2023 archive
Dis Coarse Discourse . . . 0
. . . has completely gone to the dog.
Another Voter Fraud Fraudster 0
And, natch, like almost all the others who have been caught, it’s a Republican.
Methinks Republicans’ allegations of voter fraud are a massive example of psychological projection.
They cheat, so they reckon everybody else does too.
The Disinformation Superhighway 0
Disinformation campaigns are nothing new. So too are disinformation campaigns on the Disinformaation Superhighway, particularly in the past two decades via “social” media.
At his website, security expert Bruce Schneier offers a thoughtful take on the effects chatbots and large language models on dis coarse discourse. Here’s a bit:
The entire piece is worth the few moments it will take you to read it.
QOTD 0
Josephine Tey:
If you see a giraffe once a year, it remains a spectacle; if you see it daily, it becomes part of the scenery.
Tey, Josephine, The Franchise Affair (New York: Scribner, 2020) p. 172
Manipulation Nation 0
Retired psychology and business professor Dale Hartley looks at the differences between psychopaths and manipulators (he uses the term “Machiavellians”). Here’s one that he notes.
Follow the link and see if the characteristics he describes remind you of anyone in the news–or, for that matter, anyone who appears on Fox News or any of its clones and imitators.
Vaccine Nation 0
PoliticalProf cites (in)credible sources that lead him to express a concern that he may have become zombiefied by yesterday’s emergency alert test.
Aside:
Y’know, he may be onto something. It’s pretty clear that something is eating away (some of) this country’s brains.
(I also got the alert. I guess I’m a zombie too.)
The McCarthy Error 0
Stephen Colbert points out the perfidy and emphasizes the emptiness.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
A responsbile gun owner sets an example of sportsmanship with politeness.
The Label behind “No Labels” 0
Jim Hightower follows the money.
Qualification Nation, Reprise 0
At the Portland Press-Herald, John A. Danaher provides a real-life example of one who would fail the test cited in the previous post.
Squeaker of the House 0
PoliticalProf runs the numbers.
It’s Not about the Benjamins (Despite Claims to the Contrary) 0
Michael in Norfolk offers a theory as to why Republicans are against aiding Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion.
A Prophecy Fulfilled 0
H. L Menchken:
The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
The juvenile fired one shot on Monday night, hitting one child in the arm and the other in the torso, Apopka police Chief Mike McKinley said during a news conference.
We are a broken society.