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I don't know man, based on your tone and how you approached the conversation, sounds like you weren't taking him seriously to begin with.
They weren't doing that. They were referring to the collection of existing banned users of which n < the half the population.
Put another way: you may or may not believe it, but the overwhelming majority of people do not. Plenty may find it entertaining or even cathartic (given preconceptions about their own political tribe), but that's a far cry from agreeing with it.
Now, point me to the throng of racists Musk also unshackled. I'm guessing you can't, because not a single person in this comment thread can be bothered to come up with a spec of evidence supporting their claims.
This is far from the “strongest possible interpretation” of that comment. You’re not ChatGPT; stick to what’s written not a hallucinated interpretation.
I can come up with many more examples. The current house minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, called everyone pushing for more election integrity laws racist: https://twitter.com/DanCrenshawTX/status/1415105589882114055
And here he is essentially calling our current supreme court racist: https://twitter.com/RepJeffries/status/1490913530928795648
Whenever anyone makes a blanket statement about a group of people being racists and has zero evidence of said alleged racism, it is a very plausible interpretation that they are blanket-insulting conservatives en masse.
Regardless, My criticism stands even without this interpretation. He claimed a bunch of racists and reprobates got unshackled on Twitter via Musk. He has provided zero evidence to back that up despite me challenging his claim and calling his behavior reprobative.
> He claimed a bunch of racists and reprobates got unshackled on Twitter via Musk. He has provided zero evidence to back that up despite me challenging his claim and calling his behavior reprobative.
Great, focus on that instead of something that just plain wasn't said in this comment thread.
You also never "challenged his claim". You straight up said you don't believe him based on one sentence, and then immediately flew off on a tangent based on something that wasn't said. At no point did you stick to the topic being talked about. That is the antithesis of that HN guideline, plain and simple.
As I previously said, you're not ChatGPT. Don't hallucinate things into this thread that wasn't said and then fly off on a tangent based on those.
> Great, focus on that instead of something that just plain wasn't said in this comment thread.
That was my focus. How well did you read my original comment?
> You also never "challenged his claim".
I certainly did. I said I no longer trust him because of his claim. How much stronger of a challenge could you get than that?
> and then immediately flew off on a tangent based on something that wasn't said
False.
> Don't hallucinate things into this thread that wasn't said
If you think mainstream beliefs held by people in society who make similar statements isn't relevant context to an Internet discussion, then you and I probably aren't going to agree on much.
Half the population wasn't banned from Twitter before Musk bought it.
Half the population doesn't consist of people like Andrew Tate and Donald Trump, and Andrew Anglin (Shout out to him and his boys at the Daily Stormer for getting their megaphone back), and Alex Jones (Although that last one's still banned.) Why do you think that it does?
Because the twitter bots says so. Twitter amplifies extreemist views. In this case it has agin amplified extreem opinions, convincing someone that an extreem is actually a norm. That person then amplifies that in anohter froum, where a twitter bot or ai will no doubt pick it up, returm it to twitter and repeat the cycle.
But I agree it’s not good form to use words like these too often, otherwise they lose their meaning when they are truly appropriate.
Also: "You said something I disagree with, all your other arguments are invalid and I can entirely stop listening to you"
You just shut down debate very hard there, and by corollary there's really no point to be gained in arguing with you any more as well.
What you're looking for is very clearly a simple way to discredit everything coming from someone if you can find one gotcha.
That will be a very successful way to never have to challenge any of your opinions since nobody is infallible.
> without mindlessly discarding everything else the person said.
It's a good thing I didn't do that.
> That will be a very successful way to never have to challenge any of your opinions since nobody is infallible.
Funny because I don't have a strong opinion either way on how badly Musk has behaved relative to the Twitter acquisition, so there is no opinion of mine to even protect. Again, you don't seem to understand what the following statement means: "I don't trust what you're saying and will have to corroborate it with other sources". Because it definitely doesn't mean what you think it means.
The feeling is quite literally mutual, unless this is some incredibly effective sarcasm and irony that you've written.
And, now, thanks to that, I doubt everything else you wrote and will have to corroborate it with sources I trust more.
Interesting that.
Furthermore, did you look at any of my links or read any of what I said? Twitter was extremely left-biased and the internal docs prove it.
So brave of you to stand up for racists's sensitive feelings and god-given rights to not have their beliefs questioned or feelings hurt. They're the real victims here, not the people they consider less than human and exercise their absolute free speech to tell everyone that.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34681403
>"America is one of the least racist places overall in recorded history." -PathOfEclipse
And then you went on to demonize your opponent (without even having your own facts straight), which is just fine for you to do apparently, just nobody else:
>"It is still a very evil thing to defame someone with such a horrible accusation when you couldn't even be bothered to take two minutes to get your facts straight! ... which is even more evil ... significant evil in my book ..." -PathOfEclipse
Now that America's racism problem has been solved, is that why you put so much time and energy and commitment into fighting so hard against reverse racism, by linking to the writings of Thomas Sowell, who has literally claimed that Black Americans were better off during slavery than they are today, and has defended Trump against charges of racism?
Are you also a huge Kanye fan, too? Obviously we no longer live in a racist society, now that black people can love Hitler, and Trump owns his very own black friend who he invites to Thanksgiving dinner along with his Neo-Nazi White Supremacist friend. The Great American Melting Pot.
In my comment, I said "[racism] is something we can always improve on", and you framed it as "Riiiiight, because racism doesn't exist any more." I don't know how to paint it more clearly that you're either very dishonest or not a careful reader.
> And then you went on to demonize your opponent
No. More incredible dishonesty from you.
> Now that America's racism problem has been solved
More dishonesty from you.
> by linking to the writings of Thomas Sowell, who has literally claimed that Black Americans were better off during slavery than they are today
Wow you're incredibly dishonest.
> has defended Trump against charges of racism?
Trump is many bad things, but racist is not one of them. But, you're behaving so dishonestly, I would guess you probably even know that already.
> The Great American Melting Pot.
Race relations got significantly worse under Obama. It turns out, when you put people in power who are race grifters, they'll actually fracture society through their demagoguing. That's what leftists have been doing for decades now. The melting pot may fail, and it's through deliberate action from people probably a lot like you.
Racists always defend other racists. Thank you for showing your true colors and proving my point beyond a doubt.
Where you do make up this garbage?
> Thank you for showing your true colors and proving my point beyond a doubt
I hope you become a better person someday. You're capable of so much more.
Qanon right-wingers view "the other side" as literal, baby-eating, satan-worshipping demons. You had Alex Jones saying that Obama and Hillary "reek of sulphur".
Hillary Clinton called middle America the "basket of deplorables" and "racist", "sexist", "homophobic" "xenophobic", "Islamophobic." Hillary is not on the fringe. She has ties to some of the most powerful people in the world! She almost become the President of the United states. And, her opinion is frankly mainstream in the Democrat party. Alex Jones's opinion, however, is shared by no one with power or influence. He really is on the fringe. The comparison is not remotely apples to apples. The extreme left is the greatest existential threat to our society today. The extreme right is a joke.
Have you even like, talked to someone who is moderately left wing like say a Bernie Sanders supporter about how they view Clinton?
And you're aware Bernie Sanders lost because the Democrats considered him a threat from the left?
And that every single person in the Democratic party is to the right of him?
And that theres significant amounts of political thought to the left of him?
Like go ask anyone living in a country with actual left wing politicians what they think about Hillary Clinton's politics and they will tell you shes a center-right politician.
Do you actually think real extreme leftists like communists or anarchists are Hillary Clinton supporters?
Do you really think anything left of very slightly center-left is even included in the overton window in the US?
How do you expect anyone to respect your opinions on politics when you very clearly don't even understand what the terms like left and right wing that you are using mean and seem to lack any understanding of what the actual full landscape of political theory looks like?
> How do you expect anyone to respect your opinions on politics when you very clearly don't even understand what the terms like left and right wing
Hillary may be mainstream, but she takes her cues from the extreme left. Starting with the Marxist movements of the 50s and 60s, she knows that she can get votes by dividing people into various oppressor/oppressed categories and riling up the alleged oppressed into activism. You don't have to be hard left to be influenced by the hard left and to operate under their rules and frameworks and further their agendas.
At the end of the day, I've articulated my points more than well enough for an open-minded person to gain something from it. I'm sorry if that doesn't describe you as a person.
We all certainly know you're lying you when you claim that despite not knowing anything about Alex Jones, you just happen to know that nobody takes him seriously. How can you not know anything about him, yet know who takes him seriously and not? You certainly do know who takes him seriously and embraces him, and that includes you, despite your denials, and Donald Trump, who has given Jones interviews, invited Jones to speak at his rallies, and praised him with flattery like "Your reputation is amazing". Trump even invited Alex Jones to BROADCAST FROM INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE. That proves you're totally full of shit about nobody taking Jones seriously, and you know it.
So stop feigning ignorance and pretending that everyone doesn't know you're lying through your teeth. If you don't want people to know you embrace and take Alex Jones seriously, then stop parroting him and spreading his lies and covering for him.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/05/alex-jones-...
How Alex Jones was embraced by Trump, Rogan years after Sandy Hook lies
In roughly 10 years since he declared the deadliest elementary school shooting in U.S. history to be a “giant hoax,” Infowars founder Alex Jones has been denounced and de-platformed by tech giants such as Facebook, YouTube and Spotify, and faced significant financial blows. The latest came Thursday when a jury ruled that Jones had to pay $4.1 million in compensatory damages to the parents of a 6-year-old boy killed in the Sandy Hook mass shooting after he created a “living hell” for the family.
But as Jones’s false claims and rants launched him into the national political dialogue, his ascent has arguably been solidified, thanks to Donald Trump and Joe Rogan embracing Jones and endorsing his ideas to online audiences of millions of people in recent years.
Jones’s 2015 interview with Trump offered a window into some of the future president’s talking points at his rallies.
“Your reputation is amazing,” Trump told Jones at the time.
https://secure.everyaction.com/lXhE01dFpUCRA0m31elPww2
Tell the White House: Don't welcome Sandy Hook deniers! Alex Jones and his colleagues at Infowars have spent years insulting and dismissing the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School as a “hoax” and the work of “crisis actors.” They’ve propagated conspiracy theories aimed at dismissing the pain of parents who have lost their children. And they’ve pushed other theories which have led to actual incidents of gun violence perpetrated by fanatical listeners and viewers.
Any one of those things should be enough to keep Jones and Infowars out of the White House briefing room. Together, they are unimpeachable evidence that they don’t belong.
But Donald Trump’s White House press office still issued them a pass, legitimizing the offensive and frankly dangerous rhetoric Infowars spreads. And on Monday, Infowars broadcast from inside the White House.
Join us in calling on the White House to deny any future applications made by Infowars for press passes and credentials which would allow them access to the White House.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/07/us/politics/alex-jones-ja...
Alex Jones and Donald Trump: A Fateful Alliance Draws Scrutiny
The Infowars host tormented Sandy Hook families and helped elect President Donald J. Trump. His role in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack is now of growing interest to congressional investigators.
Alex Jones speaking on the East Front of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as rioters breached the building.
WASHINGTON — The day President Donald J. Trump urged his supporters to “be there, will be wild!” at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Alex Jones spread the message to millions.
“This is the most important call to action on domestic soil since Paul Revere and his ride in 1776,” Mr. Jones, the Infowars broadcaster, said on his Dec. 19, 2020, show, which airs live online and on a network of radio stations. Mr. Jones, whose lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting fueled years of threats against the 26 victims’ families, urged his listeners to take action.
A little more than two weeks later, Mr. Jones joined his followers at the Capitol as a behind-the-scenes organizer — a crucial role in the riot that is under increasing scrutiny by congressional investigators.
Is that what you ask yourself every day you wake up? I guess you're living the golden rule then, aren't you?
> We all certainly know you're lying you when you claim that despite not knowing anything about Alex Jones
Look in the mirror buddy. Just about everything I've seen you write is a lie or misleading. You're not worth any more of my time.
Edit: You certainly know that now, whether or not you were totally ignorant about it before (which I simply don't believe), because I just proved it to you with several citations and quotes so you don't have to take my word for it, and now you are incapable of countering that proof, so all you proved was that you're not arguing in good faith by simply calling me a liar and not bothering to say what I said was a lie, or refute any of my arguments.
Your Sgt. Schultz "I Know Nothing!!! Nothing!!!" Defense doesn't convince anyone, and just beclowns you and amuses me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HblPucwN-m0
If you can refute any of my arguments, then do so, but by refusing to address and counter any of my specific points or provide any proof of your insanely ignorant claims, and just arguing in bad faith and calling me a liar, you've just proven my point.
You're not going to convince anyone that all those videos of Alex Jones at the January 6 Insurrection Rally were computer generated and he was just sitting at home all that time.
But don't bother trying, because as histrionic and incoherent and disingenuous as you are, there's no chance in hell you can win this argument you've already lost many times over in every thread, since you're simply and absolutely wrong, foaming at the mouth batshit crazy, and nobody could possibly believe you. You need to get help for your mental and emotional and honesty problems, not spend your time screaming and lying at people on the internet.
I didn't know that and I still don't know that. I certainly wouldn't take your word for it. You have to be the most dishonest person I've engaged with in a long time, and that's really saying something.
The comparison is not remotely apples to apples. The extreme left is the greatest existential threat to our society today. The extreme right is a joke.