Political Theatre category archive
Easy Marks 0
Daniel Ruth muses on Americans’ susceptibility to being suckered. Here’s a bit:
You have to give some grudging credit to the Russian trolls. They didn’t create American gullibility. They didn’t invent American civic illiteracy. They merely exploited it.
Click for the original image.It’s All about the Algorithm 0
Anne Applebaum explains.
I don’t agree with her wholeheartedly, because she doesn’t differentiate between the actions of Facebook and those of Facebook posters, nor does she remark on the credulousness of the American Facebook user. Nevertheless, as regards how Facebook and other anti-social media platforms manipulate the material that Facebook users see when they log in, I submit that her piece is worth a read. Said manipulation may not be “publishing,” but at the very least it is some form of “polishing.”
A snippet:
At the same time, Facebook has declared itself free of responsibility: The company continues to argue that it is not legally liable for material that appears on its platform because it is not a “publisher,” even though it behaves in every other way like a publisher, including by collecting advertising revenue that used to go to publishers. The result is that anyone who seeks to spread false information on Facebook or any other social-media site is, in practice, no longer bound by laws on libel or false advertising that were explicitly designed to stop them.
America’s Problem: Magical Thinking 0
In the Raleigh News and Observer, Billy Maddalon suggests that it’s time for Americans to face America’s reality. A snippet:
(snip)
All of these problems persist because we refuse to learn from what other countries have done to solve these same challenges. Remember, we’re different, better, smarter, we’re exceptional. Screw the facts!
Follow the link for the rest; it’s worth the three minutes of your time.
Aside:
This condition is a natural consequence of having a major political party that has set as its mission the destruction of the common good.
Facebook Frolics 0
Blocked and silenced (unless, of course, you are a Russian Troll).
“Failed State” 0
E. J. Dionne is not sanguine.
On gun violence, the United States has become a corrupt failed state.
More at the link.
All the News that Fits 0
Excerpt:
The biggest fake news problem is that we have a lot of stupid people who believe fake news.
“The Safest City in Florida” 0
Mike recalls that Parkland, Florida, was once named the “safest city in the United States.”
Warning: Language and lots of it.
Click for the original image.Timeline of a Toady 0
Dick Polman tracks Little Marco’s fealty to the merchants of mechanized death. Here’s how he starts:
We all know what happens after a mass shooting — thoughts ‘n’ prayers, TV footage of traumatized kids, it’s “too soon” to do anything — so this time let’s try something else. Let’s tell the tale through the prism of one hapless politician. Let’s make him a metaphor for our surrender to routine slaughter.
Follow the link for the timeline.
Ending the Shelling 0
Will Bunch writes of the “NRA’s reign of terror.” A snippet:
Follow the link for the rest.
Constitutional Rights and Wrongs 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Thomas Hills considers the right of the people to change rights.
Give it a read.
The Get-Out-the-Bot Movement 0
Thom considers the implications of the indictment of 16 Russians for interfering in elections and of the trolling of America.
Russian Impulses 0
Jay Bookman follows the mutations and permutations of a Russian twitterbot, as it changes identities, nationalities, and causes.
Remember, just because you read it on a computer screen, it ain’t necessarily so.
What Is the Common Good? 0
Thom answers a caller’s question.