Politics

[Rare White Ape]

I see Billi's posts with a serious case of PINK EYE, but this is one time when it was actually worth clicking the 'view post' button. Billi is spot-on about the whole child slave labour thing and how it SHOULD be on the companies selling products in any market to ensure that they meet certain standards of ethical conduct.

That was, until the non-sequitur towards Biden appeared. Everything after that was all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, I know Biden has nothing to do with the less sexier M&Ms, but he does represent my last hope for US politics.

Anyway, to me, there are no MORE important issues than actually help mending people's lives. Min wage should trump filibuster/voting rights. Saving child slave labors should trump climate change. However, in our current trumpian world, we actually have them in reverse! Seriously, what's the point of voting rights if you're still hungry and being treated differently by the police? What's the point of a beautiful clean planet when there are still child slaves?

Biden has only surprised me once by pulling out of a forever war. Although that didn't need congressional approval, but I'm pretty sure the big defense contractors didn't want him to do that..., but he did it anyways. That gave me a glimmer of hope for his presidency. Maybe he is capable of doing the right thing sometimes. I'm just hoping and praying that he'll focus more on those more 'important' issues in the next 3 years and just not worry about popularity and reelection and playing stupid politics... Making green M&M less sexier would fall into the stupid politics category... and that's why even Colbert mocked that! Yeah, big candy companies have the right to do whatever they want with their image and their profits, I'm not going to interfere with that. However, I do think it's a sign that we as a society are entering into the 'let them eat cake' stage as the wealth gap continues to widen... our rich elites are increasingly out of touch with reality, as with our politicians.

Now, is the solution to end capitalism? No... we just need to end corruption somehow.

[Tom Servo]

I'm unrolling this thread from Julian Sanches (@normative on Twitter). It feels somewhat like it's a fit for the pandemic thread, but I think it fits better in the politics one, as conspiracy theorists seem to be taking over. It came in response to this image:

I saw this nonsense floating around a conspiracy nut board, and it made something click for me: These folks are basically operating on cinematic epistemology. They believe what would be true if the news were a Hollywood movie.

One of the most common refrains on Qanon forums is "we're watching a movie" (like, they literally think major events are being faked by the White Hats as a kind of elaborate morality play to gradually "enlighten" the masses). But they're more broadly operating on movie logic.

In the real world, a tiny handful of scientists (mostly undistinguished or long past their prime) loudly bucking an overwhelming consensus of experts are going to be cranks, grifters, or just plain wrong 99% of the time. But in a movie (cf. "Don't Look Up") that's the hero! Seriously, when was the last time you saw a movie where the scrappy outsider with a wild theory bucking the expert consensus was, in fact, just a crank? Never, because that's boring. And it's boring because that's...normal reality.

You sort of have to wonder if mass entertainment hasn't tilled the soil for the current explosion of conspiracy theories. For decades Hollywood has fed us the appealing fantasy that YOU--seemingly average viewer--may secretly be the World's Most Special Boy (or, less often, Girl). And then the vast majority of viewers grow up to find that, no, you're pretty normal. You're not the Chosen One, or otherwise terribly remarkable. You are not the protagonist. And most of us just sort of make our peace with this fact, and with a little luck find lower-key localized triumphs to be satisfied with. But if you don't or can't, there are conspiracy communities eager to provide you with a way to be the Specialist Boy after all.

The normies are brainwashed, while you and your scrappy band of rebels have pierced the veil of illusion. And you don't have to feel bad about not being as successful or educated or powerful as folks on TV, because in fact all those people are STUPID or CORRUPT.

To be clear: The point isn't that expert consensus can't be wrong--anyone can think of tons of examples. The mistake I'm calling "cinematic epistemology" consists of assuming the scrappy outsiders are more likely to be right JUST BECAUSE they're the outsiders.

I found it reasonably insightful in a lot of the stuff I follow. So much of this is about being the hero with the secret knowledge.

[FaultyMario]

Somewhat agree with the premise. But I feel it has a lot of nuances and that pushes it more towards behavioral ethics than politics or policies.

[Rare White Ape]

It's a really shitty film and it goes on and on forever and its fandom is the worst.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Such movie logic is like archetype of good vs evil… underdog vs some overwhelming giant…

David vs Goliath, Jesus vs religious establishment, Luke Skywalker vs the empire, neo vs matrix…

Such archetypes are ingrained in all of us so when we see such stories unfold, we can’t help but cheer for the good underdog as they kick ass! I think only movies with archetypal stories will achieve box office success because it’ll resonate with most audiences.

IMHO, one way to stop this movie logic is to make America smaller again! Anything too big to fail should be broken up into smaller pieces. US government should try to not look too much like the bully established empire who’s connected to everything around the globe… and consuming most of the worlds resources.

US government just doesn’t look good no matter how you look at it. Even when Obama was in office, he didn’t really feel all that trustworthy to me. Why couldn’t we get to the bottom of financial crisis? Why couldn’t we hear what Snowden has to say?

I can’t blame the conspiracy theorists. Sure, they’re idiots, but just saying I get them.

[Yw-slayer]

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/austr...an-after-being

Pregnant New Zealander denied re-entry, offered refuge by Taliban

Incredible achievement by Billi's favourite system of government!!! Soon he and his Brainwashed Bros Will Soon Rejoice when Trump wins and pardons all of the Capitol rioters!!!! Lolllllll

[Crazed_Insanity]

Fascinating, when did NZ become MAGA Billian?

Why didn’t CCP offer assistance and poor gal had to turn to Taliban?

[Leon]

It's really really really really hard to get into NZ right now, as you have to go into quarantine, and there are only limited spots.

This journalist is the same as multiple thousands of Kiwis, only she has access to journalist buddies to dramatise her case for her to force politicians hands.

[Yw-slayer]

Wait wait wait. Are you saying that the MEDIA ARE NOT FULLY OBJECTIVE?!??!???NO WAY, BRO?!?!!????!?