I have a digital subscription to the New York Times. I am very well informed.
Twitter has always seemed very unpleasant to me and I lament how central it has become because Trump loves to embarrass himself on it. However, nowadays I don't know what other social media is as text-centric as Twitter. My Instagram is mainly for following bands/comedians/podcasts, but I pretty much loathe everything about the interface.
Well, there is always Gab instead of twitter.
The irony of guns, is that they can save lives.
Twitter plus Nazis?
it's funny to me how people try to make out that twitter is some piranha tank of leftyism when in the same breath everyone talks about how it's trump's main way of connecting directly to his base and talking 'unfiltered'. who is reading it on twitter if it's meant to be one huge 'social justice' network? not to mention how much, and how widely, it is used by powers such as russia, china and recently turkey for bot farms and fake accounts. how can it be both things at once?
seems the right-wing deploy this tactic of claiming to be 'censored' almost everywhere they go -- even when they're the majority directing discourse. it's a convenient little trope.
certain small fringe social networks/apps are blatantly just for certain audiences. gab does seem like it was set-up to be an 'alternative' space for the far-right nut jobs. file next to jordan peterson's 'free speech' network that banned half the applicants from joining because they weren't the right sort of people. tumblr definitely had a monocultural demographic on it in its end days.
seems the right-wing deploy this tactic of claiming to be 'censored' almost everywhere they go -- even when they're the majority directing discourse. it's a convenient little trope.
certain small fringe social networks/apps are blatantly just for certain audiences. gab does seem like it was set-up to be an 'alternative' space for the far-right nut jobs. file next to jordan peterson's 'free speech' network that banned half the applicants from joining because they weren't the right sort of people. tumblr definitely had a monocultural demographic on it in its end days.
Last edited by uziq (2019-10-25 01:21:23)
More like a "Twitter" that generally accepts everyone, even lefties, and isn't ban happy like twitter. I think there was only one time where Gab caved to whiners and banned someone's account.DesertFox- wrote:
Twitter plus Nazis?
Last edited by War Man (2019-10-25 01:23:26)
The irony of guns, is that they can save lives.
you have to poke the staff many times to earn a ban from twitter. 'ban happy', right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_suspensions#2019
terrible, terrible! i guess it is a sucky place to be if you want to incite violence against politicians or if you're an authoritarian state trying to drown out protestors with bot farms.
can you do a research war man and not to parrot the things you hear on fox news or from your pet pundit?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_suspensions#2019
terrible, terrible! i guess it is a sucky place to be if you want to incite violence against politicians or if you're an authoritarian state trying to drown out protestors with bot farms.
can you do a research war man and not to parrot the things you hear on fox news or from your pet pundit?
Last edited by uziq (2019-10-25 01:44:03)
I can't even remember the last time I bothered with fox news.
The irony of guns, is that they can save lives.
can you remember the last time you had a thought for yourself?
Yesterdayuziq wrote:
can you remember the last time you had a thought for yourself?
The irony of guns, is that they can save lives.
Trump supporters are unironically going around saying that the death of the leader of ISIS was a bigger deal than the killing of OBL. They are also arguing that ISIS was a more deadly organization than AQ. It hurts my heart how people will twist history and facts all in an effort to pump up Trump's ego.
I think ISIS ultimately did more damage than AQ ever did.
"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat
-Frederick Bastiat
And ISIS were essentially created by US policy, as were AQ.
What is with egotists thinking that killing a single person will change the course of anything?
What is with egotists thinking that killing a single person will change the course of anything?
Fuck Israel
I've not looked into it, but I'm sure the comparisons become muddled rather quickly. Even if Baghdadi and Bin Laden were both killed after much of their power and influence started to wane, it's probably pretty good. Like with Bin Laden, I'm sure it's been a years-long, inter-administration effort to achieve the goal. Trump probably should get as much credit as Obama did, but it's not like any other generic president would probably be any different than either in this regard.
I thought Trump's policy was to disengage and leave them to it, not be the policeman for the ME etc.
What does it have to do with the US if muslims are fighting each other in Syria and what right does the US have to go in and kill people?
When did ISIS attack mainland America?
What does it have to do with the US if muslims are fighting each other in Syria and what right does the US have to go in and kill people?
When did ISIS attack mainland America?
Fuck Israel
And you would be wrong. AQ organized the global jihadist movement over decades. ISIS started off as an AQ affiliate in the first place anyway.Jay wrote:
I think ISIS ultimately did more damage than AQ ever did.
The US did more damage and killed more people than both of them together - and created them both.
Fuck Israel
trump whinnied like a bitch when OBL was killed and said it was ‘dirty’ and ‘dishonest’ for obama to take credit in any way for a special forces/military/intelligence victory. so for trump supporters to start drumming this up as political capital for him is LOLZ in the extreme.
i think it’s pretty clear who was more engaged in the conflict on the level of principle. trump doesn’t care about the ME, either politically or personally. compare the photos from inside the situation room with obama’s team and trump’s. it’s almost funny. trump’s looks like a staged photo put together for a glossy ‘the apprentice’ advert in a magazine. ‘the boss is back ... and he’s not impressed!’ it’s like there’s make up artists just off camera left. obama’s photo looks like it’s taken in a genuinely fraught situation where the stakes are very real.
it’s funny that during the speech trump said things like ‘i’m very glad i made the decision to let turkey and the kurds go at it for three days, they were both more willing to help us now’. like wow. lots of civilians and kids got killed (and are still being murdered by jihadist/arabic hit squads) because of that careless decision. the guy has zero moral compass but then will stand on a podium and talk about america being the god-blessed protector of dignity in the world. gross.
AQ were undoubtedly a bigger deal than ISIS/ISIL. the whole caliphate wet dream lasted a short while before even the locals got sick of it and the young ones got disillusioned. it was already splitting up into rival factions who couldn’t decide on a common aim. assad and the kurds did more to make them irrelevant than trump, anyway.
i think it’s pretty clear who was more engaged in the conflict on the level of principle. trump doesn’t care about the ME, either politically or personally. compare the photos from inside the situation room with obama’s team and trump’s. it’s almost funny. trump’s looks like a staged photo put together for a glossy ‘the apprentice’ advert in a magazine. ‘the boss is back ... and he’s not impressed!’ it’s like there’s make up artists just off camera left. obama’s photo looks like it’s taken in a genuinely fraught situation where the stakes are very real.
it’s funny that during the speech trump said things like ‘i’m very glad i made the decision to let turkey and the kurds go at it for three days, they were both more willing to help us now’. like wow. lots of civilians and kids got killed (and are still being murdered by jihadist/arabic hit squads) because of that careless decision. the guy has zero moral compass but then will stand on a podium and talk about america being the god-blessed protector of dignity in the world. gross.
AQ were undoubtedly a bigger deal than ISIS/ISIL. the whole caliphate wet dream lasted a short while before even the locals got sick of it and the young ones got disillusioned. it was already splitting up into rival factions who couldn’t decide on a common aim. assad and the kurds did more to make them irrelevant than trump, anyway.
Please do tell how the US created AQ.Dilbert_X wrote:
The US created them both.
If you want to reference the soviet war in Afghanistan, you'd be wrong in several ways.
Curious to hear it.
He believes the first gulf war was an act of aggression by the US.Larssen wrote:
Please do tell how the US created AQ.Dilbert_X wrote:
The US created them both.
If you want to reference the soviet war in Afghanistan, you'd be wrong in several ways.
Curious to hear it.
"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat
-Frederick Bastiat
By funding and encouraging muslims to fight oppressors and by oppressing muslims and supporting oppressors - Israel and corrupt ME govts.
Fuck Israel
It was an act of ineptitude and aggression, with the same cast of characters behind it as the second gulf war.Jay wrote:
He believes the first gulf war was an act of aggression by the US.
That and the US encouraged Kuwait to provoke Iraq, gave Iraq the green light to attack Kuwait then waded in and bombed everyone.
Last edited by Dilbert_X (2019-10-28 03:35:50)
Fuck Israel
more proximally, the CIA literally trained the 9/11 pilots and gave funding to their networks.Larssen wrote:
Please do tell how the US created AQ.Dilbert_X wrote:
The US created them both.
If you want to reference the soviet war in Afghanistan, you'd be wrong in several ways.
Curious to hear it.
operation cyclone and the funding of the mujahideen during the cold war definitely didn't help things.
propping up saudi arabia and the network of clerics/schools is like helping someone print racist pamphlets and then denouncing the street thugs who enact the ideology.
There probably is a better term than "act of aggression" for that blunder of a war. Christians on the other side of the Earth had no business getting in the middle of a dispute between the Sunni Arabs. And the Saudis do deserve the hatred of Islamist for inviting us into their region and problems.Jay wrote:
He believes the first gulf war was an act of aggression by the US.Larssen wrote:
Please do tell how the US created AQ.Dilbert_X wrote:
The US created them both.
If you want to reference the soviet war in Afghanistan, you'd be wrong in several ways.
Curious to hear it.
The United States bears minimal responsibility in the creation of the ideology that gave rise to AQ. In the end they may have contributed to how it manifested, but the seeds of radical terrorism were already growing over half a century ago. The colonial legacy, the internal affairs of various ME governments and the development of radicalism in Islam were more fundamental to this movement than any later activity of the US in the ME in the context of the Cold War.
With regard to Al Qaeda specifically, it was the existence of western culture and its growing influence in the Middle East that made it a target of attack. The United States' position within that culture and its presence in the ME made it the organisation's prime target.
It's short-sighted to argue that the US has the only or a dominant role in the creation of AQ or likeminded groups. Let's also not forget that it was many other Middle-Eastern countries who created the conditions in Afghanistan for it to become a welcoming home for radicals.
With regard to Al Qaeda specifically, it was the existence of western culture and its growing influence in the Middle East that made it a target of attack. The United States' position within that culture and its presence in the ME made it the organisation's prime target.
It's short-sighted to argue that the US has the only or a dominant role in the creation of AQ or likeminded groups. Let's also not forget that it was many other Middle-Eastern countries who created the conditions in Afghanistan for it to become a welcoming home for radicals.