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[ED NOTE: Editors discussed whether we should even run this story. I decided to take a chance. BUT, it's up to the community how this goes. Feel free to downmod comments that attack the *commenter* rather than *add* something to the discussion.--martyb]
Growing extremism can and has turned almost anything into a political struggle in which people pay diminishing attention to the topics and more to the 'tribal' group that they may be associated with. We've seen the effects on the functioning on the US congress, as well as in how laws on various topics have been playing out lately.
But the idea that without a center, things fall apart, may be more real than we thought, as this article at ScienceBlog about a Cornell study describes: https://scienceblog.com/527200/tipping-point-makes-partisan-polarization-irreversible/
It seems that up to a point, it is possible to reverse the polarization. Beyond that tipping point, it cannot. From what I've seen, the US is probably in the vicinity of that tipping point. The pattern described here sounds an awful lot like the period-doubling path to chaos, a mathematical construct in which a function that has a single stable state in one range of numbers starts developing two stable states, and then four, until stability is lost and the set devolves into chaos. If this reflection has any validity in the political or social realms, then we should also have seen the same pattern play out within discussions that turn to chaos.
Is there predictive power in this observation by the researchers at Cornell? If so, can anything be done to head it off, or are we all doomed to watch it play out?
Journal Reference:
Michael W. Macy, Manqing Ma, Daniel R. Tabin, et al. Polarization and tipping points [$], Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2102144118)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 12 2021, @04:12PM (9 children)
You need evidence that anyone attempted to kill anyone. I've seen zero such evidence. And, no, that gallows erected outside the Capitol falls under the heading of 'free speech'. No one even hanged Pelosi in effigy - all they had was a poorly constructed stage prop, used to express the crowd's contempt for Democrat leadership.
The only death that day was one of the rioters who attempted to gain entry to the floor of the capitol building. One death properly attributed to the riot.
(Score: 5, Informative) by helel on Sunday December 12 2021, @04:23PM (6 children)
We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin' brain, but we didn't find her. [cnn.com]
Capitol Rioter Who Brought Gun On January 6 Said He Was Hunting Pelosi [nationalmemo.com]
There, now you have seen evidence, beyond everything that we all saw on live TV.
Republican Patriotism [youtube.com]
(Score: 1, Troll) by khallow on Sunday December 12 2021, @06:12PM (5 children)
You list one person who trash talked at a riot, and one who trash talked later. The latter was caught with a firearm which the story notes "most clear-cut yet of a loaded firearm on Capitol grounds that day" (in other words, only a handful of protesters brought firearms anywhere near the Capitol building which is inconvenient to the insurrection narrative). You need evidence of "trying to kill our representatives, and trying to overturn [illegally, right?] the results of our election" not this crap.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 12 2021, @06:22PM (4 children)
It's just a joke, bro!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 12 2021, @08:45PM
Got it, thanks for clearing that up, bro! We'll add it to the just of jokes..
-- "Can't we just drone this guy?"
-- "If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black'."
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday December 12 2021, @09:38PM (2 children)
Indeed, people joke all the time - even at protests. Prove it wasn't. Don't waste me time just saying that it happened.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 12 2021, @11:00PM (1 child)
I guess until you get shot in the head you won't realize that you've joined traitors attempting a coup against the United States, and at that point it will be too late for you and whoever else you've murdered along the way. Ashli Babbit is waiting for you in hell.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday December 12 2021, @11:23PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 12 2021, @06:19PM (1 child)
> a poorly constructed stage prop, used to express the crowd's contempt for Democrat leadership.
Uh... Mike Pence is not a democrat.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Sunday December 12 2021, @06:37PM
He is to a MAGAt.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience