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We have had a number of discussions on SN, regarding the influence the tech industry exercises in politics. This story offers a little insight into that influence. No matter your opinion in this 2020 election, you should give this story some real thought.
It's a moderately long read, but I encourage one and all to click on the link, and read it through.
And - disclaimer: I found this story because the Green site published it first.
This data expert helped Trump win. Now he’s built a machine to take him down
Former Facebook employee James Barnes is part of a team that’s tapping big data to nudge critical voters to the polls—amid intense efforts to keep them home.Starting in August 2019, you may have seen an ad in your Facebook news feed asking you to take a news quiz. If you didn’t know who controlled the Senate, for instance—about 30% of people didn’t—you would be classified as most persuadable, and you would become part of one of the largest and most sophisticated experiments of its kind.
On the internet, we’re subject to hidden A/B tests all the time, but this one was also part of a political weapon: a multimillion-dollar tool kit built by a team of Facebook vets, data nerds, and computational social scientists determined to defeat Donald Trump. The goal is to use microtargeted ads, follow-up surveys, and an unparalleled data set to win over key electorates in a few critical states: the low-education voters who unexpectedly came out in droves or stayed home last time, the voters who could decide another monumental election.
By this spring, the project, code named Barometer, appeared to be paying off. During a two-month period, the data scientists found that showing certain Facebook ads to certain possible Trump voters lowered their approval of the president by 3.6%. For the frantic final laps, they’ve set their sights on motivating another key group of swing-state voters—young Democratic-leaning voters, mostly women and people of color—who could push Joe Biden to victory.
“We’ve been able to really understand how to communicate with folks who have lower levels of political knowledge, who tend to be ignored by the political process,” says James Barnes, a data and ads expert at the all-digital progressive nonprofit Acronym, who helped build Barometer. This is familiar territory: Barnes spent years on Facebook’s ads team, and in 2016 was the “embed” who helped the Trump campaign take Facebook by storm. Last year, he left Facebook and resolved to use his battle-tested tactics to take down his former client.
“We have found ways to find the right news to put in front of them, and we found ways to understand what works and doesn’t,” Barnes says. “And if you combine all those things together, you get a really effective approach, and that’s what we’re doing.”
I think it is important to note what has been revealed here, as well as noting what is not claimed.
The research identified low-information potential voters, then experimented with changing the opinions of those low-information voters. What is not claimed, is that factual data was presented to these low-information voters. The only claim being made here is, they can identify potential low-information voters, then manipulate their opinions.
A multitude of outside anti-Trump groups such as Acronym have spent millions more to fill in the gaps. Earlier this year, Priorities USA and Color of Change launched a $24 million digital advertising campaign aimed at exciting Black voters in swing states. American Bridge and Unite the Country, two of the other largest progressive PACs, have tapped Mike Bloomberg’s political ad tech startup, Hawkfish to wage their own data-rich digital onslaughts through Election Day. Acronym was first out of the gate, and is thought to be the Democrats’ most advanced digital advertising project. By the election it promises to have spent $75 million on Facebook, Google, Instagram, Snapchat, Hulu, Roku, Viacom, Pandora, and anywhere else valuable voters might be found.
For a year that money went toward targeting low-information voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, and North Carolina, but by the end of the summer, the Barometer team saw its persuasion powers diminishing; they guessed that they couldn’t budge the president’s approval rating any lower. So Acronym redirected that cash to motivate another critical audience of low-information voters: new or unlikely Democratic-leaning people thought to be unexcited about Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris. Barometer’s scientists have identified 1.8 million such voters in six states—mostly women of color younger than 35 across Acronym’s original five target states, plus Georgia.
With more than $1 million per week in Facebook ads during the homestretch, “we’re trying to boost their enthusiasm,” says Kyle Tharp, Acronym’s VP of communications.
Despite upbeat polls and record early turnout numbers, Acronym’s battle was never going to be easy. These voters are thought to be some of the least-excited, and while Acronym has identified them as the easiest to persuade, they are also highly susceptible to the sort of BS that can keep voters home. Research has shown that low-information voters are not only less likely to vote but more likely to believe falsehoods; sometimes they’re called “misinformation voters.” And deterring voters with falsehoods and fear may be easier than motivating them with facts and hope. A false claim about voting, for instance, is much easier to spread on Twitter—or by anonymous text message—than it is to correct.
Again, we see specific demographics targeted, and swayed, with targeted advertising, meant to sway that specific demographic. And, we see that it works.
OK - a whole bunch of people voted for Biden, and the lower information people are going to cheer for this campaign.
The question is - how will you feel if/when you find yourself on the wrong side of a similar campaign?
Forget about the 2020 election for a few moments. I have a long track record of being opposed to the very concept of targeted advertising. I positively HATE the idea that any corporation can track you, or me, with fine detail. It sucks that your data or mine is available, and for sale to the highest bidder. And, here, we have a corporation openly admitting that they can, they have, manipulated voters into casting their vote for the corporation's chosen candidate.
Whether you be an R, a D, Independent, third party, or whatever - you should get involved with the investigations into the tech industries. Contact your senator and congress person, and demand that social media and hi-tech corporations be brought to heel.
The US needs something comparable to the EU GDPR, and we need it soon. We need to seriously restrict the harvesting of data, and we need to seriously restrict how that data is used.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90570689/acronym-james-barnes-facebook-2020-campaign-advertising
Please, read the full article. It should be a sobering read, if it doesn't outright scare you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2020, @08:22PM (24 children)
Trump is a Loser! Runaway is a Loser! It is losing all around. You would think this would be a teachable moment. But no, it was all a data harvesting conspiracy theory. That, and QAnon betrayed us.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 07 2020, @08:32PM (23 children)
Huh. Imagine that. Do you have the capacity to worry about what happens when these tools are sold to, and used by, the other side?
How's that repression going in China, or Saudi Arabia, or . . . wherever?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2020, @08:36PM (6 children)
Low information voters, Runaway! That, by definition, means Fox News viewers, white men with no college, Trump supporters. Easily swayed by just a smidgen of actual information, so this is a good thing. You think this is somehow unfair? Or you think it would work on Liberal Educated Elites? Truely a Dunning-Kroeger problem, eh?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 07 2020, @08:58PM (5 children)
LOL, I'm looking at the streets of Portland.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2020, @09:04PM (4 children)
Low information. You are not looking at the actual Portland. I know people in Portland. Perhaps these data miners have already targeted you as a right-wing nut-job, an easy mark for false information? You should be worried, Runaway.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 07 2020, @09:19PM (3 children)
The people I knew in Portland decided months ago to abandon that sinking garbage scow.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2020, @09:23PM (2 children)
Again, dated and low information, probably with a Fucker Carlson bias. And you think you are woke? You are a looser, Runaway! You lost!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 07 2020, @09:30PM (1 child)
I am absolutely NOT "woke", Junior. Do an internet search for "get woke go broke".
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2020, @09:35PM
So intentionally and deliberately remaining a low-information person, on porpoise? And you complain about the exact process that you are complicit in? Excuse me while I cry the really big tears for you! You want to be lied to, Runaway! You want to be manipulated! You are just too lazy to try to think for yourself. And, you lost.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2020, @09:34PM (2 children)
Those who bothered to read the Biden leaks know: the family is owned by China
China is not pleased that Trump has been foiling plans to flip the world's order, turning the USA into a Chinese vassal state. He set them back by 4 years.
This whole bit about "divisive" and "not normal" is entirely a defense of keeping the American public in the dark about how they are being robbed blind. Politicians are serving those with money, both foreign and domestic. The foreign ones tend to be nation-states, so that is particularly bad. Trump discovered massive push-back because China has found it cheap to blackmail/bribe/fuck nearly everybody that matters. It's both parties, the democrats being slightly worse. It's the FBI, NSA, CIA, and DOJ.
Americans want to go back to being oblivious about politics, being told that everything is all right. They'll be told that as soon as there isn't an anti-corruption hero trying to wreak the party.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @01:52AM (1 child)
OK Junior
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 14 2020, @10:40AM
Worse, sounds like Eric.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @12:31AM
Stop using those tools, you doffus. The millenials change their platform every 3-4 years. TikTok has been the latest.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday November 08 2020, @11:39AM (11 children)
No, no I don't have the capacity to scare myself shitless with idiotic scenarios.
Do you really believe China or Saudi Arabia need adds to persuade their voters?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @01:23PM (10 children)
FYI "the other side" is government in general, and Republicans in particular. LAST election, this guy worked for the Rs. THIS election, the same man worked for the Ds. NEXT election - who knows?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday November 08 2020, @04:16PM (9 children)
I have no control of others. As such, they may work for whomever they like, it changes not a iota for me - I'm still in control of myself and that's about it.
What do you propose, lock them up or ban their activity?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @04:22PM (8 children)
Huh, you've been asleep for how long?
YES! I want social media regulated. Did you miss the fact that congress and the dept of justice have begun to consider the issue? Have you missed all the state level discussion on the subject? And, the EU?
Facebook shouldn't be holding this much power over people.
Would you care to join the discussion, in which we determine how much power Facebook should or should not have?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday November 08 2020, @04:49PM (7 children)
Yes, I know you're a authoritarian hypocritical asshole, knotted tight in a messy jumble of cognitive dissonances, that's why I need to ask where particular knots bind you in different contexts.
Then the people shouldn't engage in a relation with Facebook.
No matter how much regulation you put into it, either Facebook will have this power over its idiot users or it's banned all together, there's no middle ground. Facebook's business depends on having and exercising this power, take it away and FB collapses.
What the congress, dept of justice or EU do is a waste of time and an exercise of delusion.
(I hope your granddaughter is better)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @05:04PM (6 children)
Black or white, all or nothing, huh? Well, I guess we can just trash all of the human rights and civil rights gained in the past thousands of years. Get rid of the Law of Hammarabi (sp), the magan charta, hell, just do away with the constitution we all rely on.
If it is true that FB will collapse without the power it wields today - why should I care? Personally, I can do without facebook. Others, like my wife, rely on it a lot - but she will find a replacement. The replacement needs to be regulated then.
As for the grand daughter - she seems to be improving, some. She ate some breakfast this morning, always a good sign. Thank you for that.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday November 08 2020, @06:00PM (2 children)
In this case, yes. Because that's the very Facebook business value for its customers (advertising), it can't work within a compromise.
Well, the society trashed those rights allowing Facebook to exist and grow from the very beginning.
Remember this?
---
Neither do I care. But I'm not the hypocrite to ask "tame them by regulation" - that's a lie or delusion. You want to support those rights, you ask "Shut the FB fuckers down".
Pretty much as the indentured servitude [wikipedia.org] is a prohibited practice today, the same should be with the exploitation of private/personal data for commercial or political purposes.
Unless one pays for the services, there's no solution that doesn't lead to a Facebook reincarnated - they need to get money to function and they can't get those money if they don't fuck the consumer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @06:38PM (1 child)
A. I disagree. Facebook can make money without being so fucking intrusive.
B. I believe that the wife would pay a stipend for a Facebook replacement that wasn't so intrusive. I don't know what value she would put on it - $5 or $10 a month, maybe? I don't know. That is something the market would have to work out.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday November 09 2020, @04:39AM
Without an insight in to people habits/profile, their offer is no better than a free-to-air TV or a newspaper: untargeted ads. I don't think that's enough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday November 08 2020, @06:12PM (2 children)
Glad to hear. Wishing her a quick and total recovery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @06:39PM (1 child)
Thank you for your well wishes. And, thank you for your class.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday November 09 2020, @04:49AM
Class, you doofus**? That's a direct consequence of "respect can only be lost" rule of mine, a kid will always have my highest respect because s/he didn't have occasions to do anything to lose from the respect I offer. Call it "respect for potential" if you like, but it's totally opposite to the "respect is earned" idiocy.
---
** ... Hello? Is it School X for Dance and Good Manners?
You betcha it's School X, bitch. 'xcept we don't teach no dances, just fucking good manners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2020, @09:00PM (2 children)
No, wait. Not like that!
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday November 07 2020, @11:37PM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday November 08 2020, @05:34PM
Oh great! Because of people like you and Covid, there's now a shortage of markets to wipe my ass with...spanks alot! :)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2020, @10:35PM (1 child)
Not directly, but your rhetoric and willingness to make common cause with domestic terrorists. You've spent years ignoring creeping and often literal fascism, crony corruption, and nepotism like has never been seen.
We saw article after article around here showing how foreign agencies were manipulating US voters with disinformation campaigns and conspiracy nonsense to rile up hatred and fear. Yet you said nothing. You continued to yell TDS any time someone criticized Trump or tried to hold him accountable as the leader of the nation.
Now that the election is not going your way you suddenly want to care about this stuff? Let me guess, soon you'll be crying about the deficit and any spending on social programs with not a word about Trump's ridiculously massive theft of taxpayer money.
Fuck you terrorist supporter, traitor to this nation.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @03:11AM
Untrue. Those campaigns by outside influences - uhhhhmmm - where were they exactly? Oh yeah, mostly Facebook. Twitter. Were those campaigns found on Fox? CNN? CBS? Didn't think so.
You've forgotten the stories. The most egregious case was using Facebook tools. That is, they were using the tools that Facebook provides "developers" to perform the tracking that only Facebook can enable.
I said nothing? Really? Far more likely you haven't been paying attention. The theme of this journal post is "social media and big tech are evil". I've been saying it for years. I've been saying it longer that Trump has been president.
You are the low information voter referred to here.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by FatPhil on Saturday November 07 2020, @11:38PM
If you mean retards, then just call them Republicans, stop it with your weasel wording.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday November 07 2020, @11:42PM (4 children)
You spew baseless, corrosive conspiracy rhetoric like a Xenomorph with GERD. You constantly link disinformation trash like OANN. And you have the complete gall to call your opposition low-information and accuse THEM of being gullible, manipulable fools? Unbelievable. The projection is amazing. What is it going to take, Runaway? What the hell is it going to take to get you to open your eyes to reality?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @01:19AM (3 children)
please give him his booty bump [tweaker.org] before he goes completely off the rails?
It seems that Runaway needs some sort of complicated and nefarious crutch to explain the result.
But Occam's razor applies here.
Go to this site:
https://abcnews.go.com/Elections/2020-us-presidential-election-results-live-map [go.com]
And click on the states that were close (WI, MI, GA, PA, etc.) and you'll note that Biden's margin of victory in each case was smaller than the number of votes received by Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian candidate.
What that tells me is that many R-types couldn't bring themselves to vote for Trump (again) and voted for Jorgensen instead, and *that's* why Biden won.
There was no blue wave. It was just that enough people who would never, ever, ever vote Democratic know that Trump is a egomaniacal blowhard who only cares about three things: Donald Trump, Donald J. Trump and Donald John Trump.
And since they couldn't vote for the evil socialists who want to destroy our great nation with clean energy, living wages and decent healthcare for all, they voted for Jorgensen instead.
No nefarious social media plots or evil tech executives required.
Just look at the numbers:
https://abcnews.go.com/Elections/2020-us-presidential-election-results-live-map [go.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 09 2020, @09:59AM (2 children)
You better check your numbers again, since that statement no longer appears to be true. Not that it won't motivate the Republicans to do something about those meddlesome Libertarians the next time around.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2020, @06:19AM (1 child)
I did. And it's absolutely true. Well, except in Michigan.
But in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin it's absolutely correct.
Did you have an actual point, or were you just looking to spout nonsense and I got lucky?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 15 2020, @09:39AM
My actual point was that, either way, the Republicans are going to have to try and get their handle on the Libertarian party. They managed to do it a few times in the past and, given the close margins, they'll probably think they have to do it again.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @12:01AM
Trump got BTFO. Cope harder.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @12:43AM (32 children)
"The question is - how will you feel if/when you find yourself on the wrong side of a similar campaign?"
Seriously? I would feel like a fool for being so gullible. Personally, I find it rather telling that after months (years?) of spewing "low-information" content from a variety of questionable websites you are now suddenly concerned that the tables may have been turned against you. The best defense you will have against this is to evaluate the "news" you consume with a critical eye. I wonder...will you employ the skills needed to combat this? From what I have seen of your "contributions" to discussion on this site my suspicion is, no, you will not. But I am hoping for your sake and the sake of everyone else that I am wrong about that.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday November 08 2020, @02:27AM (31 children)
He's not going to change. He sold his soul and he's so far gone that rather than attend to his granddaughter who's hospitalized with "flu-like symptoms" (read: caught the 'rona) he's still hanging out here flinging bile and paranoia by the 55-gallon drumful.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @02:45AM
Honestly he is a shill. An agent here to stir chaos and begin the rightwing radicalization process for gullible readers. His posting patterns are beyond strange.
I know you disagree, but that is my take. I believed you for a while, but as the election neared his post patterns became a lot more calculated. Fake personas to drag discourse towards their narrative.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @03:15AM (29 children)
I'm not sure that you're even human. Listen to the poison dripping from your mouth. You've gone completely around the bend.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @04:34AM (1 child)
haha, this new high road runaway is amusing and began around the time Biden was looking like a likely winner. suspeeshus
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @10:20AM
Runaway, with stupid dripping from his maw! The slightest nip will produce festering sores, and Fox News programs, much like the bite of the Komodo Dragon or Rupert Murdock. He is so vicious, so rabid, so infected! Do not approach the Runaway, use extreme caution, and if necessary, lethal force at close range. Do not let any slobber land on bare skin, or all is lost.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday November 08 2020, @01:55PM (11 children)
I assure you, I am completely human, with everything that implies both good and bad.
You've been oddly subdued and quiet since Trump lost. It seems like you're having trouble processing this, and perhaps some part of you is realizing just how much cost you've sunk thus far. If you want to keep yourself occupied, concentrate on preparing for those race riots you've insisted are going to end my life soon for being too white :)
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @02:18PM (10 children)
You stupid shit - I have real life issues, like anyone else. You certainly didn't miss the fact that one of the grandchildren is ill. Your humanity is in question.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday November 08 2020, @02:55PM (9 children)
Are you angry, Runaway? You're being awfully incivil :D
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @03:44PM (8 children)
You are about the most incivil person on this site. Anyone who disagrees with you will burn in hell. You have crossed the line from incivil to uncivil with your latest attacks.
Angry? More disillusioned than anything. As I've said, your very humanity is in question at this point.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @06:38PM
Hey now, it is your choice to be offended. Pathetic display of weakness, but what else might one expect from a cuck race theorist?
(Score: 2, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday November 08 2020, @07:58PM (6 children)
Disillusioned you say? Almost like you've been...cuck'd...by the people and party you support, all the while claiming not to support them? :)
I fucking warned you. And the fact that I'm taking pleasure in your discomfiture is proof that I'm human after all; humans can be nasty, nasty animals. Schadenfreude ist die schonen freude, and frankly, after your behavior over the last couple of years you have this coming and more. You have no idea what kind of bullet you just dodged, you nihilistic fucking idiot; had Trump won again, you'd have lost Social Security and Medicare just as you retire.
I wish the grandspawn the best of luck, though, for the simple reason that she's innocent of all this. It should be YOU gasping for breath in a hospital somewhere and staring down the barrel of a seven-figure hospital bill, not her.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @08:18PM (5 children)
*rolleyes*
Does all that poison regenerate constantly, or do you sometimes run out? Better take some extra vitamins and minerals before going to bed.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday November 08 2020, @09:09PM (4 children)
Yeah, someone's feeling cuckolded :D It's okay to admit it, everyone can see it anyway.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @09:24PM (3 children)
*rolleyes again*
Nope. You're reaching deep, and coming up empty?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday November 08 2020, @09:39PM (2 children)
You just keep replying! Here's a free clue: if I weren't hitting the mark, you wouldn't feel this compulsion to keep replying, and just minutes after each response, too.
Don't worry, I know you're irredeemable in this lifetime. I just want to see you debase yourself to the lowest possible level.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @09:51PM (1 child)
*drumming fingers*
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @10:08PM
Poor Runaway!!! Poor, poor Runaway! Poor, inhumane Runaway!!
Glad the grandkid is doing better, though.
In other news, Runaway remains a low information Soylentil. Something about a laptop. With emails.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @04:52PM (14 children)
"I'm not sure that you're even human. Listen to the poison dripping from your mouth. You've gone completely around the bend."
Frankly, it's rather bizarre to see your comment and then immediately below it see this sig:
"Are you a cuck race theorist?"
Are you familiar with the term "irony", by chance?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @05:06PM (10 children)
Yes, I am familiar with irony. We have a large segment of society who claims to be battling racism - while at the same time demonizing all people who share a European ancestry. Thanks for playing!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @06:44PM (4 children)
Ah, I see your confusion. Since such a large percentage of european descendants are racist you mistake anger over racism and other bigotries as actually attacks on your genetic ancestry. I do believe this is a manifestation of projection, and please be assured the criticisms are solely based on the intolerance of people, not their genetics.
Now that we cleared that up can you stop projecting conservative racism on to others? Do you feel less afraid knowing that you can turn asay from republazi ideology and magically not be the target of Azuma's mean mean words?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @07:02PM (3 children)
I suppose that you have some credible statistics to support a claim that some percentage of Euro-descendants are racist. Further, you have similar credible statistics to support some claim that non-Euro-descended people are racist to a much lesser degree?
That critical race bullshit just doesn't cut it. It's nothing more, and nothing less, than racist propaganda. Before you can even pretend to have such statistics as I ask for, you MUST concur that racism is racism, and that it is present in all demographics. African, Chinese, Indian, American, Native American, South American, indigous South American - no matter where you look, there are going to be prejudices. Racism is just one subset of prejudices, after all.
I'd be happy to take a look at credible discussions on that subject. Critical race theory is right out the door, Sport.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @10:20PM (2 children)
No, you would not. We all know this by now. You are a racist, Runaway! You also have no idea what you are talking about, when you repeat words like "Critical" and "Theory", and especially "Marxist". This is because you are marginally literate. You are just repeating things you hear on Fox News and Right-wing talk radio. We'll be happy to listen to you, when you actually know what you are talking about, Runaway.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @10:50PM (1 child)
So you have nothing when cuck race theory is dismissed. You wouldn't know what a credible study of racism looked like.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 09 2020, @03:06AM
Ooooohhh! You used those big words again! We are all so proud of you! But, if you recall, the point is to understand what they mean, not just mindlessly repeat them. Try again, Big Boy!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @10:15PM (4 children)
Oh, those fuckers! The David Duke, re-branded KKK, that is European ancestry? White supremacists. Obviously the result of too much inbreeding in some parts of the United States, making them stupid enough to belief such stuff. Seems it is always the white trailer trash, like Matt Heimbach [rationalwiki.org], that fall for this crap. Obviously possessed by demons of stupidity!! [dilbert.com] Eff 'em.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2020, @10:22PM (3 children)
OK racist. You hate white people, we get it. Yes, that makes you a racist.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 09 2020, @01:10AM (2 children)
Just being of European ancestry does not make you "white". Europeans don't think of them selves as "white". To be "white", you have to be "non-black". and to be "black" you have to be of generic African ancestry, because you were forcibly abducted and sold by "white" people, who are only "white" because they are not "black". So to be "white", you have to be a racist slaver, or a descendant of the same, or a cultural legacy of such a racist system. You have to be an "American", or more specifically, an ex-Confederate American. Like David Duke!
So, I do not hate persons of low melanin. But I do despise anyone who would call themselves "white", because that means they are a post-bellum racist. Like you, Runaway! C'mon, the first step is to just admit it!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday November 09 2020, @01:23AM (1 child)
Wow. Sophistry in overdrive.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 09 2020, @03:08AM
You fucking racist cracker, Runaway!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2020, @05:32PM (2 children)
Critical race theory is racist propaganda being pushed by Marxists.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 09 2020, @07:47AM (1 child)
No, it isn't!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 09 2020, @07:50AM
Look, if you want to go on arguing, you'll have to pay for another five minutes!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Sunday November 08 2020, @06:57PM (2 children)
I'll be civil! :)
I agree: S&M (Social Media) has too much power and data and need to be controlled: They should have to release to the general public all their OWN information, so we can use it against them, lol.
Seriously, there is too much data they have and too much power to influence (although SERIOUSLY! You have people who are so weak of mind that they can be persuaded THAT easily? Like "Drink Cuke" really works?..... Yes it does!
I heard a person in a store once: they came racing in all out of breath saying, "I just saw on Dr. Oz about this new thing he said was amazing, so i raced in to see if you have it!!!" and i thought,"Yup! There's a Cuke drinker."
Unfortunately, there IS a need to control S&M, simply because there are low education SHEEPLE everywhere.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 09 2020, @01:44AM (1 child)
> ...low education
Longer term solution--improve the education system.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday November 09 2020, @02:01AM
ABSOLUTELY! Tax the rich until public education is as equally funded as private education. Extra tax on CEO's making absurd amounts of money, especially when the business is failing!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 16 2020, @02:30AM
They have been manipulated, by Facebook algorithms, by Twitter algorithms, by TikTok algorithms, and by CNN and MSNBC and FoxNews.
And yet they miss the whole point of posting the article. To wake them up from being manipulated by the mega-corps to do the biding of their masters.
There used to be a meme on "that green site" of "we welcome our new robot overlords".
Well, for most of the AC's in these comments, it is clear that their robot overlords have been very busy pulling their puppet strings, and they have no freaking idea they are attached to puppet strings with Facebook/Twitter/CNN/MSNBC/FoxNews on the other end pulling and tugging the strings to make them do the mega-corp's bidding.
The unfortunate part is that getting away from the puppet masters (FB/T/etc.) is going to become ever more difficult, because they can prevent the congress critters from doing what the critters constituents want by simply manipulating those same constituents into calling the congress critters and telling them to do what the mega-corp wants.
These guys have found a *way* cheaper way to buy congress. You no longer have to bribe or purchase the politician, they just have to pull the puppet strings of the politician's voters in their district's and they can get the politician to do anything they (the mega-corp) want them to do, for far less money.