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Now It's Clear...
Aug. 3rd, 2016 09:53 amOn another social media site, a friend and I were commenting on the train wreck that is the Trump campaign. My friend remarked that Trump's campaign appeared to be ran by a mutual acquaintance of ours. My friend is right, and these characteristics are seen in a certain class of people whom frequent the Internet. These characteristics are:
1) Absolute Certainty - they are right, you are wrong, and no set of facts exist that can change that. Any inconvenient facts are hoaxes, mistakes or lies.
2) Argument By Assertion - much like the ugly American who is convinced everybody can understand English if it is delivered loudly and slowly enough, these folks are convinced that if one says things enough times, the scales will fall off your eyes and you will see the truth.
3) Unwillingness to Compromise - most people understand that you can't get all that you want, as the song goes. These folks don't accept that. "We're heading for the cliff at 100 MPH! Slowing to 50 MPH won't help!" (Well, actually it will, by doubling the amount of time it takes to get to the cliff.) In any event, (see #4, below) politics is the art of compromise.
4) Inability to Count Votes - Many Republican politicians promised to repeal Obamacare, yet to overturn a Presidential veto takes 2/3 majorities in both houses. No such majority equals no repeal.
5) Lack of Good Faith - rather than assuming people who disagree with them are merely coming to a different conclusion, disagreement is taken as stupidity, lying or duplicity. This is part and parcel of point #1, above.
In any event, the above traits may allow one to "win" an Internet comment thread, for values of "win" that equal "people stomping off in disgust" but it's hard to see it winning a general election. There's also a chicken-vs-egg question as to whether 30 years of talk radio created these behaviors or merely monetized an existing tendency.
1) Absolute Certainty - they are right, you are wrong, and no set of facts exist that can change that. Any inconvenient facts are hoaxes, mistakes or lies.
2) Argument By Assertion - much like the ugly American who is convinced everybody can understand English if it is delivered loudly and slowly enough, these folks are convinced that if one says things enough times, the scales will fall off your eyes and you will see the truth.
3) Unwillingness to Compromise - most people understand that you can't get all that you want, as the song goes. These folks don't accept that. "We're heading for the cliff at 100 MPH! Slowing to 50 MPH won't help!" (Well, actually it will, by doubling the amount of time it takes to get to the cliff.) In any event, (see #4, below) politics is the art of compromise.
4) Inability to Count Votes - Many Republican politicians promised to repeal Obamacare, yet to overturn a Presidential veto takes 2/3 majorities in both houses. No such majority equals no repeal.
5) Lack of Good Faith - rather than assuming people who disagree with them are merely coming to a different conclusion, disagreement is taken as stupidity, lying or duplicity. This is part and parcel of point #1, above.
In any event, the above traits may allow one to "win" an Internet comment thread, for values of "win" that equal "people stomping off in disgust" but it's hard to see it winning a general election. There's also a chicken-vs-egg question as to whether 30 years of talk radio created these behaviors or merely monetized an existing tendency.
