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They made fun of John Cusack and his online activity/politics on the recent pod so here's his average posting activity
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Seems pretty cool to me! Just saying!
Top Comment: Yeah, the way they talked about Cusack's online presence felt really disingenuous.
Why does everyone on Reddit seem so engrossed in politics when compared to real life I rarely if not ever talk about politics?
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I'm just wondering why reddit seems obsessed with politics. But when I'm in real life, no one ever seems to talk about politics. Like I would sit in a cafe or any public space where people talk and I rarely hear people talking about politics if ever. At work is a no brainer but people never talk about it there either, and my friends almost never talk about politics either. It might be like 5% or 10% of our total conversation. But why does reddit seem to be so engrossed in it in every thread? I guess I'm playing apart right now but I'm wondering why.
Top Comment: I hear people talk about politics a lot in real life. I was just skiing last weekend and people were talking about Trump on the chairlift. But I think generally it’s easier to talk about controversial topics online due to anonymity and the fact that a site like Reddit is literally made for having discussions.
Reddit downvotes are keeping readers in the dark about the most important facts: A concrete example from r/Politics
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Over the past few months I've had a lot of success posting on r/Politics. It's no secret that r/Politics is very liberal and very anti-Trump. Thus, it probably comes as no surprise that these were some of my best-performing posts:
"Judge starts countdown clock in Donald Trump's E. Jean Carroll case – Trump must pay the full $83.3 million he owes Carroll or post a bond." - 21,000 net upvotes https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1an07jq/judge_starts_countdown_clock_in_donald_trumps_e/
"Biden just delivered a State of the Union unlike anything we've seen before" - 18,000 net upvotes https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1ba3wpt/biden_just_delivered_a_state_of_the_union_unlike/
"Trump Might Be Convicted in D.C. Just Days Before the Election" - 16,900 net upvotes https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1amwn3r/trump_might_be_convicted_in_dc_just_days_before/
In general, my posts to r/Politics almost always generate hundreds or thousands of upvotes.
However, this changed dramatically when I posted what was arguably my most important post: A New York Times article on the fact that a significant portion of the funding for MAGA and Trumpism is coming from wealthy Democratic donors and even the Democratic party itself, because they believe MAGA candidates are easier to beat in elections, even if MAGA endangers democracy:
"Democrats Meddle in Ohio G.O.P. Senate Primary, Pushing Trump’s Choice – A Democratic group is spending nearly $900,000 on a television ad promoting Bernie Moreno, who was endorsed by Donald Trump, just ahead of next week’s Republican primary." - 0 net upvotes https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1beacsr/democrats_meddle_in_ohio_gop_senate_primary/
Now, I can completely understand the psychology of why someone might dislike this revelation from the New York Times. For those of us who believe Trump really does threaten democracy, the fact that a significant amount of the funding for Trumpism is coming from Democrats can cause a bit of sadness and anger, as it did for me when I first read it.
It's also an absolutely vital fact for Democrats to understand, and a crucial eye-opener about our particular historical and political period. And the exposé comes from the New York Times, a left-leaning publication and arguably one of the most credible publications in the world.
But because this fact from the New York Times caused many readers psychological distress, as all the most important facts do—and because 99.9% of Reddit downvotes are actually given to posts that users dislike, rather than to posts that are off-topic as Reddit's TOS says is technically intended—this crucial revelation from the New York Times was downvoted very heavily, so 99% of readers were kept in the dark about this very important disclosure from the New York Times.
Not to mention that given this is a crucial political exposé from one of the world's most credible publications, every single one of these hundreds of downvotes was technically an abuse of the downvote button, per Reddit's TOS.
This is a serious problem, and while I really like Reddit and feel it often has a lot of good stuff, it can't be taken seriously as a source of information when readers are kept in the dark about the most important facts simply because people don't want to hear them, and thus downvote them.
I believe a very simple way to address this issue, without in any way removing the benefits of having a downvote option, would be to include a simple prompt when someone goes to downvote something saying:
"Please note: You are about to downvote a post/comment. Downvotes should only be given for posts/comments that are off-topic or which otherwise violates Reddit's TOS. Extreme and excessive downvoting can even result in action being taken on your account. Are you sure you want to downvote this post/comment?"
This simple prompt would in no way impact the use of the downvote button for posts that are off-topic as Reddit's TOS says is intended, while helping to inform the majority of Reddit users as to what the downvote button is actually for and preventing abuse of the downvote button, allowing for the most important facts and information to reach readers.
Top Comment: "Democrats Meddle in Ohio G.O.P. Senate Primary, Pushing Trump’s Choice – A Democratic group is spending nearly $900,000 on a television ad promoting Bernie Moreno, who was endorsed by Donald Trump, just ahead of next week’s Republican primary." - 0 net upvotes Is it possible the 0 net upvotes is because the title and subtitle say the Democrats promote Bernie Moreno when the body of the article explain the opposite? The spot criticizes Mr. Moreno as ultraconservative and too aligned with Mr. Trump. And the rest is no news, but opinion.
Frank on how he manages interpersonal relationships when it comes to politics and where he falls politically
Main Post: Frank on how he manages interpersonal relationships when it comes to politics and where he falls politically
Top Comment: I applaud his maturity, but I also think many Trump supporters, including those on the challenge, are well informed enough to know exactly who they voted for. And no amount of communication or conversation is going to change their mindset. They didn’t vote for Trump in spite of his views, they voted for him because of them. Their decision to elect him and what he stands for was very deliberate and intentional. 😒
Reddit - The heart of the internet
Main Post: Reddit - The heart of the internet
Is it possible to have an optimistic view of current U.S. politics?
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I very much enjoy this sub, and it’s great to see all the posts on scientific marvels and so forth. I also understand the pleas from people who are devastated by what’s happening to the USA right now.
Is it possible to synthesize this sub’s mission of uniting optimists with some reassurance that what’s happening now isn’t a permanent collapse of the country but rather a storm to be weathered?
A couple of facts:
- Gen Z and Gen Alpha have grown up with diversity and inclusion, including respect for the large numbers of LGBTQ people within them.
- While medical information is being scrubbed from government sites and the media are being intimidated, the Internet still gives us easy access to information from around the world.
- Public pressure has been shown to work in some specific cases, though it’s mostly via Republican senators carving out exceptions for their constituents, like Moran (Kansas) pointing out that USAID is a big buyer of his state’s crops and Britt (Alabama) getting the Tuskegee Airmen exempted from DOD’s anti-DEI efforts.
- Trump and Musk are losing bigly in court.
Those are facts. Here are some conjectures:
- At some point, Fortune 500 CEOs will get Trump’s ear and point out the huge problems ahead as we tank our standing internationally and have more unemployed, uninsured, overtaxed people at home.
- We know a lot of people in the Trump inner circle hate Musk. Is it possible that they’re setting him up to be the scapegoat when the economy tanks?
- The GOP senators who have been intimidated by Musk threatening to “primary” them aren’t focused on the threat of losing to Democrats, and some will.
- There may be a tipping point at which the bloom is off the rose, and the Republicans who are currently afraid of MAGA will realize it’s a paper tiger that has little support from younger generations and the older ones are dying off.
- Doctors are going to continue to give vaccines, and there’s no way RFK is going to get SSRIs totally banned. Big Pharma has even more money than Musk.
Any more thoughts on why, while we can acknowledge that a lot of very bad things are happening, we can have reason to think it’ll turn around, if not immediately then in 2 or 4 years or in our lifetimes?
Top Comment: Sliver linings I'm hoping for in the chaos: A wake-up call to identify and fix the vulnerabilities in our democracy. Breaking free from the two-party stranglehold. A real push to finally cap special interest money in politics. Sometimes, the biggest disasters force the biggest changes. Let's hope it's to strengthen our democracy not destroy it.
What do people underestimate about company politics until it’s too late?
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You can be great at your job and still get blindsided if you don’t know how influence actually works.
What’s something you learned about internal politics after it cost you, or someone else, an opportunity?
Top Comment: Just because your manager supports you, it doesn't mean they themselves have the influence at the company to help drive your career. You need your own relationships with the influential stakeholders. Can't (always) just rely on your manager or director
I created a subreddit for Political Optimism
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It seems like people are kind of tired of all of the political posts on this subreddit, and I get it. It’s kind of hard to be optimistic in life when you don’t want to follow politics, and when the one subreddit you follow about optimism has political posts left and right, it can be annoying. But, at the same time, I also know that people may need some political optimism to not be too scared of the future. So, to help solve both problems, I created r/PoliticalOptimism, where people can ask and answer questions, share optimistic political news, and share any optimistic viewpoints surrounding politics. That way, this subreddit doesn’t feel too bombarded with politics AND for there to still be a place for them when need be. Anyone and everyone is welcome for those interested. Thank you.
Top Comment: Something to realize is that one person's optimism in politics can be another person's nightmare. Knowing this, we can try to take political positions which are not at the expense of other people.