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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 16th, 2023

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  • IMO you’re doing it the right way.

    If there’s a single indicator to pay attention to, it’s the source of funding. Where does the media outlet get its money from?

    Next is professional ethics: does it employ real journalists? Journalism is like medicine, it’s a profession with a code of conduct. In this case, a commitment to factual accuracy, a good-faith search for the truth, fairness in choices about what to cover, transparency about sources, etc.

    And if you feel the journalists are doing a bad job, then go back to point 1 and ask: Who is paying them? Are you? The reason for today’s crisis in journalism is not that journalists are lazy or evil, it’s that the internet cratered their business model. More of us need to step up and pay. It’s that simple.

    I have a couple of paid subscriptions. If that’s the cost of living in a properly informed society, it’s a great deal.




  • Not reasonable because you’re making a broad generalization

    Generalizations are broad by nature, that does not mean they have no value.

    But in reality the majority of people who oppose immigration also oppose LGBT+ and freedom of religion so it’s unlikely they’ll use this argument.

    Can’t speak for the USA but that is absolutely not the case in Europe.

    Otherwise you make some decent points. In any case, IMO discussions like this would benefit if we accepted from the outset that nobody is going to be convincing others to change their opinions. The best that can be hoped for is to understand the opposing side better. That would be an achievement in itself.









  • Great question. Democracy is all about compromise. I am bothered by how few people seem to grasp this fact. Personally, when I hear the phrase “squabbling politicians”, I roll my eyes - to squabble is their job! They’re doing it on our behalf because people have different interests and different values and so we don’t all agree, and that is a good thing. A polity where everybody agrees - well, there are names for that kind of political system and none of them are democracy.

    Over here in Europe, I just wish the progressive parties (for whom I vote) would do the obvious deal and sacrifice their dilatory approach to immigration and in particular border security. This issue is undermining all their other policy goals. The obvious allergy of voters to porous borders is not just a result of disinformation, and taking a tougher line on it does not necessarily mean infringing human rights.


  • I wish I could wall myself off from

    Well this is at least honest!

    Perhaps it’s a personality thing. Perhaps generational. Technically I’m a member of a minority community but I’ve never defined myself by that, and “hate” in the contemporary sense (I think its meaning has drifted unhelpfully) is not something that especially bothers me. My experience is that most people are well-meaning, so I tend to be intrigued by the question of why they think the things they do.

    Anyway, this is not a debate with a single correct answer. It is of course your right to shut out whoever you want, I won’t question that.



  • Assuming that “bigots” is not a synonym for “anyone I disagree with”, then fair enough.

    My underlying point is that technology is making it very easy to wall ourselves off into comfortable echo chambers. Some are even calling that “safety”. From my understanding of history, this looks like an obviously slippery and dangerous slope to be on.

    But if are talking about what most of your fellow citizens would also identify as “bigots”, then fair enough.


  • Sort of. Essentially I am saying that in a democracy we need to talk to each other, and sticking one’s fingers in one’s ears and chanting “lalalala I can’t hear you” seems like a poor way to go about that. These people can vote too. Like it or not, you have an interest in understanding what makes them tick and what might help them to see the world in a way more conducive to you.