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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I'm not going to watch the SOTU. Indeed, I refuse to watch Trump's speeches on television. I'll read summaries later, and if someone else shows footage in their news or comedy shows, I'll watch that, but it goes no farther.
Edited by Fighteer on Feb 4th 2019 at 9:47:59 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Same.
His blatant ignorance and cognitive deficit sickens me, I have no interest in forcing myself to visually acknowledge the fact that he of all people is leading the US.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangYeah, not like we will get a prime time Villainous Breakdown or some sort of confession. Best to wait for Noah, Oliver, etc to give play by plays.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.Colbert is live on Tuesday night, which will be fun.
Speaking of him, while he's truly entertaining, he's... nowhere near as informative as, say, Oliver or Noah.
Like, they're both entertainers first and informers second, but Colbert's show is sheer entertainment. Forgetting that is dangerous, especially since he puts way too much faith in Mueller that I find it genuinely worrisome.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.![]()
Colbert is an entertainer first, and though he is educated, he's not well-versed in economic theory and other important aspects of running a country, which is part of why his joke bid for President was not something I wanted to see succeed, regardless of how many people jumped on board.
He's what I put on every morning on YouTube to help me wake up, because I get a lot of laughs, but I turn to more serious sources like Maddow for the actual news analysis.
As for Noah and Oliver being more informative, it remains sad in our modern times that Comedy Central (and HBO, I guess) are better at conveying knowledge than full-time news networks.
Edited by Fighteer on Feb 4th 2019 at 10:39:58 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"I think of the comedic guys like them as filling in the role of The Jester, pointing out the ridiculousness more blatantly than would normally would be allowed, but that comes with the caveat that they aren't meant to be taken as serious news sources.
Well, they often do a better job than the news itself, so what does that say about the news?
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"I think it was a Cracked article that once said something to the effect of, "my parents' generation looks down upon mine for naming a comedian [John Stewart] our most trusted source of news. Conversely, my generation looks down upon our parents' generation for creating a world in which a comedian is our most trustworthy source of news."
And the main reason for this is the insistence of the news media on a doctrine of false neutrality and for maintaining a pretense that opinions about news are exactly as valid as the news itself. The media refuses to present facts as facts and state definitively when someone is lying. Rather, they present all points of view as contrasting opinions, leaving viewers uncertain as to what the truth is.
"Sam Scientist says the Sun rises in the east. Albert Asshole says the Sun rises in the west. Tell us what you think by tweeting with the hashtag #fuckscience."
They do this to avoid offending anyone, with the consequence that they train viewers to take offense at any point of view they don't agree with regardless of its truth value.
Edited by Fighteer on Feb 4th 2019 at 11:26:27 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed for call with Corbyn
That article is more substantive than its pithy headline would indicate, and please give more context for links so we can discuss them without having to read the whole thing.
Some observations:
- AOC spoke with Jeremy Corbyn (the leader of the UK Labour Party) and praised him; she was later notified that he is widely reviled for anti-Semitic views and said she would "look into that".
- AOC herself is under some pressure for supporting BDS
, a pro-Palestinian group.
- AOC has established a position challenging Israel's claim to the Palestinian territories, which marks her as something of a pariah given the massive pro-Israel bias of the U.S. political establishment.
Personally, I do not buy the line that any criticism of Israel is automatically anti-Semitic, especially given that nation's poor civil rights record, its highly conservative social and political policies, and its substantial political lobby that works very hard to ensure that it remains above criticism in the U.S.
That said, AOC is taking a dangerous position if she sides with politicians and groups known for hate speech and overt anti-Semitism.
Also, that publication is the "Jerusalem Post", so I have extreme doubts about its own neutrality in the matter.
If we are ever to have a rational debate about Israel, we have to stop politically assassinating anyone who dares criticize them in the tiniest amount.
Edited by Fighteer on Feb 4th 2019 at 11:50:36 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
I have to admit that this is probably the first time I've seen Corbyn being accused of having "a long documented history" of antisemitism.
While I heard about Labour having some issues with antisemitism among their members, there's also been a long-standing tradition of painting anyone who doesn't play ball with Israel (read: Bibi's government) as an antisemite, including Jews critical of Israeli policies.
Which really muddies the water.
Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Feb 4th 2019 at 5:49:56 PM
We learn from history that we do not learn from historyCorbyn is anti-immigrant and pro-Brexit? Well, maybe with a fair amount of spin you could say that...
Jeremy Corbyn has been subject to controversy for a while about alleged antisemitism. I haven't been digging deep into the matter but it has a strong air of manufactroversy on it (and if you believe the tinfoil hatters, of Israeli government propaganda).
Edited by SeptimusHeap on Feb 4th 2019 at 5:50:47 PM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanThat's what I'm saying. The source of the article and its tone give it such a blatant bias that I am loath to trust any factual statements made therein.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"![]()
Corbyn being pro-Brexit is hardly much of a spin, the far-left has been heavily eurosceptic so it wouldn't surprise me if he only half-heartedly supports Remain.
Furthermore, I don't think you should dismiss the possibility of anti-semitism in such a cavalier manner. The far-left is hardly immune to it.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Feb 4th 2019 at 11:55:02 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangExactly. The pro-Israel lobby is desperate to paint anyone who expresses the least dissatisfaction or disagreement with it as anti-Semitic, and so I refuse to trust any claims it makes. It's poisoned its own well so successfully that it might as well be a disinformation machine at this point.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Yeah...I am NOT a fan of Corbyn, but for one, his Brexit stance is controversial because he keeps sitting on the fence in that matter and two, the whole anti-Semitism debate in the Labour party is less related to him being a raging Semitist and more to Labour having trouble to draw a clear line between "criticising the state Israel for its actions" and playing into the hands of actual Anti-Semitist. It also gets completely overblown by the British press because Murdoch really likes to smear Labour in general and the left wing of Labour specifically.
Hey, maybe she was able to give him a tip how to handle bad press in a more assertive manner.
Reading that link the group she has supported had a chant that said "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".
That's rather clearly calling for the destruction of Israel, which would result in massive amounts of suffering for the Jewish people there. Supporting ethnic cleansing is not a good thing and is fairly strong evidence of anti-semitism.
I don't think she echoes their prejudice but I think her concern for the Palestinian people has clouded her judgement.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Feb 4th 2019 at 12:00:20 PM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangI think you want to say "you shouldn't" but in this case I am unpersuaded. Too much of this is "some people believe Corbyn is antisemitic" or "this move is against the wishes of the Israeli government" and too little is about Jews or a stand-in euphemism to qualify as antisemitism. I mean, with Iran's former president Ahmadinejad (sp?) we've had Holocaust denial (for example), George Soros's critics are quick to spin tinfoil hattery that has more than a passing resemblance to "Jewish Globalists" conspiracy theories and the Nazis had the Nuremberg Laws and explicitly Jew-targeted policies to prove that they are antisemitic; there is not enough here.
Also, since Rashida Tlaib has been elected and a number of Democratic politicians are becoming more critical of the current Israeli government Republicans have discovered "antisemitism" as a new attack line. Sometimes it may be legit, but I'd be suspicious.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman![]()
I think that's a stretch. If Palestine wants self-governance and independence as a nation, that's entirely within its people's rights to call for. The problem is that such a solution is widely considered to be incompatible with Israel's own security and independence, and we have yet to work out a resolution to this problem.
Edit: Also, we have an Israel and Palestine topic
. What matters for this topic is the impact on Ocasio-Cortez. Frankly, I doubt that the Jerusalem Post is read by a large enough number of U.S. voters to make a difference in any election.
Edited by Fighteer on Feb 4th 2019 at 12:17:21 PM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"That's fair, I posted there instead.
And yes, I agree that I highly doubt that will amount to anything.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang

So, who's ready for Trump to pretend to be presidential for an hour tomorrow? At least this time the media largely won't expect it to stick (what with him going on immigration rants not 48 hours beforehand) and act like its some sort of great turning point.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.