Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/08/21/hate-groups-expose-the-cynicis.html
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I thought he drove a v dub 
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I was tempted to groan and roll my eyes, but of course most people don’t understand all this.
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Wow, thanks, I had no idea that the ten-dollar bill is a Confederate monument!
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It’s a bizarro world argument where “If you don’t like Confederate monuments (because they fought to maintain the institution of slavery), then you MUST hate the Founding Fathers who owned slaves! THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION!!!”
…No, I don’t get it either. I assume that the people making those arguments slept through a lot of history classes.
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This is an attitude I find most disconcerting. There is absolutely nothing restricting people from interacting with, establishing and fostering communities IRL. Nor is it true that “everyone” is opting out of live, interpersonal social life. It’s not true of my life whatsoever and it doesn’t have to be true of almost anyone else’s, though it does take a whole lot less effort to throw ones hands up and walk away from society. Platforms such as social media and Reddit are not what is keeping people from real life relationships.
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True for adults, at least. My wife and I were discussing today how glad we are to not have been kids in the age of social media
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Is the audience for this article people who have been living under a rock? I prefer articles that assume I’m not a complete idiot.
I want to know when this so-called “public square” has ever existed, where people had “liberal public discourse” and civil conversations about the topics of the day?
I feel terminology like “public square” means we’re expecting a contemporary electronic commons that imitates a romanticized version of something that never existed.
And I’m going to be that guy and once again point out that this is a hollow complaint as there are plenty of options for public, ahem, Discourse.
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I really don’t understand why people give their children smartphones. Seems like it would be much kinder to just give them gasoline, whisky and matches.
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You forgot the cigarettes and the keys to the car!
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Right? I had to sneak all that stuff!
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It’s a catch 22. Not letting them interact with their peers in what are now conventional ways has social consequences.
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i had no idea hamilton was ever president.
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Right?
You would think that if a person wanted to make false equivalencies that are completely off topic, one would at least choose the low hanging fruit that was Andrew Jackson; a man who was:
A) Actually a president.
B) A verified slave owner.
C) A pretty terrible person by most historical accounts; not only a bigot, but also needlessly cruel. (See the Trail of Tears.)
*There’s also a fair amount of contention as to whether Hamilton actually was a slave owner or not.
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Hear, hear. Oh, excuse me, I meant har har.
You know, this Discourse you had the other day, with that pseudonymous person/thing/algorithm, that’s all good. But in the real world, the Waaaahzzup group of your daughters kindergarten committee For the Greater Good and the Advancement of Our Children already made decisions for you (and your daughter).
I’m not kidding here.
Our virtually open garden, we may have. But the walled gardens with their glass ceilings and mirror walls are much hotter and more under steam than I care to admit.
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Wait, that wasn’t the joke?
Seriously, I thought that was the joke!
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I agree, and that’s kinda the point I was making; in the bad old days, this same thing would have happened, but in conversations on the way to the parking lot or at dinner at the Elk’s Club or at the bowling league night or in an executive committee where the decisions are really made. The gist of the article seems to echo Louis CK’s famous bit about in flight wi-fi: here’s this thing that’s amazing that’s only existed for a decade or two and we’re already complaining that it isn’t perfect, even though the issues it raises weren’t handled perfectly previously, either.
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True. My oldest are 11 (twins) and there is an outright ban on unmonitored media access. Until recently any media consumption was done as a family and highly “curated”. This wasn’t simply to be prudish, but to hopefully instill some manner of discretion, taste and, above all, a respect for visual media as an art form and not just a consumer commodity.
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BYOSB*
(*soapbox)
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