What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?
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That makes sense, thanks. But there are "friends" and then there are real friends. I am answering my own question as I think about it. I like your word "transactional" as it explains a lot in, "transactional friends" at work or at school. Not sure if I might be derailing this thread.
I do find it extraordinary how so many of you or y'all listen to podcasts, music, read, and work at the piano and fit all your respective activities into one normal day! -
That makes sense, thanks. But there are "friends" and then there are real friends. I am answering my own question as I think about it. I like your word "transactional" as it explains a lot in, "transactional friends" at work or at school. Not sure if I might be derailing this thread.
I do find it extraordinary how so many of you or y'all listen to podcasts, music, read, and work at the piano and fit all your respective activities into one normal day!@Rainman said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
That makes sense, thanks. But there are "friends" and then there are real friends. I am answering my own question as I think about it. I like your word "transactional" as it explains a lot in, "transactional friends" at work or at school. Not sure if I might be derailing this thread.
There's a book called The Elephant in the Brain that goes into this. As a public intellectual, I actually developed the ideas in a handwavy way years before I read the book, but as a formalization of the concepts, the book is brilliant.
I do find it extraordinary how so many of you or y'all listen to podcasts, music, read, and work at the piano and fit all your respective activities into one normal day!
You can listen to books or podcasts and practice piano at the same time! Especially if it's mindless sight reading or repetition of technically difficult passages.
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Sam Harris spoke to Bret Stephens, a never-Trumper erstwhile conservative, who now finds the Republican party risible. Talk about the metastasizing of TDS. Neither of these two, each of whom have a great deal of sympathy for conservative ideology, are capable of saying a nice thing about the GOP or its 2024 candidates. Well, Chris Christie gets a pass because he hates Trump too. They both hated Trump long before January 6, but they don't get past January 6 when defending their hatred of the guy. No need to. I bet Sam has cognitive dissonance about his attitude before then, when he was wavering about whether Trump or Clinton would have had better results in a presidential term.
They attempt to characterise why Trump appeals to some people, which is always the achilles heel of TDS sufferers. Stephens hovers around a decent point by saying the leftist cultural domination was an issue that Trump spoke to, but his framing was geared towards maintaining his new friends on the left. (He now writes for the NYT, while before his TDS, he wrote for the WSJ.) He doesn't like the word "woke" because it's "past its use by date", but he knows people know what he means when he says it. He says that cultural shift characterised by wokeness, induced rage in the right, and that rage was funneled by Donald Trump. One could more charitably, or even more fairly, just say that wokeness is socially destructive, and lots of people see that and would like to vote for a candidate who sees it too. But no. He has to characterise it with words carefully chosen to emphasise the reactionary "rage" induced. It's these sorts of word games that appeal to TDS sufferers, but which more reasonable thinkers can see through.
Ramaswamy was mentioned a couple times. I think it's safe to say that Sam won't be "platforming" him, though he hasn't come out and said it yet. Ramaswamy's contention that the Hunter Biden laptop story suppression arguably cost Trump the election, was dismissed with prejudice by Stephens. Stephens hasn't researched the topic, but because TDS, doesn't allow the idea to surface in his mind. Ramaswamy, on the other hand, has some polls and numbers to back up his contention. That information won't be appearing on the Sam Harris Podcast. Sam admitted that the suppression of the story was ok because Trump was not ok, full stop. So that's where he comes down. Not the first time he's admitted to having a catastrophe avoidance perspective on Trump. Journalistic integrity is just another thing of lesser importance than keeping Trump from the white house. Sam literally said that, if the Trump campaign has something that would help their campaign, but dropped it in a strategic manner soon before the election, journalists and tech companies are within their moral rights to suppress the story. Because Trump. This from one of our leading public intellectuals who's spent a great part of his life thinking about morality and lying and free speech. Sam continues to disappoint as he attempts to think his way through his TDS.
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Sam Harris spoke to Bret Stephens, a never-Trumper erstwhile conservative, who now finds the Republican party risible. Talk about the metastasizing of TDS. Neither of these two, each of whom have a great deal of sympathy for conservative ideology, are capable of saying a nice thing about the GOP or its 2024 candidates. Well, Chris Christie gets a pass because he hates Trump too. They both hated Trump long before January 6, but they don't get past January 6 when defending their hatred of the guy. No need to. I bet Sam has cognitive dissonance about his attitude before then, when he was wavering about whether Trump or Clinton would have had better results in a presidential term.
They attempt to characterise why Trump appeals to some people, which is always the achilles heel of TDS sufferers. Stephens hovers around a decent point by saying the leftist cultural domination was an issue that Trump spoke to, but his framing was geared towards maintaining his new friends on the left. (He now writes for the NYT, while before his TDS, he wrote for the WSJ.) He doesn't like the word "woke" because it's "past its use by date", but he knows people know what he means when he says it. He says that cultural shift characterised by wokeness, induced rage in the right, and that rage was funneled by Donald Trump. One could more charitably, or even more fairly, just say that wokeness is socially destructive, and lots of people see that and would like to vote for a candidate who sees it too. But no. He has to characterise it with words carefully chosen to emphasise the reactionary "rage" induced. It's these sorts of word games that appeal to TDS sufferers, but which more reasonable thinkers can see through.
Ramaswamy was mentioned a couple times. I think it's safe to say that Sam won't be "platforming" him, though he hasn't come out and said it yet. Ramaswamy's contention that the Hunter Biden laptop story suppression arguably cost Trump the election, was dismissed with prejudice by Stephens. Stephens hasn't researched the topic, but because TDS, doesn't allow the idea to surface in his mind. Ramaswamy, on the other hand, has some polls and numbers to back up his contention. That information won't be appearing on the Sam Harris Podcast. Sam admitted that the suppression of the story was ok because Trump was not ok, full stop. So that's where he comes down. Not the first time he's admitted to having a catastrophe avoidance perspective on Trump. Journalistic integrity is just another thing of lesser importance than keeping Trump from the white house. Sam literally said that, if the Trump campaign has something that would help their campaign, but dropped it in a strategic manner soon before the election, journalists and tech companies are within their moral rights to suppress the story. Because Trump. This from one of our leading public intellectuals who's spent a great part of his life thinking about morality and lying and free speech. Sam continues to disappoint as he attempts to think his way through his TDS.
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
Ramaswamy's contention that the Hunter Biden laptop story suppression arguably cost Trump the election, was dismissed with prejudice by Stephens. Stephens hasn't researched the topic, but because TDS, doesn't allow the idea to surface in his mind. Ramaswamy, on the other hand, has some polls and numbers to back up his contention.
"What if" is an interesting "thought exercise", and there is the one that if the FBI had not announced they were going to re-investigate Sec. Clinton a few weeks before the 2016 election, she would have won. There are signs that that announcement changed the results of the election.
In the Many Worlds Theory, there exists one universe where the FBI did not announce in 2016, and Sec. Clinton was elected president. President Trump lost in 2016 and did not run again in 2020. In this universe, the people in 2023 skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
There is another universe out there where the Hunter Biden case was investigated and President Trump was re-elected. In this universe, people also skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
Unfortunately, in this universe, neither happened and we have to live with President Trump winning in 2016 and President Biden winning in 2020.
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The at seems absurd. The story was never really suppressed (we’ve talked about this quite a bit, if anything Twitter’s 36 HR ban of the NYP had the opposite effect).
The problem with the laptop wasn’t that everyone knew it was damning to Joe so they suppressed it, it was the highly questionable provenance.
Recall both FoxNews and WSJ declined the story which is how it ended up at the post.
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@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
Ramaswamy's contention that the Hunter Biden laptop story suppression arguably cost Trump the election, was dismissed with prejudice by Stephens. Stephens hasn't researched the topic, but because TDS, doesn't allow the idea to surface in his mind. Ramaswamy, on the other hand, has some polls and numbers to back up his contention.
"What if" is an interesting "thought exercise", and there is the one that if the FBI had not announced they were going to re-investigate Sec. Clinton a few weeks before the 2016 election, she would have won. There are signs that that announcement changed the results of the election.
In the Many Worlds Theory, there exists one universe where the FBI did not announce in 2016, and Sec. Clinton was elected president. President Trump lost in 2016 and did not run again in 2020. In this universe, the people in 2023 skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
There is another universe out there where the Hunter Biden case was investigated and President Trump was re-elected. In this universe, people also skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
Unfortunately, in this universe, neither happened and we have to live with President Trump winning in 2016 and President Biden winning in 2020.
@taiwan_girl said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
Ramaswamy's contention that the Hunter Biden laptop story suppression arguably cost Trump the election, was dismissed with prejudice by Stephens. Stephens hasn't researched the topic, but because TDS, doesn't allow the idea to surface in his mind. Ramaswamy, on the other hand, has some polls and numbers to back up his contention.
"What if" is an interesting "thought exercise", and there is the one that if the FBI had not announced they were going to re-investigate Sec. Clinton a few weeks before the 2016 election, she would have won. There are signs that that announcement changed the results of the election.
In the Many Worlds Theory, there exists one universe where the FBI did not announce in 2016, and Sec. Clinton was elected president. President Trump lost in 2016 and did not run again in 2020. In this universe, the people in 2023 skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
There is another universe out there where the Hunter Biden case was investigated and President Trump was re-elected. In this universe, people also skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
Unfortunately, in this universe, neither happened and we have to live with President Trump winning in 2016 and President Biden winning in 2020.
In your head, do you think this post adds to any conceivably interesting discussion?
Education is extremely important.
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@taiwan_girl said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
Ramaswamy's contention that the Hunter Biden laptop story suppression arguably cost Trump the election, was dismissed with prejudice by Stephens. Stephens hasn't researched the topic, but because TDS, doesn't allow the idea to surface in his mind. Ramaswamy, on the other hand, has some polls and numbers to back up his contention.
"What if" is an interesting "thought exercise", and there is the one that if the FBI had not announced they were going to re-investigate Sec. Clinton a few weeks before the 2016 election, she would have won. There are signs that that announcement changed the results of the election.
In the Many Worlds Theory, there exists one universe where the FBI did not announce in 2016, and Sec. Clinton was elected president. President Trump lost in 2016 and did not run again in 2020. In this universe, the people in 2023 skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
There is another universe out there where the Hunter Biden case was investigated and President Trump was re-elected. In this universe, people also skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
Unfortunately, in this universe, neither happened and we have to live with President Trump winning in 2016 and President Biden winning in 2020.
In your head, do you think this post adds to any conceivably interesting discussion?
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
In your head, do you think this post adds to any conceivably interesting discussion?
Wow, tough crowd.
Thank God nobody here repeats themself over and over and over making the same point again and again and again.. Because that would be kinda' tedious. I bet it happens at an alternative reality TNCR.
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@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
In your head, do you think this post adds to any conceivably interesting discussion?
Wow, tough crowd.
Thank God nobody here repeats themself over and over and over making the same point again and again and again.. Because that would be kinda' tedious. I bet it happens at an alternative reality TNCR.
@Doctor-Phibes said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
In your head, do you think this post adds to any conceivably interesting discussion?
Wow, tough crowd.
Thank God nobody here repeats themself over and over and over making the same point again and again and again.. Because that would be kinda' tedious. I bet it happens at an alternative reality TNCR.
Well, you and jon have historically accused me of that (you after jon, not coincidentally), but over here in reality, neither of you could put most of my posts into your own words. Granted, you probably could if you took some time to read and understand them, but let's stop pretending about that.
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@Doctor-Phibes said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
In your head, do you think this post adds to any conceivably interesting discussion?
Wow, tough crowd.
Thank God nobody here repeats themself over and over and over making the same point again and again and again.. Because that would be kinda' tedious. I bet it happens at an alternative reality TNCR.
Well, you and jon have historically accused me of that (you after jon, not coincidentally), but over here in reality, neither of you could put most of my posts into your own words. Granted, you probably could if you took some time to read and understand them, but let's stop pretending about that.
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@Doctor-Phibes said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
In your head, do you think this post adds to any conceivably interesting discussion?
Wow, tough crowd.
Thank God nobody here repeats themself over and over and over making the same point again and again and again.. Because that would be kinda' tedious. I bet it happens at an alternative reality TNCR.
Well, you and jon have historically accused me of that (you after jon, not coincidentally), but over here in reality, neither of you could put most of my posts into your own words. Granted, you probably could if you took some time to read and understand them, but let's stop pretending about that.
It's an honour to simply sunbathe in the light that shines out of your arse, Horace.
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@taiwan_girl said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
Ramaswamy's contention that the Hunter Biden laptop story suppression arguably cost Trump the election, was dismissed with prejudice by Stephens. Stephens hasn't researched the topic, but because TDS, doesn't allow the idea to surface in his mind. Ramaswamy, on the other hand, has some polls and numbers to back up his contention.
"What if" is an interesting "thought exercise", and there is the one that if the FBI had not announced they were going to re-investigate Sec. Clinton a few weeks before the 2016 election, she would have won. There are signs that that announcement changed the results of the election.
In the Many Worlds Theory, there exists one universe where the FBI did not announce in 2016, and Sec. Clinton was elected president. President Trump lost in 2016 and did not run again in 2020. In this universe, the people in 2023 skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
There is another universe out there where the Hunter Biden case was investigated and President Trump was re-elected. In this universe, people also skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
Unfortunately, in this universe, neither happened and we have to live with President Trump winning in 2016 and President Biden winning in 2020.
In your head, do you think this post adds to any conceivably interesting discussion?
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@taiwan_girl said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
Ramaswamy's contention that the Hunter Biden laptop story suppression arguably cost Trump the election, was dismissed with prejudice by Stephens. Stephens hasn't researched the topic, but because TDS, doesn't allow the idea to surface in his mind. Ramaswamy, on the other hand, has some polls and numbers to back up his contention.
"What if" is an interesting "thought exercise", and there is the one that if the FBI had not announced they were going to re-investigate Sec. Clinton a few weeks before the 2016 election, she would have won. There are signs that that announcement changed the results of the election.
In the Many Worlds Theory, there exists one universe where the FBI did not announce in 2016, and Sec. Clinton was elected president. President Trump lost in 2016 and did not run again in 2020. In this universe, the people in 2023 skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
There is another universe out there where the Hunter Biden case was investigated and President Trump was re-elected. In this universe, people also skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
Unfortunately, in this universe, neither happened and we have to live with President Trump winning in 2016 and President Biden winning in 2020.
In your head, do you think this post adds to any conceivably interesting discussion?
You are correct. This forum thread is a bit more specific and probably wasn't a good idea to drift it.
But.......... (LOL),
you have kind of turned into a kinder, gentler @Larry. Every post that is a bit political, your default response is "The other side suffers from TDS, so they cannot and do not
A) See that President Trump was/is a great politician and president"
B) understand why their cultural values are so wrong"
C) realize that the US is in such bad shape because of people like them"
D) etc.I do think that TDS exists on both sides. Trump Derangement Syndrome for anti-Trump and Trump Deification Syndrome for the pro-Trump.
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@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@taiwan_girl said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
Ramaswamy's contention that the Hunter Biden laptop story suppression arguably cost Trump the election, was dismissed with prejudice by Stephens. Stephens hasn't researched the topic, but because TDS, doesn't allow the idea to surface in his mind. Ramaswamy, on the other hand, has some polls and numbers to back up his contention.
"What if" is an interesting "thought exercise", and there is the one that if the FBI had not announced they were going to re-investigate Sec. Clinton a few weeks before the 2016 election, she would have won. There are signs that that announcement changed the results of the election.
In the Many Worlds Theory, there exists one universe where the FBI did not announce in 2016, and Sec. Clinton was elected president. President Trump lost in 2016 and did not run again in 2020. In this universe, the people in 2023 skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
There is another universe out there where the Hunter Biden case was investigated and President Trump was re-elected. In this universe, people also skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
Unfortunately, in this universe, neither happened and we have to live with President Trump winning in 2016 and President Biden winning in 2020.
In your head, do you think this post adds to any conceivably interesting discussion?
You are correct. This forum thread is a bit more specific and probably wasn't a good idea to drift it.
But.......... (LOL),
you have kind of turned into a kinder, gentler @Larry. Every post that is a bit political, your default response is "The other side suffers from TDS, so they cannot and do not
A) See that President Trump was/is a great politician and president"
B) understand why their cultural values are so wrong"
C) realize that the US is in such bad shape because of people like them"
D) etc.I do think that TDS exists on both sides. Trump Derangement Syndrome for anti-Trump and Trump Deification Syndrome for the pro-Trump.
@taiwan_girl said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@taiwan_girl said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
Ramaswamy's contention that the Hunter Biden laptop story suppression arguably cost Trump the election, was dismissed with prejudice by Stephens. Stephens hasn't researched the topic, but because TDS, doesn't allow the idea to surface in his mind. Ramaswamy, on the other hand, has some polls and numbers to back up his contention.
"What if" is an interesting "thought exercise", and there is the one that if the FBI had not announced they were going to re-investigate Sec. Clinton a few weeks before the 2016 election, she would have won. There are signs that that announcement changed the results of the election.
In the Many Worlds Theory, there exists one universe where the FBI did not announce in 2016, and Sec. Clinton was elected president. President Trump lost in 2016 and did not run again in 2020. In this universe, the people in 2023 skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
There is another universe out there where the Hunter Biden case was investigated and President Trump was re-elected. In this universe, people also skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
Unfortunately, in this universe, neither happened and we have to live with President Trump winning in 2016 and President Biden winning in 2020.
In your head, do you think this post adds to any conceivably interesting discussion?
You are correct. This forum thread is a bit more specific and probably wasn't a good idea to drift it.
But.......... (LOL),
you have kind of turned into a kinder, gentler @Larry. Every post that is a bit political, your default response is "The other side suffers from TDS, so they cannot and do not
A) See that President Trump was/is a great politician and president"
B) understand why their cultural values are so wrong"
C) realize that the US is in such bad shape because of people like them"
D) etc.I do think that TDS exists on both sides. Trump Derangement Syndrome for anti-Trump and Trump Deification Syndrome for the pro-Trump.
Thank you, I'm aware of your opinion that both sides are equal. I don't think you understand much about my posts, or specifically about my opinion on Trump. Your comparison between me and Larry is noted. If you attempted to list things Larry and I agreed on, I suspect you would be wrong about each item on the list. You don't seem concerned about being wrong, and I'm not sure you ever even understand when you're wrong, so here we are. Thanks for your contribution to the thread. I'm sorry my post came off a bit aggressive, it was probably unfair.
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@taiwan_girl said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@taiwan_girl said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
Ramaswamy's contention that the Hunter Biden laptop story suppression arguably cost Trump the election, was dismissed with prejudice by Stephens. Stephens hasn't researched the topic, but because TDS, doesn't allow the idea to surface in his mind. Ramaswamy, on the other hand, has some polls and numbers to back up his contention.
"What if" is an interesting "thought exercise", and there is the one that if the FBI had not announced they were going to re-investigate Sec. Clinton a few weeks before the 2016 election, she would have won. There are signs that that announcement changed the results of the election.
In the Many Worlds Theory, there exists one universe where the FBI did not announce in 2016, and Sec. Clinton was elected president. President Trump lost in 2016 and did not run again in 2020. In this universe, the people in 2023 skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
There is another universe out there where the Hunter Biden case was investigated and President Trump was re-elected. In this universe, people also skip down gold pathways with dancing unicorns at their side.
Unfortunately, in this universe, neither happened and we have to live with President Trump winning in 2016 and President Biden winning in 2020.
In your head, do you think this post adds to any conceivably interesting discussion?
You are correct. This forum thread is a bit more specific and probably wasn't a good idea to drift it.
But.......... (LOL),
you have kind of turned into a kinder, gentler @Larry. Every post that is a bit political, your default response is "The other side suffers from TDS, so they cannot and do not
A) See that President Trump was/is a great politician and president"
B) understand why their cultural values are so wrong"
C) realize that the US is in such bad shape because of people like them"
D) etc.I do think that TDS exists on both sides. Trump Derangement Syndrome for anti-Trump and Trump Deification Syndrome for the pro-Trump.
Thank you, I'm aware of your opinion that both sides are equal. I don't think you understand much about my posts, or specifically about my opinion on Trump. Your comparison between me and Larry is noted. If you attempted to list things Larry and I agreed on, I suspect you would be wrong about each item on the list. You don't seem concerned about being wrong, and I'm not sure you ever even understand when you're wrong, so here we are. Thanks for your contribution to the thread. I'm sorry my post came off a bit aggressive, it was probably unfair.
@Horace Same. I hope I did not come off as too aggressive. I do enjoy your posts, but you are correct - a lot of them I do not understand! 555
But you are still a good guy!! :woman-kiss-man:
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@Horace Same. I hope I did not come off as too aggressive. I do enjoy your posts, but you are correct - a lot of them I do not understand! 555
But you are still a good guy!! :woman-kiss-man:
@taiwan_girl said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
@Horace Same. I hope I did not come off as too aggressive. I do enjoy your posts, but you are correct - a lot of them I do not understand! 555
But you are still a good guy!! :woman-kiss-man:
Thanks TG. I agree that I'm a good guy. And you're a good lady!
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A good short excerpt about online right/left stuff:
Link to video
Unfortunately, the most incomprehensible sentence in the english language is "I support this candidate over the opposition, but I don't agree fully with everything this candidate does or says". Anybody who didn't support your candidate over the opposition, will stop listening after "I support this candidate", their minds fully sated with ideas about you to last a lifetime.
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A good short excerpt about online right/left stuff:
Link to video
Unfortunately, the most incomprehensible sentence in the english language is "I support this candidate over the opposition, but I don't agree fully with everything this candidate does or says". Anybody who didn't support your candidate over the opposition, will stop listening after "I support this candidate", their minds fully sated with ideas about you to last a lifetime.
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
Unfortunately, the most incomprehensible sentence in the english language is "I support this candidate over the opposition, but I don't agree fully with everything this candidate does or says"
I beg to differ
Link to video -
Phibes, I honestly tried, but I just cannot understand either of them due to their heavy accent and mumbling delivery. I tried adding CC (closed captioning) but it didn't help. It did translate the words better but didn't clarify the syntax.
Can you really listen to them and understand the conversation completely? It's just not that (usually) pleasant accent, like on a classical music station. -
I can’t understand Gerald at all. That’s a really strong West country accent, opposite side of the country to mine. We were near there over the summer, and most people don’t have anywhere near as strong an accent as that.
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Sam Harris continued his public spat with Elon Musk tonight, by releasing a 10 minute monologue on assholes. Assholes are characterized by a lack of shame. He names three names, Andrew Tate, Elon Musk, and someone I didn't recognize, but the name rhymed with Orange.
Meanwhile, on one recent podcast I heard Sam on, he proudly related how he's experienced zero negative feedback in "his world" for saying several months ago that he wouldn't have cared even if Hunter's laptop had pictures of dead babies. He was almost cocky about how socially impervious he is to the blowback others assume he felt. It's almost like he's shameless in his own social bubble.
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Coleman Hughes interviewed the authors of this book:
Their thesis is fine, in that it boils down to a truism about how humans participate in groupthink for social advantage within tribes, and principle plays a minimal role. Hardly an original thesis, but it is among the true ideas that most of us could stand to remind ourselves of. But the authors take it too far, both in the podcast and in the book itself, by claiming that ideology has literally nothing to do with anything. They mostly accomplish this through anecdote and history-mining. If a party known today for one idea, was once known for the opposite, their thesis is proven. The fundamental ideological difference of big government vs small government, for instance, is claimed to be nonsensical, since GWB and Trump expanded the government, yet "conservatives" didn't "flee the GOP" (whatever that means. Flee where?) over that. Or the GOP tends to want to fund the military and the police, which means they are for the expansion of government. Lazy, anecdote based proofs of nothing in particular, based on framings of ideology that imply one idea at a time must reign supreme in a person's mind, to the exclusion of any other ideas. They accuse the American public of being blatantly stupid, then build a case against blatant stupidity. But few people are so blinkered as they describe. I do agree that most people are more consumed with socially advantageous groupthink than they realize.
@Horace said in What are you listening to - Podcast Edition?:
Coleman Hughes interviewed the authors of this book:
Their thesis is fine, in that it boils down to a truism about how humans participate in groupthink for social advantage within tribes, and principle plays a minimal role. Hardly an original thesis, but it is among the true ideas that most of us could stand to remind ourselves of. But the authors take it too far, both in the podcast and in the book itself, by claiming that ideology has literally nothing to do with anything. They mostly accomplish this through anecdote and history-mining. If a party known today for one idea, was once known for the opposite, their thesis is proven. The fundamental ideological difference of big government vs small government, for instance, is claimed to be nonsensical, since GWB and Trump expanded the government, yet "conservatives" didn't "flee the GOP" (whatever that means. Flee where?) over that. Or the GOP tends to want to fund the military and the police, which means they are for the expansion of government. Lazy, anecdote based proofs of nothing in particular, based on framings of ideology that imply one idea at a time must reign supreme in a person's mind, to the exclusion of any other ideas. They accuse the American public of being blatantly stupid, then build a case against blatant stupidity. But few people are so blinkered as they describe. I do agree that most people are more consumed with socially advantageous groupthink than they realize.
Economist Bryan Caplan agrees with me that this book makes decent points, but goes too far:
Link to videoHe proposes his own set of left and right principles:
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The left doesn't like markets
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The right doesn't like the left
Some amusing secondary points:
- self-identified righties would by and large rather not think about politics at all, while self-identified lefties are more absorbed by politics. It can replace religion in their psyches.
- Libertarians (like Caplan) get so much hatred from the left mostly because libertarians love markets, and that conflicts with the essential single principle of the left. But it seems weird to be so hated so much, considering the tiny power wielded by libertarians.
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