Jon Stewart examines the choice undecided voters are facing in the 2024 election: Kamala Harris, who has an impressive résumé and specific policy plans, versus Donald Trump, whose vision, consistency on issues, anti-labor ethos, and militaristic posturing are at odds with the caricature his followers have created for him.

  • ChocoboRocket@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I don’t particularly think his supporters matter, as they are mostly sheep and not one of the main facisim roots.

    It’s the fact that more than half of America’s entire media apparatus is entirely behind Trump.

    They dominate airwaves and have entire control over several local information ecosystems allowing them to brainwash entire populations with wall-to-wall propaganda that is completely aligned in its message of refuting and obfuscation of reality.

    Regardless if the people are racist, scared, simple minded, trained to blindly accept specific authority or whatever, is mostly irrelevant in a society with journalistic integrity, and a non-corporate/private interest owned media.

    It’s no surprise that some people believe outrageous, impossible, contradictory, claims when every reality authority available to you exclusively tells you coordinated lies.

    • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      Reagan’s FCC overturning the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 is to thank for this. He and Nixon oversaw an incredible amount of societal and governmental sabotage. Quite the legacy.

      It’s so much worse now, with these corpo propaganda outlets pretending that both parties are legitimate political parties representing people and not just fundraising/grifting organizations.

      • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        Kamala should out the fairness doctrine back in its place, hell, add it to the constitution. I know this will require Congress too, well, get it done.

        • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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          3 months ago

          Maybe…to tell you the truth, I’m not sure if the Fairness Doctrine fits this world anymore. You’re right though, while the president can light the fire, it will ultimately be up to Congress to actually do something about it.

          Right now corporate news agencies are just mouthpieces for our corporate overlords who buy all of the politicians in order to further enrich themselves at our expense. It’s literally robbing us on a national scale. The less facts people understand, the easier it is for them to pull the wool over our eyes and gaslight us into thinking this is a normal, acceptable situation. Clearly this is not sustainable.

          We do need some kind of regulations for news to actually be considered news, and to serve as a mechanism to make them deliver factual, useful information to viewers. Not entirely sure what that would look like tbh.

    • Cephalotrocity@biglemmowski.winOP
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      3 months ago

      Yeah, mainstream media is shitshow atm. ABC news fact checked Trump’s BS during that debate and people lost their minds. Why? Because truth doesn’t matter? Now CBS refuses to fact check because they are cowards? They are the GD news. Their job is to literally inform the public of the truth.

      It really feels like we are literally watching civilization flushing down the drain and there is nothing that can be done about it.

      • Bone@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        They did do some fact checking tonight. Not sure it matters overall, based on what you said. Reality can be ignored and rewritten.

    • Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I’ve said it before. Misinformation exsits in all information. You will be hard pressed to find any common distributor of information to not have any errors. The thought that you can simply be fed only truth with out having to think critically is a fallacy. You can blame the media for existing but you can’t make it not exist. It’s people, who have principles, ignoring those principles because we’ve allowed that to be acceptable behavior in the states.

      Stop asking, “can you believe trump did this thing.” Start asking, “would you do this thing that trump did.” Don’t waste your time on petty shit. Stick with the obscene shit. “Would you grab a woman by the pussy?” “Would you sexually assault a woman.” “Would you call immigrants animals?”

      Their only response will be, that’s not true, and right there they have nothing to do but refute reality. A shared reality is the most basic principle of having society and them ignoring what we can see with our eyes and hear with our ears is not them having a different set of facts. It’s pure fantasy. It’s antisocial behavior, and tell them that.

    • Gonzako@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Yeah, I haven’t heard of ANYTHING Harris. Yes this guy keeps showing up in all my feeds

    • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      It’s very interesting that you think his supporters are sheep, and all people around you upvote you at a 100% rate. (you received 0 downvotes after calling at least 40% of your countrymen sheep).

      Coincidentally, his supporters on their social media post how Kamala voters want the end of the country. With a 100% upvote ratio.

      Now, tell me, if I’m an outsider with no horse in this race, and no way of objectively measuring the reality by living in the country of question, what should I think?


      While you gather an answer to that question, I’ll be of an opinion that 100% of Americans are complete morons and sheep because they’re unable of having any reasonable democratic process or a political discourse for two years every four years (cuz it’s “election” time).

      • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        “Sure, you all call Heaven’s Gate a cult, but everyone in Heaven’s Gate says they’re not a cult. How am I, an outside observer, supposed to know who is right? Clearly everyone but me must be morons.”

        • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          “Everyone says those 100 people are a cult” is different from “Half of the population of a country call the other half a cult and vise-versa”.

          You might feel like it’s “everyone”, because you never hear anything the other side has to say. But I’m reminding you, from a statistical perspective, the weight is really about 50/50. A 60/40 split in your favor is currently outside of a 3-sigma confidence interval.

          • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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            3 months ago

            from a statistical perspective, the weight is really about 50/50

            It’s really not. Republicans have less support from less than 40% of the population, MAGAts are less than 20%. The Electoral College, Gerrymandering, and voter disenfranchisement are the only reason the election is around 50/50.

            If the US election was done by a straight popular vote there would have only been a single Republican president since 1990, and it would have been 20 years ago.

              • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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                3 months ago

                That’s talking about the Electoral College and chances of winning the election. I was talking about the popular vote, and specifically mentioned that without the Electoral College Republicans wouldn’t have a chance.

                • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
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                  3 months ago

                  Please, point out to me, in the methodology of the poll, which is provided at the bottom of the page, where is it stated that 46/49 numbers are some arbitrary chances of winning the election?

                  My reading is that they’re averages of other polls that are polling popular vote, e.g. simply asking “which candidate would you vote for if the elections were tomorrow?”.

                  But, please, I’m happy to be proven wrong.

          • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            You might feel like it’s “everyone”, because you never hear anything the other side has to say.

            Au contraire mon frere. I would posit that nobody that gives even a single iota of a shit about politics in this country hasn’t been exposed to what “the other side has to say”. I’d also venture to guess that the number of people who don’t give a single iota of shit about politics in this country that have also heard what “the other side has to say” is far above zero. There have even been studies (since you occasionally pretend to give a fuck about objectivity) confirming that Republicans who watch Fox News know less about Democrats than Democrats know about Republicans.

            It’s kind of difficult to not “hear what the other side has to say” when half of your news media spends its time interviewing people on both sides of divisive issues such as “the vaccine question” or “is the earth round”, and the other half of your news media openly roots for and argues for Republican candidates.

            • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
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              3 months ago

              Dunno, gimme a name of your reputable news sources. I’ma take a look.

              Cuz the video in question is as biased as fox news. Just into the opposite direction.

              It’s hard for me, personally, to watch it, even though I do believe it’s insane to vote for Trump. And yet the video is just repeatable cringe. It ads nothing to the political debate, and given that this particular show does pretty much the same material every week I’m not sure how isn’t everyone yet bored of watching it?

      • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Now, tell me, if I’m an outsider with no horse in this race, and no way of objectively measuring the reality by living in the country of question, what should I think?

        “Living in the country of question” is not necessary for an objective measurement of reality.

      • Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I see your getting down votes. This crowd doesn’t like to be called out. Americans are sheep. We buy what we are told to buy; we eat what we are told to eat; we believe what we are told to believe but this isn’t unique to America. We definitely do need to do better in our politics. It’s evident every day when there is an unnaturally orange man on the TV and there isn’t a line of Karen’s sitting in front of every courthouse asking to speak to a manager.

        Anyway…

  • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 months ago

    I feel like I’m saying this every day…

    His supporters only care that he’s a racist.

    They don’t care about his record.

    They only care that he’s racist like them.

    • danc4498@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I think for a lot of people, the economy was better during Trump’s presidency than Biden’s.

      These people are ignorant to the fact that Trump inherited Obama’s economy and could literally coast for 4 years and the economy would not change.

      He left Biden with a shit show post Covid which also included a massive tax cut for corporations and the wealthy which in no way would pay for itself.

    • kozy138@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      They also like his “Christian values”… AKA banning abortion

        • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          Their views on women are worse than the worst Muslim views. The most they have on Muslims is the hijab when Muslim countries have the highest rate of women in STEM fields in the world, and Muslim countries that haven’t been destabilized by the US and Israel also have them exceed men in advanced degrees.

          I am not saying that it is all hunky dorey in the Muslim world, but it isn’t what they say it is.

    • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      You keep saying it every day to people who upvote you at a 100% rate. I don’t think your message is ever received by anyone who disagrees. My question is what’s the point? This is a waste of electricity.

      p.s. also all trump supporters are quickly banned on lemmy

      • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I don’t think your message is ever received by anyone who disagrees. My question is what’s the point? This is a waste of electricity.

        And you go down the thread posting shit like this. That’s also a waste of electricity. I guess humans are just wasteful. 🤷

        • Bone@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          The person you responded to has added absolutely nothing. A waste of time really.

        • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          To me seems like there’s a potential of a discourse of some sort. Certainly the freshest opinion in the entire post.

      • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        3 months ago

        also all trump supporters are quickly banned on lemmy

        Weird to see a website actually uphold it’s rules on transphobia, homophobia, misinformation, and not being a fascist fuckface, huh?

        • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          To me seems like you’re mainly interested in shushing your political opponents.

          From the overall sentiment, your only option, really, is to either imprison 40% of your population, if you’d eventually instate the same laws but on the national level instead of lemmy, or to solve matters in a civil war.

          I’d, frankly, would be very worried if I were you, and I’d spend my days trying to figure out a solution.

          You spend your days meeting the same people, going in a circle one-by-one, everyone in their turn says “trump bad” and the rest nods. Kind of an emotional support group.

          • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            3 months ago

            To me seems like you’re mainly interested in shushing your political opponents.

            Way to out yourself as a piece of shit fascist! If you don’t agree that banning transphobes, homophobes, and literal traitors to our democracy is a good thing, fuck off!

            imprison 40% of your population

            Lol, Imagine actually thinking they have 40% of the general populations support. If it wasn’t for gerrymandering the GOP wouldn’t win shit here

            You spend your days meeting the same people, going in a circle one-by-one, everyone in their turn says “trump bad” and the rest nods. Kind of an emotional support group.

            No, we comment on a forum about it. New to the internet?

      • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        3 months ago

        I say it to people who are trying to understand why Trump has a following. It’s not because he’s smart or a great businessman.

        It’s because he’s racist. I love Jon Stewart but his message of trying to help liberals understand Trump’s acolytes misses the mark.

        We don’t need to spend more time debating why people like him.

        People like Trump because, and I say this again for people who missed it the first time, he is a fucking racist.

        • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          What do you do in a democracy where say, for the sake of the argument, exactly 50% of your population is racist?

          As in, 50% of your population believes skin color does not matter, the other 50% believe if you’re darker than a certain shade, your brain is that of a baboon, and as an unsuitable human being you should be kept outside of the country borders.

          What do you do?


          Now, you’re in the same situation, but the split is 60/40. Will you use your majority power to exterminate the other 40?


          So far all you do is gather on some corner of the internet and cry in each others shoulder. Every fuckin day. On every fuckin sub.

          This platform was created as some “Fediverse”. Something big and all-encompassing. Flying above individual organizations, nations, languages, etc. But all it is atm is an emotional support corner for the non-racist americans.

      • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        p.s. also all trump supporters are quickly banned on lemmy

        Tell me you don’t understand how Lemmy works without telling me you don’t understand how Lemmy works.

      • anoncity@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Is this true? I lean more conservative and will probably vote for Trump. If saying that gets me banned, that’s crazy but I doubt I would. I’ve followed the rules here

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          You mean you stated a personal opinion in good faith without arguing, misrepresenting, or just making things up? How dare you?

  • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    Can you please, please, stop posting the same political content over all fkn communities on this platform. What the actual point of the entire fediverse being one tiny jerk circle?

    • ManixT@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Can you please stop posting the same political comments every time? Everyone knows you’ll only post anti democratic comments and your little circle jerk is getting old

    • Senal
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      3 months ago

      It seems like you don’t quite understand how federated services work.

      Here’s a quick primer on how you can improve your federated internet experience.

      • You can block individual users
        • That will remove posts by them from your feed.
        • All future and historical posts by them will also be removed from your vision.
      • If you feel like a community as a whole is allowing behaviour you disagree with you can block that entire community
        • You also have the option of creating your own space with a similar theme, a space that you can police in exactly the way you prefer. ( for example “Video No Politics” )
      • In the possible case of disliking the content and/or moderation of an entire instance…you guessed it, you can block that also.
        • Creating your own instance is also a possibility, it can be a bit involved but is certainly possible.
        • Then you have all the control, you can invite your friends, success.

      You could also continue to complain about things you can easily fix, that is also an option.

      “Their upvote ratio is too damn high”, is an instant classic btw.

      Given your replies so far you seem to be looking for something a bit less echo-chambery (or as i suspect a chamber where the echoes are more to your liking)

      Luckily this is entirely possible and relatively easily achievable, have fun.

        • Senal
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          3 months ago

          if a list of potential steps you might want to take to help you with the specific problem you are complaining about sounds to you like me professing love for echo chambers…i’m not really sure what to do with that.

          I implied you might be looking for one, sure, but nothing i can see says i’m a fan of them.

      • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        I’ve been blocking US-news infestation in all subs for like a month now. I keep having 10% of my “All” tab filled with “trump bad” posts that have a 100/1 upvote ratio. I already blocked the guy who posted this vid. Before even commenting.

        • Senal
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          3 months ago

          So is the issue that it’s “trump bad” or the ratio isn’t to your liking, both?

          Either way, both are solved with the either blocking of users/communities/instances and/or starting your own (or find one that only federates with the kind of content you want).

          I’m not being snarky , that’s literally how this kind of federated service is supposed to work.

          This is the equivalent to rocking up to a restaurant that only serves seafood, then ordering a dish you don’t like (let’s say shrimp salad as an example) and then complaining that you had to pick out all of the shrimp from your salad and then also complaining that everyone else seems to be enjoying the food. (and there’s a steakhouse next door)

        • Senal
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          3 months ago

          That is how a federated service works, yes.