Here's how a Trump presidency could change the tech industry Despite countless warnings that the US presidential election would lead to a months-long battle, with a decisive win by Donald Trump and his party, we can immediately look ahead to how the next four years of Republican rule might change the tech industry. His new administration isn't going to land until January 20, and who is …
I really doubt that anything will go nuclear.
Trump seems to have a genuine antipathy towards war.
With Trump, I think in 10s_
• unemployment will rise to 10% once the various agencies are gutted. Think Twitter once Musk arrived;
• the population will fall by 10% once the mass deportations really start to get going. Maybe this one is a bit much, but Trump might be able to get 1 million illegal immigrants per year out.
• yearly inflation will rise to 10% once the tariffs and the increased unemployment really kick, not to mention the absence of lowly-paid serfs to do the menial work;
"See that red button there?"
So the master will have his moment too?
"How do you use a weapon of ultimate mass destruction when it can stand in judgment on you? There is only one man who would even try."
"Cometh the hour, cometh the man." Apparently a descendant of the 14th century "Opportunity makes the thief." So nothing new under the Sun.
> Trump seems to have a genuine antipathy towards war.
The man who authorized more drone strikes than any other president, authorised Yemen genoical attacks, wants Israel to completely take over Palestine, and has threatened war with Iran and Mexico?
And that's just a small sample:
The Republicans are "Right Wing" and declare the Democrats to be "Left Wing" but when you look at their actions for years in the past it's clear that the America Democrats are effectively only performing American democracy via left wing Republican actions and left wing cultures. When Republicans win an election then a few years later the Democrats will win an election for a few years before the Republicans win the next one.
As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. - H.L. Mencken (an American journalist, 1880-1956).
Its actually more the case that as the democrats get dragged closer to the left pole by the very vocal screechers the republicans actually fill in the gap. Not long ago it was democrat policy to deport any illegals who commit a crime. And anyone entering illegally went to the back of the queue when it comes to applying to stay. This was actually what Obama said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5oKlKeXWLQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVuuzTJBE5Y
The poor dems would explode at such ideas now.
It is a representative democracy. You elect representatives to pass legislation and take executive action. Just like every other representative democracy in the world. Whether they are also republics like Brazil, France or Germany or constitutional monarchies like Canada, Australia or Spain.
In fact the US elects far more representatives than almost every other country. Federal and state members, governors, mayors, sheriffs, DA, etc down to the coroner in some states. You even elect representatives (the electoral college) to select the president on your behalf.
With ballot measures used in many states to pass legislation, you are in fact closer to a direct democracy than just about anywhere else except maybe Switzerland.
So to say "We are a republic, not a democracy" is like saying "I own a German Shepherd, not a dog."
The finest democracy money can buy.
Trump repelled internet privacy laws. - that was popular with 8% of the population.
65% of Americans support stricter gun control... *crickets*
Gallup polls show 85% of Americans believe abortion should be legal in at least certain circumstances as of May.
ACA act (obamacare) - 79% (including 66% republicans) support it.
Fox News Poll: 71% choose funding Social Security, Medicare over budget cuts”...
There are loads of reputable polls, with stats ranging from 53% to 65%.
Take your pick: American support for gun control
By the way, it's sad that you seem critical of this figure being too high. Are there not enough school shootings for your liking?
Addressing mental health issues properly (stop the social contagion and doom mongering of things like climate change or 'our democracy', stop quick fix medicating and definitely stop telling kids they were born in the wrong body) would pretty much resolve school shootings.
And again asking 12,000 people is not going to represent a country of over 300,000,000.
Are you saying that Americans are 100 times more mental than those from any other country?
And you realise the "kids in the wrong body" thing is bollocks, right? What next? They are eating the cats in Springfield? The vaccine contains bill gates microchips?
Grow up, FFS. Republicans are weird.
"Are you saying that Americans are 100 times more mental"
Yup! By every metric the US, especially white liberal women, are mental. Actually its the white liberal women who skew the scores. They try so hard to virtue signal to their back-stabbing 'friend' group and make their lives look utterly perfect on social media.
"The US has similar levels of mental health problems as every other country in the world."
This I doubt. The US has the highest suicide rate of any developed country. The US is pretty much the source of the current gender woo thing. Its only Australia that matches the US and they are all very strange. Canada are up there but 1) they live close to the US and 2) it is a frozen heck hole most of the year.
The main issue with the US is your big pharma and doctors who are bought and paid for by the drug companies. Quick fix medicine! Feeling sad, try these new happy pills! Don't look at the side effects! The US is the most highly medicated and most unhealthy country on the planet. Combined with the US propaganda networks spouting lie after lie on TV 24 hours a day it is no wonder you're all killing eachother.
"voted for him in droves"
A lot of U.S. voters vote based on single issues and don't consider the other policies that come with their vote. Inflation and the economy was
a big driving factor for people to switch to voting for Trump. It is doubtfu that such voters examined all of his platform or even that aware of
the scope.
If a person votes for a particular candidate, that vote is a vote for *all* of the policies, not just the one or few someone based
their vote on. Even if they personally disagree with some of the other policies. There are, sadly, a lot of people who don't
really understand that.
@Andy_bolt
"If it was so highly regarded, then why do so many outside the USA look on the current trajectory wondering if we’re in for a rerun of what followed the fall of the Weimar Republic or if we’re just going to see a kleptocracy form?"
Who? Watching the severe misbehaviour under Biden and the 2016 election lies thrown around and used so seriously by security services just to try and dictate who should be president was insane to watch. We have watched for the last couple of years as the US gov tried to lock up their political opponent who actually won votes to be the candidate. Watching the inflation reduction act and insane blowouts of spending driving inflation after the covid abuse.
Hell your sitting president cannot be prosecuted for his handling of classified documents because of his mental state but his political opponent was so attacked after a home invasion by the FBI and the case was appealed after the Supreme Court explained the executive office to the sitting gov. Note how there is no appeal now Trump won.
There were no election lies.
And he was prosecuted for breaking the law.
I'm not going to expand any further, because you know this. Trump knows this (he admitted he knew the election wasn't stolen, but it keeps the base energised)
This is beyond political leanings - for some unknown reason, you are purposely spouting the easily debunked crap that fox, trump, newsmax etc. use to brainwash their low IQ cult members.
Why do you keep posting this crap? You know it's not true.
@Jamie Jones
"There were no election lies."
Eh? 2016 was the huge Russia hoax, dunno how you missed that one. 2019 the Hunter Biden laptop that was buried then claimed to be Russian disinformation (as well as the Covid origins definitely not being the lab until Biden won). And the recent election of extreme lawfare where the gov needed the Supreme Court to explain the role of the executive office.
"Why do you keep posting this crap? You know it's not true."
So what rock have you been hiding under?
This post has been deleted by its author
@Casca
"Going by the downvotes its only you who think its funny."
Think what is funny? I was asking you to make me laugh by actually telling me which part of this comment is wrong-
https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2024/11/13/president_trump_tech/#c_4965531
Any answers?
Can I just ask you as a maga cult member: "Do you believe the 2020 election was rigged?"
I've asked this on forums full of Trumpets and not one of them will see reality - presumably because that will be contradicting oft trotted out outright lies of the master.
Its a real "Emporer's new clothes" situation
Ah, that question!
Well, lets flip it. Do you really believe that Kamala Harris was such an awful candidate that some 9 million people just didn't bother vote?
It is interesting that there are states which voted for Trump AND passed pro-choice ballot measures. And even in Florida where the prop didn't pass as it needed a supermajority, it got more % than Trump did in the state.
Yes, I do. People hate inflation, and even though this wave of inflation was not bad in comparison to ones in other places, a lot of people got used to a few decades of low or no inflation and found this wave an unpleasant shock. Biden got blamed for that. He shouldn't have been, as presidents have little ability to do much about inflation, but he was. Similarly, it also isn't true to say it's Trump's fault and Biden was cleaning up; in both cases, there are some things they could have done differently that could have had small effects, but it was mostly out of their hands. Some other former Biden voters had other problems with things he did, and they either thought that Trump would do better things, or more likely, they were just annoyed enough that they didn't bother. Harris was associated with the actions of the Biden administration. There were enough unhappy people who either decided that Trump wasn't that bad a candidate or that they just wouldn't vote.
I am similar to many 2020 Trump voters; I think the winner of the election is the more dangerous option. Just like they were four years ago, I wish the other person had won. Just like they were four years ago, it would be comforting to believe that the other person did win. And just like them then, the person I think is better didn't win. The only difference is that quite a few of them were willing to either delude themselves that their guy did win or to know he didn't but pretend really hard that it wasn't that way, whereas I have to recognize that yes, the guy I don't like did win and I will have to live with that.
In 2020, Biden set a record for highest turn out and number of votes, but also, Trump set a record of highest turn out and number of votes for him. I would like to believe that 2020 was a resounding indication that everyone in the country didn't like him and wanted him gone, but it wasn't. A lot of people do like something about him. I can't say in all cases what it is. Some people like him for reasons I understand and disagree with. Others like him for reasons that make me wonder how they ignore the numerous facts that prove he doesn't care or thinks the opposite thing that they think. But they do exist in large numbers and they voted again this year.
"He shouldn't have been, as presidents have little ability to do much about inflation"
He has to take some blame. Remember he said that it would be transitory, just pop up a bit and go right back down. Yellen said the same. And how they fawned over Bidenomics when it naturally came down just like the rest of the world.
"I would like to believe that 2020 was a resounding indication that everyone in the country didn't like him and wanted him gone,"
And in 2024 either Harris was just so incredibly bad as a candidate and caused some 9 million people to just not bother voting or that 81 million in 2020 was not quite on the level.
Inflation did pop up and back down. The inflation rate started to surge in March 2021 as the post COVID recovery kicked in. Demand was high, but supply low as China was still closed and oil supplies were still restricted. It peaked in July 2022 then started dropping as fast as it had risen as supply started to meet demand. By March 2023 it had fallen back below the rate of average wage increases so people has started getting richer again. It currently sits at just over 2%, which is the Fed target rate. This was much better than most other developed countries managed.
Unfortunately people don't understand this and think that prices should be lower. Since they are not they think inflation must still be high, when it isn't. Prices were never going to come down dramatically regardless of who won. You don't want them to anyway as deflation can be enormously damaging, just ask the Japanese.
What is a fact is that if trump follows through with his tariffs on everything policy, then inflation is going to rocket again. This will be one case where the president really does have a major impact on the inflation rate, just not in a good way.
@Prst. V.Jeltz
"Can I just ask you as a maga cult member: "Do you believe the 2020 election was rigged?""
For one I am not a maga cult member but it might look like I am from an anti-Trumper perspective. But second you just replied to my comment asking a troll a second time to answer where he thinks my comment is wrong.
Maybe you managed to respond to the wrong comment or something but if not I do wonder why you like the idiot troll jump onto a thread only to post rubbish. In the case of Casca it is the usual idiocy of claiming something is wrong but not being able to write a reason why. In your case why dont you answer the question if you want to reply to this comment, its not like there was any other content in my post to reply to.
Again maybe you responded to the wrong comment, but if not you shouldnt impersonate Kamala by gibbering words but not an answer.
"In the case of Casca it is the usual idiocy of claiming something is wrong but not being able to write a reason why"
Wrong. We know that no matter what we say or any data/facts/evidence that is brought up, it will be dismissed.
As for not being a MAGA cult member, if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it is a duck.
@Skiver
"Wrong. We know that no matter what we say or any data/facts/evidence that is brought up, it will be dismissed."
That is a simple assertion to test, so what did Casca say that could be considered a reasoned response? In a factual post he responded with- "You really believe the shit you post? Wow...." and "That you believe your rightwing postings is just tragic." so which of this do you consider data/facts/evidence? Which bit of this do you consider intelligent thought that I dismissed?
"As for not being a MAGA cult member, if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it is a duck."
Ahh. So because I dont suffer TDS and wrote a factual post (feel free to say something intelligent in response if you disagree) you label me as MAGA. Are there MAGA in the room with you right now?
The best move, which I all to often fail to take is to just walk about. People like that have already made up their minds and ready made facile comments to toss out. The goal isn't isn't a discussion. The goal is to wear people out so they can puff their chests out in false pride at how they've "won" the argument.
@Skiver
"The rest of us aren't bellyaching about election lies after Harris lost the election."
Really? Have you missed some of these democrat freakouts? Hell there is a reg article where researchers try to suggest Musk/X benefited Trumps election.
"If the findings of the research are to be believed, Trump is also the same person who may have benefited from the apparent platform-level changes made in the lead-up to the election he just won." - https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/20/x_marks_the_spot_for/
I also assume you missed 2016 and onwards with the pathetic claims that Russia got him elected?
"Here's the difference between MAGAs and the rest of us."
One thing I find very interesting is you must be anti Trump or MAGA. Almost as though anti Trumpers dont see a middle ground.
"MAGAs needed the comfort of "election lies" to ease the pain of losing an election"
And Hillary, dont forget Hillary.
You're welcome, BTW. The Americas have been fixing Europe's problems since the Spaniards found Potosí.
Maybe one day we'll let you all destroy our ancestors' hard work over there. Shame; I'd love to see Toulouse or Edinburgh or Florence or Athens as they were—they seem to be overrun with third-worlders and Just Stop Oil fanatics nowadays.
Oldest continuously-functioning representative government on the planet, unless you actually count the UK since its last civil war and the Interregnum. You're pretty bad at history!
Some examples: the Fifth French Republic was established in 1958. Most other European countries' governments are in the same boat. Germany was reunified in 1990. The Netherlands changed hands like a hot potato, and Spain was effectively fascist until the 70s. Poland was communist, Eastern Europe was under the USSR's thumb, and Italy couldn't make up its mind on whether it was Maoist, Socialist, Neofascist, or sane.
Any long-lived national government I'm missing? No? Didn't think so.
It's the second-oldest continuously-sitting government on Earth (after GB's) and the oldest republic.
My favorite period in history is the Cinquecento, BTW. We also happen to have the finest technical and liberal-arts universities in the world, so you really can't make fun of the United States on that front. It's modern Europeans that are ignorant of history—that's why they keep repeating it.
Throwing out that number just shows how clueless about government Elon is. The total discretionary portion of the budget is $1.7 trillion. So if you cut that entirely, meaning all the government did at that point was distribute SS, medicare, and national defense and related activities like the VA (they'd close down the White House so Trump couldn't cover the walls in ketchup or clog up the toilets with secret documents, so I guess that would be a silver lining) you'd still have to cut $300 billion from defense or SS/medicare.
Fortunately since he won't have an official position and the "department of government efficiency" won't be an actual department without congressional approval, he won't have any power. Even if it was a real department its power would be limited without, again, congressional approval.
Basically Trump just gave Musk a little playground where he has no real power, and he didn't even get it to himself. He has to share it with Vivek whats-his-name. I predicted Trump will be sick of Musk before inauguration day and he never has any position in Trump's administration, real or pretend. If there's one thing Trump can't stand, it is someone with a big ego who takes credit for the work of others. That's his gig and his alone, he's always cut people off at the knees once they show any signs of overshadowing him.
You're still thinking that the plan isn't to completely gut Medicare and Social Security. This is a kleptocracy and a kakistocracy [1] that cares about only three things for the next four years: stealing as much as possible, persecuting people they don't like, and ensuring none of this will ever be reversed - preferably by establishing permanent hegemony. Actually governing the country is something they have neither the capability nor the intention to do.
[1] To save you the trip to dictionary dot com: government by the worst possible people.
As had been confirmed by the Speaker of the House on video. Obama care is going first. Then they will make sure that the date upon which Social Security goes broke to be 2030 and no later. JD Thingy can sort that mess out because when 90% of the Seniors lose their healthcare and then their only income... There will a mass of people being evicted onto the streets and going bankwupt because they can't even afford a visit to the doctors let alone any treatment.
Then the Veterans are next for having their benefits stripped away. All this is in the PRoject 2025 handbook.
You were warned USA but yet again you fell for the flim-flam snake oil salesman who would not know the truth even if it slapped him in the face with a bit of wet fish. As long as he can stay out of jail and carry on cheating at Golf... Rory M... you should be ashamed for supporting him.
The biggest show of 2025 will be the very public breakdown of the relationship between the world's two biggest narcissists. One of the defining features of a narcissist is that they absolutely must be in control. Trump currently thinks he is, because he got elected. Musk thinks he is, because he's the world's richest man-child. The illusion each holds of thinking the other doesn't want to run things will burst. Musk will go back to paying for top-level gear and repeatedly grinding the same Diablo IV dungeon over and over again so he can boast about his ranking to other sweaty man-children. Trump will pretend that he never liked or trusted Musk, which is probably the only true thing he'll say all year. Trump loves only Trump (and Musk loves only Musk).
I take it you're the cowardly anonymous rage-voter then? Shouldn't you be busy hiding in your mum's basement after telling women that you own their bodies or something like that?
In all seriousness, for anyone who has had the great fortune to never have been exposed to a narcissist, and therefore doesn't recognise the glaringly obvious narcissistic character traits in both Musk and Trump, and still believes they are both brilliant people: You have my sympathy for that day in the future when the realisation finally dawns on you. I hope they don't manage to damage you too much.
I suffered abuse at the hands of a parent with NPD. Trump is nothing.
As a human being this is literally true of the FOCF.
But surviving something doesn't mean it's an experience you should encourage others to experience.
That's basically JD Vance's PoV.
It could be strongly argued (observed even) that we’ve handed far too much control of our information infrastructure to the US tech sector, and by extension the whims of thier government of the day.
We don’t know what will happen in the future, however with an eye on resilience it wouldn’t hurt to consider a hypothetical worst case scenario whereby a hostile authoritarian US government wields enormous power over us via their tech.
If we needed to stop using Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta & Amazon products in short order, what would that look like?
"If we needed to stop using Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta & Amazon products in short order, what would that look like?"
That would describe my world this last decade and a half. Recommended.
OK, just under a decade and a half ... I finally punted Redmond on Jan 1st 2010. Seriously, it's been lovely. And quite profitable.
It looks like Bluesky has gained 800,000 accounts in the last 24 hours, and this is pretty much a direct result of people getting increasingly fed up with Trump's new First Lady's social media platform.
Edit - it has a block button too, so people don't have to be constantly exposed to the right-wing echo chamber. We could REALLY use one of those here.
El Reg already has it.
It has a "report abuse" button (which I have had occasion to use in the past, when certain prolific posters have posted misogyny), but I have yet to find a way of blocking them. Bluesky is nice so far, because the shitposters don't even show up if you subscribe to, for instance, far-right troll blocklists.
I like to see what the rats are scurrying around saying.
This is well and good, but I'd rather not have them shout it in my face, when I'm more interested in literally anyone or anything else. This is the problem with how social media algorithms, in particular Twitter's, amplify certain voices, on top of the age-old adage that those with the least to say shout it out the loudest.
Yes, as discussed in this here Kettle (expertly), the tariffs, bourbon, necessity to repair, and anti-stupid angles are sure to be key factors going forward ...
... but on the positive side of things, the Office appointments of Burgum, DeVos, Gabbard, Gaetz, Hegseth, Huckabee, Kennedy, Musk, Rubio, Stefanik, and Zeldin (among others) are already providing Late Night TV Show Hosts with a humongous trove of original material with which to develop opening monologues ... the Obama and Biden years were just not as side-splittingly funny as to make it hurt nearly as much when laughing unhingingly at the emerging new normal of crazed insanity! That's gotta be some sort of sliver lining IMHO ... (or liver lining if you count cheaper bourbon!)
What a beautiful article! There is something for everyone to comment on. Trump, Musk, big tech, cryptocurrency, tariffs, FCC, electric vehicles, Starlink, and so much more! And it even closes out with Bush 2004 to catch any remaining stragglers!
How far will this comment section go? Can we break 500 posts? Go, go, GO!
Just remember, opinions are like orgasms - everyone thinks theirs comes first!
"I think the administration will be less inclined for the government to interfere with business"
No, just the opposite. 'Friends' will be rewarded excessively, 'enemies' punished severely, and a lot of small business people will be surprised when they find out where they personally lie on the spectrum.
"What happened with all the fraud that was occurring at the polling stations?"
There was a lot of effort put into monitoring the votes coming in compared to last time. After the Biden win and the magic votes places were trying to clean up the ballots to be more accurate, more monitoring of polling stations and legal challenges to enforce voting laws so only valid votes counted (such as having the correct date). Although there was a lot of push back against fixing these legal problems.
It's no laughing matter though ... who knows what might have happened without the tireless efforts of Tina Peters at rotorooting people's incorrect votes with unrelenting support from (former crack addict) Mike Lindell!?!?!? (</barf!></sarc>)
That the name of the racist, (everything) narcissistic prick's governmental depart "Department Of Government Efficiency" is named after the scumbag con artists crypto currency?
No?
No one?
Let that sink in how fucking corrupt this government will be (not that any others are much better), when make the world best bullshitter head of a department, named after after a criminals favourite money laundering technique.
There's some good memes about it going round on social media, basically involving web-coloured Comic Sans text, like it's 2014 again.
It's obviously intentional on the part of Musk, because he thinks it's cool (like making it so the models of his electric cars spell out "S3XY"). There's a reason I referred to him as a man-child earlier, and it's not just a lazy ad hominem, it's because he has the mentality of a twelve year-old, who thinks L337 5p34k is cool.
Well, Musk really helped improve Xitter, didn't he?
And of course, even if he *does* get the keys to the sweetie jar, slashing staff and capabilities won't just annoy a few shareholders,
it will have serious consequences for some people's lives, and usually the most vulnerable.
But of course the Little People don't count to Musk or Trump, they are either easy targets, useful idiots, or cannon fodder in their view
*sigh* I reference the famous classroom scene from Ferris Bueler's Day Off
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhiCFdWeQfA
Anyone? Anyone know the effects?
... it was called ... Anyone? ... Oodoo ...? Anyone? Voodoo Economics ...
The problem is that the vote of an easily influenced and uneducated person is worth exactly the same as that of someone who pays attention to all the candidates and weighs up all of their policies and personal history. The solution is to make sure the populace is well-educated. Oddly enough, the teaching of political theory and history is notably absent, or vastly simplified in many large "democracies", which calls into question how democratic they actually are.
For example, how many of my fellow British citizens have ever had any teaching of Irish history, and the place Britain has in it? We might have been made vaguely aware of "the Irish famine" and possibly the formation of the Irish Republic, but there's a whole load of history, directly involving Britain that is taught, and is well-known in Ireland, but not here. My point here, is that if you are selectively taught only the bits of history that support a certain view, you are overwhelmingly inclined to end up supporting that view yourself. We have the same problem with mass-media, and social media empires with algorithms that are controlled by far-right leaning multibillionaires.
@Elongated Muskrat
"The problem is that the vote of an easily influenced and uneducated person is worth exactly the same as that of someone who pays attention to all the candidates and weighs up all of their policies and personal history. The solution is to make sure the populace is well-educated."
Well educated has unfortunately been linked with 'been to university'. Some socialist activist who studied German Polka history is not necessarily better educated than someone who works for a living and has experience of having a livelihood and watching government tax their hard work.
"We have the same problem with mass-media, and social media empires with algorithms that are controlled by far-right leaning multibillionaires."
Do you mean the one that was bought from the left leaning and heavily curated to spread lies?
Remember its fine when the billionaires on their side do the controlling. No-one really batted an eyelash when Soros bought a controlling stake in hundreds of US radio stations.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/soros-acquisition-of-200-us-radio-stations-ahead-of-election-being-fast-tracked-by-fcc/ar-AA1rcgEY
Do you mean the one that was bought from the left leaning and heavily curated to spread lies?
Try this experiment: Create a new social media account "clean skin" and use it to peruse some non-political content. Health & wellbeing, motoring, Christianity and parenting advice for example. And see how fast the feed/recommended content turns to radicalised extreme right-wing content.
It's just as simple as that. Go on. Try it.
@AC
"Try this experiment: Create a new social media account "clean skin" and use it to peruse some non-political content. Health & wellbeing, motoring, Christianity and parenting advice for example. And see how fast the feed/recommended content turns to radicalised extreme right-wing content."
And how is that different from what was? We already know Twitter banned the President of the United States and hosted a variety of terrorists quite happily. After Musk bought it he released the twitter files showing how the government basically ran it as a propaganda department and we know the same of facebook too. In trying to release the twitter files Musk found a government plant who was editing the information against instructions (the guy was fired).
Twitter was exposed and Zuck of FB apologised too for blocking information and promoting government lies. I dont want an account on X/twitter I have never wanted to use it. But the crying that it now pushes right wing garbage instead of left wing garbage doesnt inspire me that there is anything more than garbage.
Have you tried Bluesky yet? I'm not so sure about following accounts that promote religion, though. Most people's beliefs are a private thing, and those who actively go around promoting theirs, tend to have at least a toe in the water with the RWNJs. Proselytising and propaganda have a lot in common.
"uneducated person"
Can you lefties please stop being such utter snobs? The whole condescending 'you voted wrong as you are thick' is one of the reasons the left lost 2016, 2024 and Brexit.
And then you blither on about having an educated populace but you are happy to support a system where the requirements to 'become educated' are raised or lowered depending on the colour of your skin or who you choose to sleep with.
And then you blither on about having an educated populace but you are happy to support a system where the requirements to 'become educated' are raised or lowered depending on the colour of your skin or who you choose to sleep with.
I'm sorry, what? Can you point me to the post where I suggested any of that, or is it some industrial-grade projection on your part?
Also, "thick" isn't the same as "uneducated". If you weren't thick, you'd know that.
I know people who voted for brexit who did so because they were not blessed with intelligence, sure, but I also know people who voted for brexit because they were deceived, and felt very aggrieved about it afterwards. I also know people who aren't that bright who still voted against it. Don't try to turn the wholesale propaganda war fought by the pro-brexit right-wing lobby into a "brexiters are on the side of the little people" argument, because anyone with half an ounce of sense can see that as a far-right "divide and rule" tactic right out of the Joseph Goebbels playbook.
So you can be educated AND thick? You do subscribe to the school of thought that higher IQ people tend to lean more left. So it is safe to assume when you are referring to uneducated people voting a way you don't like then you are actually calling them thick.
"on the side of the little people"
Something the democrats are very much not.
If you want a propaganda war just open your eyes and look at what has been going on the last few months. They did the 'threat to our democracy', then the 'weird' thing, then the 'hitler' thing, all very obviously scripted and managed with the media talking heads in lockstep with the campaign.
You do subscribe to the school of thought that higher IQ people tend to lean more left.
That's a very wordy way of saying, "do you think the peer-reviewed studies that show this aren't lying"
Here's the thing about evidence-led science, it doesn't require belief. Belief is the thing you have when you want to think something that contradicts facts.
Again, you start going on about US politics. I couldn't care less about either of your mainstream political parties; at the moment, you have a far-right one and a centre-right one that the far-right one calls communism. It's all such a total load of bollocks, and your political system is broken. You have never had any real mainstream left-wing politics in the US. That's why getting ill bankrupts you.
Here is the thing with peer reviewed papers. They are generally reviewed by your peers in the same field. Not the same peers as in a jury of. Also peer reviews check for method rather than actual data accuracy as has come to light recently where a whole slew of papers used utterly fake data. There is a lot of conformation bias in certain fields.
There is also a peer reviewed study that shows vaccine hesitancy decreases as education level goes up, but to a point. Once you get past a normal degree and on to further and doctorate the rate of hesitancy increases again.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0260731
Oh, there's a whole bunch of problems with peer-review, and the scientific press in general (a good old bunch of it being owned by Elsevier, for example). That doesn't discredit it, though, and turning away from evidence-led arguments because of issues with peer-review would be throwing the baby out with the bath water.
The alternative is believing any old shit people say without evidence to back it up; relying on anecdote, and hearsay, voting for the appealing nationalism of Adolf Hitler, that sort of thing.
Already has. Will continue to happen pretty much all at once.
A mad woman's breakfast won't even be in the running as an adequate description of ensuing chaos.
Have to look up the meaning of Medize (and find a how-to guide) and the dial code for the PRC.
The only puzzle that remains is that in a nation fatally infested with gun crazies how is that they all are such poor shots?
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