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Original poster

Week 3. What will this week bring? Trump thread

994 replies

amispartacus · 06/02/2017 11:53

Continued

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2846025-Trump-thread-continued-Who-rules-the-USA-Vote-now

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23
BoreOfWhabylon · 06/02/2017 12:35

Also, has anyone else noticed that Bannon looks just like Beethoven?

It's a sign.

But of what?

Week 3. What will this week bring? Trump thread
Formerpigwrestler9 · 06/02/2017 12:37

What if the tweets are actually carefully crafted to push certain button with certain groups?
He's working with people who analyse online activity to measure in real time the responses to everything he says and does

klassy · 06/02/2017 12:38

I've just created a fake twitter profile and followed the few accounts Trump follows.

It is, of course, a total exultant echo chamber, especially because the people who won the Super Bowl weren't predicted to (so you can't ever rely on predictions or data).

The "Fox and Friends" account tells you exactly where he's getting his "news" from.

Interestingly the only person he follows who seems to slightly disagree with him now is Mika Brzezinski.

Week 3. What will this week bring? Trump thread
PlectrumElectrum · 06/02/2017 12:41

This is a FAKE place mark. If anyone says it's real, they're LYING. Sad, but I'm calling the shots. I've got 2000% approval & that's a FACT. StarStarStar See? I've even got GOLD STARS.

BiglyBadgers · 06/02/2017 12:43

bore there are some pictures where Bannon looks disturbingly like David Lynch. For a moment I did toy with the idea that this is all actually a really high concept Lynch project. He does like to cameo in his own work after all.

Week 3. What will this week bring? Trump thread
Deejoda · 06/02/2017 12:44

Maggie I can confirm that twitler is as thick as a pair of scottish thermal woolly socks. Yes, those are the best woollies. The very best in the world.

And I share this from fb
m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10208692297889568&id=1374818528

birdybirdywoofwoof · 06/02/2017 12:44

Trump likes tweeting and Twitter must love him tweeting and FB loves him facebooking.

I don't know how it could work, but I idly wonder if the resistance should consider days of boycotting social media entirely. I wonder if it would be possible to cut off his oxygen but also force the social media platforms into being more responsible somehow...

BiglyBadgers · 06/02/2017 12:49

I don't know birdy. Would it not be a bit like boycotting radio because he does radio interviews? I can see the point of boycotting a particular station if they are spreading false news or actively supporting him, but to boycot a channel that has done nothing apart from allow open access and free use of its service to all seems a bit excessive.

BiglyBadgers · 06/02/2017 12:52

Besides social media is also a very important channel for the resistance. What if it went the other way and trump's lot started suggesting they should remove posts critical of trump. We would be cutting out nose of to spite our face.

illegitimateMortificadospawn · 06/02/2017 12:58

like some kind of dragon with a bent for stats rather than a taste for gold...

Great imagery, THE BEST!! (Seriously, I chuckled at the thought of Trump as a data Smaug.)

Original poster
amispartacus · 06/02/2017 12:59

Besides social media is also a very important channel for the resistance

Social media is useful to spread awareness and to 'love bomb' people with facts.

If / when you get abuse, simply retweet it. It's amazing how people quieten down.

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BiglyBadgers · 06/02/2017 13:06

Social media is also instrumental to the organisation of all the protests and sharing real, actual facts to counteract the fake stuff

BiglyBadgers · 06/02/2017 13:07

Plus, as others have pointed out in previous threads the joy of trump's tweeting is that we can all see it. It is undeniable proof of his crazyness. Keep him tweeting I say!

birdybirdywoofwoof · 06/02/2017 13:09

Mm, I haven't quite thought it through - however, I believe the phenomena of Trump has largely been made possible by Social Media and its users - so I wonder if rather than trying to beat him by using his methods it might be time to ...do something else?!

I think these billion dollar platforms could do a lot more in the fight against racism/sexism and hate talk. (They manage to know when I'm looking for a holiday in Cornwall quick enough.) I'd like them to take some responsibility.

PausingFlatly · 06/02/2017 13:14

In a sort of horrible parable, I stopped being able to do stuff supporting immigration detainees when I became too overwhelmed by my own battle, as the UK government attacked disabled people under the banner of austerity.

I also reckoned that if a government was prepared to treat its own citizens like this - the ones it usually likes to use as poster childrenHmm no less - then such public attention as there was would struggle to stretch as far as people without a legal right to remain.

Austerity can diminish our capacity to act and simultaneously diminish our desire to (through compassion fatigue). Wonderful preparation of the ground for a bonfire of the rights...

megletthesecond · 06/02/2017 13:15

bigly yep, horribly quiet. Something is afoot.

libertydoddle · 06/02/2017 13:16

Twitter and Facebook have significant risks for everyone IMO (and sites like MN). It's great being able to communicate freely but in doing so we are all giving away vast amounts of information about ourselves. I think the owners of Twitter and facebook must be having some serious ethical conversations atm. The fact is that the tools they created to support dialogue and to enable people to connect are being used to disrupt social order (this can be good or bad depending on the issue and your perspective).

People like Trump are very clever in their use of Twitter - it's just for propaganda purposes and for targeting key sectors of the electorate.

Stuff of nightmares - Trump passes an executive order to nationalize Twitter and Facebook, they are seized or compulsory purchased - suddenly the administration owns vast amounts of personal data on potential 'enemies' of the state...

libertydoddle · 06/02/2017 13:21

Bigly - I think the concept of a 'real fact' is concerning. A fact is a fact! I consider social media a source of opinion rather than fact. And if you are in a police state Twitter would not be a good way now to organise a demonstration.

BiglyBadgers · 06/02/2017 13:25

I can see your point birdy. I think it is right that social media has been key to the rise of trump, but we must be careful not to see social media as something that should overtly support our world view over others. It is argued that Hitler was aided in his rise to power by the proliferation of radio at that time, but radio was also key to the opposition. The radio itself is not a political item. It is a channel that both sides can use.

I feel a similar way about social media and the internet in general. We should speak out where we see a social media site that actively promotes a particular view point or allows overt calls to violence, but we should not be asking them to silence opposing voices. It is a fine line and a difficult one to navigate. Where does stopping the spread of fake news and shutting down racist or misogynistic calls to violence become censorship? It is not always a black and white issue and we need to be careful about what we wish for.

Original poster
amispartacus · 06/02/2017 13:29

A fact is a fact

A fact needs context. If you only have some of the facts, you haven't got the full picture. The human brain is very good at only finding facts that suit our narrative.

Politicians, the media, commentators and Twitter are very good at giving us some facts.

2+2 does equal 4 though.

But 2 + 2 can equal 100.

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BiglyBadgers · 06/02/2017 13:30

And if you are in a police state Twitter would not be a good way now to organise a demonstration

Apart from social media has been used to organise demonstrations across the world even in effect police state like Iran. Yes, they have a lot of data on people and I agree this is dangerous. People are not aware of their data and how much they are puttimg out there just by using the internet. The NSA doesn't need to hack your Twitter account, it can just follow you around the internet and check your emails. Social media would be the least of your worries should America turn into a true police state.

Original poster
amispartacus · 06/02/2017 13:31

Where does stopping the spread of fake news and shutting down racist or misogynistic calls to violence become censorship

That is a discussion for here as well - look at MN and how quickly debates get shut down and deleted - yet at the same time, those same debates are happening elsewhere...

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BiglyBadgers · 06/02/2017 13:43

Agreed Spartacus I would like to see social media being much more open not just about the rules they have on posting, but also how they go about interpreting and enacting those rules. The real risk on social media as I see it is that they censor in a way that stifles and removes debate. I see this as a much bigger risk than them allowing unpleasant people to post.