Facebook Follies of Friends and Families

[Razgovory]

I generally presume that all memes are lies. Even the ones that say nothing untrue are still intending to communicate something that is manipulative.

It's kinda interesting that propaganda has made such a big comeback.  I honestly thought we had grown too sophisticated for that sort of thing.

[Syt]

[Valmy]

What a weirdly left wing thing for your family to post 

'The government doesn't spend enough on entitlements and way too much on prisons!'

[Syt]

You have this wrong: entitlements are always bad, if they're not getting them.

[Valmy]

You have this wrong: entitlements are always bad, if they're not getting them.

I do see weird right wing propaganda ads sometimes that say things like 'Democrats are opposed to Seniors getting big checks from the government! Take advantage of this special program to get big government checks!'

I was glad to see my party taking such a bold step against out of control entitlements

[DGuller]

I think Facebook should deploy their scientists to develop a "stupid index".  Anytime you post a stupid meme or a fake news article, your stupid points go up.  Any time you reply with the appropriate Snopes link to some stupid shit, your stupid index goes down.  Those who reach a certain threshold of stupidity would be asked to switch to Twitter.

[Valmy]

I have been informed that Snopes is liberal propaganda so I cannot use that anymore.

[derspiess]

Good man.

[Valmy]

Good man.

I mean I use it, I just cannot use it as a source we can agree upon as a common ground to have a discussion.

Which basically leaves me with jack shit. Therefore there is no reason to have any discussions since there is no common basis of agreement to start from.

[grumbler]

Good man.

I mean I use it, I just cannot use it as a source we can agree upon as a common ground to have a discussion.

Which basically leaves me with jack shit. Therefore there is no reason to have any discussions since there is no common basis of agreement to start from.

There's really no reason to even attempt discussions with most Republicans, since discussions revolve around claims and the evidence for them, and most Republicans feel that claims themselves are evidence - "it if wasn't true, [insert Trump or Republican spokesman here] wouldn't have said it."  Those who've stuck with the Republican Party in spite of Trump, Cruz, et al don't care about reality.  They only care about feelz.

[Malthus]

There is an interesting study or essay to be written about this one topic: our society has seen so many advances specifically due to embracing the power of determining objective truth despite prejudice and self-interest (for example, through the scientific method); so how and why did so many people turn their backs on the very process that has such demonstrated success?

An example that transcends the current shitstorm of partisan politics is the anti-vaxxer business. This seems to be something that idiots on the left and right can both embrace.

Vaccination is perhaps the single most important medical advance ever made, in terms of numbers of lives saved. I have read that not even antbiotics have had a greater impact, as childhood diseases not prevented by vaccines used to kill a significant proportion of the population. It is heartrending to walk through 19th century cemeteries and see all of the infant graves, one after the other, from the same family. Yet a significant proportion of the population, it appears, simply wants to believe vaccination is actively harmful.

[Razgovory]

There is an interesting study or essay to be written about this one topic: our society has seen so many advances specifically due to embracing the power of determining objective truth despite prejudice and self-interest (for example, through the scientific method); so how and why did so many people turn their backs on the very process that has such demonstrated success?

An example that transcends the current shitstorm of partisan politics is the anti-vaxxer business. This seems to be something that idiots on the left and right can both embrace.

Vaccination is perhaps the single most important medical advance ever made, in terms of numbers of lives saved. I have read that not even antbiotics have had a greater impact, as childhood diseases not prevented by vaccines used to kill a significant proportion of the population. It is heartrending to walk through 19th century cemeteries and see all of the infant graves, one after the other, from the same family. Yet a significant proportion of the population, it appears, simply wants to believe vaccination is actively harmful.

I think there is major rebellion going on.  A rebellion against expertise.  People resent being told what is true and what is not.

[The Brain]

More to the point they want to inflict misery on others (and obviously themselves but who cares).

[Tamas]

I think ultimately all upheavals, justified or unjustified in a moral/historic sense come about due to economic reasons. People like all lifeforms play it safe and there needs to be a feeling, at least subconscious, that upsetting the current order of things cannot risk what they have. If they think they can have it better in the new order it's much better of course.

You get that with a critical mass of people and you either get trouble or glorious revolutions depending on who gets to write the history books.

[derspiess]

Good man.

I mean I use it, I just cannot use it as a source we can agree upon as a common ground to have a discussion.

Which basically leaves me with jack shit. Therefore there is no reason to have any discussions since there is no common basis of agreement to start from.

I use it quite a bit myself.  I have to take it with a grain of salt sometimes, because occasionally there is a political slant.