The last few years have been a mess, and I've repeatedly struggled to clarify my thoughts. So now I'm trying to actual tackle that by starting a Substack.

My first post, "I'm Not Political" addresses the need for those who have disengaged to step up in what is a critical moment in history.

That's where I'll be posting articles relating to primarily US and Canadian politics, though this will naturally intersect with culture and technology. So if you are interested in that type of thing and/or enjoy my first post, subscribing via email will get you alerted to anything new that goes up.

Welcome to Elle, fellas. If we have to be here, at least we get to do it together.
Posted by Ellyoda Mon, 25 Apr 2022 04:28:44 (comments: 58)
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Sun, 05 Jun 2022 22:12:08
Yodariquo said:
New post is up. I take a look at what party polarization really means in the US.

Great post, it's wild how brazen the Republican Party has become, they don't hide it anymore. They know how to weaponize their base so much more than democrats, it's wild that we have people thinking the two parties are the same when the truth is far from that. Not even Jan 6 is enough for people to wake up. I always found it weird to see major governments fail from within but this is how it happens I guess.

 
Mon, 06 Jun 2022 14:20:12
Thanks! In some ways I see this radicalization as a symptom of a broader issue of electoral structure and media collapse. Republicans seem more popular than they are because of the way population distribution works with the Senate, gerrymandering and lack of expansion in the House, and the electoral college with the Presidency.

Every element of media is slanted pretty badly as well. Social media is biased towards the right-wing for a number of reasons, though Twitter is unsure exactly why it works that way on their platform. If you've ever followed the Facebook top 10 posts each day, you'll start to see the pattern. Major news outlets both cable and written, are consistently owned by old, conservative white men, and you see that in their inability to describe things in direct terms, and how they always treat Republicans as serious people. If you think there's a left-wing outlet on TV, well, maybe take a look at who MSNBC actually puts on air.

You'll find a series of liberal voices in the evening, but this hardly makes for a lefty network. There aren't any. Everything is such an uphill climb.
 
Mon, 06 Jun 2022 22:35:52
Dvader said:

Great post, it's wild how brazen the Republican Party has become, they don't hide it anymore. They know how to weaponize their base so much more than democrats, it's wild that we have people thinking the two parties are the same when the truth is far from that. Not even Jan 6 is enough for people to wake up. I always found it weird to see major governments fail from within but this is how it happens I guess.

Agree with you on all points. I truly don't know what is going to happen but these feel like scary times.

 
Fri, 10 Jun 2022 19:40:54
Since it's pretty much every issue, I can't really enumerate them all, but this graphic gives you a  good idea of what this looks like in practice across a spectrum of issues. Though I should note these are all house votes that can't pass the Senate because filibuster rules mean when Republicans filibuster (which they now do for everything) it requires 60 votes, and Democrats at best have 50. Only 50 votes are required to eliminate the filibuster, but Democrats only have at most 48 votes for that.

AkU109h.png
 
Sat, 11 Jun 2022 18:23:56

As long as they are not in leadership, they just want to watch the world burn. Well, even when they are.

 
Wed, 15 Jun 2022 22:40:01
In my latest post, I talk about skepticism, social media, and how we're all subjected to, and as a consequence potentially susceptible to, right-wing disinformation You Are Not Immune to Right-Wing Disinformation
 
Sat, 18 Jun 2022 05:03:10

That video of the SC guy is real?!?! That's insanity, it's like some satire like GTA come to life, we are beyond GTA at this point in absurdity.

This past week I found it bold that every major network put the Trump hearing on all channels so we can all see the evidence, facts. Sadly facts don't matter to a huge chunk of America. I am so sadden to see so many just shrug. We are watching evidence of a president trying to over throw an election and a ton of people are like "nah it's the lying media". Of course Fox fucking news didnt air it, Tucker shitface came on and said he won't allow the blatant lies on his program. It's horrific.

 
Sat, 18 Jun 2022 05:18:57
Yes, real, and was a real candidate for congress (he finished second in the Republican primary with 24% of the vote).

I don't really know how to break through. Some actual consequences for people in power would be a start. I think another way COVID possibly made things worse was lessening contact. The best way to pierce the bubble is to just interact with people. The ones who are most anti-immigration are the ones who have never met an immigrant. Personalizing issues really takes the teeth out of othering. But since we had to shelter, then the worst people were the only ones socializing, it only isolated us further.
 
Sat, 18 Jun 2022 22:13:33
Ellyoda said:
Yes, real, and was a real candidate for congress (he finished second in the Republican primary with 24% of the vote).


I don't really know how to break through. Some actual consequences for people in power would be a start. I think another way COVID possibly made things worse was lessening contact. The best way to pierce the bubble is to just interact with people. The ones who are most anti-immigration are the ones who have never met an immigrant. Personalizing issues really takes the teeth out of othering. But since we had to shelter, then the worst people were the only ones socializing, it only isolated us further.

The most ironic impact of the internet, a service that is supposed to bring the world together with instant communication and access to the worlds information further divided us and lead to the truth being eroded.

 
Sat, 18 Jun 2022 22:44:14
So much of my life has been driven by hating being wrong. Such that I'm in a career where I can test things and make sure they work before anyone else sees it. That I habitually google things in the middle of writing things to make sure I'm not screwing something up. That my major vocal tick is using couching words like "probably" and "generally" and "I think" and "not sure" so as to not commit fully and allow for caveats.

I thought I was a bit unique in this regard. But it seems to be that a lot of other people also hate being wrong, except their approach to this problem is to deny reality instead.
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