Slashdot Mirror
Slashdot Goes Political: Announcing politics.slashdot.org
With the US Presidential Election coming up, we've had a lot of story submissions that we would like to post, but they don't fit very well on the Slashdot main page. To address this, we'll be running special political coverage between now and the election in our new Politics subsection of Slashdot. Please submit stories directly to the section for consideration.
As with all sections on Slashdot,
there will be stories available within that section that don't get posted to the main page, so please visit the section if you are interested in more coverage.
We'll do our best to be fair with story selection. We think we can do a good job since the Slashdot editors represent a diverse spectrum of political ideologies. The discussions are up to you guys. Here's hoping the experiment works!
Rob's platform:
Craig Steffen
http://www.craigsteffen.net
Every discussion has some sort of political slant to it. You are somehow labeled as "right" or "left" depending on the whim of the moderators or random members of the community. People routinely claim you are some sort of radical communist just because you don't support the paying-off of public servants to create laws that benefit only the corporations. Obviously this is just one small example but it certainly reflects a good bit of what I experience here... We might really want to think about how the normal Slashdot moderation system is handled on this side of the site.
;-)
If anything Karma changes should be eliminated due to politically motivated moderation in this section. Some serious damage could occur to someone's account that is diametrically opposed to the rest of the Slashdot mentality.
I have been scouring books, articles, and random conversation for some intelligent and fair discussion about the state of politics today. I doubt that I will find too much "intelligent discussion" and I know we won't find any fairness here on Slashdot but we can always have hope
Here come the flames...
any chance for /. interviews with the candidates for the issues that concern us nerds? I mean, this new sub section would hopefully give /. a little more clout.
Mike
So does this mean all comments will be automatically moderated to -1 Troll? =)
Right is wrong when left is right.
Can we please ban the editorials from /. editors to any political stories?
I'm guessing from the logo of the section that this will be a 'No', but will there be coverage of Non-US elections as well?
Objects in the blog are closer then they ap
agreed having karma effected by politics is going to be fucking ridiculous and every 2nd post will be flamebait or troll.
We think we can do a good job since the Slashdot editors represent a diverse spectrum of political ideologies.
Perhaps some examples are in order.
At least they did a better job with the colors/logo than the nasty IT section... ;)
+1 Democrat
-1 Republican
-1 Commie Bastard
+1 Capitalist Pig
(Change + with - as seen fit)I am a viral sig. Please help me spread.
Slashdot went political a long time ago...
Seriously though, congrats guys, this should make for some more really good discussions on slashdot.
Serious damage and Slashdot karma just don't belong in the same sentence...
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
How do I mod an entire section as flamebait?
:)
And I can see all the foriegners complaining that this is too U.S. centric
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
Not having to see the IT color scheme again in my life won't bother me one iota.
No more Micro$oft bashing from me. Its like bashing at the special olympics.
Why didn't the "IT" section get the "Politics" nicer colors?
I'm surprised that the bar in this section aren't:
Red-FadingTo-White-FadingTo-Blue
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
What's funny to me is that people think we DON'T have a diverse specturm of political ideologies. :-)
Good God, folks, would it hurt to at least try and make things a bit balanced? Important things happen in the world that don't have to do with the USA. There are a lot of people here who would be interested in hearing about it.
why an american flag for the /. graphic? there *are* countries outside america that practice politics. typical shortsightedness.
I suspect lots of people wont want to see the politics stuff. But the category selection stuff doesn't seem to work at the moment (there's bugreps in the slashdot bug tracker).
Pleasey weasey?
How the heck are we going to mod this section? It sounds like EVERY comment is going to be flamebait. Then we'll have the usual problem with Non-US people griping about how unfair it is that it only covers US politics (I'm assuming here) as well as put in their two bits ON US politics. It's going to be messy!
Never confuse volume with power.
Lets just skip the moderation function in this area. Mods here already let their political view influence their moderation of "tech" subjects, let alone an overtly political thread.
/. puts up a political forum I just won't go there as the population here is already too narrow politically to be a fair discussion.
I don't care if
B O R I N G
You are somehow labeled as "right" or "left" depending on the whim of the moderators or random members of the community.
;-)
Really old, but I happened to be thinking of it earlier today - the Political Compass. Apparently I'm way off to the left, and down a bit.
Maybe all posters in this new section should take said test so that posters with conflicting views may safely ignore viewpoints that they disagree with. After all, there's a place for partisan publishing (scroll down a bit...)
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
... that as long as people are writing posts that inform and explain their viewpoint, they won't be modded down, even by people who disagree. A one sentence-post espousing an unpopular viewpoint, yes, is basically a troll or flamebait. A paragraph or so explaining why the author has that viewpoint and some of the facts/reasoning behind it shouldn't be. These are the kinds of posts that make for stimulating discussion that enriches us all, even if you don't agree.
It's possible I'm just a rosy-glassed optimist, but I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope.
Ahh! But there are things in politics that relate to nerdy things and technology. For instance, all of the voting machines in California. Nerdy, yet political in some aspects.
My guess is that there will be many otherwise-unremarkable posts which will be moderated up simply because they express a popular point of view forcefully, and, as always, meta-moderators are encouraged to mark lame upmods as Unfair. If a post isn't any more Insightful than average, but gets moderated that way, then rigorous meta-moderation will help the system, next time around, give mod points to someone else who deserves them more.
My Karma was trashed because of politics. A few years ago I said something to draw someone's ire and I was karma bombed. My karma was reduced to the point where I couldn't post anymore.
Since then, I've been unable to get mod points.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
I think the +5 funny was due to the fact that you think that having a "diverse spectrum of political ideologies" means you will "do a good job".
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
But that cannot happen, because Our Fearless Leader Who Is Always Right has said that there is no significant abuse of moderation.
Anybody who says Our Fearless Leader Who Is Always Right is wrong is an enemy of the state, and must be denied moderation privileges.
Please turn yourself in for ReEducation immediately.
www.eFax.com are spammers
I do have to say that in the last few weeks while meta-moderating I've been annoyed at the number of posts that were obviously moderated "off-topic" or "flamebait" just because the moderator didn't agree with the political slant.
I'll also second the post that suggested that this forum should look at politics everywhere, not just the US. There is a lot to be learned by looking at the ways that other jurisdictions handle things like Digital rights, wiretapping, and freedom of speech.
That said, I expect that I'll choose not to subscribe to the politics forum, and I doubt very much that political baiting will disappear from other parts of our beloved slashdot.
Three Squirrels
Why is it US-centric?
Because the section is for political coverage between now and the upcoming US election.
Because politics does MATTER, you twit. How do you think things like the PATRIOT act got through? I believe that had more "geeks" to use the term liberally, gotten out and voiced their opinions that things like the PATRIOT act or new wire-tapping laws were BAD (or at least had some negative and poorly thought out sections), things may have ended up for the better.
Just because politics can be boring doesn't mean they don't matter. Get off your swivel-chair and go register then excersize your right to VOTE. Maybe if all of the US slashdot readers did the same, we wouldn't have HALF the legal problems we do now and our country wouldn't be so bass-ackwards.
"The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his." - Patton
It boggles my mind that there are people that base so much of their self-worth on a hidden int on a faraway server.
I would hope that moderators are fair enough to send comments up or down depending on their quality, not whether their point of view is agreeable. Even if someone says something we completely disagree with, as long as they say it well and bring facts to the table, it is worth hearing.
Mod deviationist down!
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
Slashdot had become a sanctuary, free of (government-oriented, American) politics. Since - as you say - we are approaching the election, the entire media is awash in news of the elections. Blogs, magazine, ezines, newsletters, toilet graffiti. This is understandable, but certainly exhausting. To know now that even slashdot will be splashing stories on American politics makes me just want to log out and live in some glorified hole on a Carribean island. BenHill
For real
Clicking on each and every section to watch for missing stories is a bit lame, no?
Feel ready to own one or many Tux Stickers?
Why only politics based on the US elections? Isn't it better to have permanent world/global politics section? /. through this many years.
I'm thinking here of many political themes which are quite represented on
Trolls are like broken clocks. They show the truth two times a day. The rest of the day they talk nonsense.
I think what's sad is politically active people who need robotic partisan uniformity. America's huge, diverse population has worked together for hundreds of years by finding compromise acceptable to the majority, even when that majority spanned many ideologies and parties.
--
make install -not war
Between you and jaime, I expect one of you to be dead by the end of October. ;-)
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I guess we'll see if /. can manage to be "fair and balanced", considering the rather significant slant in its readership.
So I'm confused.
Do articles in the politics section still need to somehow involve the words "hacker", "Diebold", or "DMCA"? Or can we now submit stories about the next time Cheney goes berserk randomly?
In Soviet Russia, all our base are belong to you!
Of course! You guys run the whole spectrum. From outright Socialists through the Deaniacs ending at slightly left of center Democrats with a couple of Greens/Nader fans for added diversity. Beyond that is howling madness, no need to represent any of that, right?
/. editorializing and there certainly isn't a lack of editorializing.
Been reading here for years and I have never seen a hint of Republican or Libertarian views expressed in
Democrat delenda est
Why is it that slashdot is getting involved in politics? shouldn't slashdot be focusing on matters of tech, stuff thats important to nerds? STUFF THAT MATTERS? who cares about politics? lets discuss the latest thing that could be made into a beowulf cluster or debate on what would happen if we were in soviet russia or even ways of making PROFIT!
Slashdot has become much more political in since 9/11, especially in the last year. I'm glad that there will be a politics section for me to post in, and maybe it will keep some of the political flamewarriors out of the techie topics.
I have no doubt you have a diverse political spectrum - for an American. I doubt you have a very diverse spectrum in general, though.
There are more commonalities between a republican and a democrat than there are differences.
-Adam
And as you point out Garcia, politics have been part of not only the editorializing but also the comments and moderation system since day 1 (which for you was even before me, with your 4-digit UID). Slashdot was never really just News for Nerds, it was also Stuff that Matters, and to an even moderately educated nerd, politics does matter, even outside of DRM and Your Rights Online.
I think the admission by the editors that there is a desire for a politics category is a positive thing. I generally think the idea you propose, however, which is eliminating Karma effects of moderation is not a positive step. With no consequences, the amount of trolling and flamebait posts you will see will increase substantially. Respectful rational argumentation does occur here, but it's easy for discussions to degenerate, and your proposal won't help.
While I agree that sometimes posts are moderated specifically for their political views, it's more often the case that they get moderated for the way they express their radical political views. We should stick to the same standards of civilized discussion you'd expect with a gathering of real people in the real world. I'd rather deal with blatantly political down-moderation in meta-mod and add a facility there to tackle this problem. As for the problem of people getting modded up for expressing popular political points of view (nerd populism?), I don't think there's any problem with it, and there's even less that can be done about it.
Anything that can be done to excise politcal diatribes from technical discussions is fine by me.
It had gotten to the point where I avoided even looking at some Slashdot topics I suspected might lend themselves to degrading into political rants. That sorely broke my heart.
I'm glad you guys are helping out. I know that there are no promises but I'm happy that, at least, my chances of reading about Bill Clinton's use of cigars while learning about a new ReiserFS enhancement or George Bush's "lies, lies, lies" while hearing feedback about a Linux roll-out somewhere are reduced.
You can make that political forum lean as far left or as far right as you like because there's no damn way I'm going to even take a peek.
--Richard
PS: Yeah, I know that technology is
intertwined with politics but you
know what I mean. Less is better and
you just do what you can.
Lemme guess, you are legally blind aren't you?
I haven't seen much EXCEPT for libertarian drivel, with maybe occasional bit of free market gospel from econo-neo-cons for "balance".
I used to feel the same way until Bush. If you recall he ran as a "uniter, not a divider" and talked up "bipartisanship" when he first came into office. So the Democrats went along with him and promptly got fucked in the ass until they were bloody and raw. So now I say bring on the partisanship until the GOP has been beat back and has learned a lesson. You can't fake out the other party with talk of working together and then fuck them, and then go on a rampage fucking America up and expect to get away with it.
Maybe 4 years from now I'll go back to opposing partisanship if the GOP gets smacked around enoughin the meantime.
That's an interesting point about Karma, but I'm not sure how a slashdot article would work without it. The whole system depends on good comments getting modded up and stupid ones down. Perhaps we need some sort of dummy moderation message that doesn't affect score, but does allow people to register their agreement/disagreement with the opinions of the statement. Of course that might necessitate reconsideration of the existing Troll, Overrated, Underrated, and Flamebait tags.
I've been asking for this section for a while. News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters doesn't just mean tech stuff. For sure people have been trying to talk politics on many an occasion. Here's hoping this section incorporates significant current events as well. For instance, even slashdot covered the trade center bombings, but at the time they happened politics was a minor concern - disseminating news of the event being the primary one.
While they're at it, they should make a general "Entertainment" section as well to let all you fanboys rant and rave about your favorite series (yay Farscape) without having to subject everyone to things few people care about (boo Firefly). Only the really big shows need to make the front page, but that doesn't mean there aren't other things people want to cover.
Can anyone think of any other sections that should be added? I feel like I'm forgetting one that I thought of before...
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
Nonsense! Slashdot has both kinds of political ideologies, Green AND Libertarian.
WWJD for a Klondike Bar?
American flag?
I'm Canadian You Insensitive Clod!
(just kidding... but seriously what about non-Americans?)
Get your Unix fortune now!
uhhm dood, pudge is a conservative man. You should go read his journals. He's a very intelligent Bush supporter. It's funny that you make that comment to pudge of all people.
Slashdot just broke one of the 2 rules of peacekeeping conversation, don't talk about religion or politics. They might as well start up religion.slashdot.org and flame on.
/* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
I thought it was due to calling someone who approves a submission an "editor".
It's a US based website, run by people in the US, and we all know that, from a USian pov, the rest of the world doesn't matter.
Best Slashdot Co
I fully expect this section to be a non-stop flamefest that leaves nobody untouched. A knock-down drag-out troll fight, with everyone yelling, minimal dialogue, and 4 billion threads that run something like this:
"Bush Sucks."
"Democrats Suck."
"Non-libertarians Suck."
"America Sucks."
"Europe Sucks."
"My Country Isn't In Europe, You American Idiot."
"I'm Not an American, You Elitist Freak."
"I hate the it.slashdot.org color scheme."
"I predict all of the threads in this section will sound like this:"
*beep*
Infinite Loop.
Right after a 11 point swing since the RNC.
Let's look at the news stories so far...
Hackers Take Aim at Republicans
Bikes Against Bush Creator Busted
I think it's a good idea to have this channel, but I would really like to see both parties represented. With the occasional third and fourth party representation, cause the hippies and the anarchists should have a voice too.
"It takes many nails to build a crib, but one screw to fill it."
No...we think you have a diverse spectrum of left wing political ideologies.
Look at Slashdot's "Hall of Fame"
4183 Strike on Iraq by CmdrTaco
3314 Saddam Hussein Arrested by CmdrTaco
3265 Fahrenheit 9/11 Discussion by CmdrTaco
3212 What's Keeping You On Windows? by Cliff
3042 An Unbiased Analysis of Gun Crime vs. Gun Control? by Cliff
2764 Windows 2000 & Windows NT 4 Source Code Leaks by CmdrTaco
2722 Pledge of Allegiance Ruled Unconstitutional by michael
2574 Major Strike on Iraq Underway by CmdrTaco
2549 US Starts Attacking Afghanistan by CmdrTaco
2465 U.S. Attack -- More Updates by Hemos
2 of those aren't 'political'
I'm not exactly big on politics, but it looks like a large amount of readers are.
I think the normal moderation system should not apply for the politics section. We don't need to make it all too easy for someone with strong political views and mod points to go through marking Troll on every opinion they disagree with. We get enough of that on the stories that are only semi-political.
I believe that /. started out as very much a technology-oriented news aggregator. The addition of a politics section is just another sign of the maturation and diversification of the site as "nerds" move more and more into the mainstream of society.
a world in progress...
I am curious what the candidates positions are on the Perl versus Python debate?
The Republicans strike me as more likely to be Perl hackers, while the Democrats Pythonistas.
----
How To Love Your Job
I am a Goldwater Conservative, not a neoconservative. I definitely side more with paleoconservatives than neoconservatives on domestic policy, but neoconservatives on modern foreign policy (my isolationist views changed, as with many people, following 9/11). We have an editor I'd term a libertarian, and he seems to identify more with them than the other parties. He's a bona fide disciple of Adam Smith.
Since the elections are structured (primaries, ballot lines, matching funds, etc) as selection from parties, partisan elections are necessary. Ignoring partisan organization is a good way to lose elections badly. I'm talking about the "with us or against us" politics, best exemplified by Republicans, except when showing their spokesmodels on Convention TV. Politics is a way to organize people to work together, rather than against one another. So the original poster's sarcastic complaint that diversity of ideologies would prevent doing a good job is sad. It's politics as an end in itself, controlling access to power for only a small group of "winners" at the expense of everyone else who supports it.
Of course it would be best to get rid of the party gridlock by getting rid of these parties, and the party system it supports. Any private club can endorse anyone in public, but I shouldn't subsidize their hazing, funny hats and propaganda telethons. So long as we do, politics will belong to the clubs, and people will just be a prop in their show.
--
make install -not war
Shouldn't slashdot be better than that? If one party decides to use (overuse) the American flag then the slashdot logo will look like it talks only about that party.
PS: In my observation most parties who use the patriotism argument are the ones which care least about the people. In France for example the one party who claimed the French flag as a symbol for it's own party is the most racist and biggoted party.
That's why the Americans "liberate" countries, because the other country has better stuff. So stop taunting them. Sheesh! And if they don't liberate us, they might just move up here and talk loudly and take up two seats per person, year-round and not just during tourist season.
To any Americans reading this: he's lying, Canada's just a cold barren place full of hicks who live in igloos and eat frozen fish. And you've already got our best people: Celine Dion and William Shatner (that's how bad we are). Yeah, that's the ticket...
BTW, beer is a very subjective thing. You can go to just about any country and their people will swear their beer is the best. So obviously Canadian beer is best to you. Although, German and Belgian beer tend to be more loved worldwide than others.
People on the internet, and Slashdot in particular, tend to lean more towards the European mainstream than the American mainstream.
Except, of course, on civil liberties issues, where Europe's left-fascism makes the police-state folk in the US Justice Department envious: the UK's got CCTVs everywhere, issues "antisocial behavior orders" prohibiting people from (in one instance) making sarcastic comments to their neighbors; France bans movies that criticize its bloody colonial wars, and so on.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
"with us or against us" evil politics, characterized as best by the guys who don't vote the way I do. :-)
This is my sig.
That's not entirely correct. While they may claim to be Green and Libertarian, they are in fact quasi-green pseudo libertarians. Nowhere else besides Slashdot will you find people claiming to be Libertarian while advocating increased tax funding for NASA, or claiming to be Green while strenously arguing against mandatory software warranties.
While I don't expect anyone to ever follow their party's planks one hundred percent, Slashdot editors seem to be the types that only pick a party because someone told them they could get laid.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
I'm waiting for GNAA.slashdot.org
Why have the candidates not been asked for a slashdot style interview? Someone high up on the slashdot chain should invite both the candidates to do an email interview like what has been done in the past with interesting people. I am sure with the millions of hit that are here they might be interested.
The comment was with regards to the editors, and not the posters or story submitters. Also, if you find a hint of libertarianism with the editors, it's only with regards to Free Software. In any other issue they're firmly authoritarian. They don't want regulations on Free Software, but will frequently advocate sending the 82nd Airborne Infantry into Redmond.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
And in the vi vs. emacs debate, I feel that Republicans are pico users.
One day I'll get to be on the /. editorial staff...
Then you little pinkos will rue all the off-topic and flamebait liberal posts you said were "insightful."
My lack of God, it's Trotsky!
The Pirate Party of the USA. We are like the Democratic or Republican party, only we don't lie about our motives. If we invade another country, it will be over the loot and plundering. We won't lie about WMDs, etc. Yeah it is all about the oil, after that pipeline is build, booty for all with cheaper oil! Make Saddam walk the plank into a shark infested water. :)
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Yeah, but weren't the swift boat guys outted as complete liars, and didn't Bush himself say we should be proud of Kerry? I'm tending to side with Bush on this one.
For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
Yes, and I am saying it is funny to think that, since I am an official of the Republican party in Washington state, a precinct committee officer.
Just as nigger is derogatory, whereas nigga or negro isn't (sometimes), USian is derogatory. You are NOT encompassing continents by saying American. I am a citizen of the United States of America. I am an American. Not a 'USian.'
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'.
Look how well the slogan "Fair and Balanced" has worked for Fox News!
The editors of Pravda would have been proud.
In the case you didn't know, 'bipartisanship' in politics means that the other guys will do it your way, too.
Marxist evolution is just N generations away!
no joke, but threads like that have been propagating through every other story lately. If politics.slashdot.org can trap them and thus clean up some of the other topics then more power to it.
oh, and i hate the it.slashdot.org color scheme.
#!/usr/bin/english
Strike on Iraq by CmdrTaco
Saddam Hussein Arrested by CmdrTaco
Major Strike on Iraq Underway by CmdrTaco
That guy's busy...
Been reading here for years and I have never seen a hint of Republican or Libertarian views expressed in /. editorializing and there certainly isn't a lack of editorializing.
If you lowered your threshold to -1 you would have seen my conservative replies.
Slamming Bush will get your Score to 5:, Interesting but refuting it will get you a score of -1:, Troll.
This is a left-leaning board. It is what it is.
It's called 'bitchslapping', and the term came from 'bitchslap.pl' (which you can find in the slashcode CVS attic).
It:
1) Pushes you down to -10 karma
2) Removes your 'eligible for moderation' bit
3) Sets your default post score at -1.
Editors can execute the script on people they consider 'abusers', though it's been used in the past to keep the readers quiet about massive editor abuse (see: the post of death, where anyone who responded was moderated to -1, and anyone who moderated them back up was bitchslapped).
By the way: 12 minutes of your time should change your mind.
Mooniacs for iOS and Android
Why is the section background the US flag? Maybe you meant uspolitcs.slashdot.org instead however last time I checked (okay I never checked, but is my guess wrong?) a huge amount of slashdot readers are from non-US countries? I'm well aware about the fact that some US citiziens think the "the world = USA" but I thought higher of slashdot editors than that. Certainly the US elections are very important but in general I would say the most interesting questions are those about society from a global perspective. Especially in the light of the communications revolution which started during the last decade.
While I don't see any problem with the fact that lots of the statements are logical fallacies (this isn't a right/wrong test, it's to measure your responses to the statements, even when logical fallacies), I just don't see how some of them are really either right or left socially or economically. Is the concept of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" really a politically conservative concept, or a religious expression of the human desire for revenge? Is optional classroom attendance for minors really a libertarian point of view? Is eugenics politically conservative, or just a bit nutty? If you like to keep busy with cheerful things when you are troubled, does that make you a social liberal (or conservative? I can't even figure this one out)?
I started taking that test and gave up on the 3rd page. Almost every question is phrased as a false dilemma and has an obvious left slant. It is apparerently intended to make you believe you are a liberal.
I had the same reaction. Half those questions are logical fallacies, and the rest are left slafted. But our politicians all speak in logical fallacies so I kept going, and it scored me at 0.0 on the left-right thing and at -5.38 on the authoritarian-liberterian axis. Which is pretty much where I see myself. I believe strongly in freedom for people and business, but don't object to fairly applied taxes for schools, libraries, a safety net, and legal* system.
*I don't support the current legal system in the US, but I still think we'd need one in an ideal society. I think we should go back to the old Icelandic tradition of having the Speaker of the House read all the laws of the land to the other members of Congress over the course of every three years. It's sort of like the Jewish tradition of reading the torah over the course of each year, except congress is free to eliminte a law for every other law they add, and are free to go home after they hear the text.
I just took the Political Compass and the test in itself is quite skewed. Questions like:
Abstract art that doesn't represent anything shouldn't be considered art at all.
Aren't political questions. There are many questions like this. If anyone would like to take a real political quiz, try The Worlds Smallest Political Quiz
I stopped after the first question:
If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations.
Economic globalization is inevitable. Humanity and "trans-national corporations" aren't an either/or choice as beneficiaries.
That question is just another version of "When did you stop beating your wife?"
Mmmm.. Donuts
I'd support an intelligent Bush too...
Well for all you complainers about American Politics being the focus you need to remind yourself that in many countries (apprently not yours) that those countries in fact do have political parties and plently of drama that the rest of the world might be interested in. Yeah the US is huge and the rest of the world does tend to watch our politics with more interest than their own but you never know maybe some of us would like to know what's going on politically with the EU and copyright law, the UN's insaine attempts to tax international flights and space accesss, and will Tony Blair sleep with Shania Twain after a change encounter on the deck of the ISS station! Politics is sooo good to follow but like a soap opera you have to hang around for a while till things make sense. Case in point, what's gonna happen in Cuba when Castro dies? What are the political ramafications with the botched Russia indicdent? How close are we to the return of the USSR?
Can't wait for the new category to start rolling out news!
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
I'm for less gun control. If you have to keep a gun locked in a underground vault, why not your cigarette lighter? Way more kids die from that. It's not an issue because it looks less threatening. What we really need is more water bucket control because more little kids die drowning in those things that guns
as for abortion I consider it murder. I used to be pro choice until the 'silent scream'. As a grown man that made me want to cry. Now I find myself even debating the "in the instance of rape" option.
My first time starting a flame war, how'd I do?
/* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
Yes, and I, the parent you're speaking to, am an editor. oops. :-)
>Been reading here for years and I have never seen a hint of Republican
The GOP mainstays are piss-poor areas of the US where the chances of being a nerd with various gaming machines and enough free time to post on a webboard is pretty low.
Modern day Republicans are closely related to theocrats and the exteme right, thus having a very maginalized platform. Most of the genx/y types who frequent this site really don't see the logic in the GOP's current platform of driving the US back to the 30's both economically and socially.
What is "Republican" today? It gets redefined everytime Bush opens his mouth. The party of small government and fiscal responsbility is no more, thus "Republican" is a blind partisan defense of today's talking points.
Libertarianism gets a lot of play here, but its whatever you want to define it as. Very few bother with the US Libertarian party.
A lot of people would welcome well written conservative views, but like I wrote earlier they don't exist in the Republican world.
Lastly, the genx/y generation is skeptial, doessnt share dad's bigotry, doesn't share dad's religious views, etc thus you're going to get a lot of "crazy leftists" with "crazy" views like those held by the founders of the US, which the Republican seem to despise. Just read their 2004 convention platform: fuck gays, fuck the economy, fuck your complaints about the war, more PATRIOT ACT legislation, and blame Democrats for everything.
Perhaps, these views aren't popular for a reason? No conspiracy needed.
Or, for that matter: the DMCA or the INDUCE act. These are acts passed through the process of politics but have the potential to affect all computer users - American or otherwise. Any overhaul of software patents in the US too will be reached by political, not technical, consensus. Achieving the consensus one wants requires a broader understanding of politics than just the technical problems it presents.
:)
In the UK we have the RIP (Regulation of Investigatory Powers) act, the EUCD (European Copyright Directive - Europe's DMCA) and now software patents are being proposed by the EC. Australia had the trade agreement that may require a DMCA-esque regulation as part of the agreement. These have all been proposed and approved through the political process.
Fighting these changes is hard work, and requires effort; but most importantly it requires political nous. If you want to convince your representative, you have to know how to convince your representative. What will make your objections appealing to him? How can your representative convince his colleagues that you're right?
An understanding of politics is absolutely essential to getting these concepts through to an individual who must first be elected to stand for a position by his party before he's elected "by the people". If you're unable to convince your representative - through politics - that at the very least his standing with his party won't be harmed, you have a snowballs chance in hell of convincing him to listen to you.
I would, however, disagree that politics is boring. It's frustrating, it's annoying, it's usually hypocritical and amoral, but it's rarely boring
The ways of gods are mysteriously indistinguishable from chance.
I wonder if the chosen color scheme of the topic belies a particular political slant.
While they may claim to be Green and Libertarian, they are in fact quasi-green pseudo libertarians.
In fact, if you go on Google and search for libertarian green party, you fulfill Godwin's Law.
Slashdot Political Diversity Poll -
What is your political party?
Democrat
Green
Communist
Somewhere Left of Communist, whatever that is
Invoke Godwin's Law -- make it stop
CmdrTaco
# Don't complain about lack of options. You've got to pick a few when you do multiple choice. Those are the breaks.
# Feel free to suggest poll ideas if you're feeling creative. I'd strongly suggest reading the past polls first.
# This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane.
If Slashdot wants to develop some political enlightenment and sophistication they need to realize politics isn't like a turn signal, left and right. Its more like a wheel with spokes in every direction.
If someone trashes the Republicans believe it or not it doesn't necessarily mean they are a Democrat/liberal and vice versa. There are plenty of true conservatives that despise what the Republican party has turned in to and Liberals who despise the Democrats. I imagine you can chalk this up, in the U.S. at least, to a two party system which has tried to con everyone in to thinking there are only two parties and two ways to look at things and if you don't agree with one of those two, in all their current corruption, you are basically adrift in an empty ocean.
Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager was on Charlie Rose on PBS recently. One thing he said I like. In 2008 there is at least a chance people are going to unite on the Internet and back an independent candidate with $300-400 million dollars coming in hundred dollar checks from millions of people and bitch slap the two major parties, a slapping they've come to gloriously deserve, especially after the pathetic candidates they've fielded in the last two presidential elections. The hope is there will be an independent candidate who will actually talk about issues, from a fresh perspective, not regurgatating the entrenched party platforms, and put an end to the campaign of the "six second sound bites of mutual assured destruction".
The first challenge is to find a candidate with the right mix of charisma, judgement and brains. One who can form a common sense platform, on issues that matter, that will appeal to enough people to get elected and not pander to the inflammatory issues that dominate the debate between the two parties.
The second challenge is to get this candidate on the ballot in the face of the two parties unconstitutional onslaught on third party candidates like Nader.
The third challenge is to get this candidate enough credibility in the polls that he/she can't be dismissed as an also run and pushed in to obscurity as the media and the two parties are want to do.
I would vote for John McCain were it not for his recent grovelling at the feet of the Bush administration, people who savaged him in 2000, and his irrational level of support for the invasion of Iraq. I would vote for Dean were it not for his grovelling at the feet of Gore and Kerry along with his penchant for saying dumb things. I'd vote for Nader if he has a chance of getting elected just to see him shake up Washington and big business and see how long it would be before someone in the establishment assassinated him. Wouldn't vote for Perot.
@de_machina
Translation: Get your rich friends to fund an ad compaign to spread vicious lies about your opponent. What really worries me about this is the fact that George Junior has done this before, even against fellow Republicans (John McCain), yet not only are thousands buying into the bullshit, no one questions Georgie's character for repeatedly using indirect personal slander as a political weapon.
They aren't ideal choices, but then again, we've already got an incompetent ego-maniac in the White House, so at this point anybody would be an improvement, IMO.
PS: You've been modded "Interesting", so I don't really buy the idea that
Meanwhile, Slashdot readers from north of the 49th parallel (those crazy Canadians!) bemusedly note the profusion of right wing ideologies in the States and then go back to our socialized medicine and minority government with four major parties and political slants (left, middle, right, and separatist). To us, the Republicans and Democrats (loosely speaking) represent roughly the far right end and somewhat right-of-center on the political spectrum.
~Idarubicin
3314 Saddam Hussein Arrested by CmdrTaco
:)
Just how CmdrTaco managed to arrest Saddam Hussein I shall never know.
It's a Bagel.
Wrong Section.
Perl vs. Python isn't Politics, its Religion.
Linux is not Windows
We talk about Religion all the time on Slashdot:
...
vi vs. Emacs
Linux vs. Windows
Perl vs. Python
Linux is not Windows
I used to feel the same way until Bush. If you recall he ran as a "uniter, not a divider" and talked up "bipartisanship" when he first came into office.
He also runs as a Republican, when he is not. Ironic that Kerry speaks about free trade for pharmaceuticals and Bush does not and that Bush wants to increase government intervention with a marriage amendment and Kerry does not. It baffles the mind.
-- "Makes Little Debbie look like a pile of puke!" - Moe Szyslak
That "quiz" is just a list of Libertarian issues, formulated by Libertarians. The political compass is also slanted towards Libertarianism, but less grossly. The whole 2d model with social and economic axes is Libertarian in spirit.
A conservative or socialist would pick other axes to plot viewpoints.
Because we live in a democracy where everybody (well, a lot) has one vote each, the mistaken belief that everybodys opinion is worth the same is widespread. For technical issues, many people (but not enough, judging by the /. comments) realize that they they have insufficient insight to contribute anything worthwhile. But for politics, such a lack of insight is not stopping them.
Until you realize the simple truth that Bush is a Republican, and will say whatever looks good to voters on TV running up to an election, then do whatever perpetuates profits for the corporations to whom he must answer every day. That's spokesmodeling. Kerry answers to a lot of backers, some with conflicting interests, so he must find a sensible middle ground. That's management.
:).
When you find that your party does not represent you, and goes beyond ignoring you to using you by talking your talk, but walking someone else's walk, quit the party. If you find another, you're in luck. Otherwise, why bother? Who wants to vote in a primary for a club of scammers? Save your attention for the actual election, which actually affects your life. And put your "party time" towards a focused organization representing your interests, or towards your favorite beverage
--
make install -not war
See the South Park episode on this.
Cartman: I learned somethin' today. This country was founded by some of the smartest thinkers the world has ever seen. And they knew one thing: that a truely great country can go to war, and at the same time, act like it doesn't want to. [a shot of the crowd] You people who are for the war, you need the protesters. Because they make the country look like it's made of sane, caring individuals. And you people who are anti-war, you need these flag-wavers, because, if our whole country was made up of nothing but soft pussy protesters, we'd get taken down in a second. That's why the founding fathers decided we should have both. It's called "having your cake and eating it too."
Randy: He's right. The strength of this country is the ability to do one thing and say another.
He's a very intelligent Bush supporter. ... married to the Easter Bunny, playing poker with Santa on the weekends.
StoneCypher is Full of BS
So, I propose a dual moderation system (maybe quad moderation for libertarians?) where moderators first state how much they typically agree with a left/right point-of-view before scoring postings. Meta-moderation should keep the system from being gamed too often. Readers should then be able to filter out moderators with a given degree of opposite bias to their own (or not if they want to see the strongest balancing arguments). This will prevent infinite back-and-forth scoring from making moderation as useless as a chaotic oscillator (useless except for generating pseudo-random numbers that is).
If you're willing to accept the (flimsy) evidence against Kerry, you should also be willing to accept the (slightly less flimsy) evidence against Bush. Not that it matters what happened 35 years ago. I'd prefer to judge the presidential candidates on their records and positions than try fruitlessly to figure out exactly what they were doing 35 years ago.
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
This is going to be a long quote, reading it isn't needed, but it will show you that Thurlow had no reason to question WHY he got a medal when his actions that day clearly deserved it.
SearchIRC - Now with live chat directory!
It makes otherwise intelligent people complete closed minded idiots.
It's a well established fact that people seek out information which confirms their current opinion and actively screen out information which challenges it. Look at a programmer struggling with a bug or a user with a user interface and you can see it. Politics takes this natural human cognitive strategy and infuses it with emotion, value judgements and ego identification. This means that while in most situations people will eventually begin to take new information into account, in politics this practically never happens. The more we are confronted with truths that challenge our political positions, the more strongly we warp our sense of reality to suit our predjudices.
Any reasonable person from another planet would immediately come to some obvious conclusions:
On the economy, Bush got smacked down by an overdue correction in the business cycle and 9/11. His tax cuts probably gave the economy a short term stimulus. However, the long term effects of his policies are debatable.
Kerry has a realtively normal legislative career. He sometimes votes for one version of a bill and against another one, or for a particular thing by itself but against it when it's lumped with a bunch of other things he doesn't like. However, his career as a legislator is rather undistinguished.
Mr. Impartial Observer would also label Michael Moore a propagandist, and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth a bunch of vile political hatchetmen.
External validation feels good, but it is not intellectually honest. If the moderation system could be tweaked to encourage people to reevaluate their positions and look at the truth, it would be a great acccomplishment.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Keep in mind I am a liberal pro Kerry supporter who hates Bush so I am of course politically biased.
SWVFT was started by oil executives who never served in Vietnam and who had close ties to Karl Rove (Bush's chief political advisor). Infact they were close friends. Karl Rove is a ruthless competitor in the political spectrum and in my opinion one of the best strategists today. Kerry may just lose because of him and he helped beat Ann Richards when Bush ran for governor (a very hard thing to do)
Rove was very carefull to make sure none of the negative attacks came from Bush because he was aware Americans do not like politics. (He has even stated this) Kerry is a flip flopper
Kerry supported the war before opposing it, before supporting it again, to not funding it. DId Bush say that as well?
Rove orchestrates his whole re-election and of course had his hands tied on all of this. If something related to Bush's campaign ever comes up it means Rove planned it.
Kerry was angry because of the fact that Bush lets other people do his dirty work while he looks innocent and contrary of being a negative campaigner. Its very clever actually.
This is why I think Bush's speech of admiring his heroic service in Vietnam is no coincidence. Bush's true opinions lie with swift boat lobbying group. He only made that speech to make him look like the good guy.
If something is orchestrated agaisnt Kerry you can beat Rove and Bush had a hand in it.
http://saveie6.com/
And it's true -- these are two topics that are sure to get people's blood boiling.
Finding God in a Dog
Politics for Nerds. We need more flamewars.
IMO the best browser game ever http://wittyrpg.com
"Strike on Iraq by CmdrTaco"
"Saddam Hussein Arrested by CmdrTaco"
"Windows 2000 & Windows NT 4 Source Code Leaks by CmdrTaco"
"Pledge of Allegiance Ruled Unconstitutional by michael"
"Major Strike on Iraq Underway by CmdrTaco"
And who says Slashdot editors are lazy?
Although I know that this remark is not intended to be *mean* (well, i suppose it could be...) this kind of crap never helps any debate. Do you really think that there is no way that a bush supporter could be intelligent? Even though I am not necassarily a Bush supporter I find it personally offensive that you would call an entire group of people stupid for supporting the President. While there is a lot of desicions that Bush has made that I don not support there are some that I do. I am sure that there are many Bush supporters that do not support 100% of Bush's decisions, and that they have a good reason for supporting him. Many decisions that Bush has made can be good or bad based on opinion, do you really think that a personal opinion different from yours is a reason to call someone stupid?
I do think that the mods here should get a spanking for modding that comment insightful, at best it was funny
"Alcohol, cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems" -Homer Simpson
In other words, Bush sold his soul to the highest bidder.
Kerry, on the other hand, rents his out as the occasion demands.
In still other words, Kerry represents a fairly broad collection of interests, with access open as scenarios change. Bush represents a certain few interests, which never change, regardless of situation. Kerry is republican democrat, and Bush is just a republican - democracy need not apply.
I'd remove "fairly broad" from the first sentence. He represents a collection of interests, and can be bought when necessary. He has no loyalty, which, in a leader, is as bad as blind dogmatic loyalty (Bush). They both represent interests, rather than ideas or ideals, which makes them both scum from a political standpoint. Kerry is a political mercenary, Bush is a political fanatic. Neither have a conscience to speak of.
You can't have a republic without democracy. It's an extension of a broader idea. The distinction between republican democrat and republican is non-existent.
They're both from the same party, they just belong to different camps. Neither are interested in republican democracy, as far as the classical definition goes: all power stemming from the individual with strict confines upon what power the State can wield.
Neither Kerry nor Bush are republican in that they do not believe in constraints upon governmental power. A "republican" form of government is one where rights exist apart from and superior to the power of the government.
Neither Kerry nor Bush are democratic in that they support the perpetuation of the idea that power stems from the government, and all rights are beholden to the whim of that government. A "democratic" government derives its authority solely from the people, who may revoke that authority should they so choose.
Hey, don't badmouth pico like that. Republicans are notepad.exe users.
As anyone who has read The Diamond Age knows, it's only recently in history that hypocrisy was elevated to the status of worst evil.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
I'm not exactly big on politics, but it looks like a large amount of readers are.
/.ers. The reason these threads get so many comments is the political minority tend to be vocal. No suprise there.
/. It should reduce the number of "offtopic" mods so those points can be used better. But, me and my mod points won't go into the politics section and if nobody gets modded up/down over there, they will, unfortunately, come back to where everybody else is.
I think the term apolitical is the best description of most
I hope this section will take that minority out of the rest of
Perhaps we could have a bot do random modding over there, just to keep them thinking somebody is listening. Hmmm.....What is that saying about "keeping an idiot busy?"
If you open your mind too wide, people will throw trash in it.
Well slashdot was created by a US citizen inside the US. It is a US based website. Now if slashdot feels like going internation then good for them. But by no means should slashdot belt felt required or pushed to go international just because people from other countries decide to read it of their own free will. So how about next time ask them politely and recognize it is a decision they do not have to make if they don't want to instead of demanding they do so like it's required.
Obviously you don't understand democracy.
It is not that all opinions have the same value, but all people have the same right to express their opinions.
The merit of the opinions are decided by the politicial process, if you are arsed to transform those opinions in policies and actions and if your peers think your opinions can improve society then yes, your opinions will raise above the rest.
Or what is your alternative? That only opinions of experts, annointed ones, the people in the know, are the only ones we should be listening to? Like G. Bush, T. Blair and their incompetent intelligence agencies?
Thanks but no thanks.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
You must be joking.
/. recognizes that it no longer serves an US only audience. If we are going to talk about politics I am pretty sure we are going to do it about politics all around the place, because politics is not a parochial affair but a global matter.
/. should reflect this (perhaps two people arguing? or the logo of an assembly? or several heads with comic blurbs representing people thinking?).
The bloddy computers may be in the US, but I have seen here many histories from places all around the world, from Malaysia, Mexico to Namibia and Vietnam. Heck, even the UK features for goodness sake.
It is good time that
As such, the logo slected by
Oh, and it is good time the FAQ got rid of the ridiculous comment that this site is US slanted by design. It is not anymore, so such a FAQ is completely out of step with the spirit and the content of the site.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
For starters, Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Later, his Senate committee investigating Iran/Contra, then the breakup of BCCI. His vote against the $87B Iran blank check. There are many others in his 30 year public career.
--
make install -not war