-
@gt12 no doubt this has made hypocrites of many who stood up for the alt-rights freedom of expression, now demanding these players stand for the anthem. Personally I (obviously) don't care what they do, but I am wary of campaigns to have people fired for expressing themselves. With the NFL then I'd say the market will largely deal with it, if they start shedding fans then they will bear the financial consequences. The federal subsidies they have received complicate that though.
My points about Identity Politics were because the whole #TakeAKnee protest is about so called white priviledge, focussing on racist white police officers gunning down innocent black people. Now obviously I'm not saying that has never happened, but the statistics don't bear out what they are claiming. By far the biggest issues facing the African-American population are clearly black-on-black crime (there's actually very little black-on white or white-on-black crime), and the unescapable fact that something like 70% of black children grow up without their father.
The whole protest is based on neo-Marxist ideas of "oppressor" vs "oppressed", with racist concepts like white priviledge, which is grossly over simplifying what is a very complex society, is completely detached from reality, and creating a race war that doesn't need to exist.
I take a strong interest as I see these ideas becoming more prevelant across all western countries, but the USA appears to be further down the track than the rest of us.
-
@no-quarter said in US Politics:
I take a strong interest as I see these ideas becoming more prevelant across all western countries, but the USA appears to be further down the track than the rest of us.
My takeaway from the whole sage is just how broken the US is. Both sides of the debate seem so, so far away from each other that there isn't much hope of compromise.
At a certain point who is right/wrong is irrelevant. If I were an American it would just make me sad, for a whole variety of reasons.
-
I don't know why they can't just leave this shit alone and just focus on what they are supposed to do, i. e. play and/or manage and/or broadcast sport. There are more than enough media outlets, column inches etc. devoted to politics. Whatever the pressure put on them by activists and other rent seekers, sports stars and administrators are under no obligation to take a stand on anything and I'd wager the vast majority of the fans don't want them to either.
-
The US has a pretty different history in this space than we do here though.
I am also sympathetic to the view that these people are role models to millions across the US, and if they feel strongly about a particular subject they are within their rights to act on it. It doesn't mean they should, though.
But once the President starts calling players out and calling them SOBs, usual conventions start to go out the window.
-
@barbarian said in US Politics:
The US has a pretty different history in this space than we do here though.
I am also sympathetic to the view that these people are role models to millions across the US, and if they feel strongly about a particular subject they are within their rights to act on it. It doesn't mean they should, though.
But once the President starts calling players out and calling them SOBs, usual conventions start to go out the window.
Yeah, but I'd much rather the players act like role models and try to reinforce the virtues of hard work and discipline, as that is how you get ahead. Openly supporting racist hate groups like BLM, and in Kaepernick's case Fidel fucking Castro(!) is only furthering the divide in the USA.
And agree re: Trump. He should have just said something vague about respecting freedom of expression. His comments do nothing to unify the States, though as has been pointed out they do play to his base.
It looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better.
-
This post is deleted!
-
This post is deleted!
-
This post is deleted!
-
Looks like the simplest solution to driving down costs and increasing coverage under Obama Care may be implemented by Executive Order; insurers to be allowed to sell policies across state lines.
-
Being able to sell across state lines would be a positive move. Certain States have been blocking this because of cosy arrangements between the local insurers and the State politicians
It still wouldn't fix the fundamental issues with Obamacare though (penalties too low)
However, I would put money on this type on executive order being declared unconstitutional in the courts.
Trump might be going for the Obama tactic of doing something obviously illegal and then by the time the courts rule its too difficult to roll back. -
@rancid-schnitzel said in US Politics:
You can still support free speech while criticising how someone may express that right.
This is the key. If five minutes before kick off you are concerned about making a political statement rather than focusing on the game then there is a good chance your head isn't in the game and your performance will suffer.
There is literally no shortage of outlets for these players to make their feelings known, but timing is crucial.
As an example the Seattle Seahawks had a three hour team meeting to discuss how they would handle the anthem before being tipped over by the lowly Titans. In what world is that a good use of preparation time? It's almost reminiscent of teams psyching themselves out calling team meetings to stratagise over the Haka.
Speaking of, if we accept that the anthem is a place to make political/racial statements, then I suppose the Haka is even more so. So unless teams observe the Haka in the traditional way (silently in single file before conceding two early tries) anything else can be viewed as racial vilification of the Maori people, or perhaps NZ in general.
Exciting times.
-
This story by famed reporter about the $100,000 Facebook ad-buy psyops needs to be read in full to appreciate how farcical and ridiculous the Rooskiegate rabbithole breadcrumb trail has become.
The Mystery of the Russia-gate Puppies
October 4, 2017
By Robert Parry[...]
We further have learned that most ads weren’t for or against a specific candidate, but rather addressed supposedly controversial issues that the mainstream media insists were meant to divide the United States and thus somehow undermine American democracy.
Except, it turns out that one of the issues was puppies.
As Mike Isaac and Scott Shane of The New York Times reported in Tuesday’s editions, “The Russians who posed as Americans on Facebook last year tried on quite an array of disguises. … There was even a Facebook group for animal lovers with memes of adorable puppies that spread across the site with the help of paid ads.”
Now, there are a lot of controversial issues in America, but I don’t think any of us would put puppies near the top of the list. Isaac and Shane reported that there were also supposedly Russia-linked groups advocating gay rights, gun rights and black civil rights, although precisely how these divergent groups were “linked” to Russia or the Kremlin was never fully explained. (Facebook declined to offer details.)
[...]
-
-
Mass hysteria may explain 'sonic attacks' in Cuba, say top neurologists
[...]
Senior neurologists have suggested that a spate of mysterious ailments among US diplomats in Cuba – which has caused a diplomat rift between the two countries – could have been caused by a form of “mass hysteria” rather than sonic attacks.
The unexplained incidents have prompted the US to withdraw most of its embassy staff from Havana and expel the majority of Cuban diplomats from Washington.
The neurologists who talked to the Guardian cautioned that no proper diagnosis is possible without far more information and access to the 22 US victims, who have suffered a range of symptoms including hearing loss, tinnitus, headaches and dizziness. [...]
“From an objective point of view it’s more like mass hysteria than anything else,” said Mark Hallett, the head of the human motor control section of the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
“Mass hysteria” is the popular term for outbreaks among groups of people which are partly or wholly psychosomatic, but Hallett stressed there should be no blame attached to them.
“Psychosomatic disease is a disease like anything else. It shouldn’t be stigmatised,” said Hallett, who is also president of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. “It’s important to point out that symptoms like this are not voluntary. They are not a sign of weakness in an individual’s personality. [...]
“If it is mass hysteria that would clarify all the mystery – and presumably normalise US-Cuban relations again,” said Hallett. “These people are all clustered together in a somewhat anxious environment and that is exactly the situation that precipitates something like this. Anxiety may be one of the critical factors.” [...]
-
An interesting piece in The Atlantic about Facebook, the US election and the changing face of political reporting and advertising.
There is much to see of interest for both sides of the political spectrum and it is easy to get hung up on specific incidences (as reported) but there is a much larger issue here, that of the targeting of news, information and advertising.
The most worrying bit for me is encapsulated in these two paragraphs.
Through the book, he traces the many potential problems that the “personalization” of media might bring. Most germane to this discussion, he raised the point that if every one of the billion News Feeds is different, how can anyone understand what other people are seeing and responding to?
“The most serious political problem posed by filter bubbles is that they make it increasingly difficult to have a public argument. As the number of different segments and messages increases, it becomes harder and harder for the campaigns to track who’s saying what to whom,” Pariser wrote. “How does a [political] campaign know what its opponent is saying if ads are only targeted to white Jewish men between 28 and 34 who have expressed a fondness for U2 on Facebook and who donated to Barack Obama’s campaign?”
-
From the latest New Yorker, "The Danger of President Pence."
-
The charade gets better & better.
COMEY DRAFTED STATEMENT ENDING CLINTON EMAIL INVESTIGATION MONTHS BEFORE INTERVIEWING HER, FBI CONFIRMS
-
-
So I just noticed 'US Politics' has over 500,000 views in just over 2 years (Maybe even less time depending when the view tally started?). Other Political threads are also getting pretty crazy numbers in a relatively short space of time especially compared to Sports talk and Off topic.
A sign of the times? The All Blacks now too predictable to generate majority discussion? Is TSF now a political forum with a sporting face?
I've see a number of posts with disdain for Politics and those of us who post here..but these numbers suggest people are certainly reading even if they're not contributing.
I'm not saying this is good or bad, just interesting really.
US Politics