Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

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Ego
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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by Ego »

Lemur wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 10:34 am
My friend, like ffj also believes that they will be on some sort of 'list' and there will be retribution from the other side. Needless to say...I can't exactly describe why this is but...I swear most have some form of Paranoid Personality Disorder..
A good friend who donated to the Trump campaign mentioned something similar to me just after the election. I know him to be honest (to a fault) so I believed that he believed it, but I didn't really think it was true. Later I checked. It turns out someone pulled public data from the FEC website for our zip code along with names, employers and donation amounts, and posted it in a public forum that was hostile to Trump. After I saw it I thought his concern was warranted.

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Lemur
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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by Lemur »

@Ego

Wow was not aware. Has this always been publicly available information? I tested it on one of my colleagues and sure enough...name, employer, state, zip code, and amount. Interesting.

I don't believe retribution is likely but I could see how someone would be paranoid being labelled a 'Trump Supporter' in some zip codes....or just on the internet. So yeah I think the paranoia would be warranted if that were the case (On some social media websites...I've seen Trump supporters associated with 'Nazis'). Especially with how contentious this election has been.

My good friend probably mentioned to me this before but it is likely I, on the other hand, did not believe him...namely because he keeps sending me stuff on UFOs, Pyramids, Conspiracies', and other rabbit holes lol.

Edit:

52 U.S.C. § 30112 -Making reports available online
https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USC ... I-sec30112

From here looks like this came into effect in 2015. The online reporting that is.
Last edited by Lemur on Wed Dec 16, 2020 5:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by jacob »

Lemur wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 5:12 pm
Wow was not aware. Has this always been publicly available information?
Was aware. Yes it has ... or at least more or less since the FEC was established to keep track of campaign financing shenanigans after the last big test of government norms (Nixon). This way the public knows whether/how a politician has been bought and who paid for them.

IlliniDave
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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by IlliniDave »

Ego wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 4:49 pm
A good friend who donated to the Trump campaign mentioned something similar to me just after the election. I know him to be honest (to a fault) so I believed that he believed it, but I didn't really think it was true. Later I checked. It turns out someone pulled public data from the FEC website for our zip code along with names, employers and donation amounts, and posted it in a public forum that was hostile to Trump. After I saw it I thought his concern was warranted.
There were also some public comments by a nationally-known politician that lists should be created and maintained maintained of people who made pro-Trump postings on social media. The kind of things a reasonable person would normally take as a poor attempt at a joke. But it's hard to tell when some of these politicians are being serious these days.

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Alphaville
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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by Alphaville »

I've seen myself listed in campaign public records (before 2015) and have never been threatened or anything. But I guess in some places I could be targeted for having given money to a Kenyan Muslim terrorist :lol:

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Ego
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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by Ego »

@IDave, one of the epicenters of our local protests/riots this summer was in the park at the corner. The first major march passed my building and someone sledgehammered my backflow device causing water to spray in a jet plume out into the street. The very next day many of the street level residents in the neighborhood put posters or banners of support for "the cause" in their windows. I wonder if any understood the historical significance of their actions. This kind of stuff is history repeating itself. I find it a bit shameful that those of us in the center who felt compelled and unafraid to speak out against Trump's extreme proclivities are silent in the face of the opposite extreme. Me included.

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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by IlliniDave »

Ego wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 6:46 pm
... I wonder if any understood the historical significance of their actions. This kind of stuff is history repeating itself. I find it a bit shameful that those of us in the center who felt compelled and unafraid to speak out against Trump's extreme proclivities are silent in the face of the opposite extreme. Me included.
It's an asymmetric conflict. If you don't speak out against Trump, or are balanced in what you say, you are a racist, xenophobe, Nazi, fascist, heartless, and of subhuman intelligence. If you speak out against the excesses of BLM inc and antifa, ditto. Frankly, a lot of people were/are intimidated by that, and by what passes as "peaceful protests" just like some of your neighbors/tenants apparently were. From the other side, you might get called a socialist if you really get someone riled up.

Sad to see intimidation such a major part of the US landscape.

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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by Alphaville »

IlliniDave wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 7:47 pm
If you speak out against the excesses of BLM inc and antifa, ditto.
antifa are of course all about the street fight, but what did blm do and how do they belong in the same classification? honestly asking.

George the original one
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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by George the original one »

IlliniDave wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 7:47 pm
Sad to see intimidation such a major part of the US landscape.
Trump made it mainstream with his name-calling of any & all opponents. Really was amusing to see Lyin' Ted Cruz sucking up to Trump during this election.

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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by Alphaville »

George the original one wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 9:06 pm
Trump made it mainstream with his name-calling of any & all opponents. Really was amusing to see Lyin' Ted Cruz sucking up to Trump during this election.
and speaking of suck ups, didn't trump once publicized the cell phone number of his once and future lapdog, lindsey graham? :lol:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E09hynw4eyA

nevertheless--- those are public figures, and that is not this (but the exacerbation of incivility really took off with him).

i just always associate ted and lindsey for their common servility. but it's really off topic. i should stop rambling. :D

--

back on topic though, the risk for the individual is one of a continued downward spiral of incivility.

biden is trying to reconcile and heal in his speeches, but we'll see what happens. mcconnell also sounded like a grownup when he finally accepted the election results. it's a bit of a positive...

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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by Dream of Freedom »

He should pardon Julian Assange and have him lead the new news network. Sure they haven't always seen eye to eye, but they are both against the establishment cronies and they are both a bit overzealous in their approach. And Assange would lend some credibly to the journalism.

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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by IlliniDave »

Alphaville wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 7:56 pm
antifa are of course all about the street fight, but what did blm do and how do they belong in the same classification? honestly asking.
Where do you draw the line between the two? According to many, including our president-elect, antifa is simply an idea. I slashed them together since I don't have the resolution to differentiate in order to umbrella all the vandals, looters, arsonists, thugs, etc., who operated under the banner of peaceful BLM protests. BLM Inc is a group that is out to stage a Marxist transformation of the US, historically a violent endeavor so not at odds with the events at the protests. "Black lives matter" as a basic idea is of course laudable.

I don't know much about them yet, but it sounds like the Proud Boys aren't much better. In many situations both "sides" are wrong.
Last edited by IlliniDave on Thu Dec 17, 2020 7:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

IlliniDave
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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by IlliniDave »

George the original one wrote:
Wed Dec 16, 2020 9:06 pm
Trump made it mainstream with his name-calling of any & all opponents. Really was amusing to see Lyin' Ted Cruz sucking up to Trump during this election.
Trump was met with hostility from the day he entered the race and certainly took the low road when confronting it. However, name-calling among political public figures doesn't justify, for example, the damage inflicted on Ego's property, harassment of restaurant patrons and commuters, etc.

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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by jacob »

The middle class (cogs in the machine, values their stuff, talks about safety and comfort) generally prioritizes stability in government so they can pursue their careers and consumerism in peace. What the upper class (the governing 0.1%) and the under class (10-20% precariat) do or think is mostly ignored.

However, when the underclass has accumulated too many grievances [from being ignored], they might elect a different (populist) government to destroy the prized stability. The back reaction to that is that the middle class suddenly develops an interest in politics and re-elects a government that provides this stability. That's the story of Trump and populists in Europe. For the governing class (the establishment) such flips are a wake-up call that precariate demographics have been ignored for too long.

However---and this is the second effect---the underclass may also fail to elect a government and still have grievances that are being ignored. They need the middle class to care but all the middle class wants is stability to work and own their stuff. This is why underclass protests turn scary [to the middle class]. THAT is the political side of e.g. marching with torches or destroying property that makes the middle class pay attention. (Of course there are also those w/o political motivation who are just out for trouble or because they have nothing to do/lose anyway.)

Now, the middle class can insist---as most do---that scary actions are no way to act politically. That's essentially protecting the middle class position saying "Hey, things are good for me as they are. I see no problem. You guys shouldn't destroy my stuff or scare me. My safety and comfort are more important than your issues."

This brings me to my point. There are really three (3!) competing issues here when it comes to violent protest. Middle class safety, those who marched in Charlottesville, and those who marched in BLM protests. Feel free to choose other names. What's important is to realize that there are 3 and not 2 interests. The middle class insistence on others not using the only method that will bring attention to their issues is essentially a vote for the status quo.

Also note there there need be no equivalence between any of the positions. This is why you can see some (in the middle class) supporting one kind of scariness while being against the other kind. People are not always 100% on one team (e.g. team middle class safety). They can also be 90/9/1 or some such thinking there are "good people" on some sides or issues but not others.

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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by Myakka »

white belt wrote:
Mon Dec 14, 2020 12:39 pm


-Trump will launch the Trump News Network as soon as he leaves office, and it will yield more influence than any other news platform and give him more influence than he had in the Oval Office because it will allow him to completely control the narrative

-Trump's platform will likely exist entirely online, without the restrictions and red tape of conventional TV ("Fox News with the gloves off")

-Trump will commercialize and incorporate more entertainment into "news" segments, and he likely has already worked out partnerships with major celebrities and influencers to sell their products on his platform (e.g.: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West meeting with him at the White House)

-What are the 2nd and 3rd order effects of TNN? Further stratification of society as people become more enveloped in their own bubbles? What will be the domestic effects in the USA?

-From an investor and systems perspective, how does one ensure that they are anti-fragile in light of such trends?
Politics in this recent presidental election were on both sides a mixture of scare tactics (oo scary bogey man socialists/fascists -- so vote for me) and the backing of big moneyed individuals (those who just want a return to the old pre-Trump chaos status quo -- which included endless wars in several countries OR the vulture capitalists who don't care who dies on the way to making a profit).

If Trump can parley his current power into some sort of lasting organization (versus what many on the other side are hoping -- that he just fades into the woodwork), then his vulture capitalist backers will have a lasting voice which might possibly push things in ways they think of as favorable to them AND give the left an outlet for their frustrations at being largely marginalized by the status quo system.

If that is all that Trump does -- start another far right "news" organization, then I don't think that much will change because of those efforts. Personally, I don't think the current system can be changed by those of us living within it -- and those who like Julian Assange have had a degree of success in that direction are paying for what they have done.

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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by Myakka »

white belt wrote:
Mon Dec 14, 2020 12:39 pm

-From an investor and systems perspective, how does one ensure that they are anti-fragile in light of such trends?

Again I hope we can keep this discussion civil and thoughtful.
The best way I have found to build resiliency into my life is to change the manner in which I consume information. After I listen or read or watch what they have to say, I turn it off and linger over it. And the old cliche that what they DO being more important than what they SAY rates pretty high in that time when I sort through the messages and determine what is meaningful for me in it.

Largely the messages are created with the mindset that people will read them quickly and then immediately move on to the next thing, so this tends to negate the mesmerizing character of the highly spun narratives.

Clearly understood information is the keystone of anti-fragility in this time of mass delusions, I think.

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Re: Trump News Network: Implications for the Individual

Post by Aspirant »

Post Mon Dec 14, 2020 4:35 pm

There is a high chance he'll lose his twitter account rather quickly after leaving office. I'm not writing off the impact of that.
Well, they didn't wait until he left office :lol:

I think 1/6 was a sad event for us all. Hopefully it is a wake-up call that things have gone far enough. Hopefully the next 4 years will have more hand-shaking than fist-waving... And yea, I am firmly in the middle-class section. :mrgreen: Finnish political situation is luckily way different than in the US, but our pro-Trump political party is heading the polls.

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