potpie

Trumpism is a cult. Plain and simple. This is cult behavior.

I realize that’s very dismissive, but in this case I think that’s a good thing. You could spend years debunking their every claim, anti-fact, and bad faith argument–and there’s a time and a place for those discussions–but there’s no need to burden your mind with the mountain of their nonsense. You don’t have to read the whole Time Cube page to determine that its author isn’t worth listening to for astrophysical insights.

Woah there chief! Lemme tell everyone a little story…

Back when I was on Reddit, I followed any and all Trump news (and especially Jan 6 investigation news) on an unhealthily regular basis. These kinds of Eeyore comments were extremely common and usually voted up to pepper through the top ⅓ of all the ‘best’ comments. It got so bad that some subreddits explicitly banned them, though it didn’t really end the practice.

Then Russia invaded Ukraine. All the disparaging comments ceased immediately. The frequency absolutely fell off a cliff, because all those comments were being served up to us by Russian bots. Russia wants nothing more than to further destabilize the US as well as any other democratic institution.

I’m not saying this comment right here is a Russian bot, but it’s definitely doing a Russian bot’s job by trying to undermine any confidence we might have in the concepts of justice or democracy.

Where there’s smoke, there’s… mirrors.

Dude was compromised by Borat. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on a street corner holding a cardboard sign that says, “will do treason for Scotch.”

Coffee salute!

Really? How is this cringe meme of a comment still a thing? Get the wheels off your goalposts.

Ah yes just like the “perjury trap” we heard about so many aeons ago… The kind of trap where you just get called on your bullshit and then… then that’s it. That’s the trap.

Pay billions for a userbase, then drive away the ones that aren’t Nazis or bots.

Bear shits in woods. More at 11.

Even worse, just making money isn’t enough: you also have to become a fucking global monopoly.

That is by far the most likely scenario. Hell it’s already happening with the AI we do have. Teslas driving into walls, facial recognition mistaking an innocent person for a criminal (mentioned in the article).

Doomsday science fiction is fun to toy with but it usually involves a lot of hand waving.

…by failing they mean “isn’t making money for rich people”.

That’s exactly it. Mastodon won’t live or die by how well it can compete with Birdsite. After making the switch I see that it’s all I wanted from microblogging as a practice.

Gonna get real interesting when an angry mob calls the cops on a homely woman trying to use the women’s restroom.

Grievance studies (Critical race theory, queer theory, and other ideologies based in post modern belief systems), for instance, are eroding many useful and productive enlightenment ideas.

Have you studied any of these yourself? Or are you relying on characterizations of them you heard in media?

Color blindness is a legitimate way to reduce racism.

In theory, sure. But in practice it often gets used as a rug to sweep racism under.

Instead, leftists believe they should elevate group identity at all costs, thereby expanding and heightening racism.

Keep on mind this is a society where certain groups have been marginalized and terrorized for decades or even centuries. “Elevating” them is only a reaction to that long-entrenched bigotry. But (what’s that quote?..) when you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression. Attempting to bring historically marginalized groups into equal footing with mainstream groups probably will look like they’re being “elevated” to the people who enjoy the privilege of being accepted broadly by default.

Not… So… Fast… We shall counter with our ad blocker blocker blocker blockers!

That’s a really good point. Use the AI to bridge gaps and for short segments. Probably a good way to get around some writer’s block.

That’s a really good point. Use the AI to bridge gaps and for short segments. Probably a good way to get around some writer’s block.

My guess is: adventurous readers who are intrigued by a small snippet, then figure it out on page 2 after they’ve bought it already.

Me at 11pm: why on earth would I watch a long video deep diving into obsolete incandescent headlights?

Me at 7am: hey did you know that headlights used to be so standard you could just drop in a generic replacement and…

Perhaps it’s not an outright positive/negative moral action, but I’d call it a moral action in the same way the trolley problem is.