2024

[Shirley]

It’s lie-laundering. Randy is not the original liar. He’s just one of the army of suckers that launder and legitimize the lies.

"But I heard it from a bunch of people so it must be true" was the beginning of this cycle. As the BS propaganda began to expand and every rube on the planet hit Share/Repost on Facebook/Twitter, all it took for people like Randy to believe it was to see that someone else like him believed it.

And of course this is straight down the fairway of what the Russian troll farms DO. This was a core part of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election - and the success of this play likely surprised even them.

^^^

Russians, like many of us, were no-doubt amazed at how susceptible "real" Americans were to propaganda that had little to no relationship with reality.

[ousdahl]

Serious question:

How would Biden fare in a debate against Cornel West?

[jfish26]

Serious question:

How would Biden fare in a debate against Cornel West?

Poorly? Because it’s an unfair fight: Biden has to give responsible answers, and West doesn’t.

[jhawks99]

Groundhog day again

Is that CGI/AI?

[mjl2]

Yep, populists these days "win" debates over pragmatists, especially if the audience is allowed to cheer

[mjl2]

Groundhog day again

Is that CGI/AI?

I like this version better, has the community notes

[Shirley]

Yep, populists these days "win" debates over pragmatists, especially if the audience is allowed to cheer

^^^

Despite their deserved blame for having a liberal bias, facts and reality can nonetheless be a heavy load.

[jfish26]

It’s like arguing with a toddler; you might be right, but you’ll never win. A quote from WarGames comes to mind…

[ousdahl]

Serious question:

How would Biden fare in a debate against Cornel West?

Poorly? Because it’s an unfair fight: Biden has to give responsible answers, and West doesn’t.

Yep, populists these days "win" debates over pragmatists, especially if the audience is allowed to cheer

These two statements may or may not be contradictory

Among other thoughts…

[jfish26]

They’re not contradictory at all.

[twocoach]

It’s lie-laundering. Randy is not the original liar. He’s just one of the army of suckers that launder and legitimize the lies.

"But I heard it from a bunch of people so it must be true" was the beginning of this cycle. As the BS propaganda began to expand and every rube on the planet hit Share/Repost on Facebook/Twitter, all it took for people like Randy to believe it was to see that someone else like him believed it.

And of course this is straight down the fairway of what the Russian troll farms DO. This was a core part of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election - and the success of this play likely surprised even them.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/0 ... -election/

"In the run-up to the 2020 election, the most highly contested in US history, Facebook’s most popular pages for Christian and Black American content were being run by Eastern European troll farms. These pages were part of a larger network that collectively reached nearly half of all Americans, according to an internal company report, and achieved that reach not through user choice but primarily as a result of Facebook’s own platform design and engagement-hungry algorithm.
...
Their content was reaching 140 million US users per month—75% of whom had never followed any of the pages. They were seeing the content because Facebook’s content-recommendation system had pushed it into their news feeds."

[KUTradition]

fake news

[twocoach]

fake news

Followed by "I never use social media"

[randylahey]

[ousdahl]

They’re not contradictory at all.

Please help me understand.

In this Biden/West scenario, who’s the populist and who’s the pragmatist?

[jfish26]

They’re not contradictory at all.

Please help me understand.

In this Biden/West scenario, who’s the populist and who’s the pragmatist?

I think mjl wasn't intending to label either of those, either of those. I think he (?) was agreeing with my point that, in a debate between a serious candidate and an unserious chaos agent, the unserious chaos agent has a massive inherent advantage.

[KUTradition]

[mjl2]

They’re not contradictory at all.

Please help me understand.

In this Biden/West scenario, who’s the populist and who’s the pragmatist?

I think mjl wasn't intending to label either of those, either of those. I think he (?) was agreeing with my point that, in a debate between a serious candidate and an unserious chaos agent, the unserious chaos agent has a massive inherent advantage.

Yes

[ousdahl]

The fact an “unserious chaos agent,” to use your term, could have any advantage at all, might be quite the commentary on just how unappealing the “serious candidate” (and establishment politics at-large) has become.

Heaven forbid, some third party candidate offers some platform that might actually appeal to some voters.

But, if Biden looses, rather than even consider taking any look in the mirror, dems will be poised to just scapegoat West instead.

[KUTradition]

i doubt West makes it to election day