[HN Gopher] How can minorities of regular individuals overturn s...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       How can minorities of regular individuals overturn social
       conventions?
        
       Author : yamrzou
       Score  : 57 points
       Date   : 2022-02-16 14:15 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (iaciac.github.io)
 (TXT) w3m dump (iaciac.github.io)
        
       | sleepingadmin wrote:
       | Flagged
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Please read the site guidelines:
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
        
           | sleepingadmin wrote:
           | Hello Dang,
           | 
           | Out of curiosity, what rule did I break? I had a fairly long
           | post.
           | 
           | I had people responding to me but I guess I can't respond to
           | anymore?: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30361631
           | 
           | Mikeyouse said:
           | 
           | >And that idiotic CNN chyron was clipped to be troll bait for
           | the credulous. If you honestly believe that's how the
           | protests were covered, you should spend some time reflecting
           | on where you get your news and who you trust.
           | 
           | This was in response to me posting:
           | https://twitter.com/JoeConchaTV/status/1298863702272344064
           | and making comment.
           | 
           | This was in the context of my post explaining how non-
           | violence similar to MLKjr and Ghandi is an absolute rule.
           | That saying 'peaceful protest' while standing in front of
           | cars on fire is a violation of the rule.
           | 
           | I feel this is a reasonable and fair discussion.
        
             | dang wrote:
             | I interpreted your comment to mean "I flagged this
             | submission," which would be breaking the site guideline "If
             | you flag, please don't also comment that you did."
             | 
             | Now that I've looked more closely, I realize that you
             | actually originally posted a totally different comment and
             | then effectively deleted it (by overwriting it with
             | "Flagged"). Normally we ask people not to do that--you can
             | use the 'delete' link as long as the comment has no
             | replies.
             | 
             | In this case, your comment got one reply but the replier
             | subsequently deleted it. This is a corner case. It might
             | even be a bug in our software if the 'delete' link didn't
             | reappear.
             | 
             | Edit: I checked the code and I don't see that bug, so I
             | believe there would have been a 'delete' link at the time
             | you edited your comment.
        
               | sleepingadmin wrote:
               | >I interpreted your comment to mean "I flagged this
               | submission," which would be breaking the site guideline
               | "If you flag, please don't also comment that you did."
               | 
               | I don't have buttons to delete, edit, or flag, never did
               | on my previous account neither. My understanding was that
               | I do not have these as part of upvote threshold like
               | being unable to downvote. Maybe it's my fault and some
               | sort of addon doing something?
               | 
               | >Now that I've looked more closely, I realize that you
               | actually originally posted a totally different comment
               | and then effectively deleted it (by overwriting it with
               | "Flagged"). Normally we ask people not to do that--you
               | can use the 'delete' link as long as the comment has no
               | replies.
               | 
               | I personally did not do this.
               | 
               | >In this case, your comment got one reply but the replier
               | subsequently deleted it. This is a corner case. It might
               | even be a bug in our software if the 'delete' link didn't
               | reappear.
               | 
               | Well no, there was also another comment insulting me
               | mostly. I dont recall the username. I wasn't planning to
               | reply to that one. It was obvious that they were
               | triggered by my comments about the democratic party. I
               | didn't really intend to cause a fight over those
               | comments.
               | 
               | I guess that Mikeouse has the right of the person who
               | replied to me.
               | 
               | Thanks I guess, I'll move on.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Every post to HN has a 'delete' link for a certain amount
               | of time after the post is made, as long as the post
               | doesn't have replies. (We try not to delete posts that
               | got replies, because doing so would be unfair to the
               | other commenters in the thread.) This doesn't depend on
               | karma.
               | 
               | Flagging depends on karma but the threshold is low (only
               | 30) so you can certainly do that. See
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html#cflag about how
               | to flag comments.
               | 
               | I'm a bit confused here:
               | 
               | > I personally did not do this.
               | 
               | Are we talking about the same 'this"? The logs say that
               | you edited https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30361111
               | to replace the text with "Flagged" a few minutes after
               | you originally posted it.
               | 
               | I'm definitely not meaning to be critical and I don't
               | want you to go away feeling unfairly treated, so I'd
               | prefer to get this clear. Especially if I'm mistaken
               | about something.
        
               | sleepingadmin wrote:
               | >Are we talking about the same 'this"? The logs say that
               | you edited https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30361111
               | to replace the text with "Flagged" a few minutes after
               | you originally posted it.
               | 
               | Wasnt me, I assumed I cannot edit my posts in relation to
               | the downvote karma threshold thing. Like so I needed to
               | prove my worth or something. I stand by my posts even if
               | I was wrong. Just like I just was with my recent post
               | about the definition of vaccine. I am wrong in my post.
               | My brain definition of vaccine certainly included
               | 'prevents infection' factor.
               | 
               | It's probably a problem on my end. I was missing the
               | reply link when trying to reply to prohobo but now see it
               | there. I cannot explain.
               | 
               | This post however was indeed fairly charged/hot post
               | about social movements, the requirement to stay
               | nonviolent, comments over the democratic party, trump,
               | etc. I expected to take heat. I provided a link
               | criticizing the democrats over their inaction of
               | resolving an obvious problem in the USA. My post did take
               | heat quite rapidly in that one.
               | 
               | I dont personally believe my comments were flamebait or
               | trolling. I cannot see my original post any longer, maybe
               | I did go over the line. So be it. Not to get religious,
               | but:
               | 
               | "The past is already gone, the future is not yet here.
               | There's only one moment for you to live, and that is the
               | present moment" -- Buddha
               | 
               | Let's not waste on further time on the past. Doing so
               | will solve nothing.
        
       | wonderwonder wrote:
       | I wonder if social media has weakened our focus to the point
       | where long term change is difficult. BLM matter had a massive run
       | out the gate and then nothing really changed. The Amir Locke
       | shooting has not really taken on a national protest atmosphere
       | like earlier shooting did. There are just so many things to
       | notice today on social media that its difficult to focus on one.
       | You have both sides politically calling for the end of the world
       | if the other side wins, people acting like Joe Rogan is one of
       | the four horsemen of the apocalypse, etc. Everything no matter
       | how niche is presented as an emergency. Human minds can only
       | focus on so many concurrent emergencies so everything just kind
       | of fades away eventually.
        
         | lalaland1125 wrote:
         | > BLM matter had a massive run out the gate and then nothing
         | really changed
         | 
         | This is quite incorrect. There have been some pretty large
         | changes in our criminal justice system over the last 2 years.
         | 
         | The main changes have been:
         | 
         | - Reform District Attorneys like Gascon have been elected in
         | many major cities
         | 
         | - Elimination of cash bail in many parts of the US, most
         | importantly New York (we were also very close to eliminating
         | cash bail in California, but bail bond companies invested
         | heavily to stop that)
         | 
         | - Biden appointing a bunch of public defenders to federal
         | courts
        
           | jalk wrote:
           | Is there anything preventing CA judges from setting bail at
           | $1 in cases where a NY judge will now not set bail?
        
             | lalaland1125 wrote:
             | Judges can't do that because you can't just wholesale
             | eliminate cash bail without other changes as you can't just
             | release everyone. The new laws are necessary to introduce
             | alternatives as part of that elimination.
             | 
             | For example, the law in California would give judges risk
             | scores to switch to a risk based bail system.
        
               | aerostable_slug wrote:
               | Risk scoring has been problematic after AI/expert risk
               | scoring systems produced politically unpalatable results.
               | 
               | It is difficult to see a productive way out of this
               | dilemma since "correcting" the input data is a priori
               | impossible to do in an objective way, and skewing the
               | algorithms will almost certainly produce unintended
               | effects (e.g. a violent criminal being underscored,
               | released, then they victimize innocents again).
        
           | aerostable_slug wrote:
           | > This is quite incorrect. There have been some pretty large
           | changes in our criminal justice system over the last 2 years.
           | 
           | Do you have any examples? The biggest changes I've seen
           | lately have been a result of COVID-19 and a judicial reform
           | bill signed by Trump (in contrast to the law & order track
           | record of Biden).
           | 
           | > Reform District Attorneys like Gascon have been elected in
           | many major cities
           | 
           | Yes, and those crazed Red State loonies in San Francisco are
           | trying to recall the king of all progressive DAs, Chesa
           | Boudin. Gascon's next.
           | 
           | When San Francisco has a recall vote coming up for the DA of
           | San Francisco, just decisively ousted progressive school
           | board members, and the entire state had a recall election for
           | the governor, one might imagine the progressive agenda isn't
           | what normal people want. Claim all you want about the right
           | orchestrating these events, but at the end of the day it was
           | registered Democrats who got rid of the board members and
           | it's registered Democrats that will oust Boudin.
        
           | kerneloftruth wrote:
           | Yup, we can credit politicians bending to appease BLM for
           | these disastrous policies. The guy who stabbed the woman 40x
           | in NY this past week had been arrested and released without
           | bail numerous times. Woo-hoo... equity!
           | 
           | It's a massive run they've had, to all our detriment.
           | Fortunately, I think it's all backfiring.
        
             | wonderwonder wrote:
             | The solution seems to be that if an offender is violent
             | enough then they should not be offered bail, not that bail
             | should be more expensive. The first option addresses
             | violent crime, the second simply punishes poor people. I
             | very much doubt someone that habitually performs violent
             | crimes is going to think to themselves, no violence today,
             | don't want to risk sacrificing my bail money that I may get
             | back in a few months.
        
               | josephcsible wrote:
               | > The solution seems to be that if an offender is violent
               | enough then they should not be offered bail
               | 
               | Won't this ruin your life if someone who looks like you
               | commits a violent enough offense, and the police
               | accidentally arrest you for it?
        
               | wonderwonder wrote:
               | Of course, but by focusing bail on violent criminals or
               | clear flight risks for financial crimes and those with
               | the means to leverage them, you have effectively filtered
               | out a good portion of optimally non violent people who
               | are not a continuing threat to society. Optimally
               | criminal history is part of the decision as well. There
               | will always be issues with innocent people being arrested
               | and held due to the nature of the accusation but no
               | system is perfect. In my opinion holding a person accused
               | of a violent enough crime (think a random assault on a
               | stranger, intent to cause serious injury, etc. vs a fist
               | fight at the bbq) is warranted. The people assaulting
               | Asians on the street, the knockout game, etc. should
               | absolutely be held, no need for bail. Requiring bail for
               | someone accused of stealing diapers should not be
               | required as they are not a threat. Of course everyone's
               | definition of 'good enough' is going to be different and
               | if I ever find myself as that falsely accused person I am
               | sure my opinion would change again.
        
             | notreallyserio wrote:
             | I presume you're hoping he was poor enough that he would
             | have remained imprisoned until his trial, if cash bail were
             | imposed?
        
               | lazyeye wrote:
               | No presume he's hoping the woman wouldn't have been
               | stabbed 40x times.
        
               | notreallyserio wrote:
               | Cash bail wouldn't have prevented him from doing anything
               | if he was rich. How do you propose to address this
               | inequality? Me, I'd prefer we evaluate them immediately
               | to decide if they should remain locked up based on the
               | merits of the case and not how much money they have, and
               | get them into court faster.
        
               | zdragnar wrote:
               | This same man was previously arrested over 40 times, 16
               | of which occured in one day. After a certain point, _bail
               | should not have been offered_. Even if it had, it should
               | have been ruinously expensive for anyone, no matter how
               | rich.
        
               | TheCoelacanth wrote:
               | Whether or not he should have been let out at all is
               | completely independent of the cash bail system, unless
               | you think that the decision of whether or not to release
               | him should be contingent on his financial situation.
        
               | notreallyserio wrote:
               | Exactly. Too many people confuse "no cash bail" with "no
               | pre-trial jail at all". I'm guessing there is some
               | political messaging involved, sponsored by the bail
               | industry.
        
           | PuppyTailWags wrote:
           | I'm asking in good faith, to be clear:
           | 
           | Can you explain to me the benefit of the elimination of cash
           | bail in new york or point me to resources why the elimination
           | of cash bail is good? I hear a huge earful about how terrible
           | the elimination of cash bail is and pointing at random crimes
           | as caused by this elimination but I hear almost nothing as
           | for the reasons why it was eliminated in the first place.
        
             | 3729426s73 wrote:
             | Keeping a person in jail because they can't afford bail is
             | obviously horrible for that person, and that should be
             | reason enough to oppose it, but it can also be harmful for
             | other people.
             | 
             | A poor person who is finally acquitted after months of
             | waiting in jail is likely to be released to homelessness,
             | unemployment, and debt. They will also be suffering from
             | the mental and physical trauma of their incarceration,
             | which makes it more difficult for them to deal with their
             | situation. Crime may be the only realistic means for them
             | to survive, even if they have never committed a crime
             | before.
        
               | s1artibartfast wrote:
               | Eliminating cash bail doesn't get more people out of
               | jail. It keeps more people in it.
               | 
               | The purpose of pre-trial release is to let those out who
               | are unlikely to cause harm or flee while they await
               | trial.
               | 
               | If someone poses a risk, they are detained.
               | 
               | If someone poses a risk and is detained, bail is a tool
               | to allow them out and ensure they return. Without it, you
               | just keep them in jail.
               | 
               | Cash bail certainly provides advantages to those with
               | assets or credit, but this is a separate issue.
        
             | thebean11 wrote:
             | The idea is that it's immoral to charge people (who have
             | not been convicted of a crime) money to be let out of jail.
             | Cash bail hurts poor people who either can't get the money,
             | or get charged usurious rates to borrow the money.
             | 
             | It's easy enough to find cases where crime could have been
             | avoided if the offender were locked up. Stories of innocent
             | people spending time in jail or losing large sums of money
             | aren't as enticing.
        
               | josephcsible wrote:
               | I feel like saying "charge people money" and "losing
               | large sums of money" misrepresents what bail is. It's a
               | deposit that gets refunded to you in full as long as you
               | don't skip town instead of showing up for your trial.
        
               | howinteresting wrote:
               | In practice most people are forced to use bail bonds. If
               | your cash bail is set to $150k, you're going to go to a
               | bail bondsman and pay them $15k instead (and lose that
               | 15k forever).
               | 
               | Cash bail is a monstrous creation.
        
               | nawgz wrote:
               | I feel like ignoring that a vast majority of American
               | people live paycheck to paycheck and then pretending
               | people have "refundable deposit" cash piles sitting
               | around is either incredibly disingenuous or the first
               | time you've ever thought about poverty
        
               | wonderwonder wrote:
               | sure, except most people don't have enough money for bail
               | lying around, most can't afford a $400 emergency. So that
               | bail money comes from their family rent / food money.
               | That or they just sit in prison, and lose their jobs. So
               | they may have all charges dropped but still end up
               | financially devastated due to bail.
        
               | 3729426s73 wrote:
               | It's only refunded (minus fees) if you have thousands of
               | dollars lying around. Poor people don't have that. They
               | have to use a bail bond company, which means paying large
               | sums of money they will never get back. Many poor people
               | can't even afford to use a bail bond company and have to
               | stay in jail, or plead guilty to a crime they didn't
               | commit.
        
               | lalaland1125 wrote:
               | > which means paying large sums of money
               | 
               | And in the wonderful cycle of capitalism, that money is
               | then used to fund ballot propositions to keep cash bail
               | in place
        
               | 3729426s73 wrote:
               | I would say it's statism or cronyism rather than
               | capitalism. It doesn't have anything to do with ownership
               | of the means of production.
        
               | mc32 wrote:
               | Is that due to simple usury or due to cost of risk? In
               | other words, if enough of the bailed pop. skips bail
               | (complete loss for bondsman), that money has to come from
               | somewhere --and that somewhere may be both honest and
               | dishonest criminals as well as innocent suspects.
        
               | lalaland1125 wrote:
               | It's a mix of both.
               | 
               | The bail bond industry (like most "vice" industries) has
               | much higher profit margins than comparable insurance
               | companies: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2
               | 017/05/bail-bo...
        
               | thebean11 wrote:
               | The "losing large sums of money" was in reference to
               | taking out a loan to pay the money, they are expensive. I
               | feel like that was pretty clear in my comment.
        
           | engineer_22 wrote:
           | -> _Elimination of cash bail in many parts of the US, most
           | importantly New York (we were also very close to eliminating
           | cash bail in California, but bail bond companies invested
           | heavily to stop that)_
           | 
           | Let's have a look at the latest unintended consequences. One
           | example from central New York one man was arrested and
           | released without bail on 16 separate occasions between
           | November and January. [1] This policy is not working for
           | anybody, it isn't helping him, it isn't helping his victims.
           | He would have been better off in jail where he could take
           | some time to cool off.
           | 
           | [1] cnycentral.com/news/local/oswego-county-man-
           | arrested-16-times-in-nearly-three-months-police-cite-bail-
           | reform
        
             | micv wrote:
             | Do US courts not have the ability to refuse bail to people
             | like this? You'd have the same problem if he had enough
             | cash to afford bail. It seems like a complete failure of
             | the system for him to even have the option of not being
             | held on remand until trial.
        
           | yepthatsreality wrote:
           | Also NY repealed a state law, 50-A, which is one of the major
           | laws preventing scrutiny and review of police departments and
           | officers. Still more to go on that front though as the newly
           | elected cop mayor rides a minor crime spike as if it were
           | major and attempts to bring back the very prejudice/racist
           | stop and frisk.
        
         | DoreenMichele wrote:
         | People have a hard time effectively measuring real change. I
         | don't know enough about the instances you cite to speak to them
         | but I have at times tracked my own metrics for things that
         | mattered to me.
         | 
         | Gradual social change is often more persistent than dramatic
         | and obvious change. It's more persistent in part because it
         | goes largely unnoticed.
         | 
         | Change happens all the time yet we tend to feel like whatever
         | is currently the norm is "normal." People are mostly not
         | talented at tracking real change or even noticing it.
         | 
         | We tend to instead notice the crisis du jour.
        
         | commandlinefan wrote:
         | > The Amir Locke shooting has not really taken on a national
         | protest atmosphere
         | 
         | Well, remember - BLM has been around since 2012 (when Trayvon
         | Martin was shot). They did sponsor some protests here and there
         | (Michael Brown, Freddie Gray) but didn't capture the entire
         | country until 2020. So what was different? I really think it
         | was two things: Donald Trump and corona virus lockdowns. The
         | protests were likely 50% Donald Trump protests and 50% an
         | excuse to get out of the house after having been locked down
         | for a year. Now we don't have either thing, so we're back to
         | "normal" for BLM.
        
           | Izkata wrote:
           | > and 50% an excuse to get out of the house after having been
           | locked down for a year.
           | 
           | Let's not mess up the timeline - at that point it had only
           | been like two or three months.
        
           | csee wrote:
           | I'd say it was 1/4 Trump 1/4 lockdowns 1/4 the emotional
           | visual imagery of the knee on the neck 1/4 social media
           | penetration of 2020s compared to 2012
        
             | gknoy wrote:
             | I think that the fact that we had irrefutable video
             | evidence of it happening (as opposed to e.g. Martin or
             | other "well the officer thought he had a gun" events) made
             | it much easier to gain traction in the public
             | consciousness. There was no split-second-bad-decisions that
             | could be claimed (such as when officers shot the man for
             | not obeying conflicting commands), just multiple minutes of
             | sickening brutality.
        
         | stronglikedan wrote:
         | > Everything no matter how niche is presented as an emergency.
         | 
         | It's "appeal to emotion", and it works.
         | 
         | > Amir Locke
         | 
         | This event was one administration too late to make a splash,
         | unfortunately.
         | 
         | > BLM
         | 
         | They got exposed as Marxists, and everyone started distancing
         | themselves, thankfully.
        
           | batty_alex wrote:
           | >> BLM
           | 
           | > They got exposed as Marxists, and everyone started
           | distancing themselves, thankfully.
           | 
           | I don't usually do this on Hacker News but, get this racist
           | nonsense out of here. This is the most toxic lie I've seen
           | posted here in a long time. From your post history, though,
           | seems like par for the course. I hope you're just trolling
           | and don't truly believe what you post
        
             | lliamander wrote:
             | You're not going to persuade anyone by calling them
             | "racist" - a term so abused by motte-and-bailey tactics as
             | to have lost all meaning. If what they say is false, then
             | say so and argue your case.
             | 
             | While BLM can refer to a number of different things, there
             | happens to be a non-profit called "Black Lives Matter", the
             | founders of which explicitly claimed to be trained
             | Marxists.
             | 
             | Whether this organization was rightfully the face of the
             | BLM movement is debatable, but regardless it enjoyed a fair
             | degree of prominence for a time.
        
           | judahmeek wrote:
           | > They got exposed as Marxists
           | 
           | How so? What are the signals of Marxism within the BLM
           | movement?
           | 
           | What's the difference between Marxism & just unrealistic
           | idealism?
        
             | kbutler wrote:
             | One clear difference is the leaders enriching themselves
             | without advancing the welfare of the people they claim to
             | be promoting.
        
               | Tanjreeve wrote:
               | > One clear difference is the leaders enriching
               | themselves without advancing the welfare of the people
               | they claim to be promoting.
               | 
               | Ah yes that thing that famously only happens in Marxist
               | political regimes.
        
             | nradov wrote:
             | One of the BLM founders literally described herself and
             | another founder as "trained Marxists". However that doesn't
             | mean the movement itself is inherently Marxist. Hopefully
             | we can all agree that Black lives do matter, even if some
             | of the movement leaders hold abhorrent political views on
             | other unrelated issues.
             | 
             | https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/jul/21/black-
             | lives-m...
             | 
             | I do find it a bit odd though how someone who describes
             | herself as a Marxist now owns multiple luxury homes.
             | 
             | https://www.blackenterprise.com/blm-co-founder-patrisse-
             | khan...
        
           | raidicy wrote:
           | >They got exposed as Marxists, and everyone started
           | distancing themselves, thankfully.
           | 
           | What does that mean though? Why would Marxism be a signal for
           | avoiding the movement?
           | 
           | I don't know anything about Marxism.
        
             | mantas wrote:
             | Ideology responsible for millions of deaths by USSR,
             | Communist China, Pol Pot and other similar regimes.
        
             | akomtu wrote:
             | If you read the story of famous marxists on wikipedia
             | (Lenin & Mao for example), you'll see a lot of parallels
             | with the movement. The BLM org corresponds to Red Guard
             | probably: the core force of the movement. That's why I
             | think they've chosen a fist as their symbol (can you
             | imagine a peaceful organisation rooting for unity using
             | this symbol?). And just like other marxist regimes, those
             | at the top quickly give up ideals, and start enriching
             | themselves (I'm talking about that house shopping spree of
             | the former BLMGN leader).
        
             | engineer_22 wrote:
             | In its own terms, Marxism seeks an end to alienation and
             | exploitation. That is to say, the Marxist vision is to
             | create a utopian society. Heaven on Earth.
             | 
             | When heaven doesn't come, you need a scapegoat, and the
             | Marxists start killing people.
             | 
             | Ukrainian pogroms, Great Leap Forward, Khmer Rouge, there's
             | enough examples to be convinced that Marxism is inherently
             | genocidal.
        
             | wyre wrote:
             | Because in America anything that isn't Capitalism is viewed
             | as the enemy after decades of propaganda against the USSR.
             | 
             | Marxism is socioeconomic analysis of class structures. Marx
             | and Engel's book Capital is largely a critique of
             | capitalism. Vladimir Lenin expanded on these ideas with
             | methods to transition to a communist society (another thing
             | Marx wrote about). After Lenin died Stalin took power over
             | the USSR and committed atrocities against mankind, fighting
             | Nazis, and leading the country through an industrial
             | revolution. Mao expanded on these ideas in China and is
             | still on track with their 100 year plan written ~70 years
             | ago (as far as I know).
             | 
             | Dismissing Marxism is good for capital and the ruling class
             | as it views BLM as its enemy.
        
           | tomjakubowski wrote:
           | > This event was one administration too late to make a
           | splash, unfortunately.
           | 
           | Nice try but Black Lives Matter started after the Michael
           | Brown shooting, which was during the Obama administration.
           | 
           | correction: first started after George Zimmerman was
           | acquitted on murder charges for killing Trayvon Martin, which
           | the year before Michael Brown was killed, still during the
           | Obama administration.
        
         | A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote:
         | For all my dislike of BLM, it is hard to argue that they did
         | not have impact on culture, nation psyche or even law
         | framework. I agree with your 'next emergency' characterization
         | though.
        
         | rhacker wrote:
         | For me it was Kony 2012 that taught me this. Here you have
         | every person in the world with a focus on one goal: capture Joe
         | Kony. Did it happen? No.
         | 
         | The internet is a memey money making machine and nothing more.
        
           | vmception wrote:
           | yes, sell branded merchandise. dropship Q-branded and BLM
           | branded merch. two separate LLCs if you feel you need to.
           | Like how Unilever owns Dove brand and Axe brand. Learn from
           | the Dutch, they've been doing corporations for 600 years.
           | 
           | and derivatives like pitch fork futures.
           | 
           | and cake futures, because eventually they'll get hungry.
           | 
           | okay for the last two I was being facetious but for the first
           | two I am dead serious.
        
             | guerrilla wrote:
             | It's called recouperation.
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recuperation_(politics)
        
               | vmception wrote:
               | I'm doing my part!
        
         | _jal wrote:
         | > Everything no matter how niche is presented as an emergency
         | 
         | A phrase I heard recently for this is "Klaxon culture", and it
         | seems to fit. Effectively, what used to be called information
         | warfare, which was mainly practiced on enemy populations by
         | military agents during war and near-war, has become a
         | democratized, routine tool of domestic politics.
         | 
         | It destroys community, and atomizes populations, among other
         | nasty consequences. I know for me, I have ended up ignoring
         | "real" issues I would have had interest in trying to help with,
         | because I was ignoring the bullshit-machine.
         | 
         | Welcome to the future.
        
           | lazyeye wrote:
           | I'd say its almost certainly true that foreign actors are
           | playing a large role in encouraging its appearance in
           | domestic politics.
           | 
           | But the biggest driver is the mainstream media who no longer
           | have a business model (destroyed by the internet). So now
           | they just generate fake controversy as cheaply as possible,
           | to attract eyeballs for advertisers. And there is nothing
           | cheaper than opinion. Hot-button issues like racism etc are
           | perfect for this.
        
             | JacobThreeThree wrote:
             | >its almost certainly true that foreign actors are playing
             | a large role in encouraging its appearance in domestic
             | politics
             | 
             | I would say it's foreign and domestic actors.
        
           | wonderwonder wrote:
           | I have seen this in real life, my sister cut off contact with
           | my family as we differed with her over a couple social
           | issues. Not even differed, we just did not take them as
           | seriously as she did. Have not spoken to her in over 3 years.
           | Pretty strange.
        
             | david38 wrote:
             | I've seen this happen. Usually the person who leaves calls
             | the others Nazis, un-evolved, redneck, whatever. It's a
             | strong sense of superiority.
             | 
             | I'm curious to see how long, if ever it takes for the
             | average person who does this to realize they over-reacted,
             | or how long it takes for the other party to see the light.
        
       | HPsquared wrote:
       | I think it's more about organization and motivation, not just the
       | number of people.
       | 
       | The "silent majority" doesn't even get their way in many cases,
       | so what hope would a disorganized minority have?
        
         | redisman wrote:
         | Most social movements of the last 5 years haven't been all that
         | organized though. Usually there's no clear leadership. It's all
         | memes
        
       | karpierz wrote:
       | This paper presents a hypothetical model for opinion changing,
       | but doesn't actually try and validate that the model applies to
       | the real world. The empirical datasets that they use are only to
       | inform what the graphs look like, not whether the model
       | accurately models social change. I don't like that the way this
       | work is presented implies that this model says anything about our
       | world.
        
       | ihsw wrote:
        
       | navbaker wrote:
       | I definitely don't want to go back to the social convention of
       | feeling like I have to shake hands every time I meet someone. It
       | went away once Covid hit, but I have a feeling it will come
       | creeping back. Anyone had luck turning down handshakes without
       | coming across as rude, particularly in a business setting? I've
       | found it easier to turn down using self-deprecating humor in a
       | social setting.
        
         | raxxorrax wrote:
         | Never understood what problem people have with shaking hands.
        
           | kayodelycaon wrote:
           | Never understood the problem people have with hugs...
           | 
           | Everyone has a different level of physical touch they desire
           | and a level that they are comfortable with.
        
             | unfocussed_mike wrote:
             | I honestly lament that the hugging culture in my wider
             | social circle has probably permanently gone away (if that
             | social circle ever really recovers, considering it was
             | built around small venue music and art).
             | 
             | The permanent loss of warmth in my life is very noticeable.
        
               | moron4hire wrote:
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | rhacker wrote:
               | That is a pretty rude comment. What is this person
               | foisting on other people?
        
               | unfocussed_mike wrote:
               | OK then.
        
             | klyrs wrote:
             | Hugs are great! But, where dudes can be creepy with a
             | handshake, a hug is much more vulnerable. Hugs are for
             | trusted friends.
        
           | klyrs wrote:
           | As a woman, handshakes aren't always great. Some guys take
           | the 'firm' thing way too far and try to crush my hand: I'm
           | not impressed, I'm angry that my hand is sore. One time that
           | was a bruise that lasted several days. Other guys are creeps
           | and keep holding on to trap me in conversation; usually to
           | flirt or say something completely inappropriate. I get that
           | people are touch deprived, but it lends legitimacy to the
           | touch depraved. Hug your buds, I'd be happier with the
           | Japanese bow in business settings.
        
             | raxxorrax wrote:
             | Yeah, there are the heavy squeezers, but they are quite
             | rare. Otherwise even women can shake hands.
        
               | klyrs wrote:
               | You expressed curiosity about why people dislike
               | handshakes. I've been in the biz for over 20 years now.
               | In my experience, about 1 in 100 guys are going to do one
               | of the two behaviors I mentioned. That means I can expect
               | at least one every few days at a conference. "Rare" in
               | your experience doesn't translate to "uncommon" in mine.
               | It's not an irrational fear.
        
             | BurningFrog wrote:
             | I suspect - with zero evidence - that handshakes are a male
             | way of greeting, and women got included in it, because what
             | else would you do, but it doesn't work well for them.
        
               | User23 wrote:
               | This is consistent with my experience. I can't recall the
               | last time I saw a woman shake hands where it wasn't
               | basically obligatory. Men on the other hand do. The
               | difference in behaviors is most noticeable in informal
               | settings where personal preference can dictate behavior.
        
               | klyrs wrote:
               | It's also a standard greeting in north American business
               | culture. Failing to fit culture is a "legitimate" reason
               | to be excluded. And yes, lots of men have expressed that
               | handshakes are a men's club. I know guys do the crushing
               | handshake thing as a dominance game. I'd _love_ to be
               | left out of that garbage without being deprived of equal
               | opportunity.
        
               | ska wrote:
               | > I know guys do the crushing handshake thing as a
               | dominance game.
               | 
               | It's ironic how an attempt to show dominance is actually
               | such a clear demonstration of (psychological) weakness.
        
               | BurningFrog wrote:
               | I can understand the crushing handshake as some kind of
               | game between men.
               | 
               | Doing it to a woman seems more like a form of assault.
        
               | klyrs wrote:
               | No. Just like ass-slapping, it's assault if it's
               | unwanted, regardless of gender.
        
               | 5040 wrote:
               | Like everything, it depends on the context. Ass-slapping
               | athletes are different than Ass-slapping construction
               | workers.
        
               | 3729426s73 wrote:
               | No. Consent is the only thing that matters. Gender and
               | profession is completely irrelevant. It should be obvious
               | that you don't touch people without their consent.
        
               | commandlinefan wrote:
               | Not sure if it's urban legend or not, but I read
               | somewhere that handshakes started in feudal times: you
               | shook each others arms to make sure nobody was hiding a
               | knife underneath their armor. But that might be another
               | "railroad tracks are the width they are because of roman
               | war horses" story.
        
               | DeWilde wrote:
               | Maybe, I've noticed that most females prefer the hug
               | greet over a handshake greet.
        
               | 3729426s73 wrote:
               | I don't think it has anything to do with gender. I'm a
               | man and have the same complaints about handshaking as
               | klyrs, and the person who crushed my hand the hardest was
               | a woman.
        
           | s5300 wrote:
        
         | DiggyJohnson wrote:
         | I miss handshakes. As a young male, I value a convention that
         | requires men to be in contact with one another, and to look
         | each other in the eyes.
         | 
         | I've taken to fistbumps, but I miss handshakes. I also despise
         | the idea of everyone being on different wavelengths regarding
         | greeting gestures for the next 15 years. I don't want to be a
         | part of this friction!
         | 
         | This problem isn't going to keep me from being happy, or
         | putting food on the table, but a lot of good work started with
         | shared trust and a handshake.
        
           | shard wrote:
           | Of course, handshakes are culture-dependent. Large parts of
           | Asia had always been handshake free unless meeting
           | Westerners.
        
           | tokai wrote:
           | Why not touching and keeping eye contact with your friends,
           | and let strangers have some space?
        
             | throwaway22032 wrote:
             | The entire point of a handshake is as an introduction.
             | 
             | They become no longer strangers via that interaction.
        
             | suslik wrote:
             | How else would I make sure their knife hand is empty?
        
           | gowld wrote:
           | > requires men to be in contact with one another, and to look
           | each other in the eyes.
           | 
           | Why? That favors con artists over honestly nervous people.
        
             | 7steps2much wrote:
             | I can only speak for myself, but it's nice to have physical
             | contact with people. An easy way to battle the touch
             | starvation
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | Strangers don't owe you that and there's still a global
               | pandemic on.
               | 
               | Pay for a massage or take up ballroom dancing or
               | something if touch matters to you.
        
               | 7steps2much wrote:
               | Oh they don't owe me anything, and I didn't mean to say
               | that they do.
               | 
               | However, I am free to decide who I would rather do
               | business with/work with. And as such I am free to prefer
               | to work with people who shake my hand.
               | 
               | As for the pandemic, I don't think it will remain an
               | issue for forever. And even if it does, I don't mind
               | carrying a bottle of hand sanitizer around.
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | Yes, you are free to decide with whom you choose to do
               | business.
               | 
               | The pandemic has dragged on a lot longer than expected.
               | We still don't have a clear end in sight and some people
               | feel this is "the new normal."
               | 
               | I find it creepy and inappropriate that someone would
               | feel that I need to service their touch starvation to do
               | business with them when they can't be bothered to arrange
               | their personal life to adequately meet that need for
               | themselves. It smacks of something just shy of sexual
               | favors since sex is a large part of how most people
               | quench their need for physical touch.
        
               | dmw1 wrote:
               | I would strongly disagree that sex is how most people
               | quench their need for physical touch.
               | 
               | Not being able to hug my grandparents during the pandemic
               | took a big emotional toll on me.
               | 
               | I pet my dog, hug my kids and shake hands with my
               | friends. These are all examples of how I use touch to
               | show affection in my life.
               | 
               | However, I strongly agree that your preferences should be
               | completely respected especially in a business setting.
        
               | 7steps2much wrote:
               | It's a rather far jump to go from handshake to sexual
               | favours in my opinion, but if you feel that way then of
               | course you can just choose to not shake people's hands.
               | Nobody forcing you to after all!
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | Nobody's _forcing_ me but if enough people refuse to do
               | business with me because I don 't shake their hand, I --
               | what? -- get to choose between shaking hands and going
               | hungry?
               | 
               | No pressure.
               | 
               | Just an FYI: I'm a woman. In my experience, a lot of men
               | looking for excuses to touch me, such as shake my hand,
               | are really angling to get next to me sexually.
               | 
               | Maybe that's not a big issue in your life. It
               | unfortunately is in mine.
               | 
               | Edit: just to be crystal clear, my reason for not shaking
               | hands is germ control, as stated elsewhere.
        
               | 7steps2much wrote:
               | What I was referring to is that such a situation is
               | highly unlikely. Even if we do not take current labour
               | shortage and the historic lack of IT people into account
               | I am certain that there would be more than enough
               | employers or business partners who do not care about
               | whether or not someone is willing to shake their hand.
               | 
               | But yes, in general if a society places enough value on a
               | social norm to decide whether or not to do business with
               | a certain person it is possible that certain people will
               | be alienated based on their willingness to participate in
               | such a social norm.
               | 
               | And, to address your edit: I am fully aware that we are
               | currently in a pandemic and I am not saying that we
               | should go around and start getting overly close to one
               | another for no reason.
               | 
               | As the original content all the way up this chain I was
               | mostly referring to a time post COVID, assuming that such
               | an outset is realistic. If not then hand shaking will be
               | the least pressing problem regardless.
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | I am medically handicapped. My desire to not shake hands
               | is not specific to the pandemic.
               | 
               | I don't really think the pandemic will end without social
               | norms changing. Handshakes are a social norm that spreads
               | germs. I think we would do well to move to something
               | else. In many cultures they bow.
               | 
               | So my belief is that we only get to post pandemic by
               | doing away with things like handshakes. That's my opinion
               | and I can't back it up with studies or anything, but your
               | mental models and mine just don't mesh well in that
               | regard.
               | 
               | You have a good day. I think you and I are likely
               | speaking somewhat past each other and I'm not interested
               | in engaging further in what is likely pointless
               | miscommunication.
        
               | WWLink wrote:
               | You forgot it's not just a handshake. It's often a
               | shoulder touch or a tug or a really hard hand squeeze to
               | assert dominance or whatever other nonsense they read in
               | their book on how to be a creepy con artist.
        
               | WWLink wrote:
               | I decide to not do business with people who expect a
               | handshake. If they reach out I'm already game over. If
               | they bring up sports.. oh hell yea I'm gonna stand up and
               | walk right out. We have nothing more to discuss.
        
               | stale2002 wrote:
               | Well then problem solved, and both of you don't have to
               | interact with each other?
               | 
               | I am not sure why someone else's preferences would offend
               | you so much.
               | 
               | Sometimes, different people just have different ways of
               | interacting with each other, and that is totally fine,
               | and you don't have to be friends.
               | 
               | There is no need to be upset at them.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | moron4hire wrote:
               | Why do you need physical touch from relative strangers?
        
               | kerneloftruth wrote:
               | When you don't want them to remain strangers.
        
               | dmw1 wrote:
               | Seems to me that the ubiquity of such greetings across
               | all cultures would imply that you're the exception here,
               | no?
        
               | DoreenMichele wrote:
               | A lot of cultures _bow_ rather than shake hands.
        
               | gehatare wrote:
               | Other cultures require you to get a lot closer than a
               | handshake.
        
               | simonsarris wrote:
               | I'm baffled at how millennia old* rituals involved with
               | no-longer-being-strangers are lost on some commenters
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Funerary_stele_of_Thra
               | sea...
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OTArsameiaSockelIIIDex
               | ios...
        
           | Dig1t wrote:
           | Hey I agree with you on this one, you seem to have a lot of
           | people disagreeing with you but I also like handshakes. I
           | think they serve a good purpose in establishing a rapport and
           | helping to build a conversation with a new person. Elbow
           | bumps and fist bumps just don't have the same effect. Of
           | course, we're all more health conscious nowadays, I think
           | it's pretty easy to not touch my face after shaking someone's
           | hand and hand sanitizer is now ubiquitous, so it doesn't seem
           | like a big deal to me.
        
           | fartcannon wrote:
           | Keep your gross clammy hands to yourself, please and thank
           | you.
        
           | throwaway22032 wrote:
           | Same.
           | 
           | I just go for the handshake.
           | 
           | IME the people who reject it are almost universally socially
           | awkward in other ways anyway, so whatever. Call it a filter.
        
         | imwillofficial wrote:
         | Famous speakers I've meet have intercepted the handshake with a
         | fist bump in my pre Covid days.
        
         | foobarian wrote:
         | At least we don't have the unfortunate custom of two opposite
         | cheek kisses like the Italians. Boy was that awkward when I
         | realized people here thought I was some kind of Borat weirdo.
        
           | ithkuil wrote:
           | Wait to see places where you have to give three kisses!
        
         | moron4hire wrote:
         | I used to tell people my carpal tunnel was too bad to do
         | handshakes. Or sometimes I'd tell them I had just sneezed on my
         | hand.
         | 
         | There was one guy I just flat out told, "I'm not going to shake
         | your hand". Ex-coworker, was never polite to me when we were
         | working together, actively sabotaged my tenure there, had the
         | nerve to look hurt.
        
           | DiggyJohnson wrote:
           | Not trying to start a flamewar on anything, but that seems
           | very unprofessional/counter-productive, so I'm just trying to
           | understand your thought process here.
           | 
           | Do you have a phobia of physical touch?
           | 
           | I shake the hands of departing coworkers even if we have a
           | cool relationship. It's a simple, polite, no-frills way of
           | saying "goodbye". You're not giving them grace or anything.
           | Is it not more difficult to refuse and say "I'm not going to
           | shake your hand" than it is to shake and move on? If they
           | were impolite, you come across as hostile.
           | 
           | Just curious for more details.
        
             | moron4hire wrote:
             | I don't _usually_ avoid handshakes, but I don 't offer
             | them, either. Handshakes are very culturally specific. I've
             | learned to not assume everyone wants a handshake. For
             | example, I've met several Muslim women who felt
             | uncomfortable shaking hands with men, but often felt
             | obligated to reciprocate. In my current job, I run into so
             | many people of so many different cultures that it's best to
             | stay on the safe side and avoid putting someone in such a
             | situation.
             | 
             | And while I don't have a phobia of most physical touch,
             | there are people who use the handshake as an excuse to take
             | a hug. When I identify those people, I try to avoid the
             | hand shake. "Sorry, I'm just a hugger" is not an excuse for
             | violating someone's personal space. I'm not a "hugger". If
             | I don't know you, don't touch me in that overly familiar
             | way.
             | 
             | As for the guy I flat-out refused: it was a game night
             | organized by some of my ex-colleagues, about 50/50 a mix of
             | people who were still at the company and folks like me who
             | were no longer there. This guy was not invited but somehow
             | found out about it and crashed the party. Part of why I was
             | no longer with the company was because he had decided he
             | didn't like that I had taken leave when my 2nd child was
             | born and went out of his way to keep me from getting
             | assigned to projects and even tanked a successful project
             | that I was building.
             | 
             | I also think "professionalism" is highly overrated,
             | especially when people use "professionalism for thee, but
             | not for me" to stymie backlash against their toxic
             | behavior. In the grand scheme of things, he's a nobody.
             | That's not to say I'm a "somebody", but rather I don't
             | think refusing his handshake is going to have any kind of
             | impact on my career.
        
           | gowld wrote:
           | > "I'm not going to shake your hand".
           | 
           | That only had the intended effect because you constrasted it
           | against handshaking. It wouldn't work if you didn't touch
           | anyone.
        
           | klyrs wrote:
           | > Or sometimes I'd tell them I had just sneezed on my hand.
           | 
           | How many people pick their noses when nobody is watching, and
           | don't wash their hands?
        
             | moron4hire wrote:
             | Sit at a busy traffic intersection sometime and just watch
             | people in their cars. It's a lot.
        
               | commandlinefan wrote:
               | Watch how many men leave public restrooms without washing
               | their hands, too.
        
         | DoreenMichele wrote:
         | I have a serious medical condition. I rarely shake hands
         | because of it. I get sick easily and avoiding exposure to germs
         | is an important means for me to stay off drugs and out of the
         | ER.
         | 
         | I work from home. My life is online, so I mostly just avoid the
         | issue. To whatever degree you can handle things by phone or
         | Zoom or whatever, that's one means to make it less of an issue.
         | 
         | When I have had to meet people, I have successfully turned down
         | handshakes at times. Body language can sometimes help sidestep
         | the question. Not sure how to explain that but just don't be
         | "open" to it and some people won't offer their hand. If they
         | offer and I must decline, I'm polite, warm, friendly and assure
         | them "It's not you. It's me."
         | 
         | Practice makes perfect. The first few times may feel awkward
         | but it gets better.
        
         | throwaway22032 wrote:
         | I don't consider people who refuse to shake my hand to be rude.
         | 
         | Generally I consider them to be hypochondriacs. This places
         | them directly in opposition to me, because it strongly
         | correlates with their likelihood to be in the 'cus covid' clan.
         | 
         | In that case, there is no way to avoid being rude, because the
         | reason you don't want to do the thing is precisely the reason I
         | _do_ want to, as a show of resistance against antisocial
         | behaviours.
        
           | oh_sigh wrote:
           | Do you own a dog house?
        
           | notpachet wrote:
           | Your skill in resisting antisocial behaviours has increased
           | to 76! Your skill in resisting antisocial behaviours has
           | increased to 77!
        
             | throwaway22032 wrote:
             | You have unlocked "clandestine hang out"!
             | 
             | You have been invited to "meet up guild!"
             | 
             | You have acquired "partner that actually wants to go on a
             | holiday!
             | 
             | You get coronavirus! You now have 23,773/23,774 HP! Oh no!
        
           | Cd00d wrote:
           | I don't think it's helpful to make assumptions about the
           | _reason_ for someone 's personal preference or comfort and
           | then to deny them the respect of empathy.
           | 
           | If you're rude because you jump to the conclusion that I
           | "irrationally" fear covid, you may need to consider that
           | you're at risk of radicalization. Just a thought.
        
             | throwaway22032 wrote:
             | If conservatism is radical to you, that's cool by me. At
             | the end of the day, we don't need to agree.
        
               | ska wrote:
               | > If conservatism is radical to you
               | 
               | non-sequitur, I think.
        
               | throwaway22032 wrote:
               | Indeed, I don't think his comment makes sense either.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | Cd00d wrote:
               | TBH that's a very baffling definition of conservatism to
               | me. Makes me wonder what the root of your defined values
               | are.
        
               | throwaway22032 wrote:
               | First search result, Wikipedia:
               | 
               | Conservatism Conservatism is an aesthetic, cultural,
               | social, and political philosophy, which seeks to promote
               | and to preserve traditional social institutions.
               | 
               | Literally that; I place value in traditional social
               | institutions.
               | 
               | Like my University, my local pub, the office, lecture
               | halls, and yeah, the handshake. Freedom of travel. That
               | stuff.
               | 
               | I think they're more important than coronavirus nonsense.
               | A lot more. Certainly now, so now we have to fight to get
               | them back to where they were. They're worth as much to me
               | as one of my limbs would be, they're life itself.
        
               | LoveGracePeace wrote:
               | A lot of people including me (and I'm old, conservative,
               | technical geek) are not actively social. Not being
               | actively social is not at all the same as antisocial.
               | Antisocial is associated with a negative behavioral
               | aspect, a disorder potentially. Not wanting to have a
               | beer at the pub doesn't make me antisocial. I don't mind
               | shaking hands but, from a medical perspective it seems
               | like a tradition that would best be left in the past.
        
               | throwaway22032 wrote:
               | Disagree on the last part (coronavirus is not transferred
               | much if at all via hands), agree on the rest of the post.
               | 
               | If you don't enjoy the pub that's fine, different strokes
               | for different folks. That's why we have freedom of
               | association, I hang out with my people, you with yours,
               | job done.
               | 
               | What I'm calling antisocial is bans, restrictions, shame,
               | etc etc. The virus is out there and basically everyone is
               | gonna get it, turning onto each other is hate for the
               | sake of hate.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | Cd00d wrote:
               | Hey, I get it - the pandemic has been very hard and very
               | frustrating.
               | 
               | But, please consider that you're not doing any favors to
               | your beloved institutions by being rude to your peers
               | there as a result of your assumptions about what
               | motivates them.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | nicoburns wrote:
               | To be fair, the reason freedom of travel has been limited
               | is precisely because the virus has the power to take away
               | people's lives and also the health of their vital organs
               | (e.g heart, lungs). I think it's reasonable to want to
               | fight for normality and tradition, but there has to be a
               | balance.
               | 
               | Here in the UK we're nearly there. Our government is
               | considering removing all restrictions sometime in the
               | next 2 months (it may end up being a bit more phased -
               | lot's of people are in favour of continuing to mandate
               | self-isolation _when you actually currently have the
               | virus_ ). If you want that where you live then consider
               | advocating for vaccination uptake, because that's what's
               | allowing us to make these changes here without triggering
               | a public health crisis.
        
               | throwaway22032 wrote:
               | I live in the UK and my balance throughout has been
               | "completely ignore all of the scaremongering".
               | 
               | 1% risk of death. Wait, now sub 0.1%, thx vaccine.
               | Meanwhile schools are still in dystopia mode,
               | Universities are nothing like they were when I went,
               | almost every job in my field is gone, shitloads of
               | businesses have permaclosed, etc.
               | 
               | We can't even reverse it now, loads of it is baked in.
               | Remove all legal restrictions and half of the people are
               | still wearing face masks and avoiding socialising 'cus
               | Covid'.
               | 
               | March-May 2020 kind of sort of made sense (I still think
               | we could have just asked people rather than using legal
               | force but whatever). Beyond that, sunk cost after sunk
               | cost and just an increasingly bizarre game of one-
               | upmanship "look, I can make my life worse than yours!".
               | 
               | _This_ is radicalization - believing an ever deepening
               | web of bollocks and as a result drastically changing
               | one's way of interacting with the world. They don't even
               | remember how they used to live and why.
               | 
               | I stand by my statement - it is conservative to accept a
               | slightly increased risk in order to maintain our
               | traditions. It is radical to flip the world on a dime.
               | (The UK Conservative Party is emphatically not
               | conservative by any reasonable definition).
        
               | pessimizer wrote:
               | Fighting against the germ theory of disease is definitely
               | conservatism.
        
               | throwaway22032 wrote:
               | The germ theory of disease is well established, what's
               | that got to do with the price of fish?
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | wonderwonder wrote:
           | exactly, its also very important to me that I judge
           | individuals over a single polarizing issue and discard
           | anything else that makes them a human. My reaction to other
           | peoples opinion on that issue also totally makes everyone
           | else a whacko and not me. /S
        
             | throwaway22032 wrote:
             | Refusing a handshake is an action, it's not an opinion.
             | 
             | I don't really care what opinions my friends and business
             | contacts hold, but if their actions show that they're
             | afraid of even touching me then like, we're just not going
             | to get on, what's the point? Call it a day, plenty of fish.
        
         | dahfizz wrote:
         | I normally just go for a fist bump if they put their hand out
         | for a handshake, and they almost always oblige. I don't find
         | myself in formal business situations often, though.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote:
       | "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable
       | one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore
       | all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
       | 
       | As many here, I am skeptical of the results. There is only a
       | reference to 40% of the population as the main finding, but I did
       | not see a clear reference to the relative power of each
       | individual in the population, power centers or all of the other
       | little pieces that could easily undermine the result.
        
         | commandlinefan wrote:
         | "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed,
         | citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing
         | that ever has."
         | 
         | -- Margaret Mead
        
       | PuppyTailWags wrote:
       | > In particular, we show that the critical mass required to
       | induce norm change is dramatically reduced when non-committed
       | members of the population are less susceptible to social
       | influence than previously assumed.
       | 
       | What precisely does this mean? It's not intuitive that it takes a
       | smaller number of people to change a norm when others are less
       | likely to change from influence.
        
         | yamrzou wrote:
         | A possible explanation is that when non-committed members are
         | more susceptible to social influence, they are more likely to
         | side with the majority. From the paper:
         | 
         | > However, as consensus becomes easier (increasing b), the
         | social influence within groups tends to favour the name of the
         | initial majority (B).
        
         | mLuby wrote:
         | Perhaps it's commenting on the level of entrenchment of the
         | norm: it'd be easier for one good argument to sway those with
         | "strong opinions weakly held" than it is to sway folks who say
         | "I'll change when everyone else does too."
        
       | adolph wrote:
       | See also Taleb's "The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dictatorship of
       | the Small Minority"
       | 
       | https://medium.com/incerto/the-most-intolerant-wins-the-dict...
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Discussed a few times here:
         | 
         |  _The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dictatorship of the Small
         | Minority (2015)_ -
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20837171 - Aug 2019 (76
         | comments)
         | 
         |  _The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dictatorship of the Small
         | Minority (2016)_ -
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16454645 - Feb 2018 (214
         | comments)
         | 
         |  _The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dictatorship of the Small
         | Minority_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12576184 -
         | Sept 2016 (6 comments)
         | 
         |  _The Dictatorship of the Small Minority by Nassim Nicholas
         | Taleb_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12298753 - Aug
         | 2016 (20 comments)
         | 
         |  _The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dictatorship of the Small
         | Minority_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12290770 - Aug
         | 2016 (10 comments)
         | 
         |  _The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dictatorship of the Small
         | Minority_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12285545 - Aug
         | 2016 (55 comments)
         | 
         |  _The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dominance of the Stubborn
         | Minority [pdf]_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10687471
         | - Dec 2015 (20 comments)
         | 
         |  _The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dominance of the Stubborn
         | Minority [pdf]_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10567630
         | - Nov 2015 (52 comments)
        
       | druadh wrote:
       | I can't understand what this title is saying
        
         | imwillofficial wrote:
         | What do you mean? You don't understand how a special group of
         | non special people can change things? ;)
        
       | koreanguy wrote:
        
       | LoveGracePeace wrote:
       | I tried to read the article. It comes across to me as unrequited
       | teen angst culminating in parabolic disharmony; kind of like a
       | Picasso painting.
        
         | shard wrote:
         | Just curious what is it about Picasso's paintings that come
         | across as unrequited teen angst?
        
       | PuppyTailWags wrote:
       | I'm confused by this analysis. It cites no other resources beyond
       | wikipedia, a dude's take on twitter, and an msn article when the
       | other article actually has citations to other research. Where is
       | your evidence that the 40% is "intentionally wrong; propaganda"?
       | It's pointing to numerous other studies where the number ranges
       | from 10 to 40% and examines why. This seems like a bad faith
       | understanding of what the research is trying to accomplish.
        
       | RobRivera wrote:
       | placate the need for change through low effort seemingly
       | impactful convenience, you quall motivation for change
        
       | notacoward wrote:
       | Key finding:
       | 
       | "the critical mass required to induce norm change is dramatically
       | reduced when non-committed members of the population are less
       | susceptible to social influence than previously assumed"
       | 
       | This suggests a corollary: that a _general_ weakening of people
       | 's receptivity to social influence makes disruption of norms
       | easier and thus more frequent. This seems closely related to the
       | ongoing "truth decay" efforts which - not specific policy
       | positions - are the primary focus of professional disinformation
       | groups.
        
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       (page generated 2022-02-16 23:02 UTC)