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posted by martyb on Monday January 11 2021, @03:28PM   Printer-friendly

It's been one heck of a week:

Against the backdrop of record-setting numbers of COVID-19 deaths and infections in the US and around the world, there was turmoil in Washington, DC. As court cases surrounding the presidential election were filed and dismissed, a close race in Georgia was coming down to the wire and with it control of the US Senate. While the US Congress was completing the Electoral College tally and certification, a mob formed outside — and eventually broke into — the US Capitol. This resulted in a 4-hour lock-down. Eventually, the intrusion was repelled, and the Electoral College count was completed: Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was confirmed as the 46th president of the United States of America.

Conspiracy theories have flourished. Propaganda has streamed forth across multiple platforms. Tempers have flared.

And SoylentNews has been there for you. And have you ever spoken up! Two of the most-commented stories in the site's nearly seven-year history were posted in just the past week!

Insomuch as the activities in the US Capitol were far from the US' most shining moments, neither were things all unicorns and rainbows on SoylentNews. Tempers flared. People were attacked and called names. I even accidentally deleted a story and the 17 comments attached to it! [NB: Problem addressed: the delete button no longer appears by default for our editors.]

IRC (Internet Relay Chat):

Even our IRC service was not free from controversy. We had a spate of nick (nickname) impersonations. Going forward, IRC users are free to use whatever nick they like with the following caveats:

  • Prefix / suffix of a nick is fine for practical purposes (e.g. ${nick}_laptop)
  • Impersonation or misrepresentation will not be tolerated
  • The use of another user's website nick or derivative thereof on IRC will be subject to sanctions up to and including perma ban.

Further, we understand conversations can easily ramble from subject to subject, but there are separate channels for different topics. (Use the /list comand to see what is available.) As #soylent is the default landing channel, we want to keep the discussions there civil. Name calling and personal attacks are grounds for a timeout. I have had discussions with deucalion (the site's CEO and also IRC-maintainer) about these activities.

NOTE: we are NOT going to sit there watching every discussion, poised to take action. But, if such activity is seen by staff on IRC, they are free to take such actions as they deem necessary.

Aspirations:

As I approach posting my 10,000th story(!) to SoylentNews, I think back to when it all started. How a group of people got together. They shared freely of their expertise, of their free time, and of their hard-earned funds. They tried to create a place free from corporate overlords where people could engage in discussions that focused primarily on technology, but with a dabbling in other areas and current events.

SoylentNews provides a forum for discussion. It also provides tools so the community can express themselves in the comments and moderate those comments, as well.

This got me to thinking. What are our aspirations today? What are our guiding principles? I will list some of my guiding principles, and I encourage the community to share what guides them in the comments.

  • "Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong." --H. L. Mencken (cite)
  • "People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." -- Isaac Asimov (cite)
  • "If you speak when angry, you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret." -- Groucho Marx (cite)
  • "Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don't say it mean."
  • "Don't get furious, get curious" -- Miley Cyrus (cite)
  • "Humiliation is when someone points out my shortcomings. Humility is when I confess them myself."
  • "I need not participate in every fight I am invited to."
  • The most difficult behaviors to observe in another person are the ones I dislike in my own.
  • "You have not converted a man because you have silenced him." -- John, Lord Morley (cite)

How about you? What sayings guide your aspirations?

Thank You!

Lastly, I thank all of you for supporting me as Editor-in-Chief. I have no formal background in writing or management. I've made mistakes, but I've tried to own up to them as they happened. I strive to be fair, impartial, and open-minded. Under the watchful gaze of the community, I have grown. It is my hope that I may continue to earn your respect and continue in service for many years to come.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Monday January 11 2021, @11:50PM (9 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 11 2021, @11:50PM (#1098659) Journal

    Not an American. But from what was shown in the news in here in Oz, all he said was lets march on the capitol - similarly all his tweets shown in the news was about him being disappointed in folks or that the election was stolen, etc. Nowhere did I see any "lets go violent".

    Actual transcript [aljazeera.com]

    but the amount of unreasonable hate is itself a problem.

    What do you reasonable think he meant when he said "And we fight. We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country any more."?

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 12 2021, @12:03AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 12 2021, @12:03AM (#1098668)

    They are fascist liars, they know exaxtly what they are defending and discussions are pointless. They are spineless twerps that don't want to take responsibility for supporting evil.

  • (Score: 3, Touché) by arslan on Tuesday January 12 2021, @04:24AM (5 children)

    by arslan (3462) on Tuesday January 12 2021, @04:24AM (#1098752)

    Uhh.. I dunno as someone with no dog in the fight, it could mean either "let's literally go violent" or "figuratively protest your brains out". What language should a protest organizer use? "Let's make love! Let's make love like no tomorrow so we will get back xyz!"?

    It is quite _obvious_ which direction the folks that hate him are leaning. It is quite entertaining and a tad sad when you see folks that are supposed to be leaders and smart, educated people let their hate consume them - these are no Gandhi for sure; much like the other side. What's scary is they are leaders of the free world.

    Again, as stated before those actual violent mob should be punished to the full extent.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday January 12 2021, @05:07AM (4 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 12 2021, @05:07AM (#1098760) Journal

      What language should a protest organizer use?

      Whatever is appropriate to the mob's ability to understand (very low in high emotional conditions) and the closest to your intention. If you can't control the mob, you don't gather the mob.

      This is why the best circumstances I can infer in Trump's favor are to assume his intentions was to raise the mob by any means (including highly inflammatory rhetoric to drive the emotional load through the roof) with no regards on the consequences of doing so (i.e. not even considering the possible consequences, much less considering them and make mistakes on the possible outcome). In this best case scenario, Trump acted irresponsible - not a thing that you don't want from POTUS or any leader of whatever country.

      What I feel like the most probable scenario is that Trump wanted chaos creating opportunities that he can seize. One of that possible opportunities involve troubles spiking to a level in which martial law can be justified, see https://www.propublica.org/article/before-mob-stormed-the-capitol-days-of-security-planning-involved-cabinet-officials-and-president-trump [propublica.org]

      But, whatever the actual case may be, Trump cannot be exonerated by the responsibility from the results of his actions. There's no defense on the line "But I didn't intend to end this way" that can get him off the hook.

      It is quite entertaining and a tad sad when you see folks that are supposed to be leaders and smart, educated people let their hate consume them

      [Citation needed], mate, for the "let their hate consume them" part.
      Besides hate, there are multiple explanations possible for the reactions of those "folks that are supposed to be leaders and smart", what makes you chose the "irrational hate against Trump" as THE explanation for this case?

      Again, as stated before those actual violent mob should be punished to the full extent.

      Retribution to be paid to the "tools", throw the bus on top of the inconsequential scape goats, but let the wielder of those tools be?
      That wouldn't be in any way less morally reprehensible than Hillary's "basket of deplorables", with the note that Hillary's brainfart didn't kill anyone.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 3, Informative) by helel on Tuesday January 12 2021, @05:36AM (3 children)

        by helel (2949) on Tuesday January 12 2021, @05:36AM (#1098766)

        This is why the best circumstances I can infer in Trump's favor are to assume his intentions was to raise the mob by any means with no regards on the consequences of doing so.

        Even in this most favorable interpretation his recent appointment still blocked calls for the national guard six times [businessinsider.in] and the situation only started coming under control after Pence [cnn.com] decided to exercise his own authority. Or to put it another way, even if he wasn't actively trying to raise a riot he was more than happy allowing it to rage unchecked for hours.

        And even that's ignoring the fact that the DC National Guard and Capitol Police were both ordered not to take normal precautions that are routine for any big event in DC. That strongly suggests premeditation which leaves only the question of who knew what when.

        • (Score: 2) by arslan on Wednesday January 13 2021, @04:04AM (2 children)

          by arslan (3462) on Wednesday January 13 2021, @04:04AM (#1099292)

          This is probably a more saner reason, i.e. him not doing his job to end the riots - assuming it is, I'm not really clear on what his active responsibility is here - he did go on TV saying that is not what they should be doing, asked them to stop and go home; of course he did continuing to sneak in his dissatisfaction with the "stolen election" nonsense but that's not a crime; poor form form & sore loser for sure.

          So far all the other arguments seems to be interpreting his speech & intentions instead of providing hard evidence - and interpretation is a slippery slope. It is pretty common for protest organizers use the word "fight" figuratively, i.e we have to "fight for our right".

          And no, in my opinion you cannot pin the actions of mobs that was not clearly and directly asked to break the rules on the organizers otherwise we'd shutting down a valid channel for free speech as anyone that disagrees with any protest agenda can easily just embed any hooligan in any protest to enact some violence and the protest organizers all cop the consequence. Like I said, slippery slope.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 13 2021, @04:29AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 13 2021, @04:29AM (#1099302)

            He told the terrorists that attempted to kill legislative leaders and the Vice President "we love you, you're very special."

            As for ending the insurrection, it is his job. He's the head of the executive branch. He has the authority to send in the DC National Guard, even if the guy he appointed says no. This right here is why Democrats calling to invoke the 25th amendment are offering an easy way out. The 25th is for a president that is unable to perform their duties, such as due to illness or general incompetence. If Pence invokes it and Trump doesn't fight it he could quietly leave office as merely not up to the job of president because the alternative explanation is that he intentionally allowed a group of violent terrorists roam the capitol building for hours while his silence indicated his agreement with his appointments refusal to end the attack.

            And lets not forget, before the sixth somebody ordered the Capitol Police and DC National Guard not to take the normal precautions they would take for any large gathering, this despite the fact that the FBI knew an attack was coming [rollingstone.com].

            So our options are Trump is so incompetent that his appointments and advisers have orchestrated a coup attempt around him without his involvement or knowledge and then he just went along with it when they pulled the trigger or he himself attempted the coup. In the former case we might say that his rhetoric was inciting but not intentional. In the later case there's no question what he was attempting.

            So, what do you think? Is Trump so weak he can't even bring himself to override Senior Army official Lt. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, a man he appointed last month, or did he just try to overturn the vote by violence?

            • (Score: 2) by helel on Wednesday January 13 2021, @04:31AM

              by helel (2949) on Wednesday January 13 2021, @04:31AM (#1099303)

              Accidentally posted AC, didn't notice I had gotten logged out by mistake. That's one downside of allowing AC posts, I guess?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 12 2021, @11:15PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 12 2021, @11:15PM (#1099151)

    Actual transcript [aljazeera.com]

    From the transcript.

    All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify, and we become president, and you are the happiest people.

    "we become president," - We? Is that the royal "we"? Divine right of kings and all that.

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 12 2021, @11:25PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 12 2021, @11:25PM (#1099157) Journal

      Nah. He's a senile narcissist.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford