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Joined 2 months ago
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Cake day: January 1st, 2026

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  • Y’all have heard of the Nazi Bar problem, right?

    Bullshit genetic or reductio ad hitlerum fallacy. Carried to its logical conclusion, anything tainted by Nazis (eg, the universe) is a Nazi bar. Have you considered finding yourself another universe to inhabit, since this one is irredeemably tainted? While we may argue the universe is far too vast to be a “Nazi bar”, so is the internet or any “platform”.

    Worse, censoring ideas gives them covert power. It doesn’t discredit them or strip them of power like challenging them in a public forum could. It’s also a disservice to better ideas

    • it withholds opportunities for people to become competent enough advocates to discredit bad ideas
    • instead of deradicalize opponents, it drives their discussion elsewhere: they continue to radicalize & grow opposition unchallenged.

    Censorship is incompetent advocacy: it mistakes suppressing the expression of bad ideas for effective advocacy that directly discredits bad ideas, develops intellectual growth, and steers toward better ideas.

    Paradox of intolerance?

    The bogus social media version subverting the original message or the real one?

    text alternative

    The True Paradox of Tolerance

    By philosopher Karl Popper[1]

    You think you know the Popper Paradox thanks to this? (👉 comic from pictoline.com)

    Karl Popper: I never said that!

    Popper argued that society via its institutions should have a right to prohibit those who are intolerant.

    Karl Popper: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance.

    For Popper, on what grounds may society suppress the intolerant? When they “are not prepared to meet on the level of rational argument” “they forbid their followers to listen to rational argument … & teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols”. The argument of the intolerably intolerant is force & violence.

    We misconstrue this paradox at our peril … to the extent that one group could declare another group ‘intolerant’ just to prohibit their ideas, speech & other freedoms.

    Grave sign: “The Intolerant” RIP
    Underneath it lies a pile of symbols for Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Black power. A leg labeled tolerance kicks the Gay Pride symbol into the pile.

    Muchas gracias a @lokijustice y asivaespana.com

    Karl Popper opposed censorship/argued for free inquiry & open discourse.

    I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise.

    Censorship (or willfully blinding ourselves to information) plays no part in suppressing authoritarianism.

    Only cowards fear words. Words are not the danger. It’s the dangerous people whose words we fail to discredit.


    1. Source: The Open Society and Its Enemies, Karl R. Popper ↩︎



  • you don’t stop misogyny by just ignoring it you twats, and hot take, mainstream social media

    Opinions aren’t stopped. They also don’t need to be. Trying to make individualism a put-down is pathetic.

    We all have it in our power to ignore or use our voices to promote our messages with as much force as the messages we oppose. That provocative ragebait engages more effectively than constructive dialog reflects a human failing & a need to work on ourselves.

    Social media doesn’t need to be good, and we don’t need to keep using it. The beauty of social media is we can be totally irredeemable “twats”, victim-blame up the wazoo, and put out the most infuriating shit conceived until we realize it’s all expression lacking substance & none it matters. It’s only when people start caring too much that we should be concerned for humanity. They need to get a life or something, stop putting so much of themselves on words, images, & sounds on a screen.
    comic: are you coming to bed?
I can't. this is important.
what?
someone is wrong on the internet.




  • Do you have any analysis to substantiate your claims like the articles I linked?

    The historical record of congressional party control shows that in the past 4 decades Democrats have rarely had enough control of both chambers to pass legislation without bipartisan support. Democrats (& independents caucusing with them) have had

    Even with a majority, Democrats aren’t a monolith: they still have factions. Overcoming Senate filibuster requires 3/5 supermajority. Enacting legislation still requires presidential approval or veto override with 2/3 supermajority from both chambers. Veto overrides are rare & typically bipartisan, especially the last one, which was against Trump. Consequently, deliberation & compromise to broadly appeal to their own party & enough of the opposition is a practical necessity.

    Moreover, Trump was impeached twice. They simply lacked the 2/3 supermajority in the Senate to convict due to insufficient bipartisan support.

    The 1st impeachment split by party almost exactly:

    • impeachment passed with a simple majority without Republicans
    • conviction votes for 1st & 2nd charges didn’t even get a simple majority.

    The 2nd impeachment on 2021/1/13 was only days after the 2021/1/6 incitement of insurrection. Despite some Republican support, not enough were willing to defy Trump.

    • impeachment passed with some Republican support (all 222 Democrats + 10 Republicans)
    • conviction failed with a simple majority approving conviction (all 50 Democrats + 7 Republicans).

    Failure to convict on 2021/2/13 imperiled chances of a federal criminal case against Trump’s actions during presidency. At that point, congressional Democrats had exhausted the extent of their powers to prosecute or avail Trump to prosecution. The congressional investigation afterward while lengthy posed no real chance of holding Trump legally accountable for inciting insurrection: it could only make findings & refer criminal charges to prosecutors. Any further action would need to be taken by federal prosecutors in the presidential administration.

    While the DOJ investigation started late in 2022 November & failed to enter trial hearings (either due to a corrupt judge or appeals over presidential immunity) by the time Trump was reelected, that failure was entirely the Biden administration’s and not of the Democratic party, who had promptly impeached Trump & failed to obtain conviction, because the numbers weren’t in their favor.

    Putting “wrenches in the spokes” goes both ways. Do you know how long congressional Republicans had tried to restrict abortion? They simply couldn’t: they had to circumvent US congress through the Supreme Court & state legislatures. Democrats haven’t been “enabling, aiding, or abetting” Republican fascism or authoritarianism: roll calls indicate the contrary. It’s just Congress operating as unsatisfactory & inefficient as should be expected when half represent crazed-out fascists.

    Again, any concrete suggestions for how the “damn Democrats” could “stand up to Trump”?



  • So, you’re already telling everyone you don’t understand the spoiler effect, basically advocating the opposition to assure their own loss.

    Vote splitting is the most common cause of spoiler effects in FPP. In these systems, the presence of many ideologically-similar candidates causes their vote total to be split between them, placing these candidates at a disadvantage. This is most visible in elections where a minor candidate draws votes away from a major candidate with similar politics, thereby causing a strong opponent of both to win.

    A spoiler campaign in the United States is often one that cannot realistically win but can still determine the outcome by pulling support from a more competitive candidate.

    Any other bright ideas?