1589

You specifically implied you only knew that acronym because of some friends you have, then go surprised Pikachu when nobody here knows what you’re talking about.

1590

Eh. I’m relativity sure I learned it via those folks, but that’s one of those things- once you lean something and it’s been in your head forever, you kind of assume most other folks know it too? I tend to think of this place as relatively ‘worldly’. I was actually relatively surprised by how many other things used CBT as an acronym when I looked it up for that link. Up to 21 now. Hah.

1591

I knew what CBT stood for. It’s used all over the place. I still clicked the link though because I wanted to be sure some Nazi didn’t take it over or something.

1592

If anyone here can find a way to get an edit to that page approved that references Dave’s nuts, I will buy rounds of drinks anytime you’re in the bay area. Also ice packs for Dave.

1593
1594

LinW has a new ID on twitter, making good time…

Edit: and gone already

1595

LOOK AT ME, DONALD! IT’S ALL FOR YOU!!
(jumps)

1596

Nice Omen reference.

1597
1598

Doesn’t that normally get people arrested? Calling for violent harm against president or Vice President?

1599

No. At most you’ll get a visit from the USSS.

1600

I don’t really know where to put this, but we need to figure out a way how to tackle this. I saw a discussion online where someone bemoaning that due to a few bad actors, we’re not going to get Ted Cruz’s 10-day “emergency audit” and find out what really happened with all those votes and get to the bottom of all this fraud that destroyed the election. People were pointing out there’s no evidence of fraud, none has been presented in Trump’s 60 lawsuits, etc. And this was the response:

image

Legitimate sources of news are illegitimate and crackpot sites are legit because they’re not “watered down” or censored. This echoes a convo I was having with a coworker yesterday while the yahoos started to storm the Capitol. I made a comment that Trump supporters were breaking into the Capitol and he kind of refused to believe it, insisting both sides were responsible for the damage and that sort of thing. I tell him I’m looking at all the MAGA hats and Trump (and confederate) flags in real time. “Here, there’s live video right now on CNN” and the response was “I can’t believe what the media tells me anymore, I don’t trust CNN”. So he went on insisting that “both sides” must be to blame. And this is a rare conservative I can still have some rational conversations with, not a complete loon.

I don’t know how we get from where we are back to a place where we at least have a shared reality, but I’m not using hyperbole when I say that I believe our democracy depends on us figuring it out.

1601

I mean, notable White Supremacists were literally livestreaming. He doesn’t actually care about the source, he just doesn’t hear anything that doesn’t fit the narrative he’s already decided upon.

1602

I guess the question I have — and I don’t have the answer — is whether there isn’t any advantage to being armed with the truth at all? It seems like there ought to be — that people armed with an accurate picture of reality ought to fare better (e.g. as leaders and influencers); that plans and policies based in reality ought to work better. But I admit that I can’t muster a very strong argument for the proposition, I just feel it ought to be so.

1603
1604

Here’s the thing:
It doesn’t matter what the news says.

Trump’s idiot team lost IN COURT. The reporting doesn’t matter either way. They had over 60 chances to make their case. They failed every time. In court.

1605

But the reporting tells them it’s the Deep State and corrupt judges blocking the cases, not the fact there was no evidence. That’s what they sincerely and very strongly believe. That there is a vast conspiracy that overthrew the election.

These people vote. And not only do they vote, they grab guns and zip ties and storm the Capitol when in session. I feel like we need to figure out how to deal with this. In that sense, the reporting does matter.

1606

Oh yeah. Losing court cases will TOTALLY convince his supporters!

1607

It’s very much what Orwell says: reality doesn’t matter, it’s what you can get people to think that matters. Millions of Americans have effectively been brainwashed to become the fanatical minions of authoritarians; we’ve only been saved because Authoritarian #1 is a clown. The brainwashed are still out there, ready and willing to be controlled and without any regard for objective reality. They represent a frightening store of power for anyone able to wield it.

1608

You’re describing people who believe that they want to believe. In which case, the reporting probably doesn’t matter. If the reporting told them something they didn’t want to believe, they would disregard the reporting. Even if there was no reporting at all telling them lies, there would still be people telling them lies, and they would believe those people instead of the reporting.

I don’t know how to fix that.