2020 US Presidential Election Discussion (primary & general)

[Jaden]

Yeah, maybe free speech is technically not broken, and getting dumpstered by Big Tech is not technically censorship. But if at the same time, you admit that they have the power to choose permissible ideas, and direct the results of elections, then clearly there is still an issue.

I don't personally know any department or corporation that I would trust with those powers, so I would prefer those platforms to be neutral. Some stuff like Trump is gonna happen as a result of that, oh well, could be worse, price of freedom and all of that.

I think Big Tech would be happy with most kinds of regulations regarding published content. It means their operation would become more complicated and expensive, but this would also solidify their monopoly by raising the barrier to entry for competitors. The only regulations they hate are those that demand privacy for their users.

Most effective way to fight them is competition. If that doesn't work out, then perhaps legal action based on some anti-trust or pro-consumer laws. At least the big social media companies will probably crumble under their own weight without any government intervention, sooner or later.

[coded321]

Alright guys here is a simple analogy that will be easy for all, especially conservatives, to understand regarding Twitter's "censorship" of trump.

Twitter is the Christian bakery, and trump is the gay wedding cake.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Jaden

Yeah, maybe free speech is technically not broken, and getting dumpstered by Big Tech is not technically censorship. But if at the same time, you admit that they have the power to choose permissible ideas, and direct the results of elections, then clearly there is still an issue.

I don't personally know any department or corporation that I would trust with those powers, so I would prefer those platforms to be neutral. Some stuff like Trump is gonna happen as a result of that, oh well, could be worse, price of freedom and all of that.

They've used that power very sparingly so far. I mean, Amazon still hosts the guys who threatened to post Jeff Bezos' dick pics.

But yes, it's a problem that they have that power. It would also be a problem if the government (say, an agency led by a Trump appointee) had that power.

But it's yet again a problem that the power isn't being exerted, because there is such a thing as yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater on the internet, only the theater can be American democracy as a whole, and I don't suppose other democracies are much better.

What's the solution? I have no idea. I don't know that there is one.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by kayos

America is currently going through a Color Revolution with information warfare.

I've heard this interpretation before. If that's the case though, it's a very strange timeline. I would expect such a revolution to culminate with the election of a populist president, but instead it has started with one.

That's a good explanation for why his presidency didn't really work out, though. None of the groundwork was there to create parallel networks, and insert people into the bureaucracy to support Trump. As proof of that, he couldn't even secure his own re-election against a seemingly weak and divided opposition.

In other words the "revolution" that was supposed to happen in a bottom-up fashion went off the rails, because suddenly it had elected a president, and expected things to happen in a top-to-bottom fashion from there on?

[Sheba]

It amazes me that they thought they could fly to DC, sleep in a hotel, stage a riot/insurrection, go back to the hotel, drink in the bar, sleep overnight, then fly back home - like it was no different than a trip to Comic-Con. These people have no idea of the hell they unleashed

on Capitol stormers who found out they are on no fly lists

[Eisdrache]

Originally Posted by kayos

[...]

Maybe shouldn't have used social media as a platform to spread inflammatory rhetoric over years which has now culminated in a lethal riot of right-wingers storming the capitol. How very strange that actions have consequences, especially if they are directly violating democracy. The most frightening irony of this whole nonsense is that if they had acted 5% smarter instead of continuously blaming something/someone else, they would most likely still be in power.

[Ithekro]

Or in a phrase they might understand, "attacking the republic and its institutions".

[Key Board]

If conservatives wanted to “protect free speech “ they could always nationalize twitter and facebook when they were in control. In fact, Steve Bannon had that idea once.

But that goes against capitalist principals.

//

[Guardian Enzo]

It says all you need to know about the modern Republican party that when Nazis and KKK get shut down on social media, they whine about "conservatives being silenced".

[Ithekro]

Usually because they miss the allegory of those places or people being Nazis or the KKK. All they see is ether Nationalist, or God Fearing Americans. Or Satan and/or Communism coming to take down all their forefathers put in place. I am not sure, but I think some of those forefathers would be aghast at who their descendants are supporting. People like those they fought and died to stop during the early 20th century.

On the other hand, Trump supporters are believing that the Democrats are gaslighting people via the media in an effort to take over the country and/or throw capitalism and the republic under the bus in favor of their communist or corporate overlords....or something like that.

[Guardian Enzo]

I think you give them too much credit. For 90% of these people ideology has nothing to do with it - it comes down to white/not white.

[Ithekro]

The thing is, they don't see that. They can't see that. As far as they understand they aren't being racist. They think they treat other people, regardless of skin color, equally. They are being patriots n their mind. Keeping out the foreign influences. But remember, what they expect is for everyone, regardless of color, to act like them. To have integrated into American (white) society just like some of their ancestors did via Ellis Island over a century ago. They expect people to adapt to be Americans. But what is an American? That may have become lost to them.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Arnold Schwarzenegger chiming in

https://twitter.com/Schwarzenegger/s...49481284874240

Yes, this is a video. You should take him seriously since he is from Austria, you know the country of Hitler, the man worshipped by a lot of those LARPers drunk on QAnon koolaid.

You forgot the country where Hitler couldn't even pass his entrance exams without using military force .

THat being said, Arnie still has a point and warned people of trump from the very beginning.

[cyberdemon]

Well ain’t this hilarious. An quote from an on duty police officer during the riots. This is against off duty officers...

“[One guy] pulled out his badge and he said, ‘we’re doing this for you.’ Another guy had his badge. So I was like, ‘well, you gotta be kidding.’”

Another officer, a newer recruit, echoed these sentiments, saying that where he was on the steps to the rotunda on the east side of the Capitol, he was engaged in hand-to-hand battles trying to fight the attackers off. But he said they were outnumbered 10 to one, and described extraordinary scenes in which protesters holding Blue Lives Matter flags launched themselves at police officers.

“We were telling them to back up and get away and stop, and they’re telling us, they are on our side, and they’re doing this for us, and they’re saying this as I’m getting punched in my face by one of them … That happened to a lot of us. We were getting pepper sprayed in the face by those protesters, I’m not going to even call them protestors, by those domestic terrorists,” said the officer.

“We’re doing this for you!” They say as they fight and mace police officers.

They have some serious delusions if they think they are actually on the side of police

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

You forgot the country where Hitler couldn't even pass his entrance exams without using military force .

THat being said, Arnie still has a point and warned people of trump from the very beginning.

I remember 4 years ago when Trump got elected and I saw someone on Animesuki say to give Trump a chance. It was clearer than day he was bad news. It's like saying we should jump into a fire first before deciding if the fire was hot or not.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

The thing is, they don't see that. They can't see that. As far as they understand they aren't being racist. They think they treat other people, regardless of skin color, equally. They are being patriots n their mind. Keeping out the foreign influences. But remember, what they expect is for everyone, regardless of color, to act like them. To have integrated into American (white) society just like some of their ancestors did via Ellis Island over a century ago. They expect people to adapt to be Americans. But what is an American? That may have become lost to them.

Again, I disagree. The vast majority of them know exactly what this is about but to them it isn't "racist", because racism doesn't exist. The superiority of the Aryan race is self-evident.

[coded321]

Originally Posted by cyberdemon

“We’re doing this for you!” They say as they fight and mace police officers.

They have some serious delusions if they think they are actually on the side of police

They killed an officer, ffs. They only side with the cops when the cops are killing and brutalizing black people. Seriously, there were rioters literally stating the cops are only suppose to brutalize BLM protesters, not them.

[Ithekro]

I did say give President Trump a chance to fail. Pre-Inauguration, people were talking about succession and the like. At least give him a chance to fail, a dignity that President Lincoln was denied by the South breaking away before he was inaugurated.

Trump failed as President. He's already been Impeached once. They just didn't throw him out the first time. He's probably going to be impeached again within ten days of his required exit from the White House for the Biden Administration. Meaning he's a double failure, and should be a lesson to future generations about how not to run the United States of America. A lesson we needed.

It is a matter on if the lesson will be learned. One that playing for party only and denial of the opposition gets nothing done in Government. Congress serves us, the People. Not their next re-election campaign. Its time they remember this, and take steps to stop the cycle of bad politics and unending "team pride" which is just "The other side is the enemy, never give into them" mentality that has basically stopped most things of note in our government for much of last two decades.

To Congress: We are all Americans. Start acting like it.

[Sheba]

Punch them where it hurts the most.


EDIT: For something more uplifting

So, that black officer who had the one crowd chasing him in the Capitol near the Senate? Turns out that he chose to do that in order to distract from the Senate chambers which had not been sealed yet.

https://twitter.com/harrisonjaime/st...04416810655744

With a one-second decision, everything that could have changed, and USA may have been in a worse state if it were not for Eugene Goodman. I think people need to tell Biden and Harris about it.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Punch them where it hurts the most.

They're doing some bothsideism...