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YouTubers Will Enter Politics, And If They Do, They're Probably Going To Win (buzzfeednews.com)
A group of twentysomethings leveraged their huge YouTube audiences and actually won seats in Brazil's federal and state elections. What happens next is anyone's guess. Ryan Broderick, writing for BuzzFeed News: Kim Kataguiri is known in Brazil for a lot of things. He's been called a fascist. He's been called a fake news kingpin. Is he a YouTuber? He definitely uses YouTube. He's definitely a troll. A troll with a consistent message, though, he points out. Maybe he's Brazil's equivalent of Milo Yiannopoulos. His organization, Movimento Brasil Livre (MBL) -- the Free Brazil Movement -- is like the Brazilian Breitbart. Or maybe it's like the American tea party. Maybe it's both. Is it a news network? Kataguiri says it isn't. But it's not a political party, either. He says MBL is just a bunch of young people who love free market economics and memes. One thing is very clear: His YouTube channel, the memes, the fake news, and MBL's army of supporters have helped Kataguiri, 22, become the youngest person ever elected to Congress in Brazil. He's also trying to become Brazil's equivalent of speaker of the House.
[...] Kataguiri's political awakening is a textbook example of the way algorithms beget more algorithms. During his last year of high school, his teacher started a debate about welfare programs in Brazil. So Kataguiri started googling. He discovered Ron Paul and the Brazilian libertarian YouTuber Daniel Fraga. "Then I did a video to my teacher and my friends at school to talk about what I had found out," Kataguiri says. "There was one problem: I posted this video on YouTube. So it was public and it went viral." He says people kept asking for more videos, but he didn't know anything. So he went back to googling, and then made more videos about what he learned.
[...] Kataguiri's political awakening is a textbook example of the way algorithms beget more algorithms. During his last year of high school, his teacher started a debate about welfare programs in Brazil. So Kataguiri started googling. He discovered Ron Paul and the Brazilian libertarian YouTuber Daniel Fraga. "Then I did a video to my teacher and my friends at school to talk about what I had found out," Kataguiri says. "There was one problem: I posted this video on YouTube. So it was public and it went viral." He says people kept asking for more videos, but he didn't know anything. So he went back to googling, and then made more videos about what he learned.
Ego-stroking Talking heads will always be egoi-stroking talking heads...
The trolls get old fast, but there are others on YouTube from the UK that now has entered politics. I have no idea if their combined subscriber base of over 1mil, will be enough to change elections.
L'Idiot
"Brazilian Breitbart. Or maybe it's like the American tea party." - He sounds right wing, I'm surprised YouTube, in all its progressive wisdom, didn't shut that right the hell down! Think of the children and such...
It gives an equal voice to unequal people, such as to the fool and the scholar. The bell curve is a thing.
Democracy is 2 wolves and 1 sheep deciding what's for dinner.
A vote given out freely must be worth nothing; certainly, the weight of one's vote this election is almost completely divorced from one's vote last election.
Communism is the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Democracy becomes more and more the dictatorship of the proles.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
in the United States voter suppression makes this moot. For one thing young people don't like to register because it increases the odds you get jury duty. Polling places are kept away from college campus, student Ids are not valid voter Id (while gun permits are). The list goes on and on.
Young folks aren't just lazy and stupid. There's a concerted effort by the powers that be to keep them from voting.
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It seems that a lot of issues would be solved, in terms of getting these complete ass-hats you currently have in power in the US, if voting were compulsory. I have heard that less that 50% of the population vote, since the "middle of the road" people feel there simply is no point to vote.
So, you only get the more extreme from both sides coming out to vote. Since the ruling class knows that only the most extreme of you vote anyhow, they adopt ever increasing extreme political views to cater to that extreme base.
I think that if you do not vote for say, two consecutive elections, national OR local, then you lose your voting rights.
If the population is not willing to participate in the process, then they should no longer have a say in how they are "ruled". I do not say governed because you are ruled over. You have a police state with almost complete autonomy over you and there is almost no recourse for the common man, should the government decide they do not like him.
IRS as a weapon, anyone?
Isolated cases where You Tube may or may not have influenced elections does not mean that You Tubers in general have all that much power. I really doubt many people will vote XYZ just because someone on You Tube told them to.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
As fuckwits are going to be fuckwits.
Now you know that if the politics were of a different slant, this would be celebrated.
Supporting the idea of inexperienced children entering politics is akin to cheering on the single guy who buys a blow-up doll to pass it off as his new girlfriend at the office Christmas party.
In both cases, people will only question how you could be that fucking stupid.
I, for one, welcome our new Pewtie Pie overlords.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Again, good for them.
Of course I'm just waiting for every politician to host their own youtube channel because some social media ninja told them that is the way to win elections. Maybe if were lucky they will put all their efforts into youtube and stay out of tv and news so I don't have to skip through the political ads anymore.
Then of course the fake politically Russian youtube channels will be blamed for their candidate loosing that election too.
My head hurts, I'm going to go lay down for a while.
We have a solution to all those problems: Voluntary trade; 2 individuals agreeing how to allocate their resources (i.e., how to interact).
Under capitalism, you vote every time you make a decision, and the weight of your vote is a privilege determined by how much control of societal resources you've managed to gain through interaction that is solely voluntary.
People need a signal for when they are making good choices, and they need a signal for when they are making bad choices. Capitalism gives us this, and Democracy, sadly, does not. Democracy is a dumb man's first draft of Capitalism.
So, actually it may have been Google that got a foothold of Brazilian parliament. The conspiracy is brewing..
Though failing badly, the original American experiment was to create a government that was restricted solely to protecting individual rights, chief among which are the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Compelled speech (e.g., voting) is a direct contradiction of that goal.
You see, unlike places such as Australia, the U.S. is attempting to be a Free Society.
The median age in Brazil is 31.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_median_age
Compare this to the average age in the US of 38, Canada at 42, Germany at 47, and France at 41.
This just might make a huge difference in why "youtubers are going to win in politics" won't happen in the developed world. Youtube is dominated by young people.
Places where this might happen include India (28) and Mexico (28).
How many of these idiots are popular because their message and popularity are amplified by those that would gain from their idiocy?
the growth in cynicism and rebellion has not been without cause
youtube is a great tool for the illiterate or functionally illiterate. People talking into a camera do so because 1. They probably couldn't write a coherent article/essay about what they're trying to say and B. their audience either couldn't or wouldn't read something like that.
It's pretty sad. I don't watch youtube videos because 99% of the time, they're really stupid and useless. I would imagine that most of the people who spend their lives on youtube probably also don't read.
We've got a very serious problem with education in most of the world, and the Internet is only exacerbating that problem.
I don't respond to AC's.
How is this different from a highschool popularity contest?
... but usually these things are based on looks or connections.
When an ordinary person gets elected, or a worthy person, cool
People project too much onto democracy. They expect too much from it.
The "democracy" we have is actually bourgeoisie liberal democracy. Knowing its true name finally reveals the truth.
"Democracy" is a farce or spectacle put on by the bourgeoisie, in order to legitimize liberalism (ie: capitalism).
What you actually want is “workplace democracy”. (Currently you have workplace dictatorship).
If you can enter your workplace and be no less free, then THAT is true democracy.
Nothing new 40 years ago it was the “disenfranchised youth” – US educated I might add – that overthrew the Shaw of Iran and plunged the country into Sharia law. Taking a country from a global educational and social leadership roll to a terrorist theocracy.
The problem with attempting to equate 3rd world behaviors(ie, what happens in Brazil) to the US is that people under 30 don’t vote in the US and for the most part, are so busy watching themselves on Instagram, they don't think far enough ahead to bother to vote..
Are you kidding me? Of course we've come up with a better system!
For all intents and purposes, we don't vote directly on the price of bread, milk, diapers, movie tickets, etc. These nitty gritty, extremely intricate flows of resources are negotiated every single day through the interactions of individuals, including the interactions of people who otherwise hate each others guts for one reason or another, but are neverthless organized into meaningful, productive work through this "Invisible Hand" of capitalism.
We have a better system: Capitalism.
Indeed, Democracy and Capitalism are both concerned with how society's resources should be allocated. You can't do both at the same time; you have to choose one system, capitalism is always the most productive and peaceful choice.
Buzzfeed? Seriously? Is this the same Buzzfeed that had such extreme confidence in predicting the results of the 2016 election -- with 0% accuracy?
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
So, when any politician or person running for office is banned by youtube, the company can be charged with Election Tampering ?
Being subject to the Tyranny of the Majority in the work place is indeed just as free as being subject to the Tyranny of the Majority in society as a whole.
You know what sounds like more freedom in the work place? Being able to say, "Fuck you; I'm not putting my resources into your stupid ideas; I quit." On a larger scale: "You want to drop bombs on the other side of the planet? I'm not paying for that."
Capitalism. THAT is freedom.
The question should be is this is the end of leftism and identity politics no longer hold absolute power? I hope so.
Polling places are kept away from college campus
Name one college where that is true. Usually there are polling places ON campus, because they have a lot of buildings with rooms that can be devoted to polling quite easily.
Young folks aren't just lazy and stupid. There's a concerted effort by the powers that be to keep them from voting.
Hint: When something seems wrong, always vote on lazy/stupid as being the reason.
Except that I take exception with them being stupid. Voting well takes some work to research who and what you are voting for. It's not stupid to avoid work if you don't think there is any return for doing so.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"Cue", Chris.
One of the more interesting political ideas to me is that, these days, technology could allow a single country with multiple governments. Want to use the NHS? Sorry, you voted Conservative so you'll have to pay for private health care. Want more than 20% of your wages to end up in your bank account? Sorry, you voted Labour so it's the 80% tax rate for you.
I don't think it would last long before there was a civil war but it's interesting as a thought experiment.
left and right while moving polling away from campuses. This isn't propaganda, it's fact. You know what HuffPo is and you know their anacronym so you're pretty politically aware. That means you don't get to plead ignorance. Listing facts isn't going to change your mind. You're complicit with voter suppression, having decided that some people shouldn't be allowed to vote because they disagree with you.
What I hate about folks like you is you won't just come out and say "I don't like Democracy". You hide behind talking points to fool people. You need to be called out more often. Democracy is good, but only when _everyone_ votes. Otherwise it turns into oligarchy. Maybe that's good for you, but not most of us.
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The premise in the analogy is that there are 2 wolves and 1 sheep; you can't just change the premise and think you've won argument.
Also, who is taking what they want? Well, the winning majority voters; they are taking what they want against the will of other people. For instance, back in the 1920s, women came to power as a voting base and brought with them the Temperance movement, which led vote-grabbing politicians to enact Prohibition, the banning of alcoholic beverages in the United States. So, the wolves voted to march into the sheep's 100-year-old pub and start smashing all of his wares.
Keep your fucking democracy, you thieving wolf.
> I have heard that less that 50% of the population vote, since the "middle of the road" people feel there simply is no point to vote.
Also, less than 50% of them know who the vice president is.
They are more interested in biking, playing soccer, video games, or whatever their interest is, and have very little interest in civics. Not enough to even know who the VP or the Speaker of the House are. Given they have roughly zero relevant information or understanding to draw from, when asked which candidates they support, they give reasons like "because she's a woman, so she'll support women's issues. I think. Beto is a woman, right?"
Personally, I prefer for important decisions to be made by people who have at least a very minimal understanding of the basics of the topic. I personally think that decisions about national economic policy should mostly be made by people who have read page 1 of the Economcs 101 book, so they know what the two main branches of economics are. If someone doesn't know what economics is, how can they possibly make informed decisions weighing the benefits and drawbacks of one set of economic policy proposals vs another? They can't, obviously. Their vote can be decided only by the manipulative tweets of orgainzations who stand to gain from one policy or the other.
"Cue", Chris.
Que?
Not only have political channels across the spectrum and geography been demonized, they are starting to outright censor political views. They are following Facebook that purges 800 pages including topics like free speech advocacy.
"You want to use our gym equipment? Sorry, you didn't pay for membership."
"You want to vote in our election? Sorry, you're French, not German; there are multiple governments in the EU." (Substitute "Oregon" and "Washington" and "United States", as appropriate, etc.).
There's no thought experiment about it. That is the way the world works.
The only thought experiment with regard to your idea is taking it to the limit with respect to governments. That limit is Capitalism, where the allocation of society's resources occurs according to "do as we previously agreed" cooperation rather than "do as I say" authoritarianism.
Off course it comes from Buzzfeed, the left's Breitbart but just because someone has a platform you do not agree with or understand, does not make it bad, fake, non-existent.
Going through YouTube and similar platforms is just the modern equivalent of sending out flyers in your mailbox and placards in your yard.
Not sure what this guy's message is per se, but the left's lunatic identity politics is turning off young men and working people across the world. You can't just re-categorize an entire population of people with mental disorders as "freedom fighters" and hope that it works.
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with 30 minutes on google. It's not hard at all if you just focus on issues. As for removing polls from campus, google.
I said this elsewhere in this thread but, well, nothing I say is going to convince you. You've already decided that some people shouldn't be allowed to vote and that it's acceptable to place barriers in their way to prevent them from voting. You're in favor of Voter Suppression. That's such an extreme and negative position that I don't know how to shake you from it.
The best we can hope for is that you're in the minority and that as more folks become aware of Voter Suppression it will be ended. And maybe someday you'll come around on your own.
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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." —Winston Churchill
Democracy was historically better only because it grew from a long-term project to restrict the power of government over people's lives. In particular, what has worked is democracy in an Anglo-Saxon culture.
There's this widespread lie democracy works well because it widens suffrage (the privilege to vote), but that's not true at all; some democratic societies have worked relatively well because they began by restricting government's role in people's lives. It was the resulting unshackling of capitalistic activity that produced the prosperity and peace, and which allowed parasitic governments to grow large and thereby pretend to have been the architects of those good results.
Look at all of the places where democracy has NOT produced good results; why not? It's because those places were not built on the principle that government should be restricted regardless of what the tyrannical majority wants.
Freedom is what matters, not democracy.
As for removing polls from campus, google.
Not one of the search results says anteing like polling places are *moved* off campus, and ignores that most colleges across the U.S. HOST polling places for the reasons I specified. Hell, one of the links talks about free buses from one campus to a polling place... making it easier for students to vote, not harder.
I said this elsewhere in this thread but, well, nothing I say is going to convince you.
You are going to have to try reality based arguments instead of describing things you imagine are true but are not.
The best we can hope for is that you're in the minority and that as more folks become aware of Voter Suppression it will be ended.
Don't worry, all of the folks pushed away by imaginary voter suppression are made up for by imaginary dead and illegal votes.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It's Spooktober, but shouldn't you hold back a little until Halloween?
google a bit. You'll find 33 states have voter Id laws and all states use voter rolls to pick people for Jury duty.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
the "wrong" sort shouldn't be allowed to vote. They won't say it out loud though. They hide behind euphemisms. Most commonly they say that voting should take some work because if you're not willing to put the effort in you shouldn't be voting. This starts a discussion about how hard it should be to vote and distracts from the basic issue, which is voter suppression. It's a very effective straw man argument.
What it comes down to is conservatives want to keep progressives out of the political system. America's entire system is built to do that. It's why we have a Senate and Electoral college. We don't like to talk about it because we preach Democracy heavily. For some folks they can't even wrap their heads around how little actual Democracy exists in America.
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Yes, Chris, "que" is Spanish for "what". Are you implying you wanted to say
" What the trolls... 3... 2... 1..."??
You looked even more defeated and beaten in your last video. You needed a teleprompter for every second word of the same intro you've had for months? What's going on, buddy? Life's rough? You see the coming economic collapse and don't know how you'll survive the winter?
"You want to use our gym equipment? Sorry, you didn't pay for membership."
??? You seem to have missed the point entirely. One country, multiple governments. Maybe it would make more sense to you if I'd said, one state, multiple governments?
... why YouTube, Facebook, et. al. aren't treated like the public square that they are?
Check your premises.
I'd prefer him or Logan to Rand or Ron. I'd prefer Taylor Swift to most national politicians I can think of and I don't like her music. She'd just be more fun to look at.
MSNBCs white lady tears VS Fox's / Breitbart's LARPing tough guys is a debate that is only relevant in our lap of luxury times. A little bit of a serious downturn and we'll really talk real politics again. After a little bit of shooting.*
* not advocating violence, just predicting it from the mainly right wing fringeoids who have bought into might makes right and are under the illusion that they're the only gun owners who can deliver. There is no comparable liberal delusion but there are depths of opportunists on the street who would, while apolitical, target the pudgy old men in hoods and the greasy incel white boys because, despite their militia or even military training, they'd make such easy and lucrative targets.
You are failing to think abstractly. Goddamnit. THINK ABSTRACTLY. Come on. You can do it.
If you can't figure out how to fit 45 minutes into your day to vote once in multiple years, then we don't want your vote. You're an idiot.
...and it didn't turn out very well.
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
Ever since we no longer require facts or a general understanding that that is only 1 reality, pretty much anyone could win if they have the charisma and dollars.
You realize if you move to another state, your name does not just magically drop from the voter rolls, do you not? How do you propose we prevent voters from voting in elections where they are not eligible to vote?
Do you really expect anyone who fails to vote enough times to be purged from the rolls to spend 30 minutes on Google to figure out how to cast their votes? Just because you choose to cast an informed (metaphorically speaking) vote, does not mean anyone else necessarily does. Would you be in favor of forcing each voter to prove that they spent 30 minutes on research prior to voting before allowing them to cast a ballot? Or it this another imaginary fantasy from your voter Utopia where all the dedicated citizens cast deliberative and well reasoned ballots for Democrats?
Que? Queue? Cue? It's all the same. BTW, I'm not Chris.
Their supporters can't vote online, so they won't vote.
Israel is composed of Europeans and Americans, and was a British project.
France and England have a long and intertwined history; even their languages are highly related.
Japan, "etc.", were occupied and rebuilt by the United States or are former British colonies.
WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?????
ask "Should the Baker be FORCED" then you'll get a lot of 'No's'.
ask "Should the Baker be allowed to refuse service" and you'll get a lot of 'No's'
The end result is the same. LGBTQs are denied access to a public resource (in this case a publicly available bake shop).
Me? I just replace the word "LGBTQ" with "White Male Christian" and if I would say "that shouldn't be allowed" then there's my answer. Once you can use religion to discriminate you can do damn near anything. It'll start with baking cakes and end with riots and apartheid.
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Given the subject is politician youtubers I can't not plug for this one. Mélenchon's youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/PlaceauPeuple
(btw youtube now sucks as a website so you can use hooktube.com or invidio.us instead)
Of course it's all in French or 99% of it so most of you will have difficulty appreciating it but here is it. Most popular politician (over here) on youtube is 66 or 67.
" BTW, I'm not Chris."
Oh no no, of course not! You just happened to be browsing at -1 and stumbled across a post by your hero, cre1mer, and decided to read the whole thing! Then, already being anonymous, you decided to reassure everyone that you are indeed not Chris, whoever this mysterious person may be!
I'm totally convinced.
A troll does stuff for the lols and will raise anyone's ire for a larf. If this dude consistently says the same political stuff, that sounds less like a troll and more like a political commentator or yellow journalist.
BTW, I see what Ryan did; saying some maybes which connected dots between American Conservatives, especially Tea Party Libertarians == Fascists.
I responded to this comment while browsing at 0. YOU responded to Chris while browsing at -1. Please explain to the class why you were browsing Slashdot at -1 and harassing users who are browsing at 0?
to prevent informed people from voting. This is why older folks are such a valuable demographic.
I've told this story before. Where I am the local power company wanted to end the practice of paying solar power users for their extra power. Only thing is, that was very, very popular. Their law didn't have a chance of passing.
Well pass it did. How you ask? They ran these ads see. There were a bunch of older folks sitting around a table talking about something. Something scary. At no time during the advert did anyone say what it was. At the end was an impassioned plea to vote yes and proposition such-and-such. It passed with room to spare, and the power companies no longer had to pay for the free solar.
Those are your "informed" voter. Meanwhile you need only spend a bit of time on google to see how bad voter suppression is in this country.
It's harder for the left because we _don't_ have propaganda. We've got no Rush Limbaugh. No Fox News. No CNN pretending to be middle of the road and then pushing trickle down economics on the sly. We've got no Sinclair media buying out all the stations.
Again, I don't think I can reach you. You've got the talking points from your right wing think tanks too down pat. You were ready to go with a rebuttal because they've given you all the answers. It's tough for me to compete with a multi-billion dollar right wing propaganda machine. And again, maybe I'll get to a few you're trying to mislead. Maybe even some day you'll follow that google search above and figure out Rush is lying to you. Or maybe the American empire will just carry on it's slow, Romanesque decline...
One things for sure: I definitely pushed your buttons. Somewhere in the back of your mind you know something wrong with that propaganda you've been spoon fed. I guess I'll chalk that up as a win.
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It's an old Soviet Era attack. Take your own party's faults (in this case a reliance on violence and oppression) and accuse the other party of them. Karl Rove of the GOP perfected it and used it to win election after election. The most famous example was when he got a draft dodger elected over a vet who was missing his legs.
You can't win against it. It's a play on emotions. Best thing to do is just call it out when you see it so folks will learn to recognize it.
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I am a 50 year old man with minimal IT skills coming off a five year government contract where I mostly just wasted time. Please hire me!
Seriously, I'm totally unemployable, I have very few savings, and I don't have enough to even think of retirement. I need a job that will last me until two weeks before I die, or I will be sleeping on the street.
BTW I spend most of my time on a website where eveybody makes fun of me, and I also run a low-view count Youtube channel where I hope that if I get 25 times as many subscribers as I have now I can get free tickets that would normally cost $60.
Kim Kataguri and MBL are just a small part of the problem, here in Brazil: the likely new president, Jair Bolsonaro, is "an YouTuber": he just spread videos from his social networks, but he already tell everyone that he will not participate on TV debates - more info: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/1...
My 12 year old kid seems to be age group most youtubers are aimed at. Doesn't seem like they'll get many votes.
Please hire me!
If a person spent five years on a contract and expects the contract to be renewed for another five years, why would they look for another job?
I need a job that will last me until two weeks before I die
What's wrong with having a work ethic to continue working until the day you die?
I also run a low-view count Youtube channel where I hope that if I get 25 times as many subscribers as I have now I can get free tickets that would normally cost $60.
It takes five years to establish a YouTube channel. You're bitching in the first year? Sheesh...
Does anyone else read "YouTuber" and think of potatoes?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
That analogy suggests that Stalin was a capitalist.
So, I don't think you're right.
Capitalism is voluntary trade of ownership over resources; how does voluntary trade fit into your analogy?
Get ready for President Youtube USA!
President Camacho? We should be so lucky...
the "wrong" sort shouldn't be allowed to vote. They won't say it out loud though.
Yes, the wrong people shouldn't be allowed to vote. I've never had a problem saying it out loud, even though you usually try to put words in my mouth by trying to tell me what I mean by "wrong". Wrong means "people who should not be allowed to vote". People who are not US citizens should not be allowed to vote. People who don't live in the voting district should not be allowed to vote there. People who are not registered to vote should not be allowed to vote.
Most commonly they say that voting should take some work because if you're not willing to put the effort in you shouldn't be voting.
Yes, if you can't be bothered to pay attention to what is being voted on, then you should not vote. Your vote will be noise. It will not represent the will of the people, it will represent random data.
I suppose the problem is that you cannot tell the difference between "should not be allowed to vote" and "should not vote".
What it comes down to is conservatives want to keep progressives out of the political system.
Just as much as progressives want to keep conservatives out. That's what happens during any vote -- people vote for the ones they want, which excludes the ones they don't. Have you never voted?
America's entire system is built to do that. It's why we have a Senate and Electoral college.
If you don't really understand why we have the system we do, please don't make up absurd nonsense about it.
For some folks they can't even wrap their heads around how little actual Democracy exists in America.
Yes, and so they come up with absurd claims about why the Electoral College exists and yammer on about "voter suppression" when people who should not be allowed to vote are prevented from voting. Some folks think that "able to breathe" is sufficient to have the right to vote in any election, because 'democracy'! It's amazing that they cannot wrap their heads around what the US political system was designed to be, and what voting is supposed to accomplish.
"I'm so glad you're a monkey." If you're not fake, you're a monkey.
"TV had promoted the village idiot, in relation to which the spectator felt superior. The drama of the internet is that it has promoted the village idiot to the status of bearer of truth."
Umberto Eco
If a person spent five years on a contract and expects the contract to be renewed for another five years, why would they look for another job?
Because the job is shit? Because they want to save for retirement, and their job pays them so little that can't afford a car and only live in a small studio?
What's wrong with having a work ethic to continue working until the day you die?
Realistically, most people live past the point where they can work a full-time job. I expect to live into my 90s, do you? You must admit at least a strong possibility that at 90 (and 400 lbs.) you will not be physically capable of getting on six different buses every day, much less do 8 hours of work. Not to mention, your contract will not be renewed when you are that old, and nobody wants to hire an old person.
It takes five years to establish a YouTube channel. You're bitching in the first year? Sheesh...
LOL what? Five years? There's many, many counter-examples.
where he said he'd pay the legal fees of anyone who beat up a Democrat? Or how about all those alt-right rallies where they showed up with weapons. One guy ran over Dem protesters with his car. You guys are violent as hell.
You've let neo-nazis and white supremacists into your party. Heck, you even helped them legitimize by calling them the "Alt-Right". What did you think was gonna happen when you did that?
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seeing as how they get more federal tax dollars than they pay in. California & New York pretty much make the US work.
/.ers). What we need is to get people to the polls.
You're right about the Authoritarian Oligarchic Kleptocracy, but the solution isn't less voters, it's _more_ voters. Progressive, pro-worker policies poll in the 70s. Those include single payer healthcare, legalized drugs, college for all (good even if you're not in college, since it keeps the young'uns out of the job market for a bit so they compete less with us aging
To do that we should follow Obama's suggestion: Make voting mandatory. I can't tell you how many folks I know don't vote because their vote's suppressed. The most common one is jury duty. In most jurisdictions they pull first from the voter rolls. Working class Americans can't afford Jury duty. 60-80% (depending on how you run the numbers) live paycheck to paycheck. Add to that voting on a Tuesday, the Electoral college & Senate, and voter registration purges and you've got around 20-30% of the population effectively disenfranchised.
The best way to have Democracy is to have _everyone_ vote. When voting is mandatory then you can't use cheats to stop people from voting.
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The right wing took over the Democratic party. It happened when Clinton moved the party right to win the presidency (he needed a ton of money and couldn't get the big money donations without selling us out). Take Al Franklin, a real lefty. He was shut down by Kamala Harris and other right wing women to pave the way for her presidential bid.
Speaking as a White guy, White Privilege is real. Us White Guys are painfully aware of it. We've had decades of preferential treatment in loans, school admissions, job interviews and the like. I'm not going to argue this point, it's a historic fact. Go google a bit and educate yourself.
But thing is, so the fuck what? Your angry at people for pointing out that you started on first base, but you should be mad at the billionaires who not only started on third but sent armed goons around to kick you back to home plate (and kick your teeth in while your at it).
I keep saying this, your enemy isn't the fat chick who runs your local women's studies dept. She's powerless unless you sign up for her class, and here's a trick, just take Chinese History. It meets the requirement for "multi-culture" and it's chalk full of manly wars. Your enemy is the guy who sits on a gold throne and tells you he's a man of the people.
You've been had buddy. I know that's gotta make you pissed to think it, but the sooner you face facts the sooner you can do something about it.
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They just used the very tactic they're talking about to take a stab at the GOP while simutaneously explaining exactly what they were doing.
when you're out for jury duty. If you live paycheck to paycheck jury duty can cause you to fall behind on bills. You lose $40 bucks in pay, get an over draft or take a payday loan and before you know it you're screwed. If you're poor and get stuck on a jury then you can pretty much kiss anything you have goodby. Folks have lost cars, apartments and houses over it.
Basically we've got millions of people who are one car payment away from homelessness (no car == no job == no place to live). The threat Jury duty's low pay is a big part of what keeps them from voting.
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right? I just want to make sure we're on the same page. You're telling me people should be effectively disenfranchised. That you're OK with Voter Suppression.
I'd like to say you don't know what you're saying, but I get the idea that you know exactly what you mean. Like I said elsewhere, I'm not a strong enough person to get guys like you to understand the ramifications of your mistake. All I can hope for is that other people will read your post and be so appalled by it they'll react against it and marginalize you, make you not matter.
Sad thing is you're kind's useful to the billionaires. You vote how they tell you when they tell you and fight to keep anyone else from voting....
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is fucking with them and basically just put a right wing whack job in charge of the country in clear defiance of the will of the people. Seriously, google it. We've been fucking with them like crazy and the American Voter (yes, that includes you) looking the other way.
This is the one thing I'm scared of: will the ruling class let us have Democracy. So far with Gerrymandering and Voter Suppression the answer has been 'no'. But but guys like you haven't been trying very hard. Maybe if you did....
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for posting bits of cartoon girls with bouncy boobs than Republicans. Youtube bans what the advertisers don't like. Blame the advertisers if you don't like it.
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Democracy is a governmental one. The two aren't related.
You're reciting a right wing talking point meant to give Democracy a bad name. Somebody wants to turn you into a fascist so they can take your stuff. Now you just have to figure out who.
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Assuming Voter Suppression doesn't shut them down the young'uns they're gonna come back with a vengeance. Their completely weighted down by debt. Usually that means they'll want progressive policies.
OTOH they might just turn against the old folks. Demand an end to Social Security, Medicare, shutting down the VA & military pension programs, etc, etc. Hard to say.
But given how screwed they are (they make 20% less than baby boomers with more education) they're gonna be more political, Youtube or not.
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Name one college where that is true. Usually there are polling places ON campus, because they have a lot of buildings with rooms that can be devoted to polling quite easily.
Well the last election I was in college for was 2004, and it was certainly true there. UMiami had plenty of room on campus, and heck we hosted a Presidential Debate there that year (a massive circus like you wouldn't believe), but come election day, there was no polling place on campus. We had to go to a public library that was about a 10-15min drive from campus, was not accessible by public transportation, the university offered no shuttle service, and the wait was around 2 hours.
100 people on a political island, and only one becomes president.
which is exactly what ANTIFA is. And nobody's laughing at the neo-nazis. We're terrified of them and of how mainstream they've become. I'll take a bit of heckling at a restaurant to a lynch mob's noose any day of the week.
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Well the last election I was in college for was 2004, and it was certainly true there. UMiami had plenty of room on campus, and heck we hosted a Presidential Debate there that year (a massive circus like you wouldn't believe), but come election day, there was no polling place on campus. We had to go to a public library that was about a 10-15min drive from campus, was not accessible by public transportation, the university offered no shuttle service, and the wait was around 2 hours.
Let's do a little math here...
Left college in 2004. Assuming a graduation, fafalon was probably around 22 at the time. That makes him/her/xe/hir in the neighborhood of 36 which according to Google is within the range of millennials. Let's do a verification.
impatient? -- check
self entitled? -- check
self righteous? -- check
I'd say he/she/xe hit all the big marks. I'd say the only surprise is that he/she/xe didn't organize a protest to force UMiami to provide limo service.
"Serving gays" and "making a gay wedding cake" are two different things. In the first case you refuse to hand over a certain demographic something everyone else gets ( a regular wedding cake ) while in the latter case you are forced to make something you regularly don't offer. The latter case has sustained in court - otherwise shops that only serve a certain demographic ( like female hairdressers or male shoe shops ) wouldn't be possible.