Politics and social media

[Rick 67]

I find it interesting the way our political landscape has changed with the proliferation of social media. When all of our news came from tv, radio and print it seems to me that not as many people had opinions on current political issues. Hell a lot were not even aware of some of the goings on in our government.

Now with twitter facebook and all the other information sharing sites (for better or worse) it seems like everyone has an opinion.

Personally I am unsure if it is for the better. I am glad to see more people taking an interest but it is also a lot easier for them to be misled or straight up lied to. Some times I will point out to friends that the things they are reposting are simply not true and that is not always taken well. No one wants to be told their opinions are formed from bullshit. Hell I have seen people post articles from The Onion thinking they were true news stories.

What do you all think?

You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early!

[normiss 900]

Completely disagree.
Your side is always wrong.



I'll still buy you some beerS.

You're actually pretty spot on here brother.
I do appreciate that we ALL have tools to investigate all sorts of nonsense, and thankfully it still looks like we can find the factual information needed to sort through the horse hockey as well.

[Rick 67]

true that I thank the last thread I started here was asking you all what news sources you used and trusted.

You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early!

[SkyDekker 1,465]

Rick

I find it interesting the way our political landscape has changed with the proliferation of social media. When all of our news came from tv, radio and print it seems to me that not as many people had opinions on current political issues. Hell a lot were not even aware of some of the goings on in our government.

Now with twitter facebook and all the other information sharing sites (for better or worse) it seems like everyone has an opinion.

Personally I am unsure if it is for the better. I am glad to see more people taking an interest but it is also a lot easier for them to be misled or straight up lied to. Some times I will point out to friends that the things they are reposting are simply not true and that is not always taken well. No one wants to be told their opinions are formed from bullshit. Hell I have seen people post articles from The Onion thinking they were true news stories.

What do you all think?

In my opinion more information has lead to people not being able to establish truth from half-truth from pure fiction. The response to that seems to be to revert to seeking out only that "news" that agrees with your already established opinion.

[billvon 3,120]

Agreed. More information means better informed people - but has also led to whataboutism and bothsiderism, both of which mean that the quality of that information has gone way down. When flat-eartherism, anti-vaxxing and truthers are presented as equals to science and history, it's easier to deceive people. With "traditional" media at least you had the filter of a (presumably educated) reporter to filter out the chaff.

[Rick 67]

That makes sense. You can just block the users/feeds that you do not agree with. But if you never hear opposing opinions how can you really decide what is right?

You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early!

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

Rick

That makes sense. You can just block the users/feeds that you do not agree with. But if you never hear opposing opinions how can you really decide what is right?

You 'know in your heart' what's right.

All your friends agree with you.

God tells you.



I wish I was kidding.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[Rick 67]

I am always amazed at how many people can believe these things that are in no way supported by science or facts. The first time I saw a flat earther proponent in a video I thought it was comedy.

It was a lot simpler when we had a handful of outlets. We all kinda got the same news reports. You would hope with more outlets we would listen to more sides and form a more rounded opinion. Like Skydecker says you can tune out the ones that you don't like and only tune in to what you want to be true no matter how crazy.

It's on the internet so it must be true

You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early!

[Rick 67]

wolfriverjoe

I wish I was kidding.

so do I Joe

I wonder what will happen to change this? Or will it just get worse.

You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early!

[airdvr 210]

Oh man...don't get me started. I have a couple of FB friends whom I don't spend much time with. They are constantly posting political shit...much of it BS or fake news. It's as if they have nothing to contribute but political one upmanship. Still, it's good to know where they are coming from.

Let's talk about religion for a second. My daughter's boyfriend's father posts mostly religious crap. He has been pushing for us to get together (we've been together once at a bar). I told Rox that if he starts with the shit about gays or abortion we're leaving.

I still look at Google News daily on my phone but most of the insight on current events comes from here. I am so screwed...

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[Rick 67]

I had to delete a person from my life because he would not stop with religious stuff. He comes to my house and I have a newspaper sitting on the table. The top article was about gay foster parents and adoptions. He knows I have gay family members and friends yet he has to start spewing his hateful rhetoric.

He knows I am not a believer yet he told me since I am a nice person that in my heart I really must believe in Jesus.

You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early!

[JerryBaumchen 1,468]

Hi Rick,

Quote

What do you all think?

When I read your post I immediately thought of Jos. Goebells. Possibly, because I am currently reading The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels

Quote

More information means better informed people

I fully agree with this from Bill.

However, one IMO should consider just how probable some of the crap is; i.e., the dufus who showed up at the pizza parlor with a gun to 'save the children.'

Back in the 60's, my Physics professor told us to just look and the answer & to try to determine if could be reasonable.

I'll get down off of my soap box now.

Jerry Baumchen

[TriGirl 343]

Perfect post for me to use. You mentioned "soapbox."

I've worked much of my career in jobs were I dealt with media. It was my JOB to start every morning at my desk with my coffee and read news for a couple of hours. I understand that most people do not have this kind of time, and therefore get a smattering of what they know from the headlines, sound bites and pulled quotes.

That's okay, until someone gets a on a soapbox.

If you're going to stand on a soapbox and rail for or against a particular issue, you had better be informed by more than your a headline, sound bite or pulled quote (or these days, someone's tweet or FB post!)

See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus

Shut Up & Jump!

[Phil1111 1,185]

Twenty years ago a person subscribed to magazines. Now almost any information is available in minutes.

I was looking at some larger (weight) capacity drones today. I ran across this:
https://www.dji.com/ca/mg-1s
For $15,000

Drone technology is available to almost anyone now. Including flip-flop wearing Yemeni tribesmen.
http://www.worldpress.org/link.cfm?http://www.iran-daily.com/News/237218.html

For the uninitiated. If you think that "the new domestically-developed Qasef K2 (Striker K2)" drone is actually domestically developed. As the Iranian story suggests. I have some oceanfront land for sale. Nice swaying palm trees, sandy beaches. On the north shore of Prudhoe Bay.

Obviously the danger of jury-rigging the first drone and the second one together should be clear.

[billvon 3,120]

>I was looking at some larger (weight) capacity drones today. I ran across this:

Yeah, I saw that one at a recent drone show I went to. It has a pretty big product tank that can carry pesticides, herbicides etc. My first thought when I saw that thing was "how many farmers are going to get killed trying to fill the product tank without the thing being safed?" It was scary looking even sitting on the ground.

But those aren't the drones that really worry me, because they are still fairly slow, short range and noisy. You will generally see/hear them coming, and the operator will have to be close by for the launch. What worries me are drones like this:

[url]https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610735/zipline-launches-the-worlds-fastest-commercial-delivery-drone/

That's a drone with a 'bomb bay' designed to drop medical supplies to remote villages. It can fly at up to 85mph (i.e. can beat cars to a target) for up to 100 miles, can carry 4 lbs as designed (i.e. if you want to get it back) and has an autopilot that allows BLOS (beyond line of sight) operation. That could, for example, drop four pounds of explosives into a crowd with no modifications. And since it's fixed wing, it could cruise at altitude, shut down its engine and glide the last few miles.

[gowlerk 2,277]

EXTREME THREAD DRIFT!! And in near record time. Congratulations Rick. I think a drone thread may be in order.

Social media give everyone a chance at an equal voice. That has not always been shown to be a good thing.

Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

[Phil1111 1,185]

gowlerk

EXTREME THREAD DRIFT!! And in near record time. Congratulations Rick. I think a drone thread may be in order.

Social media give everyone a chance at an equal voice. That has not always been shown to be a good thing.

That would be a Friday and Scotch. I had a point I was trying to make. But my brain drifted into trump-think. Thus logic swirled down like _____in a toilet bowl.

[kallend 2,154]

billvon

That's a drone with a 'bomb bay' designed to drop medical supplies to remote villages. It can fly at up to 85mph (i.e. can beat cars to a target) for up to 100 miles, can carry 4 lbs as designed (i.e. if you want to get it back) and has an autopilot that allows BLOS (beyond line of sight) operation. That could, for example, drop four pounds of explosives into a crowd with no modifications. And since it's fixed wing, it could cruise at altitude, shut down its engine and glide the last few miles.

I don't find that very impressive. I have R/C planes that fly at 150mph, and modelers have routinely reach speeds well over 300mph (the record for an R/C jet is 465.5 mph). The fastest R/C plane on record is a glider (545mph), and they added ballast (payload) to increase the speed.

Miniature autopilot technology is cheap and reliable too.

Back in the 1980s when US defense contractors were first starting to spend $millions on drones and having little success, the Israeli army got R/C modelers to design theirs, with great success. I wrote a flight sim. for the Israelis to help train their drone pilots.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.