Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder2.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org>
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Subject: Re: Facebook Account
Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2024 07:31:55 -0600
Organization: Yellow Jersey, Ltd.
Lines: 170
Message-ID: <vgfr4b$24qi4$1@dont-email.me>
References: <oKJzO.52698$jia4.2041@fx18.iad>
 <9q4vcjhaj0nti7j1p7boasakb4q86vh6qr@4ax.com> <vao6qd$3jf9v$1@dont-email.me>
 <ra9vcjlqq3s4cfou45131sj1cafc266ir6@4ax.com> <vaoa3r$3l430$1@dont-email.me>
 <v8q0djdctmcl2s4n7c7f5jhno9abt0afq6@4ax.com>
 <jnSVO.336351$kxD8.179760@fx11.iad>
 <c92iijdf49p2kup0gk47s3av6nq27i0fi6@4ax.com>
 <nfbiij55vaf9omfa0a12v68e9504svbqk4@4ax.com>
 <hfkiij14uffaqc5nnbdckftp371b04gjl2@4ax.com>
 <o74jijhdsppnf4ea2vkfpeegaktbip3j4q@4ax.com>
 <brclij58urvdbl8ao9akgrgihpoiqavadg@4ax.com> <vgegto$1pmml$1@dont-email.me>
 <vgfm99$1k0ml$6@dont-email.me>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Date: Wed, 06 Nov 2024 14:31:56 +0100 (CET)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="65c23c3099f3ecdcaff26709731efa04";
	logging-data="2255428"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/61qoLuqMtnHamDoQepXN6"
User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird
Cancel-Lock: sha1:EpCWuogslWcobPUBQfxGfNGgwao=
In-Reply-To: <vgfm99$1k0ml$6@dont-email.me>
Content-Language: en-US
Bytes: 7834

On 11/6/2024 6:09 AM, Zen Cycle wrote:
> On 11/5/2024 8:31 PM, AMuzi wrote:
>> On 11/5/2024 6:33 PM, Shadow wrote:
>>> On Mon, 04 Nov 2024 20:17:32 -0800, Jeff Liebermann 
>>> <jeffl@cruzio.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Mon, 04 Nov 2024 20:15:44 -0300, Shadow <Sh@dow.br> 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Our biggest threat to democracy  is the media/social 
>>>>> media's
>>>>> #FAKE_NEWS. That with a very poor public education. The 
>>>>> people will
>>>>> believe anything...
>>>>
>>>> Maybe this will explain how it works.  I don't recall 
>>>> who told me this
>>>> story.  Most likely my parents, aunts or uncles.
>>>>
>>>> My ancestors were mostly from Poland and Russia.  Up to 
>>>> the early 19th
>>>> century, they didn't travel more than about 80km (50 
>>>> miles) from home
>>>> for their entire lives.  As is common in rural 
>>>> environments, strange
>>>> people and strange ideas are treated with suspicion.  
>>>> That created a
>>>> problem when they didn't know whom or what to believe.  
>>>> Communications
>>>> and transportation was sufficiently lacking that "seeing 
>>>> is believing"
>>>> was ineffective.  Nobody believed what someone else 
>>>> claimed to have
>>>> seen.  Instead, it was replaced by "hearing is 
>>>> believing", which meant
>>>> that people believed and trusted the local authority 
>>>> figure.  It could
>>>> be a village elder, rabbi, priest, teacher or other 
>>>> recognized
>>>> authority.  None of these had personally seen anything, 
>>>> but the weight
>>>> of their authority was sufficient to make people listen 
>>>> and believe
>>>> their version of reality.
>>>>
>>>> It's not so different today.  Instead of a choice 
>>>> between believing
>>>> what one sees and hears, it's now a choice between what 
>>>> we have read
>>>> on social media or viewed on YouTube.  The problem of 
>>>> "who to trust"
>>>> is also the same.  However, instead of 2 choices, we now 
>>>> have hundreds
>>>> of "influencers" bombarding us with their view of 
>>>> reality, which is
>>>> typically just propaganda.  The problem isn't that 
>>>> people will believe
>>>> "anything" but rather that they'll believe "everything" 
>>>> without any
>>>> guidelines, education, reference, sources, authorities, 
>>>> etc that they
>>>> can trust to help separate the truth from the 
>>>> propaganda.  Most
>>>> politicians have given up on trying to appear honest and 
>>>> simply adjust
>>>> their advocacy and promises to conform what their 
>>>> audience considers
>>>> acceptable.  The mob no longer follows the leader.  
>>>> Instead, the
>>>> leader follows whatever the mob might want.
>>>>
>>>> Social media and such are not threats to democracy.  
>>>> They are threats
>>>> to the republican form of government, where we elect 
>>>> representatives
>>>> to represent our opinions to the government.  The 
>>>> problem is the
>>>> representatives don't use the same criteria for judgment 
>>>> that is used
>>>> by those who elected them to office.  Politicians favor 
>>>> anything that
>>>> will enrich them and their friends through contributions 
>>>> and favors.
>>>> I've been involved in meetings with elected officials 
>>>> that make me
>>>> suspect that they are very badly informed about the 
>>>> issues that put
>>>> them in office and very well informed on the sources of 
>>>> cash and
>>>> influence that keep them in office.
>>>
>>>     I sort of disagree with you. Psychopaths behind 
>>> companies like
>>> X (ex-twitter), Meta, Google, Amakon and others more or 
>>> less define
>>> who/what people vote for. Old fashioned media like 
>>> newspapers and TV
>>> have some influence, but less, because they announce news 
>>> for
>>> everyone. Social media carefully tailors news for each 
>>> individual.
>>>     An example? Brekshit....Facebook and Cambridge 
>>> Analytica made
>>> people vote for something they didn't even understand. 
>>> Note the people
>>> behind the scandal were all right-wing. I'm not sure if I 
>>> should laugh
>>> at or feel sorry for people that think that Zukerberg and 
>>> Bezos are
>>> "communists". Sure, they want the State to confiscate 
>>> Meta and Amakon
>>> <implicit sarcasm>
>>>     They say that Musk might even destroy the US as you 
>>> know it
>>> now. Depends on how much he influenced the vote. Musk is 
>>> a right-wing
>>> fascist, and privately  - sometime publicly - defends 
>>> dictatorships.
>>>     Enough gullible idiots, and those psychopaths could 
>>> vote a
>>> pumpkin into office.
>>>     Your  problem is that people in your social circle are
>>> probably more intelligent than the national average. 
>>> Harder to con.
>>> Usually think before giving an opinion. In my line of 
>>> work I had
>>> contact with all sorts.
>>>     Believe me, the average human is very stupid...and
>>> trusting(did I just plagiarize Zukerberg?)
>>>     []'s
>>>>
>>>> Hint:  I can fix anything if I know how it works.  I 
>>>> really believe
>>>> that and study how things really work before I try to 
>>>> fix them.  That
>>>> also applies to government and the economy.  We're not 
>>>> going to be
>>>> able to fix the government or economy until we have a good
>>>> understanding of how they work.  The schools are trying, 
>>>> but the
>>>> problem has grown faster than the curriculum can keep up.
>>
>> Words matter.  Or ought to, anyway.
>>
>> Fascist are of the left.  The National Socialist Party was 
>> indeed socialist, and they would know. The original was 
>> created by Mussolini after the Great War as an extension 
>> of The Futurists, all of a piece with socialist theory. 
>> Franco, supported by Germany and Italy, was also a fascist 
>> of the left. His opponents were of the right- the Crown 
>> and the Church.
>>
>> Oh, and Mr Musk is not among them.
> 
> He is now - soon to be the head of trumps newest cabinet 
> position: Secretary of Oligarchy.
> 
> 
> 

I was just plain wrong in the post cited above. I apologize.

I deleted it after my ride this morning but not before you 
replied, making my mistake immortal.

-- 
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
========== REMAINDER OF ARTICLE TRUNCATED ==========