will serve to actually embolden and strengthen Trump.
Know your enemy. He's not a king, he's not that smart, he's just a brand hopping from issue to issue the same way he hops from crappy wine to crappy steaks.
volkris
boosted
tests are showing je ne sais quoi levels at 65%
(65%) ■■■■■■□□□□
What's worse, a #DEI hire or #Trump hiring somebody he said was outright unfit because they sucked up?
#Conservatives were expressly proud of this.
#Trump: We hired this woman who wrote me a beautiful letter. I didn't think she had what it took for the job, but she wrote me a beautiful letter....
volkris
boosted
Sloppy reporting: #CNN repeatedly describes employees as fired in a report about notices being sent out in error. Sounds like they weren't fired, and sensationalist language detracts from a story of governmental mismanagement.
This is CNN.
www.cnn.com/2025/10/12/h...
#journalism #uspolitics
More than half of CDC staffers...
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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