OMG Politics, I'm over it already.

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Here is an interesting little blog entry. Not saying a I agree with all of it. Particularly when the author speaks in terms of "they" and "their". I dislike mass labeling. But interesting thoughts. The question he begs, and fails to answer, is despite the challenges in talking to people that reject science and expert knowledge, how can we who wish to understand and move forward communicate with such people? Without communication, it is very difficult to move forward.

http://forsetti.tumblr.com/post/153181757500/on-rural-america-understanding-isnt-the-problem
 
Mark Wein said:
If true it is pretty terrifying that people would be having this meeting two days ago in the United States of America.
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They’ve been having this meeting annually for years. This is just the first time it’s seemed like more than internet crackpots.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
The question he begs, and fails to answer, is despite the challenges in talking to people that reject science and expert knowledge, how can we who wish to understand and move forward communicate with such people? Without communication, it is very difficult to move forward.
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That’s why the religious right have worked so hard to create this situation. Defunding schools, creating their own extreme-right colleges and universities, going to war with science, allying with right-wing-radio; it’s all been to drive a wedge between rural America and liberalism. This is cult manipulation on a grand scale, training people to shun the other entire half of the nation. And most pundits still don’t get it. They’re saying that liberals need to use a different tone with rural America, but a healthy portion of rural America has been raised to believe liberals are amoral atheist agents of Satan.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/t...-a-child-trafficking-site.html?ref=technology


The 4Chan users immediately speculated about the links between Comet Ping Pong and the Democratic Party. Some posited the restaurant was part of a larger Democratic child trafficking ring, which was a theory long held by some conservative blogs. That idea jumped to other social media services such as Twitter and Reddit, where it gained momentum on the page “The_Donald.” A new Reddit discussion thread called “Pizzagate” quickly attracted 20,000 subscribers.


Most troubling for Mr. Alefantis and staff has been the use of children’s images, pilfered from the restaurant’s social media pages and the personal accounts of friends who had “liked” Comet Ping Pong online. Those photos have been used across dozens of websites. Parents, who declined to talk publicly for fear of retribution, have hired lawyers to get the photos removed.

Musicians who have performed at Comet Ping Pong have been pulled in, too. Amanda Kleinman, whose band, Heavy Breathing, has performed there several times, deleted her Twitter account after the abusive comments became overwhelming. Similar comments have flooded her YouTube music clips.

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And if you really want to see how deep the rabbit hole of speculation goes, visit the subreddit mentioned in the article where people genuinely believe there is a conspiracy on the most epic scale involving every aspect of the government, law enforcement, Satanists, witchcraft, etc and suggestions of numerous legit private organizations all involved in child sex abuse.
 
Lerxst said:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/t...-a-child-trafficking-site.html?ref=technology


The 4Chan users immediately speculated about the links between Comet Ping Pong and the Democratic Party. Some posited the restaurant was part of a larger Democratic child trafficking ring, which was a theory long held by some conservative blogs. That idea jumped to other social media services such as Twitter and Reddit, where it gained momentum on the page “The_Donald.” A new Reddit discussion thread called “Pizzagate” quickly attracted 20,000 subscribers.


Most troubling for Mr. Alefantis and staff has been the use of children’s images, pilfered from the restaurant’s social media pages and the personal accounts of friends who had “liked” Comet Ping Pong online. Those photos have been used across dozens of websites. Parents, who declined to talk publicly for fear of retribution, have hired lawyers to get the photos removed.

Musicians who have performed at Comet Ping Pong have been pulled in, too. Amanda Kleinman, whose band, Heavy Breathing, has performed there several times, deleted her Twitter account after the abusive comments became overwhelming. Similar comments have flooded her YouTube music clips.

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And if you really want to see how deep the rabbit hole of speculation goes, visit the subreddit mentioned in the article where people genuinely believe there is a conspiracy on the most epic scale involving every aspect of the government, law enforcement, Satanists, witchcraft, etc and suggestions of numerous legit private organizations all involved in child sex abuse.
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Man, this fake news plague is really getting serious. These are real people getting ****ed with for no good reason.
 
tiger roach said:
Man, this fake news plague is really getting serious. These are real people getting ****ed with for no good reason.
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oh....there's a reason....and it ain't good.
religious (christian) right wing take over everything. and with THIS admin. they might just get it.
 
jp_nyc said:
That’s why the religious right have worked so hard to create this situation. Defunding schools, creating their own extreme-right colleges and universities, going to war with science, allying with right-wing-radio; it’s all been to drive a wedge between rural America and liberalism. This is cult manipulation on a grand scale, training people to shun the other entire half of the nation. And most pundits still don’t get it. They’re saying that liberals need to use a different tone with rural America, but a healthy portion of rural America has been raised to believe liberals are amoral atheist agents of Satan.
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I'm a closer to the middle guy but I can't help but thinking when I read something like this that although the specific points may be different, it sounds exactly like the tactics of the far left. Both sides work very hard to drive a wedge making the assumption that their views are correct and everyone else's are wrong.

My personal view on it all is that the political element of it all, the "institution" if you will, has somehow gotten otherwise intelligent individuals and groups to buy in to their game. And now those same seeming intelligent people are having heated conversations and in some cases violent confrontations defending what they think is their belief system when in fact what they are defending is a political party who is profiting from their loyalty.

For example, I'm a fairly conservative southern guy who leans to the right if I were to apply a political label but fully believes our environment should be protected. I don't understand why we have to spend our time arguing over whether climate change exists but we should be able to understand that re-routing the natural flow of stormwater runoff to protect the sugar industry is destroying valuable and important ecosystems on the east and west coast of Florida, for example.

I wont list the many areas where my beliefs, and those of probably the majority of people cross party lines but the point is that the more we label ourselves with a D or an R, and the more we feel we need to retreat to the far end of the continuum, the more divided we will be. Not all R's are racists and not all D's are "amoral atheist agents of Satan." When my daughter grew up playing soccer I was always amazed at how normally rational people would turn into raving lunatics on a sideline. One of my best friends who was as kind and level as anyone I've met would lose his mind during a game. I would look at him like he was crazy and he would look enraged, then snap out of it an apologize. That is how I see politics now. We are getting sucked into the madness.

Look at us now. Everyone is arguing about the election results and how we are doomed because he won. And if it would have gone the other way we would have been talking about how doomed we are because she won, maybe without the safe spaces at colleges but you get the idea. The game has done it to us again. We can't stop pointing our fingers. The reality is, we are not going to revoke women's right to vote and deport everyone who doesn't look like me because he won. And if she would have won storm troopers would not have taken everyone's guns and we would not have become a Saudi state. We are going to be just fine.

But the problem is, through it all we have taken our eye off the ball. The system has us arguing like we are fighting about our sports teams. It's not rational. Personally, until we find a way to keep special interest from owning politicians we the people always lose. Maybe it is breaking the two party dominance. Maybe it is term limits. Maybe it is campaign finance reform. Or likely it is a combination of all that and more but we have to demand it. I'm guessing breaking down the parties is a good place to start. There is enough common ground that we should be able to figure this out. We all agree we shouldn't take each other's stuff and we shouldn't hurt each other for example. So lets talk about what we agree on so we can calm down enough to work on solutions to the things we don't. And I realize how naïve this all may sound and I realize that in this room I don't have a lot of folks sitting on my side of the isle but if not this than what? Do we keep arguing and making it all or nothing? Or do we understand there is enough pie to go around?

I think we also have to understand that waiting around for a President to save us is not only unrealistic but insane. And the farther we push away from each other on the political continuum, the more we will always get the worst they have to offer in candidates.
 
tiger roach said:
Man, this fake news plague is really getting serious. These are real people getting ****ed with for no good reason.
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When I was a kid, there was this farm down the road and the rumor was they had a UFO in the barn
So a bunch of us started doing surveillance on the barn and over a couple days we convinced ourselves that all the evidence was there. Eventually we infiltrated the property, eluded the highly trained guard dogs and elaborate security systesm & snuck into the barn.....only to find the usual shit a farmer keeps in a barn.
We wanted it to be true and we wanted an adventure so we saw connections and evidence where none existed.

Reading the "evidence" and blind speculation in that pizzagate sub, I see the same bunch of kids desperately trying to prove there is a UFO in a barn.
 
Johnny N. said:
We are going to be just fine.
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post-64231-this-is-fine-dog-fire-comic-Im-N7mp.png


To your point, I would have posted the same meme had Clinton won, but for completely different reasons.
 
Lerxst said:
When I was a kid, there was this farm down the road and the rumor was they had a UFO in the barn
So a bunch of us started doing surveillance on the barn and over a couple days we convinced ourselves that all the evidence was there. Eventually we infiltrated the property, eluded the highly trained guard dogs and elaborate security systesm & snuck into the barn.....only to find the usual shit a farmer keeps in a barn.
We wanted it to be true and we wanted an adventure so we saw connections and evidence where none existed.

Reading the "evidence" and blind speculation in that pizzagate sub, I see the same bunch of kids desperately trying to prove there is a UFO in a barn.
Click to expand...

 
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