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Infrastructure costs are way too expensive in the US, in order to have a large networks of passenger trains you need to be able to build such a system affordably and quickly, but unfortunately that doesn't seem like it's going to occur any time soon. An example of this is the new gateway project that was just announced recently in NY. Costs have ballooned to be more than $16 billion dollars and the project will take more than a decade to build. In NYC just maintaining the aging subway system is a monumental task seemingly far beyond the expertise of the MTA. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/nyregion/gateway-tunnel-amtrak-hudson-river.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_Program_(Northeast_Corridor)
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Nov 5, 2023 05:16
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Xiahou Dun posted:Sure but it’s not like the US has a magic field that makes infrastructure expensive. One of the "magic fields" that keeps infrastructure costs prohibitively high in the US is the fact that city, state, and federal agencies usually rely on extremely expensive outside consulting firms to design and plan infrastructure projects, instead of relying on in-house expertise. This is one of the major reasons why relatively poorer cities like Barcelona or nations like Morocco have utterly surpassed the US in train infrastructure- they rely their own talent and not consultants for their infrastructure designs, so their costs don't explode out of control and constant delays. The pace of infrastructure construction in this country is pitifully slow as a result of this. quote:Morocco now has Africa's fastest trains, 300km/h (186mph) Al Boraq high-speed trains based on France's TGV, linking Tangier, Rabat & Casablanca every hour over a new high-speed line. Classic trains link Tangier & Casablanca with Meknes, Fes & Marrakech. The fastest train in the richest most advanced nation in the history of the world (Amtrak Acela) can barely travel at 150 MPH and only links like half a dozen cities in the East Coast. haveblue posted:Of course we could have gotten started on it a decade earlier and been near completion now if Chris Christie hadn’t canceled the first version for conservative points You seem to be confusing the ARC project with the Gateway project. It also bears repeating that pedestrian deaths and injuries from automobiles have hit a record high in recent decades and this trend doesn't seem to be slowing down, so the reliance on automobiles in the US is not just bad for the environment but also bad for everyone that doesn't drive. Americans driving fast and heavy electric SUVs is not going to make this any better. 
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Nov 5, 2023 05:51
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Acebuckeye13 posted:Here's the problem: Are they actually stupid, on an individual basis? Because in this realm, I don't think they are. Making public transit lovely is a deliberate choice that we make and it only serves the owners of car dealerships and fossil fuel companies at the expense of literally everyone else and the environment. In places like NYC the majority of people don’t even need to own a car because transit is convenient and much more affordable than a car payment, insurance, gas money, and parking. Other industrialized nations invest in public transit so their levels of car ownership are not as high, and they have much healthier lives as a result. There is an interesting psychological phenomenon called motor normativity that can help explain why people who use cars literally have their brains rewired to ignore the negative externalities that stem from car dependency. https://twitter.com/TheWarOnCars/status/1620405536843010048 BUUNNI fucked around with this message at 07:17 on Nov 5, 2023 |
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Nov 5, 2023 07:14
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Acebuckeye13 posted:on the other hand, I've never had to deal with someone pooping in my car. Not the case in my experience with the New York Subway! This isn’t a universal human problem, it’s a problem with your country’s culture. . BUUNNI fucked around with this message at 11:34 on Nov 5, 2023 |
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Nov 5, 2023 11:32
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Gyges posted:Especially since we're continuing to see population concentration from rural to established urban/suburban areas. I would love to see what data you extrapolated this from. As far I remember the opposite is true, the cities with the biggest pop. increases are mostly in the south and are certainly not what any reasonable person would consider an “established urban area” quote:Following the population increase of 14.4% in Georgetown, Texas, was Santa Cruz, California, with a 12.5% increase, adding roughly 7,000 people to its population. The next three fastest-growing cities were also in Texas — Kyle, Leander, and Little Elm. Also there are no fighter jets that cost hundreds of trillions of dollars as far as I know.
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Nov 5, 2023 12:15
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Ms Adequate posted:
you need to have an army of people that have to know how to plan, design and build and won’t simply leave to work at a consulting company that offers 2x the salary. The issue isn’t materials or land, it’s knowledge.
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Nov 5, 2023 15:23
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:Just fyi the idea that Europe is train heaven is overblown. I think it’s obvious that vanishingly few countries are going to have trains be the main and only method of transport but in Europe car ownership rates are a tiny fraction of what they are here in the US, cars are not as colossally huge and expensive as they are in the US, and relative to the US Europe’s passenger and commuter rail networks leave the our clunky and aging infrastructure behind in the dust.
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Nov 5, 2023 15:39
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Mid-Life Crisis posted:Polling is meant to influence the elections. People want to vote for winners If this is true then why did Donald Trump win the 2016 election
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Nov 7, 2023 14:22
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The Lone Badger posted:We're headed for the comedy universe where Trump is president but the dems hold both the House and the Senate. Wasn’t this setup what got us things like expanded child care tax credit, student loan pause, thousands of dollars in cash to every working adult, and a ton of other progressive poo poo? I kinda doubt Americans are stupid or forgetful enough to ignore the fact that the Dems were constantly talking about things like DC/PR statehood, reparations, green new deal, and lots of big sweeping changes when the last guy was sitting in the Oval Office. Since Biden was elected none of those things were ever mentioned again 
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Nov 8, 2023 05:21
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CapnAndy posted:No no, Trump is the real progressive and Manchin and Sinema didn't have unlimited veto power for the first two years, it's an extremely intelligent analysis No, Trump is a bumbling authoritarian fool but he was the president when Americans got all that amazing free government stuff that would be unthinkable just a few years before. Zoph posted:Pretty sure the Republicans would rather commit suicide en masse than run on any of these things. They’re not going to run on it, their voter base consists mostly of hateful small business owners, car dealership scions, and assorted proud-boy types that recoil in horror at the kind of stuff Dems talk about whenever Trump was in charge. FCKGW posted:It's true Biden has never mentioned student loans once his entire time in office Yea but ultimately what people will likely remember is how helpful it was to have the loans put on pause while and how lovely it was to see them restart and who was in charge while both those things happened. BUUNNI fucked around with this message at 05:36 on Nov 8, 2023 |
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Nov 8, 2023 05:33
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killer_robot posted:You forgot the killer virus that was offing people by the millions. I don’t think the virus went anywhere though 
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Nov 8, 2023 05:38
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Killer robot posted:Somehow I seriously doubt many people who have been bombarded with four years of "Biden wants to forgive those freeloaders' loans, STOP HIM!" with updates on how conservative courts and Republican officials fight the ongoing forgiveness and payment reform are going to go in on Election Day and think, "Yeah, that Biden guy is to blame for this!" Barring those who just want to rehabilitate Trump, there's always plenty of "Vote R to save your Social Security and Medicare!" stuff. I think at a deeper level people who are affected by this or know someone who is affected will also recall that there was a prolonged pause for all student debtors, no matter what amount they owed, versus what debtors ended up (not) getting later, which was iirc like $10k max. Also I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to rehabilitate someone like Trump, fwiw. Anyway there seems to be a student loan thread so my apologies for this derail.
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Nov 8, 2023 05:59
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Main Paineframe posted:I don't think the Dems were constantly talking about reparations or a Green New Deal. In fact, I believe the latter was a proposal by a single House Dem. GND wasn’t just AOC though, since Markey is a Democrat iirc. As for the reparations question, it definitely was in the forefront of every debate. Even the horrid US media reported it as such. quote:Openly talking about reparations for the descendants of enslaved men and women is a notable shift for Democrats Seems like Rep. Cori Bush was making some noise in this front but noticeably absent was the same clamor that every presidential candidate in the 2020 elections brought to the issue. I mean I guess it’s nice to have reps like AOC and Cori Bush still bringing attention to these bills but it’s kind of sad that’s evidently all there ever will be. Gyges posted:I think looking at popularity numbers between the two needs an asterisk. People, generally, don't like Biden like they don't like Little Caesars. Not their first choice, and they're not psyched about it, but they might eat a slice of they're hungry. Meanwhile Trump is concentrated Durian Fruit. Some people love it, but the vast majority will flip the gently caress out of you bring that poo poo around. is durian fruit supposed to be bad or something? It’s literally called the King of Fruits for a reason! koolkal posted:https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1722105016415342702 Been hearing about Pat Ryan and tried to see what his deal was and yep… makes sense he’d do something like this… quote:Pat Ryan (D) BUUNNI fucked around with this message at 11:58 on Nov 8, 2023 |
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Nov 8, 2023 11:48
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Main Paineframe posted:According to this article, the "clamor that every presidential candidate in the 2020 elections brought to the issue" was really just Williamson saying she supported reparations, Bernie saying he didn't support reparations, and a couple of the no-hopers saying they supported the idea of potentially being open to maybe being willing to sign a bill that puts together a research committee to study the issue of reparations. Not sure why you think there's anything special about the media reporting on that. You're absolutely correct that those dates match the time period that they were talking about it, because Trump was in office during this period and they actually had to make an effort to highlight the differences between them and the GOP. They knew what was at stake and had no issue bringing these ideas to the forefront of the debate. I guess time will tell whether the president or any of his subordinates or really anyone else that has a D next to their name keeps loudly pushing for DC/PR statehood, reparations, the GND, and all the other progressive things that they were openly debating when it seemed like we were about to get another 4 years of Trump. There WAS a period of time where the Dems felt comfortable highlighting the atrocities of the Trump administration while pushing for amazingly progressive ideas that unfortunately got shut out the second the Dems secured their control of the three branches of government. If you're going to claim that actually reparations were never seriously being discussed then that's a different argument entirely. Dapper_Swindler posted:good point. my view is the moms for liberty poo poo worked when you could point to some sex filled teen book Isn't this literally the exact framing those religious book burners use as an excuse to ban books? BUUNNI fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Nov 8, 2023 |
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Nov 8, 2023 16:43
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I don't think "teen books" are actually filled with vivd sex descriptions is what I'm saying.
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Nov 8, 2023 16:53
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Dapper_Swindler posted:sure no poo poo. but boring moderates and non political people don't know that. its way easier to spin that kinda imaginary poo poo then "actually ruby bridges made me i mean my child who i totaly have cry, ban it". I'm trying to follow what you're saying but I'm having a hard time parsing your writing, your post just made it seem like the "teen books" were actually filled with sex descriptions.
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Nov 8, 2023 17:06
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Main Paineframe posted:Was Trump not in office during fall 2019 or spring 2020? I'm not sure if you misinterpreted my post, but to be clear, reparations were only in the news cycle for a couple of brief periods during the 2020 primaries, and had completely dropped out of the primary field by August 2019, I’m not following your math here, how can you claim that reparations was a topic that the Dems were pushing in 2020 then go on to state that they had completely dropped the subject in 2019? Can you clarify what exactly you’re arguing, other than this weird claim that the time frame doesn’t matter because Trump was in office?
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Nov 8, 2023 18:58
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PeterWeller posted:The Democrats did not secure control of the three branches of government. You're right, I meant control of the executive and the two chambers of congress, not control of the three branches of government, since evidently the judicial will never be under anything except far-right control Vahakyla posted:How is this a ”yep” when way more ex-army officers and rangers and fighter pilots voted no to censure? Was referring to this heck of a doozy: https://twitter.com/PalantirTech/status/1712248580558246065 BUUNNI fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Nov 8, 2023 |
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Nov 8, 2023 19:51
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Main Paineframe posted:Ah, I think I see the disconnect here. The 2020 election cycle doesn't just take place in 2020, it goes from Jan 2019-Nov 2020. Even the article you posted was from mid-2019. Again, I'm referring to the debates and not individual reps introducing bills purely for show that ended up nowhere.
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Nov 8, 2023 20:34
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Main Paineframe posted:It came up in the debates because individual reps introduced bills, although we'll have to agree to disagree about whether they were "purely for show" and "ended up nowhere". Looking forward to having lively primary debates next election cycle, since I’m super interested in seeing whether the Dem presidential candidates support basic progressive policies like reparations and DC/PR statehood.
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Nov 8, 2023 21:46
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zoux posted:Not if they're telling you obviously wrong things like Trump is going to outperform fivefold every Republican candidate in history among black voters . “More than 1/3 of the fascists selected and funded by M4L were victorious” doesn’t sound awesome tbh
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Nov 10, 2023 03:01
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Combed Thunderclap posted:I know these all feel very fresh right now but I just can't but help but think you're overestimating the average November 2024 Georgia/Michigan voter's knowledge of national child poverty statistics, feelings about only receiving $1,400 in March 2021, levels of resentment about making loan payments capped at 5% of their discretionary income with an exemption for all income below 225% of the poverty line and 0% monthly interest, and memory about something that happened a year ago somewhere overseas (to reflect the average level of knowledge of an American about anything happening on another continent, apologies in advance). There was a famous line that a guy who was able to win the presidency by focusing on economic issues used to say as a mantra. “It’s the economy, stupid”. There’s no need to get so granular about the economic variables that are too complex for the average American citizen. Just look at how the majority of the population feels about the economy when polled. Americans are not happy. BUUNNI fucked around with this message at 04:09 on Nov 10, 2023 |
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Nov 10, 2023 03:48
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I don’t think union members will matter electorally as much as people think they will. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to see an octogenarian conservative white guy putting on a UAW jacket for a photo op but union membership rates still are nowhere close to the numbers the US used to have just a few decades ago. I think we’re roughly back to where we were in 2020.  
BUUNNI fucked around with this message at 13:02 on Nov 10, 2023 |
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Nov 10, 2023 12:53
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socialsecurity posted:It matters in Michigan which was the area being discussed. And it's more relevant then some outlier poll a year out. The lowest union membership rates in MI ever measured by the BLS were in 2021 and have increased less than a percentage point since then. But if you have more up to date data it would be very helpful. https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/news-release/unionmembership_michigan.htm
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Nov 10, 2023 13:21
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socialsecurity posted:Doesn't mean they aren't a solid motivated voting block in a very close state. What do you think peoples point here is that Union voters are the sole factor or something? Who’s saying anything about the motivation levels of individual union members who vote? The data simply points to the declining role of unions in the US political landscape that has been occurring for decades, in MI and in the rest of the country. The good news is the latest data shows a slight increase in union members in the last couple of years. Time will tell if the US returns to the historical union membership rates we saw before both parties decided neoliberalism was the way to go. BUUNNI fucked around with this message at 13:31 on Nov 10, 2023 |
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Nov 10, 2023 13:29
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The Artificial Kid posted:That’s a pretty disingenuous y axis. In just 23 years union membership has plummeted from a stratospheric 16.3 million to a near-zero level of 14.3 million. If this trend continues (instead of the current rising trend) unions will be extinct in only 140 years. That’s why I posted the second graph showing the same trend for the past 40+ years
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Nov 10, 2023 22:24
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I had no idea the Eric Adams poo poo went this deep https://twitter.com/JCColtin/status/1721728789728637070
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Nov 11, 2023 05:54
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James Garfield posted:I mean if you're just trying to get catharsis by yelling at someone you can yell at your representative, that's okay. If you want to change their mind about policy you should use techniques that sometimes work to change people's minds. Like giving them huge donations to their campaigns using your Super PAC!
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Nov 11, 2023 13:06
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Raenir Salazar posted:It's a bit more complicated then that because of how polarized US politics is, that the Israeli lobbying is disproportionately effective. See for example what went on under Obama where Bibi was interfering a lot in domestic US affairs and relations between Obama and Bibi were very cold. I don’t think it’s accurate to say that the major US political parties are polarized on the issue of military aid to Israel, or to any other regime that we support for that matter BUUNNI fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Nov 11, 2023 |
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Nov 11, 2023 17:52
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Raenir Salazar posted:Sure they are, its a zero sum game where whichever party is less "strong" on issues regarding Israel and supporting them are hurt more electorally. If Dems were much more dominant, Israeli lobbying would be much less effective. They are not polarized at all, both parties evidently on board with Palestinian genocide. Unless you’re claiming that Joe “If Israel didn’t exist the US would invent it” Biden and his party are actually secretly pro-Palestinian. I’m not saying the entirety of the Dems are as Zionist as Biden and his ilk but both parties largely agree in funding Israel’s war machine. And Israel’s not the only problematic military that the US funds, unfortunately. BUUNNI fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Nov 11, 2023 |
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Nov 11, 2023 19:55
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Nenonen posted:Especially when POTUS is the chief in command, The what now?
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Nov 12, 2023 13:52
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The whole lack of meaningful healthcare for expectant mothers also impacts people of color way more than white people. quote:
Just another one of those things that when you break it down by the racial groups you begin to realize it’s much worse for everyone who isn’t white. The way the US functions particularly in relation to healthcare outcomes just isn’t sustainable. And we still pay way more for our lovely healthcare than other industrialized nations. Doesn’t seem like anything is going to change anytime soon.
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Nov 15, 2023 23:17
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Misunderstood posted:
I do wonder how much of the reduced healthcare spending stat is due to the massive drop in life expectancy in the United States in the past few years.  Besides the horrid maternal mortality rates plus our drop in life expectancy and increased median age definitely make the US an outlier in industrialized nations. Again, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to change anytime soon since both parties largely support the status quo.  I’m sure the more recent maternal mortality rates are much much worse.
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Nov 16, 2023 06:08
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Tiny Timbs posted:It’s really not that hard to throw a couple bucks at the “influencer” crowd to do a quick video for you: https://www.vice.com/en/article/epxken/russian-tiktok-influencers-paid-propaganda This works both ways though, as the Biden/Harris campaign also uses social media influencers to spread US propaganda and sway young people into voting for them. quote:Biden's digital strategy team will connect with influencers across the nation to target those who may not follow the White House or Democratic Party on social media — or who have tuned out mainstream media altogether. Were people despairing this much when they saw the amount and intensity of social media propaganda when the current administration did it or is it bad only when other countries do it?
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Nov 16, 2023 13:27
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My bad, I forgot US hegemony isn’t bad for everyone involved
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Nov 16, 2023 13:47
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small butter posted:Good, honest information is freely available and has been freely available for everyone for a long time now. It's a problem when kids say their eyes have been opened by an anti-Semitic screed. I think that media literacy has gotten very poor amongst everyone, but especially younger people. Did the generations that supported the Global War on Terrorism have more or less media literacy than the Zoomers?
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Nov 16, 2023 16:20
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zoux posted:Everyone has less media literacy now because the methods of influence have become so ubiquitous and sources of information so plentiful that it's very, very difficult to discriminate between signal and noise, even for the very media savvy. Your average 19 year old has no loving chance. If everyone has less media literacy now then it follows that older generations have much less of it since they have spent more time being subjected to government propaganda and foreign agents in legacy and social media.
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Nov 16, 2023 16:50
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zoux posted:I understand, and where we disagree is the "and then go turn on CNN" part. My contention, based on the significant number of under-30s that get their news only from social media, is that they don't go turn on CNN to see the lies. That's why I don't see the two issues as related. Pretty sure CNN uses TikTok to promote their content. Looks like they have literally millions of followers too. https://www.tiktok.com/@cnn?lang=en#:~:text=CNN%20(%40cnn)%20Official%20%7C%20TikTok
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Nov 16, 2023 17:27
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small butter posted:Can you give me an example of the "media lyting to them" about what I assume is the Israel-Palestinian conflict? I didn't pay attention much to the media when I was a kid in the early 2000s, but I see a generally even-handed approach to the conflict in non-far-right media right now. You could start by analyzing the kind of media your socialist brother consumes. You say he’s a “widely read leftist” so what kind of books is he reading?
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Nov 16, 2023 17:41
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Baronash posted:If someone’s exposure to a particular news source is 1 minute snippets created by whoever happens to pop up in their feed, then they are in no way in a position to be assessing the credibility of those sources. What a bizarre argument. 1-minute snippets aren’t what creators want, it’s what consumers choose. Forcing social media creators and consumers to abide by stringent regulations that control the size and content of the media products they consume would be what authoritarian nations like Cuba do. BUUNNI fucked around with this message at 17:57 on Nov 16, 2023 |
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Nov 16, 2023 17:54
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