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Northern Ireland25239 Posts
On May 13 2025 19:05 Ciaus237 wrote:
As a white South African, the idea that we need asylum is laughable.
I am sure living in rural areas it can be a bit more frightening, but asylum worthy? That is insane.
On the bright side, exporting our turbo racists means less of them to deal with here.
Are turbo racists still pretty prevalent? Do they have some political traction/representation or is it largely restricted to the realm of the personal and social networks?
My intuition/impression from what I’ve read is that quelle surprise decades of structural racism and systems don’t suddenly evaporate overnight. It would borderline be insane to expect otherwise.
The Troubles is absolute small fry in comparison to Apartheid and while things are considerably better, there’s still tensions between some across Irish/Catholic and British/Protestant lines.
My understanding of farm/land appropriation is that it’s a very rock and hard place scenario. If you don’t do anything you’re just leaving something of a legacy of Apartheid policies in place, if you do something to redress it you’re into ‘sins of the father’ territory which also isn’t especially popular.
Genocide seems a gigantic stretch. I think a certain cohort of white folks internationally are absolutely desperate to justify their entirely ridiculous feelings of persecution and thus are really stretching that glove to fit.
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Anyone here have any thoughts on what David Hogg has been up to or how the Democrats have been handling it?
[ April 23rd: ]A number of party leaders are frustrated that Hogg, who has a leadership position in the party, is pushing primaries against some incumbents in deep-blue seats.
Hogg set off a firestorm among Democrats last week when he said his political action committee would fund a $20 million effort to challenge “ineffective” incumbents in primaries.
Hogg is a vice chair of the DNC, and his comments reverberated through party circles, prompting a throng of angered Democrats to complain — including to DNC officials — that he shouldn’t put his thumb on the scale as an officer of the committee.
Since last week, Hogg has appeared on just about every cable news show and digital outlet, advocating for a party reset of sorts — not just because it lost the White House to Donald Trump, but also because, he said, it lost faith among voters.
Now the party is grappling with what to do with him.
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On May 14 2025 00:02 GreenHorizons wrote:Anyone here have any thoughts on what David Hogg has been up to or how the Democrats have been handling it? Show nested quote +[ April 23rd: ]A number of party leaders are frustrated that Hogg, who has a leadership position in the party, is pushing primaries against some incumbents in deep-blue seats.
Hogg set off a firestorm among Democrats last week when he said his political action committee would fund a $20 million effort to challenge “ineffective” incumbents in primaries.
Hogg is a vice chair of the DNC, and his comments reverberated through party circles, prompting a throng of angered Democrats to complain — including to DNC officials — that he shouldn’t put his thumb on the scale as an officer of the committee.
Since last week, Hogg has appeared on just about every cable news show and digital outlet, advocating for a party reset of sorts — not just because it lost the White House to Donald Trump, but also because, he said, it lost faith among voters.
Now the party is grappling with what to do with him.
I haven't read/seen anything on this besides what you've posted here, but based on this article, it sounds like he's ruffling the right feathers and has a good plan. Focusing on deep-blue seats is a smart place to start, because the Democratic primary winner will basically win the seat no matter what. (It avoids the controversy/debate of being likely to flip if the primary winners are "too extreme", since the seats aren't purple / likely to swing.)
It appears that moderate/establishment Democratic dissenters don't approve of Hogg disrupting norms, since he's apparently not actually breaking any rules/bylaws. Given how Republicans/Trump have been winning by disrupting norms (and committing crimes*), I see no reason why we shouldn't at least disrupt norms when the status quo isn't working anymore.
*I'd still rather not have Democrats explicitly break laws like Republicans though, for whatever that's worth.
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On May 14 2025 00:02 GreenHorizons wrote:Anyone here have any thoughts on what David Hogg has been up to or how the Democrats have been handling it? Show nested quote +[ April 23rd: ]A number of party leaders are frustrated that Hogg, who has a leadership position in the party, is pushing primaries against some incumbents in deep-blue seats.
Hogg set off a firestorm among Democrats last week when he said his political action committee would fund a $20 million effort to challenge “ineffective” incumbents in primaries.
Hogg is a vice chair of the DNC, and his comments reverberated through party circles, prompting a throng of angered Democrats to complain — including to DNC officials — that he shouldn’t put his thumb on the scale as an officer of the committee.
Since last week, Hogg has appeared on just about every cable news show and digital outlet, advocating for a party reset of sorts — not just because it lost the White House to Donald Trump, but also because, he said, it lost faith among voters.
Now the party is grappling with what to do with him.
I think he is "causing some good trouble". a freedom loving, wise man used to say that phrase which I like a lot.
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I know we have a few people who work in education around here. Would love if any of you could comment on the situation described in this video.
https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1kkz5lr/the_current_state_of_affairs_in_public_education/
Prediction: some number of years from now we’re gonna look back on kids having phones the same way we currently look back on kids smoking and drinking before any age restriction laws. The prevalence of extreme apathy in GenZ and younger has been a big topic lately. The teacher in this video says punishment doesn’t work because the kids don’t care about grades and don’t care about getting into college. The kids have no incentive to behave because the teachers aren’t able to impact anything the kids care about.
This issue extends beyond just behavior. Many kids nowadays don't have interest in being successful or having any measure of financial success. Before people frame this wrongly, let me be clear. Its not that kids nowadays want success without the hard work. Its not that kids are having employment issues and low employment is due to poor economic conditions. This situation is entirely different. Its that the kids don't even want to be in a better position. I have a couple friends who are having the same issue with their high school aged kids. One of them has said he isn't really interested in having a career or buying a house or anything and mostly just wants to exist. It increasingly seems like its mostly due to kids having their psyche burned to a crisp by phone addiction from a young age.
Its like the entire mechanism of motivation and achievement is busted because their brains were flooded with dopamine and predatory engagement mechanics in social media and phone apps as a whole. Its all quite grim and sad.
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If using your phone taps into the same reward system like satiating extreme hunger, or using cocaine, then you know you have something dangerous in your hand.
I will outright ban my kids using a smartphone. Don't give a single fuck about the rebellion or hate I'll get. Actually I do, I'll need a smart way to steer them away from social media. Maybe get them addicted to starcraft?
It's like getting people addicted to methadone before they can get addicted to heroin, when you know heroin is so widely spread in society they'll end up using sooner or later. It's a lesser of two evils situation, where the lesser evil will still make you throw your life away.
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On May 14 2025 00:42 Mohdoo wrote:I know we have a few people who work in education around here. Would love if any of you could comment on the situation described in this video. https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1kkz5lr/the_current_state_of_affairs_in_public_education/Prediction: some number of years from now we’re gonna look back on kids having phones the same way we currently look back on kids smoking and drinking before any age restriction laws. The prevalence of extreme apathy in GenZ and younger has been a big topic lately. The teacher in this video says punishment doesn’t work because the kids don’t care about grades and don’t care about getting into college. The kids have no incentive to behave because the teachers aren’t able to impact anything the kids care about. This issue extends beyond just behavior. Many kids nowadays don't have interest in being successful or having any measure of financial success. Before people frame this wrongly, let me be clear. Its not that kids nowadays want success without the hard work. Its not that kids are having employment issues and low employment is due to poor economic conditions. This situation is entirely different. Its that the kids don't even want to be in a better position. I have a couple friends who are having the same issue with their high school aged kids. One of them has said he isn't really interested in having a career or buying a house or anything and mostly just wants to exist. It increasingly seems like its mostly due to kids having their psyche burned to a crisp by phone addiction from a young age. Its like the entire mechanism of motivation and achievement is busted because their brains were flooded with dopamine and predatory engagement mechanics in social media and phone apps as a whole. Its all quite grim and sad.
Very interesting statement from that teacher. I've heard and seen very similar stories with teachers who I've worked with, when it comes to smart phones. Navigating students' cell phone usage as a teacher is one of the biggest issues we have to deal with; as with all technology, phone access has some benefits and some drawbacks. From my own experiences as a teacher, I've definitely noticed that students are more accustomed to having infinite choices nowadays, and not needing to settle for anything uninteresting in their free time, and that mindset sometimes carries into class. Before smartphones, I think more students had an easier time paying attention in class, because what else were they going to do while stuck at school?
The teacher in the video also said that students are apathetic and don't care about punishments anymore, although that's not something I've anecdotally seen as a college professor / high school teacher over the past decade or so.
The obsession/addiction to smart phones definitely starts with the parents, but I also honestly don't know how even the most conscientious of parents can help their children safely and responsibly navigate through daily inundation of technology.
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On May 14 2025 03:27 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:Show nested quote +On May 14 2025 00:42 Mohdoo wrote:I know we have a few people who work in education around here. Would love if any of you could comment on the situation described in this video. https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1kkz5lr/the_current_state_of_affairs_in_public_education/Prediction: some number of years from now we’re gonna look back on kids having phones the same way we currently look back on kids smoking and drinking before any age restriction laws. The prevalence of extreme apathy in GenZ and younger has been a big topic lately. The teacher in this video says punishment doesn’t work because the kids don’t care about grades and don’t care about getting into college. The kids have no incentive to behave because the teachers aren’t able to impact anything the kids care about. This issue extends beyond just behavior. Many kids nowadays don't have interest in being successful or having any measure of financial success. Before people frame this wrongly, let me be clear. Its not that kids nowadays want success without the hard work. Its not that kids are having employment issues and low employment is due to poor economic conditions. This situation is entirely different. Its that the kids don't even want to be in a better position. I have a couple friends who are having the same issue with their high school aged kids. One of them has said he isn't really interested in having a career or buying a house or anything and mostly just wants to exist. It increasingly seems like its mostly due to kids having their psyche burned to a crisp by phone addiction from a young age. Its like the entire mechanism of motivation and achievement is busted because their brains were flooded with dopamine and predatory engagement mechanics in social media and phone apps as a whole. Its all quite grim and sad. Very interesting statement from that teacher. I've heard and seen very similar stories with teachers who I've worked with, when it comes to smart phones. Navigating students' cell phone usage as a teacher is one of the biggest issues we have to deal with; as with all technology, phone access has some benefits and some drawbacks. From my own experiences as a teacher, I've definitely noticed that students are more accustomed to having infinite choices nowadays, and not needing to settle for anything uninteresting in their free time, and that mindset sometimes carries into class. Before smartphones, I think more students had an easier time paying attention in class, because what else were they going to do while stuck at school? The teacher in the video also said that students are apathetic and don't care about punishments anymore, although that's not something I've anecdotally seen as a college professor / high school teacher over the past decade or so. The obsession/addiction to smart phones definitely starts with the parents, but I also honestly don't know how even the most conscientious of parents can help their children safely and responsibly navigate through daily inundation of technology.
Go Amish/Luddite for their first 15 years? Kind of like to stop smoking when getting kids.
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Cell phone certainly contribute by providing access to tons of incredibly depressing information, but I do wonder if the root cause isnt the general state of the world around teens, like you look at rising fascism, you look at microplastics, climate collapse, all the wars, the genocide, I have a hard time blaming anyone for not exactly looking toward the future with a lot of hope for anything better.
That being said, social media and constant internet access is a blight and social media (AI too frankly) need to be WAY more tightly regulated.
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+ Show Spoiler ++ Show Spoiler +I‘ve had issues with video game addiction myself (still do to a lesser extent) . The key issue is that everybody is forced into using electronic devices and tech companies build a business model out of harvesting human behaviour.
My phone is literally someplace else sometime and when I talk about something random I get slapped with a targeted ad the next time I open the browser. It‘s creepy as fuck. We have the dsgvo in this country which is like an undersized incontinent bandaid for this madness.
To get back on topic:
Phone addiction is just another example of pocket comfort that sucks motivation out of people. There‘s also tv, weed, porn and whatnot.
For activities that used to be rather standard when it came to meeting people, you have to pay nowadays. Taking courses, dancing lessons, gym and similar stuff. Volunteer work is probably the next best thing to fight the cyber-alienation that is free, but it‘s still work.
Cars too contribute to ‚encapsulation‘. It‘s fairly ridiculous how many even in small communities interact so little due to digitalization of individual lifestyle.
Digital addiction costs very little but is very comfortable.
You‘d not recognize the place you lived in if you put it under blackout for a month or so.
The plus is that you don‘t have to put up with interactions you don‘t like. As for lack of ambition, that‘s got more to do with how hard it has become to reach financial goals by sheer work nowadays, when you don‘t have a degree or connections. A lifetime of standard burger employee work earns you at most a single property here, but not when you have to pay rent and don‘t live like a spartan. It feels all very futile with how it‘s going. There‘s not really a clear purpose behind life at all unless you invent one. It‘s like watching a silly game played by meat machines that compulsively multiply and try to be better than the others. Why shouldn‘t one place fun at the center of priorities when it‘s all stupid anyway ? Beats being betrayed by your own expectations. No tomorrow is guaranteed.
Haven‘t really followed US pol much lately.
It does seem to me like DJT is successfully strongarming things into ‚deals‘. Weeeee.
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On May 14 2025 03:34 Zambrah wrote:
Cell phone certainly contribute by providing access to tons of incredibly depressing information, but I do wonder if the root cause isnt the general state of the world around teens, like you look at rising fascism, you look at microplastics, climate collapse, all the wars, the genocide, I have a hard time blaming anyone for not exactly looking toward the future with a lot of hope for anything better.
That being said, social media and constant internet access is a blight and social media (AI too frankly) need to be WAY more tightly regulated.
Unless we have documented examples of this being a widespread problem in past times, like around WW2, great depression, etc, I think any difference in grim outlook would still be phone related. As we all know, not just algorithms but phone software itself is optimized to maximize engagement above all else. All the doom shit and whatnot would contribute to feeling worse about the world.
But tbh, I really just don't think its the whole "why do anything when the world sucks" when we have so many examples of kids still reaching for the stars despite the world falling apart. I think the apathy has a different root cause.
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On May 14 2025 04:01 Mohdoo wrote:Show nested quote +On May 14 2025 03:34 Zambrah wrote:
Cell phone certainly contribute by providing access to tons of incredibly depressing information, but I do wonder if the root cause isnt the general state of the world around teens, like you look at rising fascism, you look at microplastics, climate collapse, all the wars, the genocide, I have a hard time blaming anyone for not exactly looking toward the future with a lot of hope for anything better.
That being said, social media and constant internet access is a blight and social media (AI too frankly) need to be WAY more tightly regulated. Unless we have documented examples of this being a widespread problem in past times, like around WW2, great depression, etc, I think any difference in grim outlook would still be phone related. As we all know, not just algorithms but phone software itself is optimized to maximize engagement above all else. All the doom shit and whatnot would contribute to feeling worse about the world. But tbh, I really just don't think its the whole "why do anything when the world sucks" when we have so many examples of kids still reaching for the stars despite the world falling apart. I think the apathy has a different root cause.
My argument is that yes, phones certainly are providing that constant scroll of doom, but that doesnt really solve the doom, and is it a societally responsible solution to simply choose ignorance?
That being said, yes the predatory social media algorithms have to be significantly more tightly regulated, everything associated with social media should, frankly, Id more tightly regulate every predatory industry as much as possible.
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United States42654 Posts
The algorithms may be causing serious public health issues, brainwashing a generation, and ushering in the return of fascism but what about the shareholder value created.
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Every time I think about the harms that social media creates and perpetuates I look into the face of Mark Zuckerberg and know that its all worth it.
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On May 14 2025 04:31 Zambrah wrote:
Every time I think about the harms that social media creates and perpetuates I look into the face of Mark Zuckerberg and know that its all worth it.
He's just so sweet, right? :-)
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On May 14 2025 05:09 maybenexttime wrote:Show nested quote +On May 14 2025 04:31 Zambrah wrote:
Every time I think about the harms that social media creates and perpetuates I look into the face of Mark Zuckerberg and know that its all worth it. He's just so sweet, right? :-)
Top tier programming.
Maybe he used to be an AI boyfriend for wealthy people before he developed sentience and created facebook.
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On May 14 2025 04:31 Zambrah wrote:
Every time I think about the harms that social media creates and perpetuates I look into the face of Mark Zuckerberg and know that its all worth it.
My friend works at Meta because the pay is amazing. But he loses his mind being surrounded by people who are super proud of Meta and incredibly proud of the work they do. He says he can't even begin to understand it lol
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Northern Ireland25239 Posts
On May 14 2025 04:03 Zambrah wrote:Show nested quote +On May 14 2025 04:01 Mohdoo wrote:On May 14 2025 03:34 Zambrah wrote:
Cell phone certainly contribute by providing access to tons of incredibly depressing information, but I do wonder if the root cause isnt the general state of the world around teens, like you look at rising fascism, you look at microplastics, climate collapse, all the wars, the genocide, I have a hard time blaming anyone for not exactly looking toward the future with a lot of hope for anything better.
That being said, social media and constant internet access is a blight and social media (AI too frankly) need to be WAY more tightly regulated. Unless we have documented examples of this being a widespread problem in past times, like around WW2, great depression, etc, I think any difference in grim outlook would still be phone related. As we all know, not just algorithms but phone software itself is optimized to maximize engagement above all else. All the doom shit and whatnot would contribute to feeling worse about the world. But tbh, I really just don't think its the whole "why do anything when the world sucks" when we have so many examples of kids still reaching for the stars despite the world falling apart. I think the apathy has a different root cause. My argument is that yes, phones certainly are providing that constant scroll of doom, but that doesnt really solve the doom, and is it a societally responsible solution to simply choose ignorance? That being said, yes the predatory social media algorithms have to be significantly more tightly regulated, everything associated with social media should, frankly, Id more tightly regulate every predatory industry as much as possible.
Yeah, I mean of course there’s some overlap. And I’m basically the number one cheerleader here for more tight regulation here.
But I think one can still treat them as somewhat separate issues, albeit interlinked.
I think there’s an understandable tendency to put one’s own worldview atop of such trends while trying to find explanations. But equally I mean I don’t actually know, one would have to properly deep dive with a bunch of these young people to get their rationales.
I wonder if the increasing squeeze on what one could call the middle class in UK parlance is part of it. IIRC what we call the working class is what Americans term the middle class, so it gets confusing :p
I mean I doubt many youngsters have the passions inflamed about being like an HR manager or whatever, but ya do that, you open certain economic doors versus not going to school and just working ‘low-skilled’ jobs.
If the trade-off becomes taking on a load of debt, and perhaps not getting the perks you would have previously versus not pursuing that course, hey I can sorta get that.
And by ‘perks’ I mean things like buying your home. I’m unsure how the market in the States is. Still an issue in Northern Ireland, considerably worse in the Republic, or areas in the mainland UK.
Increasingly you can’t aspire to that even with a decent middle class job unless you have a partner. So any bonus you get from that better job you get isn’t one of financial security, it’s of being less poor as you still fork over a big chunk of your pay to a landlord or whatever.
Which isn’t hugely motivating I must say.
As I did say, it’s difficult not to imprint one’s own worldview on such a phenomenon, which I have just done myself :p
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On May 14 2025 05:27 Mohdoo wrote:Show nested quote +On May 14 2025 04:31 Zambrah wrote:
Every time I think about the harms that social media creates and perpetuates I look into the face of Mark Zuckerberg and know that its all worth it. My friend works at Meta because the pay is amazing. But he loses his mind being surrounded by people who are super proud of Meta and incredibly proud of the work they do. He says he can't even begin to understand it lol
Maybe it‘s a dissonance thing. No point in telling to yourself that you dislike the workplace if that‘s what you intended on doing. Might as well do the opposite.
I‘d just be interested in knowing how they haul in so much money.
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On May 14 2025 05:27 Mohdoo wrote:Show nested quote +On May 14 2025 04:31 Zambrah wrote:
Every time I think about the harms that social media creates and perpetuates I look into the face of Mark Zuckerberg and know that its all worth it. My friend works at Meta because the pay is amazing. But he loses his mind being surrounded by people who are super proud of Meta and incredibly proud of the work they do. He says he can't even begin to understand it lol
Yeah Meta pays very well, I could probably double my pay working there, but the work looks miserably dull and low quality and then... working at Mark Zuckerberg's company is gross.
Being proud of working at Meta is probably just a matter of pride via status. Big famous company, makes people feel like they're big and famous by proxy.
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EPT
