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News Stories Which Highlight the Structure of the System

Started by Telarus, February 16, 2012, 01:06:06 PM

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Mesozoic Mister Nigel

"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


Mesozoic Mister Nigel

"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


P3nT4gR4m

Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on December 20, 2016, 03:09:05 AM
This story was really interesting, as well.

http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/11/23/503146770/npr-finds-the-head-of-a-covert-fake-news-operation-in-the-suburbs

Fake news has escalated to an actual social problem.

Pretty sure this is an age-old problem. F'kin bible even had a "false witness" clause, although afaik it only applied to bears or something. I think now it's come to a head and the fact that people seem to be more aware of it and thus skeptical of their sources could actually be a net gain for society.

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
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Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
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Octomom Auxillary Heat Exchanger Repairman
walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

http://www.nature.com/news/researchers-baffled-by-nationalist-surge-1.21110?WT.mc_id=SFB_NNEWS_1508_RHBox

QuoteWaves of nationalist sentiment are reshaping the politics of Western democracies in unexpected ways — carrying Donald Trump to a surprise victory last month in the US presidential election, and pushing the United Kingdom to vote in June to exit the European Union. And nationalist parties are rising in popularity across Europe.

Many economists see this political shift as a consequence of globalization and technological innovation over the past quarter of a century, which have eliminated many jobs in the West. And political scientists are tracing the influence of cultural tensions arising from immigration and from ethnic, racial and sexual diversity. But researchers are struggling to understand why these disparate forces have combined to drive an unpredictable brand of populist politics.

"We have to start worrying about the stability of our democracies," says Yascha Mounk, a political scientist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He notes that the long-running World Values Survey shows that people are increasingly disaffected with their governments — and more willing to support authoritarian leaders.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


Pergamos

"people are increasingly disaffected with their governments — and more willing to support authoritarian leaders."

What a weird combination.  "Our governments are shit, let's try electing people that want to abuse their power!"

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Pergamos on December 31, 2016, 11:22:50 PM
"people are increasingly disaffected with their governments — and more willing to support authoritarian leaders."

What a weird combination.  "Our governments are shit, let's try electing people that want to abuse their power!"

"Our governments are functional.  we'll fix THAT."
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
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"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Junkenstein

When times are bad you can generally count on people to pick an option that makes shit worse.

You know how stress makes you make bad decisions? This is basically the result of applying on a large scale to nation states. I'm expecting to see some terrible deals done and presented as great over the coming years.

Nine naked Men just walking down the road will cause a heap of trouble for all concerned.

Prelate Diogenes Shandor

Quote from: Junkenstein on January 01, 2017, 02:52:55 AM
When times are bad you can generally count on people to pick an option that makes shit worse.

You know how stress makes you make bad decisions? This is basically the result of applying on a large scale to nation states. I'm expecting to see some terrible deals done and presented as great over the coming years.

I agree. I've always maintained that panicking idiots are ultimately the biggest threat to freedom.
Praise NHGH! For the tribulation of all sentient beings.


a plague on both your houses -Mercutio


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTGgpWmdZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVWd7nPjJH8


It is an unfortunate fact that every man who seeks to disseminate knowledge must contend not only against ignorance itself, but against false instruction as well. No sooner do we deem ourselves free from a particularly gross superstition, than we are confronted by some enemy to learning who would plunge us back into the darkness -H.P.Lovecraft


He who fights with monsters must take care lest he thereby become a monster -Nietzsche


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q


You are a fluke of the universe, and whether you can hear it of not the universe is laughing behind your back -Deteriorata


Don't use the email address in my profile, I lost the password years ago

P3nT4gR4m

The mob has always been easy to lead by the nose. It's not rational argument that gets people elected it's image and rhetoric. If the guys with the good PR dept are cool guys then society wins if, on the other hand, some complete wankstain gets a hold of a weapons grade marketing machine then we have a clusterfuck. Protip - there are no good guys anymore, the wankstains sorted that out last century.  :lulz:

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
Not actually a meat product.
Ass-Kicking & Foot-Stomping Ancient Master of SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK
Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
High Altitude Haggis-Filled Sex Bucket From Beyond Time and Space.
Internet Monkey Person of Filthy and Immoral Pygmy-Porn Wart Contagion
Octomom Auxillary Heat Exchanger Repairman
walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

Prelate Diogenes Shandor

#729
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on January 01, 2017, 01:26:33 PM
The mob has always been easy to lead by the nose. It's not rational argument that gets people elected it's image and rhetoric. If the guys with the good PR dept are cool guys then society wins if, on the other hand, some complete wankstain gets a hold of a weapons grade marketing machine then we have a clusterfuck. Protip - there are no good guys anymore, the wankstains sorted that out last century.  :lulz:

This highlights the failure of the educational system. There were never good guys. Good guys are a myth.

Before the current order we had things like (in no particular order) the scramble for africa, monarchies, the trail of tears, Fulgencio Batista, the conquest of canaan, medieval catholicism, protestants, the czars, the golden age of quackery, the golden age of piracy, slavery in america, slavery in europe, slavery in africa, slavery in rome, the list goes on and on

EDIT:
slavery in asia, ignorant abrahamic religious beliefs, ignorant eastern religious beliefs, ignorant african and native american religious beliefs, whaling, child labor, traditional chinese medicine, imperial japan, henry the 8th, andrew jackson, the people who lobbied to put the electoral college in the constitution, the people who lobbied to allow the slave trade in the constitution, the confederacy, king george the third, prohibitionists, slavery in ancient greece, aztec human sacrifice, roman emperors persecuting christians, roman emperors persecuting non-christians, Tiberius, the targeting of civilians in warfare, people profiteering off of the plague, fake fortune tellers, fraudulent claims to divinity by the pharaohs, circumcision, dickensian workhouses....
Praise NHGH! For the tribulation of all sentient beings.


a plague on both your houses -Mercutio


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTGgpWmdZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVWd7nPjJH8


It is an unfortunate fact that every man who seeks to disseminate knowledge must contend not only against ignorance itself, but against false instruction as well. No sooner do we deem ourselves free from a particularly gross superstition, than we are confronted by some enemy to learning who would plunge us back into the darkness -H.P.Lovecraft


He who fights with monsters must take care lest he thereby become a monster -Nietzsche


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q


You are a fluke of the universe, and whether you can hear it of not the universe is laughing behind your back -Deteriorata


Don't use the email address in my profile, I lost the password years ago

P3nT4gR4m

Point conceded. I grew up after all that shit. The myth of good guys still hung thick in the air.

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
Not actually a meat product.
Ass-Kicking & Foot-Stomping Ancient Master of SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK
Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
High Altitude Haggis-Filled Sex Bucket From Beyond Time and Space.
Internet Monkey Person of Filthy and Immoral Pygmy-Porn Wart Contagion
Octomom Auxillary Heat Exchanger Repairman
walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

Junkenstein

Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on January 01, 2017, 03:11:04 AM
Quote from: Junkenstein on January 01, 2017, 02:52:55 AM
When times are bad you can generally count on people to pick an option that makes shit worse.

You know how stress makes you make bad decisions? This is basically the result of applying on a large scale to nation states. I'm expecting to see some terrible deals done and presented as great over the coming years.

I agree. I've always maintained that panicking idiots are ultimately the biggest threat to freedom.

No, people willing to take advantage of the bad times, whether real or imagined are the actual issue. Just look at your examples. Those at the top of the tree prosper at the expense of the masses.
Nine naked Men just walking down the road will cause a heap of trouble for all concerned.

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

Well, this explains a lot.

QuoteLet's say you receive a Facebook message from a friend with news that your favorite football team is moving to another state. He tells you he read it on a blog you know about. If you're an average 21st-century American, chances are you'll believe it, and you won't even bother to verify it.

When it comes to getting your news, that makes you a lot like a 17th-century Briton. In a paper in the Huntington Library Quarterly, UC Santa Barbara scholar Rachael Scarborough King explores the emergence of the news media nearly four centuries ago and the key role that manuscript newsletters — hand-written correspondence filled with third-party news and tidbits — played before printed newspapers dominated the scene.

http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2016/017497/news-evolution
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


Junkenstein

The tragic thing is that we live in an age where verification is often just a ctrl+c then ctrl+v. No respectable or even multiple sources for it? Almost certainly bullshit. Yet rt and random idiot blogs get quoted as reliable regularly. Just look at the recent rp fiasco. Half the time I just ignored the story in question  because the sources were less reliable than "guy in pub said...".

I've said it before but it bears repeating, this era will not be looked at favourably in future history books.we're smart enough to know better but choose not to bother.
Nine naked Men just walking down the road will cause a heap of trouble for all concerned.

minuspace

The news for me is like a weaponized vector of Takashi Miiake's Imprint.  Always fucking with my capacity to form positive expectations that do not reconfirm an otherwise total shitshow.  If I expose myself to it, for the sake of developing whatever fucking immunity to dealing with that "source", the result invariably reinforces my adherence to a world-view primarily informed by horror, instead of all the beauty that's ACTUALLY right fucking there.  It's fucking systemically pointless, a world where the center of narrative gravity is the specter of what could have been.  That's not news, it's not even fucking novel.  It's not even fake news, it's the endless recurrence of victimhood  A fucking curse through and through that people continue subjecting themselves to for only an effigy of sense.  It's like a long-form essay where we argue the reasoning FOR our extinction, because at least then, then we will have been right, once and for all finally satisfied, yes.  Behold, life at a pin's fee, very great, much good.
[this represents my one and only expression of weakness for 2017, which will otherwise be focussed on solutions instead of said recursive bitching which I hope to have somewhat cleared]