TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

The General US Politics Thread

Go To

Nov 2023 Mod notice:


There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.

If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines before posting here.

Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.

If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules when posting here.


In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.

Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#120651: Apr 30th 2016 at 10:14:58 PM

[up]I remember people here saying that hysteria over that is mostly hyperbole. Why is that again?

Edit: Stupid pagetopper.

edited 30th Apr '16 10:15:33 PM by LSBK

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#120652: Apr 30th 2016 at 10:23:32 PM

Because it wouldn't literally kill the internet like a lot of people were saying. There were a lot of restrictions, something about letting companies do "premium services" that would choke out smaller media outlets unable to pay, etc. I think there was a worry that copyright was involved in such a way as to make it illegal to make fanworks, which I very much doubt would have ever happened. There's no money in prosecuting AO 3 and the like since no one makes money off of that shit. Youtube is where all the stupid copyright stuff happens because people are trying to make money there.

But it wouldn't literally destroy the internet, and people just jumped to the most extreme end and thus hyperbole.

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#120653: May 1st 2016 at 1:46:17 AM

Technically, fanworks which are derivative works are already a form of copyright infringement. It's just that prosecution is rare because while lawmakers cannot think these aspects through (apparently) companies can. Part of the concern with SOPA/PIPA and the latest trade agreements is that it would encourage these (bogus) prosecutions. Especially given the widespread (and likely correct) perception that copyright law is stretched far too wide.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#120654: May 1st 2016 at 5:47:48 AM

Yeah that's why I've found the "they're going to start locking people up for fanfiction" argument non-convincing, they can already do that and they don't.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#120655: May 1st 2016 at 5:53:28 AM

Mind you, that's only if the copyright holders are the sole people who can prosecute. If you give that privilege to others bogus prosecutions will go up.

And don't ever bet on "nobody will enforce this bad law", folks. Very frequently, it does happen, often from people who have malicious or dubious ulterior motives.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#120656: May 1st 2016 at 6:43:32 AM

Net neutrality is the reason there's such a tremendously wide spectrum of views; beliefs, and ideologies represented online.

Were media companies able to arbitrarily restrict access to websites, that would quickly die out, and you'd see the Internet become much like television where the range of acceptable discourse becomes limited to what the major media conglomerates deem acceptable content.

The TPP doesn't go that far, and neither did SOPA, but you can bet your ass that the economic and political elite of the world would very much like to see the Internet brought to heel in same the way old media eventually was.

shimaspawn from Here and Now Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: In your bunk
#120657: May 1st 2016 at 9:30:41 AM

I'm not worried about them locking people up. I'm worried about them going sue happy on people who can't afford to defend themselves for Fair Use.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#120658: May 1st 2016 at 9:54:16 AM

[up] Obviously that's an exaggeration (people being sent to jail over SOPA or the TPP's IP provisions), but it's important to emphasize the direction these sorts of policies could lead.

edited 1st May '16 9:55:08 AM by CaptainCapsase

Ogodei Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers from The front lines Since: Jan, 2011
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
#120659: May 1st 2016 at 11:47:04 AM

Net neutrality wouldn't be about oppressing viewpoints at the end of the day, that would be too hard and would probably only happen in a few edge cases (like if Comcast got a poor Consumer Reports score and decided that they'd connect their users to Consumer Reports only 20% of the time and only at speeds to get a plain-text version of the site), the key issue revolved around streaming content for the most part.

Demonic_Braeburn Yankee Doodle Dandy from Defective California Since: Jan, 2016
Yankee Doodle Dandy
#120660: May 1st 2016 at 11:57:43 AM

Any group who acts like morons ironically will eventually find itself swamped by morons who think themselves to be in good company.
Ogodei Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers from The front lines Since: Jan, 2011
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
#120661: May 1st 2016 at 1:53:11 PM

The guy's as good an entertainer as Reagan, who actually did it for a living.

TotemicHero No longer a forum herald from the next level Since: Dec, 2009
No longer a forum herald
#120662: May 1st 2016 at 2:06:49 PM

<insert lawyer joke here>

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)
FieldMarshalFry Field Marshal of Cracked from World Internet War 1 Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Field Marshal of Cracked
#120663: May 1st 2016 at 2:51:36 PM

dat mic drop tho

advancing the front into TV Tropes
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#120664: May 1st 2016 at 8:02:22 PM

Ogodei: That rather depends on how far this gets taken. There's certainly people who would benefit tremendously (economically) from the Intetnet being reduced to a walled garden environment like television, and that sort of system provides tremendous opportunities to suppress opposing viewpoints.

Moreover, there's an uncomfortable amount of collusion between the United States' government and big business; to his credit things haven't gotten worse under Obama in that regard, but the overall trend hasn't reversed itself. At best the same will be true of Clinton's now inevitable presidency.

edited 1st May '16 8:03:21 PM by CaptainCapsase

Julep Since: Jul, 2010
#120665: May 1st 2016 at 10:31:47 PM

I find it brave to use words such as "inevitable" for an election such as this one. Trump looked very evitable one year ago.

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#120666: May 2nd 2016 at 12:27:41 AM

[up] Anyone who didn't know Trump was going to be in this race for a long time after he got away with being openly racist toward Mexicans and Muslims....

LOL.

Let's keep it real: The Mainstream Media didn't "create" Trump (absolutely fucking absurd that this keeps getting brought up). You wanna know what created Donald Trump? A good plurality of the GOP base being racist assholes. He was on TV for months being a bigoted demagogue and that only *improved* his numbers. Did they take advantage of it for profit? You're goddamn right they did, but let's not blame them when the rise of Trump is a direct culmination of the chickens coming to roost of the GOP elite stroking the Southern Strategy and using Dog whistles for an entire generation.

edited 2nd May '16 12:28:07 AM by TacticalFox88

New Survey coming this weekend!
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#120667: May 2nd 2016 at 12:37:22 AM

I don't know, the fact that it is looking to be Trump over a less funny and absurd racist like Cruz or Rubio may well be down to the media, the Republican Party being baths it racist is down to its own actions, but Trump specifically being so popular may well have a lot to do with the press liking him.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Jasaiga Since: Jan, 2015
#120668: May 2nd 2016 at 12:42:33 AM

None of them had the balls to do what Trump did because they assumed that being open about their bigotry and racial bias would kill their numbers. Which it would have.

The reason Trump can get away with it is because he's an outsider. An other. The GOP has lied to their base for forty years, conned them using dog whistles to turn against social programs they supported en-masse decades before.

They loved socialism until minorities started to get a hand in the pie.

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#120669: May 2nd 2016 at 1:08:10 AM

I don't think it would have blown their numbers, it would have skyrocketed them, thing is they cared about the general, which Trump either doesn't care about or is to stupid to realise what he needs to do for a chance at it.

Plus many of them were pretty open about their racism and bigotry, I don't think anyone could call Cruz stealthy.

edited 2nd May '16 1:12:24 AM by Silasw

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#120670: May 2nd 2016 at 5:37:28 AM

It doesn't matter how well your rhetoric lines up with the desires of your constituency if you can't get your message out, and Trump's candidacy was provided the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of free airtime on every major network. You can't ignore that. To be sure, the GOP's racist asshole base has been champing at the bit for a demagogue like Trump to come along, but the main reason it is him, specifically, is the press.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#120671: May 2nd 2016 at 7:35:48 AM

Cruz has particularly racist rhetoric? I don't find it hard to believe he's said them but most things I hear about him are about how he's a religious fundamentalist or just a horrible person to be around, in general.

edited 2nd May '16 7:37:04 AM by LSBK

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#120672: May 2nd 2016 at 7:53:54 AM

[up] Well, Cruz also thinks Hispanics should go away, but he hasn't made quite as big a deal of it as Trump, so that makes him the "non-racist" candidate in much the same way that a 300-watt halogen bulb drowns out a 100-watt incandescent bulb.

edited 2nd May '16 7:54:12 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#120673: May 2nd 2016 at 7:55:10 AM

[up]

Well, Cruz also thinks Hispanics should go away

Does that include himself? surprised

Keep Rolling On
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#120674: May 2nd 2016 at 7:56:55 AM

One could only hope. More seriously, there is a minority of Hispanic voters who believe that illegal immigration should be stopped because it trivializes the effort they put in to get here and succeed legally.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
AngelusNox Warder of the damned from The guard of the gates of oblivion Since: Dec, 2014 Relationship Status: Married to the job
Warder of the damned
#120675: May 2nd 2016 at 8:01:33 AM

I am still waiting an apology letter from the Birthers because of Ted Cruz.

Where is that Canadian birth's certificate?

Inter arma enim silent leges

Total posts: 417,856
Top