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  1. #41
    Gold Poster
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    Feb 2008
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    4,699

    Default Re: A Strange Tinge To British Politics At The Moment

    Quote Originally Posted by Stavros View Post
    I have type 2 Diabetes, not sure if that is why I write so much....
    I recall you said in one of these threads that you take Metformin, but I wasn't going to say anything. My Dad has it and his Dad before him, even though neither had a significant weight problem, so Metformin is probably in my future at some point unless there's something better by then.

    To respond to what you said in your previous post, I think social media contributes to the problem. To some extent it memorializes the abuse, but it also makes it harder to be open to different viewpoints and therefore encourages abuse as well. You pointed to several reasons: you can't make a nuanced argument in a short tweet.

    Another big one is that connection is a big thing in politics, but you want that connection to be based on shared ideas and not brand or tribe. Twitter can be a visceral experience....I once got into an argument with a professional mma fighter and every time I got a tweet from him in my mentions, I felt like he was a hair away from being in my living room ready to put me in a kimura. But while new social media has some advantages, such as democratization of information and viewpoint, it creates sharp divisions, tribalistic thinking, and favors sound bytes over analysis. I think it is moving people to the poles within their respective parties.


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  2. #42
    filghy2 Silver Poster
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
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    3,161

    Default Re: A Strange Tinge To British Politics At The Moment

    The other thing about social media (and the internet more generally) is that it makes it much easier for disgruntled people to find extremist views that reinforce their inclinations. There will always be people who become bigots because they grow up around bigots. But there are probably many people who might not go so far in that direction if it was harder to link up with extremist views.

    Anonymity is definitely a big factor. I'm generally a conflict-avoider in personal interactions, but I find it harder to resist getting into arguments on the internet. Probably most of those abusing others on social media would be less inclined to do so publicly or in person where there might be consequences.

    I'm not sure there is a lot that can be done about it. The social media platforms could do more to crack down on hate speech but there's a limit to how far they will go given they are driven by profit and are wary of criticism that they are censoring political views.


    Last edited by filghy2; 03-04-2019 at 02:56 AM.

  3. #43
    Senior Member Platinum Poster
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Posts
    13,472

    Default Re: A Strange Tinge To British Politics At The Moment

    House Resolution 183 condemns anti-semitism and Islamophobia. The summary sounds reasonable, but 23 Representatives, all of them Republican, voted against it, perhaps because they disagreed with the content of the Resolution which ranges far and wide in its attempt to condemn hate speech. The Summary describes

    H.Res.183 - Condemning anti-Semitism as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contradictory to the values and aspirations that define the people of the United States and condemning anti-Muslim discrimination and bigotry against minorities as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contrary to the values and aspirations of the United States.


    In addition to making references to murders at the Synagogue in Pittsburgh and the Church in Charleston, and the torchlight marches in Charlottesville, the Resolution also refers to Martin Luther King, the Dreyfus Affair, attacks on Muslims after 9/11, the Catholic faith of JFK and the internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War. The full text is here-
    https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-...ution/183/text

    I don't know if this Resolution will change anything, and I don't doubt that individual Representatives will be part of or cause controversy because of the things they say, the words they use. I assume the Republicans who voted against were not comfortable with some of its clauses, Paul Gosar (Arizona) for example has invited the English criminal and rabble rouser 'Tommy Robinson' (aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) to 'address' Congress -though rant might be closer to the man's modus operandi, his latest stunt being the harassment of a journalist on whose door he hammered at 11pm and then 5 am in the morning) -because of Gosar's links to the Middle East Forum and 'Tommy Robinson' campaigns against Islam. There is a list of the Republicans who voted against the resolution here-
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-a8813486.html



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