Election 2016

[Simple Torture]

My neighbor across the street put up a yard sign that reads, "Deplorables for Trump," and includes a picture of a scowling bald eagle.

[bune]

What the ever-living fuck is wrong with Scott Adams? I kept seeing his name pop up in the previous months but I wasn't aware of his descent into madness until I saw this blog title - How to Legally Vote More Than Once - and had to read it.

I'm not going to link because I'm not going to drive traffic to him anymore, so here you go:

If you find it annoying that you only have one legal vote, here’s how you can get a few more. It’s called persuasion.

You can multiply the power of your opinion by convincing people on the other side to stay home on election day. Every vote you suppress on the other side is like an extra vote for you. And there’s no limit to how many you can have!

Persuasion doesn’t work every time. But you might enjoy experimenting to see how many times it works for you. For this exercise, I will assume you are a Trump supporter trying to suppress the votes of Clinton supporters. Here’s how you can do it.

1. Set the stage by cleverly hiding the fact that you are a Trump supporter. Say some good things to your intended targets about Clinton’s plucky attitude, her place in history, and the breadth of her experience. Once people believe you are on the “right” side, they will find you more persuasive later.

2. Prior to election day, note how lopsided the polls are in favor of Clinton. Also point out that the pollsters are usually correct when you are this close to election day. Say you are thinking of not voting this year because lines are sometimes long and parking might be iffy. Put that thought in people’s minds a week ahead of election day.

3. On the day before the election, and again on election day, engage Clinton supporters in conversations that involve concepts such as laziness, exhaustion, overwork, and stress. You don’t need to mention the election. Just talk in general about things that are more trouble than they are worth. People will respond to your downer-talk by feeling a bit lazier themselves. They might even feel overworked and more stressed than usual. (This concept is inspired by the book Pre-Suasion, by Robert Cialdini.)

4. Complain about workplace problems in which one person can’t seem to make any difference in this world. Talk about anything that feels disempowering. No need to talk about the election. The feeling will bleed over.

5. Proclaim that you were planning to vote for Clinton but it seems like a lot of work and she is ahead in the polls, so why bother?

6. Jokingly say that because you don’t plan to vote this time, it won’t be your fault if Clinton is a huge mistake as president. You’ll have a clean conscience for four years.

7. Wonder aloud how anyone can vote for either Trump or Clinton without feeling stained by it all.

If you follow those steps, and reinforce them with repetition, you can potentially influence about 10% of your target group to skip voting. Let me know how it works for you.

[Jorge]

I'm convinced Scott Adams posts on RM.

He's always been a bit of an idiot, but he's really gone off the deep end this election cycle. The other day he was (facetiously) promising to kill Trump if he acted like Hitler upon being elected.

[wease]

He's always been a bit of an idiot, but he's really gone off the deep end this election cycle. The other day he was (facetiously) promising to kill Trump if he acted like Hitler upon being elected.

IF?!?!?

Remember, he said his first act as President will be to have his competitor jailed. If that's not Hitler-esque, nothing is.

[bune]

[Bi_3]

He's always been a bit of an idiot, but he's really gone off the deep end this election cycle. The other day he was (facetiously) promising to kill Trump if he acted like Hitler upon being elected.

IF?!?!?

Remember, he said his first act as President will be to have his competitor jailed. If that's not Hitler-esque, nothing is.

Killing millions of Jews?

[wease]

He's always been a bit of an idiot, but he's really gone off the deep end this election cycle. The other day he was (facetiously) promising to kill Trump if he acted like Hitler upon being elected.

IF?!?!?

Remember, he said his first act as President will be to have his competitor jailed. If that's not Hitler-esque, nothing is.

Killing millions of Jews?

Trump is fine with Jews. He just hates Mexicans and Muslims.

[Green Habit]

Trump is fine with Jews. He just hates Mexicans and Muslims.

Except he sure attracts a lot of anti-Semites and doesn't exactly condemn them as strong as he should.

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[BurtReynolds]

I wish Trump was capable of being embarrassed.

[McParadigm]

You know, weirdly enough all those supercorny 1990s sci-fi action movies about hackers got it right. We have all the tropes:

- VR headsets and gloves
- scientists conducting early experiments in artificial intelligence
- Russian superhacker espionage
- A shadowy but famous worldwide hacking organization that takes on governments.

[McParadigm]

The most prescient and predictive movie ever made featured Fisher Stevens and Matthew Lillard.

[McParadigm]

So after the election, can we assume the GOP will learn exactly no lessons and instead spend 3 years tripping over itself in some frantic lemming rush to rewoo its rabid, angry base by spending a billion dollars on Clinton email investigations and engaging in softball conspiracy pandering and Supreme Court prevention efforts?

[Bi_3]

So after the election, can we assume the GOP will learn exactly no lessons and instead spend 3 years tripping over itself in some frantic lemming rush to rewoo its rabid, angry base by spending a billion dollars on Clinton email investigations and engaging in softball conspiracy pandering and Supreme Court prevention efforts?

''Tis a safe bet this is exactly what will happen. A complete rejection of reality to try and force a coalition of the unwilling and the deplorables in place of actually rebuilding based on principle.

[tragabigzanda]

FUCK ICE

[McParadigm]

That's a great piece, in terms of painting a nonjudgmental picture of the feelings pervading the middle of the country.

It is impossible, however, to ignore the ugliness that results when those feelings and attitudes are placed in a vacuum, as they are in today's environment.

Take a place like Redfield, South Dakota. There is...or still was as of 10 years ago...a man there who is very proud to own a WW2 era lampshade made of "African skin." Whether it really is that or not is irrelevant. The point is he's proud of it, and the whole community knows and treats it like a curioso...like a fun quirk their town gets to have.

People there think that they are not racist, and they can speak as though this is true up to a point, but "us or them" is the defining measurement by which they live. You will be ostracized for attending the wrong church. You can move in and still be the unwelcome, gossiped about new family 12 years later. They have to wear constant armor, because judgment is free and easy, and they are well-practiced in speaking a protectionist language of love and God...and knowing when it benefits them to do so.

They aren't going to open up to a sociologist, in the ways that reveal the most. Not really. They are the equivalent of the abused children who go to school and kick another kids teeth in, then make up a story about being picked on. They absolutely are left behind, and they absolutely are miserable and desperate, but it is the private persona that would beat a dog for fun that this movement appeals to, every bit as much as the one that has real or perceived grievances.

[Self]

Seeing Mt. Rushmore used to be on my vacation list, before I read a lot of McParadigm posts.

[Green Habit]

On a similar note, I ended up reading, of all things, some Marxist material, and learning about the difference between petit bourgeois vs. grand bourgeois helped me understand why the former would be perfectly lined up to be attracted to Trumpism.

[BurtReynolds]

I think mcp learned everything he knows about middle America from The Hills Have Eyes.

[Bi_3]

Tax calculator, Hilldawg v Turnip

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-c ... 2016-10-25