— Musings —08.09.2023 06:48 PM
I hate people
Dear Every Partisan on Social Media Platforms:
You won't win the election here. Ever.
Sincerely,
Many Sane People
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) August 9, 2023
— Musings —08.09.2023 06:48 PM
Dear Every Partisan on Social Media Platforms:
You won't win the election here. Ever.
Sincerely,
Many Sane People
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) August 9, 2023
Warren,
I hate those who quite deliberately act like assholes on Social Media. Others can debate whether I’ve already reached that threshold.
Me thinks the latest article struck a nerve or two. Mission accomplished for a columnist! I tell people regularly and at least once on this site that they should stop their venting on social media and do something that will help solve whatever they think the problem is. Donate, canvas, man the phones, help put up signs, raise money, etc. There are lots of things you can do. It actually can be very satisfying. This is about the nicest note I have ever got after conservative Bouma squeaked out a win in 2018 and we finally had a conservative after 19 years of Liberal Dave Levac(he retired). It was one of the last ones to get called. It is hyperbolic of course but much better than a like on Twitter.
“Martin,
I know we don’t talk much and that’s because I simply (and perhaps selfishly) rest easy knowing you’re at the helm of fundraising. And I know that you’re in this for the result and not gratification. But please accept my most sincere thanks and appreciation. We could not have won this campaign against every single polling company in Canada’s predictions without deploying every possible resource, and that would never have been possible without you. 621 votes – when you boil it down it’s truly your efforts that made the difference.
Sincerest gratitude,
Dennis”
Martin,
As we say in French, chapeau!
100%!
Amen brother.
In 2008 everyone was convinced that Obama won because of his clever use of social media… as if that was some sort of game changing savvy development in the development of campaigns. I remember telling people “you know who else uses social media? John McCain.” So did Mitt Romney, Stephane Dion, Michael Ignatieff, Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole. People shooting their mouth off on social media doesn’t mean F.A. in a campaign. In terms of actually changing minds, TV is still king of the jungle. Traditional media outlets (including the online version) remains a close second, followed by radio. Just my opinion.
I don’t think anybody cares what we write on Warren’s site. It’s just for fun. I really doubt it would have any impact on the next election. But, I do think that Facebook, and twitter have enough followers that they have a significant impact on elections.
Curious V,
Twitter is garbage and Facebook is generally not known for thoughtful and reasoned political argument. As Vancouverois rightly said, this is the place to be, where quite literally leaders and governments have been made and unmade in the past. Politicos and political junkies rely on THE WAR ROOM for intelligent and insightful political commentary and podcasts.
Politics has turned into garbage because of twitter, but it’s still a force – fakebook is also garbage, but I see people who had never been interested in politics sharing conspiracy theory about the pandemic, and climate change regularly – they all support Poilievre.
There are whack jobs on all sides of the political spectrum. One that actually gave oxygen to the theory that 9-11 was an inside job IS IN CABINET. What precisely is your point.
Since Trump emboldened them, and then we had a pandemic, it’s the conservative movement, in Canada and the USA, that takes the cake when it comes to conspiracy theory – and then today I saw on the news Poilievre trumpeting a WEF conspiracy theory. Sure, they can come from anywhere, but since Trump, conservative conspiracy theory takes the cake. That’s the point. Manipulating huge swaths of the population. How many people died because of covid conspiracy, the kind we all saw at the convoy protest. How many lives are at stake if we don’t curb emissions? They cause an awful lot of turmoil. That’s the point.
then I read this
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-world-economic-forum-rhetoric-1.6935294
Yes-everyone got that memo in the last 24 hours. You didn’t need to repost it. I don’t know. I think 9-11 truthers are worse but your mileage may vary, of course.
Curious V,
Do you honestly think that Joe and Jane Frontporch actually give a fuck about the WEF, much less Poilièvre’s position on same? Not even in the top twenty of things people care about. It’s the economy and inflation. Nothing else. And that’s precisely why HimselfTM is in swan-dive territory in the polls. Plain and simple. It’s not rocket science.
This. Although the MSM is sure TRYING to make them care, but I digress. To me, that is more of the story here-the memo that went out from the PMO.
And Curious, just for the record. I agree it is not a conspiracy, their goals are right out in the open:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/conspiracy-theories-aside-there-something-fishy-about-great-reset/
You can agree with them or not. But what I find quite funny is that it was the left that used to get all excited about the WEF. Naomi Klein, Charlie Angus, etc. And the people who used to CRITICIZE Harper for attending WEF are now using his attendance to defend it. Kind of like when the left trotted out Josh Bolton, who they consider to be a war criminal, because he was no fan of T.
Like I keep saying, everything has flipped.
“It’s just for fun.”
Yes. That is clear in your case.
well… quite honestly… I’m on this website just for fun and 100% empathize with that notion.
Possibly one of the few things where I agree with Curious V. On this website we get to shoot our mouth off about politics, free of consequence or serious criticism. We get to say silly over the top things we’d be afraid to say at work or at a thanksgiving dinner.
If you want to make a real difference, join a campaign, volunteer for your union, donate to a cause, start a business….
But be warned…. Campaigns in particular are a stupendous source of … FUN!
All for fun Shawn. I bet we agree on a lot more than that.
Ha. I actually pull my punches here. Would like to stick around. Don’t pull my punches at work-at least with my partners. Much to their chagrin, actually. Definitely do at Thanksgiving dinner though. Everyone in my family is WAY to the left of me except my dad.
Another thing we agree about is Mark Garneau. I also liked him. I’m not involved with the Liberals though, so I had nothing to do with Trudeau’s selection as leader. Also, we agree that Poilievre is bat shit crazy, at least his Youtube video’s, and penchant for conspiracy theory. The only thing that stands out in terms of disagreement is that you hate Trudeau, and I don’t. Maybe you don’t agree that we need a national disability income of 2200, and big investment in subsidized housing for seniors and disabled people? The difference is your hatred of Trudeau – I don’t hate him, and I think he’s a better option than Poilievre – I think your support of Poilievre is just to get rid of Trudeau, and I don’t think it’s worth it, Poilievre is too extreme.
Responding to Curious V below… I don’t hate JT. I don’t think his mess is even his fault. He doesn’t have the competencies to be blamed for anything. The problem is the people around him have normalized incompetence and dishonesty to a degree never before experienced in Canadian politics. The Liberal Party has known nothing but shame and disgrace since 2013. Pretending that JT is a valid leader is only extending / entrenching our decade of darkness. We all know it is only going to get worse…. every single day the Justin circus is allowed to go on, the shame and disgrace will only grow.
Re Poilievre…. I don’t think he’s batshit crazy…. I think he just flirts with oddball contrarian pop culture to raise money from the same naïve rubes who sent money to the Preston Manning and Stephen Harper.
Liberals unfortunately have no hope of challenging Pierre Poilievre until the party returns to the mainstream. That is nothing less than a crime against the membership. Liberal backroom elites seem to think losing to Conservatives on purpose is OK. I don’t think that’s OK and more and more I am hearing the same from grassroots Liberals.
At the moment, Pierre Poilievre is the only choice Liberals can turn to if they want their party back. The alternative of course would be for the Liberal Caucus / Cabinet to return to normalcy and force a leadership change. Since they won’t do that, Liberals have nothing to look forward to, except a miserable, historic annihilation at the polls. As a Liberal, I’m not interested in cheering that on… rather I prefer to put an end to it by voting accordingly.
I also agree about Garneau. I don’t know about Ronald, but I actually don’t hate Justin. I used to shake my head at people who said they “hated” Bush or Harper. My emotion when it comes to Trudeau is mostly confusion that he could still have a hold on some people. And, as I have said before(not sure about Ronald), I couldn’t care less who people vote for, it is just incomprehensible to me how Justin could still be anyone’s choice. 2015, fine-understandable. But not since May 18, 2016.
Martin,
Harper’s people crossed my red line and now Trudeau’s have done the same. So…I have a lot more work to do in politics, until this government is G-O-N-E. They can count on my diligence.
One of the things that blows me away about uber-partisans on social media is how they truly cannot conceive of people with moderate, mixed or centrist views. Uber-partisans tend to have this automatic, unexamined assumption that everyone else is as partisan as they are, be it for Team A or Team B.
For example, if you criticize Donald Trump on social media, his partisans immediately accuse you of being in the tank for Joe Biden (and prior to Biden, Hillary). These people simply cannot conceive of the possibility that you could have huge problems with Trump but not be terribly enthusiastic about Biden, or that you’re perfectly aware of Biden’s shortcomings and that you realize that Hunter is a total mess etc.
In a way it fascinates me.
Doc,
Most of them are very far from Mensa calibre.
I like to use a driving analogy for the extremists on both sides: in Quebec, all I have to do to correctly depict idiots is to describe their driving patterns — how they constantly go through red lights; have yet to identify and understand the nature of a flicker; go out of their way to turn street corners in my lane instead of theirs…I could go on. In short, just not that bright. Dovetails perfectly with your depiction of the politically collectively stupid.
Of course Ronald, everybody cares about inflation and the cost of living – two things Poilievre has no answer for. Just more wacko bs from him. Issues the entire world is dealing with, so it isn’t specific to Trudeau’s government and they aren’t to blame – not entirely anyway. The one area they really have to act on is housing – I understand it’s a mixed issue that requires the feds, provinces and municipalities to get together on – so sure, it’s the federal government that has to take the lead to push to build affordable houses that municipalities always decline – it’s what we need. Also, they should be making a large investment in subsidized housing for seniors and people with disabilities. Inflation came from the pandemic shutting down Chinese factories and the war in the Ukraine, and climate change, supply chains etc. So sure those are the issues, but Poilievre has no solution, and his reasoning when he assigns blame is very flawed. It’s like the rest of his spiel – it’s almost entirely born of conspiracy theory.
Also, the conspiracy theory stuff really matters because it just helps to crumble everything else that comes out of his mouth. All nonsense.
He is talking about this but you aren’t paying attention.
https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/imt/2009/01/20/the-mathematics-of-bureaucracy-explains-how-they-grow-and-at-what-point-they-become-inefficient/
It’s why the retired rich civil servant widows who have won the housing lottery in Toronto are standing with Justin. The problem is that the math is so scary, that voting block will just get bigger and bigger and then we are royally screwed.
Perish the thought that maybe one or two could just not get replaced when they retire but the minute you say that out loud, you are labelled as a fascist that will let people die in the streets. Instead, Justin gives them all raises just to lock in that vote. It is actually sickening.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/sabrina-maddeaux-under-trudeau-mediocre-civil-servants-give-themselves-an-a
Martin,
Of course, the elephant in the room is the rate of mediocrity both in the public and private sector. Take the too-big-to-fail banks in the United States. Thanks to their lending practices and investment approach, they are ALL already technically insolvent, just like in 2008. Can’t get any more mediocre than that. But for The FR reverse repo window they would all already be bust.
Curious,
Nope. The number one reason for inflation creation is due to the massive expansion of the money supply via the digitization creation of money by The Federal Reserve, The Bank of Canada and other central banks since 2008. Money creation, by its very nature, is ALWAYS and INEVITABLY massively inflationary.
God bless the Austrian school. They don’t always get everything right but they get most things right, unlike the Keynesians, MMT crowd and other economic schools.