If we are going to call this “the reality based community” maybe we should take a closer look at reality first. On Syria:
The fact that there are good people against Assad does not makes this all the reality of the situation.
Now we’re at the random copypasta stage?
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Permit me to nitpick a bit. While recent events have shown that there are most definitely problems with the Park administration, and while pretty much every South Korean govt has used particular flavors of xenophobia as a tool of the state, here you engage in post truth yourself.
Also as a Guardian writer, arent you somehow bound to include Japan’s PM Abe in your list of demons?
Why the scare quotes? Which words do you wish us to doubt?
Do you know any Indians?
Murderous? Really?
You are forgiven for not knowing much about aircraft.
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I’m waiting to hear whether electronic shifting and suspension systems run any code before I can answer that.
Oh I am sure they do. Plus those internet connected bicycle computers and pedals which measure torque.
I built a lighting system for commuting, and I could get more performance out of my LEDs if I drove them with a microcontroller, but I can do without the extra complexity and the associated failure modes.
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Yeah I was just looking at your site and bcs.c. Mercurial repo! Very cool.
Then to me the next question is, is there a factory setup mode that involves connecting to a computer, can end users do this, and will the day come when you can get a virus from a bike you bought used on Craigslist.
My previous reply seems to have offended some so I’ll restate my position as just saying as an old codger who thinks words have meaning, the way that term is used here is a tissue of lies and horseshit.
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Codgers can love a shovel, too, apparently.
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It’s an eyewitness account that completely puts to rest the mainstream
narrative on the Syrian war. It was mentioned in the text they we should
unite with those who fight Assad.
But that was child marriage. It wasn’t his fault that his parents decided to get him married. We both know that he and his wife have come to a conclusion related to it and I am sure that his wife understands that as well.
You can say whatever you like, but he works tirelessly for his people. His demonetization move proves it.
Naah, I became his fan after the demonetization move.
I’m struggling with this. Cory has the instincts of a propagandist. We’re now seeing what it means to be on the losing side of a propaganda war. Do we need to embrace our own propagandists? I have to think that, while accepting a bit of hyperbole may be acceptable for the sake of making strong statements, accepting clear inaccuracy will ultimately be self-defeating.
A good propagandist is persuasive.
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Copy, paste.
Line-breaks
Break.
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Definitely. Unfortunately @doctorow’s initial list was not exhaustive. Right-wing populist scumbag regimes are emerging around the globe.
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MODI taught me how to love a woman — and how to scold a child.
MODI once punched a hole in a cow just so he could see who was coming up the road.
MODI got his wife pregnant and she gave birth to a delicious 16-ounce steak. The afterbirth was sauteed mushrooms.
MODI used to ride upon a steed, perchance to spy a lady.
Wait, that’s not MODI – that’s BRASKY (BILL BRASKY!)
As for MODI, I’ll bet you’d just swoon if you saw that hate-peddling jumped-up thug with his shirt off, Putin-style.
Even bunglers need their fans, I suppose. From the article quoted here it doesn’t sound like India’s un-banked are happy with this scheme.
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There is that.
The problem I’m having is that I can’t get enough into the heads of people who buy rightist propaganda enough to understand why it’s persuasive for them. This is in spite of working with such people every day and even liking some of them. I feel as though I can see what the trick is, but I can’t understand why it works.
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Allow me to be a bit more on-the-ground about the whole thing… Yeah, it’s leading to suffering, but it’s actually hugely popular.
First, you may not see it from elsewhere, but even though he (or rather his party) had less than 40% of the voteshare across the country, Modi is actually relatively popular; his approval ratings are still pretty high, and there’s still a massive anti-incumbency factor against the earlier UPA regime - partly because they were in power for ten years, and right through the 2008 crash. The Opposition is very divided in their messaging (actually, they’re very divided, period). The BJP’s messaging is very on-target and consistent - The UPA betrayed you, we will fix things. But on the other hand, their schemes all look plausible from the top, but when you look into it, they’re really just bullshitting.
Which brings us to black money. First, you need to understand the deep-rooted anger and rage in the country against holders of unaccounted wealth - even when the person raging themselves have an amount of that kind of wealth, or have benefited from it in some way. There’s almost no fixed property transaction in the country that doesn’t include a “cash component” - paid in cash to avoid stamp duties, and in order to keep the officials from inquiring, a percentage is paid as bribe. Yeah, everybody does it, at least a few people feel a bit unclean doing it. Others justify using various methods of cognitive dissonance straight out of Psych 101. But no common person really likes it.
Modi offers magic solutions to making things better - demonetisation, goods-and-services tax, a cashless economy, and basically a metric tonne of rhetoric against the corrupt. A very common refrain is, “I’m going to clean up 65 years of corruption”; 65 being the time since independence (leave alone that his party and movement were in power for at least 15 years of that). It all comes down to demonising the other side, and making himself seem the saviour. He preaches a message of tough love, which resonates among a lot of people - “we have to go through a little difficulty in order to punish the wicked”.
And hence, demonetisation - the idea didn’t crop up out of nowhere; India has seen demonetisations for the same reasons before. At least twice. High value currency is pushed out, with the idea that when people come to exchange the cash they can be tracked and taxed. It’s a very simple idea, which has been part of the right-wing messaging for decades, and it’s been picking up steam in the last three or four years. Yeah, it’s not really a left-or-right issue, but because the right has adopted it, the left has to oppose.
Yes, it’s been horrible, it’s been botched, it’s been a deadly thing for many people, but believe it or not, the common man on the street is actually willing to go through with it, as long as he sees the filthy rich being punished. Leave alone they’re not actually being punished - which idiot hoards banknotes after all? It’s enough that there’s an appearance, and a kind of believable rhetoric.
The Opposition is scrambling - they know this is an opportunity handed to them on a platter, but they’re not able to make use of it. Modi’s messaging is so good that it’s insanely difficult to counter it.
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[quote=“BZMacLachlan, post:60, topic:90537”]I feel as though I can see what the trick is, but I can’t understand why it works.
[/quote]
Nail. Hit on head. 
