And so it has begun

[heyelander]

Although that's the portion that's been seized upon by everyone, I am willing to bet that A) there is something nefarious inserted somewhere into their "forensic recount" report, and that B) Republicans will ignore every single thing other than that which furthers their idiotic stop the steal lie. Reasonable people knew this thing was a charade to begin with, but about half our country is anything but reasonable.

This whole Cyber Ninja thing is such an embarrassing stain on our democracy. Yet another thing, one of about a million, that makes me wonder just how we got to this point - what kind of abject stupidity is required for folks to buy into this bullshit?

already reading posts on reddit that the 261 miscounted votes just substantiates claims that voting is broken and we need to require IDs

[umjewman]

Although that's the portion that's been seized upon by everyone, I am willing to bet that A) there is something nefarious inserted somewhere into their "forensic recount" report, and that B) Republicans will ignore every single thing other than that which furthers their idiotic stop the steal lie. Reasonable people knew this thing was a charade to begin with, but about half our country is anything but reasonable.

This whole Cyber Ninja thing is such an embarrassing stain on our democracy. Yet another thing, one of about a million, that makes me wonder just how we got to this point - what kind of abject stupidity is required for folks to buy into this bullshit?

You forgot to capitalize FORENSIC.

[Ken]

You forgot to capitalize FORENSIC.

Good catch um.jew.man.

Close to 20 states prefer it capitalized.

left, right, I don't know how anyone supports missed capitals. With indisputable proof of this error, the free world waits to see how heye.lander proceeds.

[Sour Masher]

This whole Cyber Ninja thing is such an embarrassing stain on our democracy. Yet another thing, one of about a million, that makes me wonder just how we got to this point - what kind of abject stupidity is required for folks to buy into this bullshit?

More than 1 in 10 people in this country are skeptical about the earth being roundish, about about 1 in 4 believe the sun goes around the earth, soooo, yeah.

[Bene Futuis]

already reading posts on reddit that the 261 miscounted votes just substantiates claims that voting is broken and we need to require IDs

So many crazy attacks on our democracy stemming from the horrific error of the former guy's election and this is just another one. I never would have imagined that it was legal or permissible in any jurisdiction in our country to pass off and give possession of ballots to an inexperienced, hyperpartisan, biased bunch of hacks. It's crazy how former guy's era exposed just how fragile and relatively unprotected the framework of our democracy is when faced with relentless corruption, lies, and cheating like we saw for four years.

[Ken]

I don't agree that the issues we are having right now are about "stupidity".

The issue IMO is the mass availability of information and the lack of barriers to entry provide an abundances of different ideas regardless of validity.

But that's an entirely different topic.

[heyelander]

I don't agree that the issues we are having right now are about "stupidity".

The issue IMO is the mass availability of information and the lack of barriers to entry provide an abundances of different ideas regardless of validity.

But that's an entirely different topic.

I read an article a while back comparing this to the advent of the printing press and the upheaval that created

[heyelander]

So thanksgiving is the newest goal post. Lindell says that's the day that his overwhelming evidence will force the Supreme Court into action.

On a slightly related note... Some boomer down the street messed up his street address recently while ordering a bunch of My Pillows and had them delivered to my house. I threw that shit in the garage with the thought of taking it to the post office sometime soon. He came down and asked for them the other day. Must have checked his order when he got a delivered notice and saw his error. It pains me that libel is good marketing for fuckin' pillows.

[Bene Futuis]

I don't agree that the issues we are having right now are about "stupidity".

The issue IMO is the mass availability of information and the lack of barriers to entry provide an abundances of different ideas regardless of validity.

But that's an entirely different topic.

Tomato / tomahto

[umjewman]

So thanksgiving is the newest goal post. Lindell says that's the day that his overwhelming evidence will force the Supreme Court into action.

On a slightly related note... Some boomer down the street messed up his street address recently while ordering a bunch of My Pillows and had them delivered to my house. I threw that shit in the garage with the thought of taking it to the post office sometime soon. He came down and asked for them the other day. Must have checked his order when he got a delivered notice and saw his error. It pains me that libel is good marketing for fuckin' pillows.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Mike Lindell is the Harold Camping of political prognostication.

[Bene Futuis]

Never forget: intellectually-challenged former guy and his, uh, low-information / high barrier to entry followers also claimed voter fraud after 2016 because his fragile little orange ego couldn't handle the fact that he lost the popular vote by millions of votes. He created the "Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity" that ran from May 11, 2017 to January 3, 2018. Mike "Flyface Mark of the Beast" Pence and Kris Kobach led the commission. After trying and failing to obtain all private voter information from every state, the commission predictably failed miserably to find fraud anywhere. After tucking their stupid tails between their legs and abandoning the ill-fated unicorn hunt, Republicans totally learned their lesson and stopped trying to foist lies about stolen elections upon their gullible constituents. No capitols were attacked, no insurrection happened, and our pals on the right learned their lesson about being able to tell truth from obvious fiction. Phew, that was close!

[Ken]

Tomato / tomahto

I think you're missing the point. My disagreement here is not an attempt to minimize the fallacy of the GOP's current politics. It is flawed and ridiculous IMO. But why? "Stupid" isn't the answer.

[Bene Futuis]

I think you're missing the point. My disagreement here is not an attempt to minimize the fallacy of the GOP's current politics. It is flawed and ridiculous IMO. But why? "Stupid" isn't the answer.

I think I do get it, and for me there is a difference without a distinction. I know that word rubs folks the wrong way because, at least sometimes, folks think "hey, my grandma believes the widespread election fraud lie and she isn't stupid!" Perhaps it's too reductionist, anyway. I will concede that it's likely not only abject stupidity required for folks to believe these stop the steal lies but that surely doesn't hurt.

[Ken]

I think I do get it, and for me there is a difference without a distinction. I know that word rubs folks the wrong way because, at least sometimes, folks think "hey, my grandma believes the widespread election fraud lie and she isn't stupid!" Perhaps it's too reductionist, anyway. I will concede that it's likely not only abject stupidity required for folks to believe these stop the steal lies but that surely doesn't hurt.

It's deeper than the "my grandma" thing. In fact IMO there's a positive correlation between intelligence level and the *ability* to utilize those cognitive skills to convince themselves (and others) that some conspiracy garbage is actually true. If you start out wanting to believe vaccines are more dangerous than COVID or that the "dirty libs" have a secret cabal of child molesters, you now have both the means (your own cognitive skills) and the data (a bunch of ubiquitous "information" that supports literally any idea you can imagine) to be able to build a credible case to support it.

Discernment is not the same as intelligence. That discerning, filtering ability is what we are really in need of the most, along with an open mind willing to follow the path the data leads as opposed to choosing data that supports your initial bias.

[The Feral Slasher]

It's deeper than the "my grandma" thing. In fact IMO there's a positive correlation between intelligence level and the *ability* to utilize those cognitive skills to convince themselves (and others) that some conspiracy garbage is actually true. If you start out wanting to believe vaccines are more dangerous than COVID or that the "dirty libs" have a secret cabal of child molesters, you now have both the means (your own cognitive skills) and the data (a bunch of ubiquitous "information" that supports literally any idea you can imagine) to be able to build a credible case to support it.

Discernment is not the same as intelligence. That discerning, filtering ability is what we are really in need of the most, along with an open mind willing to follow the path the data leads as opposed to choosing data that supports your initial bias.

it seems like Facebook and many others in the media have figured out that they make a lot more money not filtering out the BS and lies. Feeding people what they want to hear and demonizing the other side is much more profitable. Truth or accuracy is not much of a consideration. Not sure how things will get better.