So, Boston had its "Straight Pride" parade today...

@sammydog01

Pretty sure it’s because the parade was a meme, a joke. They trolled people to see how much hate would be thrown at the parade for merely existing. The parade marshal, or whatever it’s called, was a gay dude, people were dressed like clowns. The only people that seem to be taking it seriously are the people opposed to it.

@Cappo I totally missed that. Thanks!

@Cappo @sammydog01 actually… this is wrong. Yes, it was many millennials because they make up almost the entire “incel” community. I don’t think you realize how many millennials are the exact opposite of what the stereotype is. Extremely opposite and on purpose to separate themselves from the millennial stigmas. The straight pride parade was supported by thousands of idiots. Mostly men, mostly white and mostly millennial. I had dudes from my hometown (red state middle of nowhere Alaska) talking about what a good idea it was. You really think a couple hundred dudes followed the parade news and fb pages, saved the date, drove over and participated IRONICALLY? Lol. That’s some dedication for “not caring” about something.

and the “gay guy” that spear headed the thing was goddamned MILO Yiannopoulo! He is the fucking worssssst. He’s banned from the LGBT community in my book lol. He was the world famous gay dude who was a huge proponent for keepong gay marriage AGAINST THE LAW. After it didn’t work and it was legalized federally, he changed his stance and got engaged. Listen, the guy is a racist, sexist, homophobic, (yes homophobic) self-loathing pathological liar. I don’t even have the energy or care to write down all the insanely fucked up shit he has said or done. Just google it. In short, he is the alt-rights little gay poster boy. So they can say “this isn’t offensive! Look, this Milo guy is SUPER gay and he isn’t offended. You snowflake!” (Just like the dude before me sort of used him for)

Saying that this pride parade wasn’t serious or hateful and that the Marshall is a homosexual so it’s not anti-gay is just ridiculous. These dudes can say all day long that they aren’t homophobic idiots. They are offended by the gay pride parades. They are the alt-right and incel fuck faces of the country who feel soooo marginalized as white men now-a-days. They are the ones who talk about how amazing society was when women didn’t work and their only job was to care for and make babies, Milo even tweeted “…women burn your briefcases!” In his tweet about the straight pride event.

Thankfully, these kinds of people aren’t the future of humanity. They are the past, DESPERATLY clinging to life. They are going to get more and more ridiculous with their behavior in these last attempts to “make America great again”. The world will move forward. Very soon they will the “crazy racist grandpa”.

Don’t post shit without knowing what you’re talking about and don’t take what you see on the internet as truth. Ever. I encourage you to look up the things I said for yourself and always fact check before you spew garbage on the internet. Honestly misinformation is a plague… it does a lot of harm. Attached are some articles about Milo and the straight pride parade. Knowledge is power, ignorance is dangerous.

https://slate.com/technology/2018/06/before-annapolis-capital-gazette-shooting-milo-yiannopoulos-said-he-wanted-to-see-people-shoot-journalists.html

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/policy-and-politics/2017/2/20/14673036/milo-yiannopoulos-cpac-pedophilia-tape

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_58a84dcae4b07602ad551487/amp

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.wbur.org/news/2019/08/29/straight-pride-parade-boston-explainer

Article about Super Happy Fun America, the moronically named organization who put on the straight pride parade. They tried to desiguise their alt-right racist ties to other groups with the name.

https://www.btrtoday.com/read/featured/dont-fall-for-the-boston-straight-pride-parades-scam/

If you think these links are bullshit or “liberal biased” go fuck off to snopes or factcheck.org and find out for yourself. I’m not a liberal, I actually am severely annoyed by liberals and consider myself an independent. Beware of the alt-right/Fox News bullshit where they claim every source that is the slightest bit anti trump or anti conservative that it is a biased or unreliable source. Facts have never been in their favor you know.

On a scale of what to the fuck - how many email notifications is @carl669 getting for these?

@Cappo@sammydog01@lindsay3988 Well said, Lindsay, although Cappo isn’t completely wrong.
The alt-right have cultivated this strategy where they couch their sincerely held beliefs in intentionally ridiculous memes designed to incite maximum outrage in the other side while at the same time being able to say that they’re really just ‘trolling the libs’.
It’s kind of like dog-whistling to the tune of the Benny Hill theme song.

Even though the event organizers may have had their tongues in their cheeks, there were still plenty of people who joined the parade in all seriousness.

I can’t find the video, but there was a group of white, christian moms who marched, and one was interviewed and was saying things like, “I have a right to teach my children traditional values. I have a right to teach them that marriage is between a man and a woman.”
Yes, unbelievably dumb lady - you do have that right and you have always had that right and no one is challenging that right.
It’s the people who have non-traditional (aka, non-white christian) values who have had to struggle and fight for the right to just exist let alone live openly and proudly according to their own values.

I am liberal (lower-case L), but I see that as a social position, not a political one - there is no “Liberal” party. One can be liberal and politically independent, as I am.
I am not now, have never been and never will be a member of any political party.
The two party system in this country is responsible for most, if not all of what is wrong with politics and the dysfunction in our legislative branch.
To me, being “liberal” means believing in “live and let live”, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, etc. I also believe it means being willing to understand and have empathy for other people, no matter how different they may be to oneself. AKA having a “bleeding heart”.
If you look up the dictionary definition of liberal, it pretty much covers it.
Being “conservative”, on the other hand, means resisting change and progress, maintaining the status quo regardless of evolving attitudes and the beliefs, values and cultures of “others”, who are always to remain “other” and must never be normalized as that is a threat to “traditional”, “conservative” values.
Also essentially the dictionary definition.

Back to the parade - there are bad actors on both sides. There were protestors arrested for throwing things like rocks and bottles of piss at marchers and cops.
Fuck those people. Lock 'em up.
Not only are they shitty people, but they are allowing themselves to be manipulated, “triggered” by the alt-right so that the bad-actors on their side can hold them up as examples and say, “this is the Left. These are the Liberals. This is what they’re all like. They are the violent and intolerant ones.”
Which, of course, is a lie.
IMO, no one should be allowed attend any public event with masked faces and wearing riot gear.
Frankly, I’m disgusted that people who are clearly geared up for and anticipating violence are even allowed to get near any public demonstration.
Police should set up a perimeter at these types of events and refuse entry to anyone who is clearly geared up for violence. It shocks me that they turn a blind eye to it.

Anyway, that’s a long enough rant for now.
Peace.

Hey @lichme can you tell caaaaaarrrrllllll @carl669 about this?

@DennisG2014 Those guys look really gay.

@DennisG2014 aawww poor guys

@DennisG2014 @tinamarie1974 @therealjrn

Those guys look really gay.

No, not really. But they do look really STOOPID!

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @therealjrn I would agree, not gay. Shy, awkward, nerdy. They are likely not comfortable in their skin

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @tinamarie1974

I would agree, not gay.

So you can spot gay people by looking at them?

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @therealjrn

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @tinamarie1974

No, not really.

Yes, really. They look really gay. They even have matching face paint.

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @therealjrn so you can spot it then

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @tinamarie1974 Well obvs. Just look at them.

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @tinamarie1974

@DennisG2014

Seems like a very meh event.
/image purple Pomeranian

@DennisG2014 @eonfifty such a sweet puppy!!!

@DennisG2014 @eonfifty @tinamarie1974 That dog looks really gay.

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @therealjrn @tinamarie1974

They are likely not comfortable in their skin

They’re comfortable enough to march in a straight pride parade.

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @therealjrn oh!!! I meant around women lol

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @tinamarie1974 So the clown makeup is a turnoff for you?

@DennisG2014 @Limewater @therealjrn @tinamarie1974 I don’t know about all that, but they definitely have bigger cojones than me to be out in public in those get-ups…
/giphy YIKES

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @therealjrn uummmm not attracted to those pics, but honestly it is more about the guy than his looks for me.

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @tinamarie1974 So would you date a guy in clown makeup?

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @therealjrn depends on the guy. If he was sweet and kind and treated me well. Yes!

I have dated really good looking guys who were assholes and not so good looking guys who appeared to be great. I will take a man with a great heart over a hot body every time. I learned my lesson!

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @tinamarie1974 So you’ve never actually had the funny sex then?

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @therealjrn not with a clown…pirate sex thou! He raped and pillaged!

@tinamarie1974
watch for splinters…

@chienfou there was no pegged leg

@chienfou @tinamarie1974 What was that parrot doing in there?

@DennisG2014 @Limewater @therealjrn @tinamarie1974

So would you date a guy in clown makeup?

No…I personally would not… It might piss off my wife …
(accidentally posted below outside this string of replies…)

@chienfou @therealjrn wait were YOU there?!?!?!?!?

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @tinamarie1974 Yer a wise man, chief.
(following this crazy man posting)

Polly wants more than a cracker.

@therealjrn yes she does!!!

@tinamarie1974 But mark my words, this “Sam Bishop” is in on it. Those two guys really are gay, and showed up to protest the protest.

You read it here first.

I should make a tweet about it.

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @therealjrn @tinamarie1974 It’s a broad question. There are different types of clowns. At the very least: Bozo or Cookie?

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @mossygreen @therealjrn I mean again on the surface neither. Once I got to know them, who knows?!?!?!?

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @mossygreen @therealjrn Here is a cute article about hot clowns lol

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/a32418/hot-guys-who-work-as-clowns/

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @therealjrn @tinamarie1974 I would accept clown #2.

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @mossygreen @therealjrn he us too young, but I think #3 is adorable!

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @therealjrn @tinamarie1974 Remember, the article is five years old…

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @mossygreen @therealjrn oh in that case…#3 please

@chienfou @DennisG2014 @Limewater @therealjrn @tinamarie1974 The important thing is that there will be no fighting over the sexy, sexy clowns.

@mossygreen @tinamarie1974

@mossygreen @RiotDemon YYYYEEESSSSSSS

@RiotDemon You forgot to flag @oldcatlady

@mossygreen @RiotDemon @tinamarie1974 No. Just no.

@mossygreen @RiotDemon @sammydog01 really, why? He is cute and he looks playful too!

@RiotDemon @sammydog01 @tinamarie1974 I’m guessing because he’s not juggling or riding a unicycle or ANYTHING. Not even (clown) makeup. Just standing there. Waste of a clown nose.

@mossygreen @RiotDemon @sammydog01 I get that, but I would be happy to take it off, with my mouth and then, well…NSFW LOL

@mossygreen @RiotDemon @tinamarie1974 I think that must be it. He doesn’t look like a happy clown. Or one of those sad clowns. Clowns should have some expression other than boredom.

@RiotDemon @sammydog01 @tinamarie1974

@chienfou Yer a wise man, chief.

@eonfifty - My first thought was that this had to be some kind of wacky publicity stunt, but my second was that those guys would have to have some kind of stupid guts to set themselves up to be targets of the hate and harassment sure to follow the expression of unpopular opinions THESE days.

My third thought was, “By some strange coincidence, it’s the same day the Four Loko and Fleshlight was revealed on-site!”

@aetris @eonfifty Getting hate and harassment would be a sign of hypocrisy from the other groups, which is kind of the whole point of this thing I think. These guys aren’t actually trying to have a straight pride parade, but to expose a double standard. Unfortunately for them, the groups they are trying to show the double standard to don’t care about having double standards. This is true for any extremist fringe movement, whether left-wing or right-wing. Like when people counter-protested the Westboro Baptist Church, and the latter gave no fucks about it.

@therealjrn I still get the newspaper tossed in my front yard. Twitter is what your heart gets all a-

@therealjrn
No.

@chienfou @therealjrn
The newspaper where I live used to be delivered daily, but now it’s delivered every other day. They also started a text message subscription service where a reporter will essentially tweet to you every so often, via SMS, for five bucks a month. I did the free trial, and it was pretty good, but not five bucks a month good.

I use Twitter for news because the majority of users I follow are organizations as opposed to individual human users, and it works out well for me.

All news sources should be thorough and accurate, but newspapers, because they are hard copies, must be extra thorough and accurate because once they’re printed, there are no updates or edits until the next day. Being thorough and accurate is expensive and time consuming for any news organization, and it’s going to be more expensive for a news organization whose product is physical and immutable.

News reports about an event like this would be a picture and a couple of paragraphs at best for a newspaper and maybe 30 seconds for local TV news. In other words, there’s not a lot of news here for the general public, and if you want to learn more about it, social media or niche websites are going to be your only sources short of going to the event yourself.

Entities in the news business need readers, viewers, or consumers to show advertisers they can get their ads seen, and the more static a news product is, the likelihood of it being viewed decreases. If you read a story in a newspaper, you’ll see it once or twice, but if you’re following something that is breaking or developing, you’ll look at it regularly.

Or, basically, there’s not enough money for traditional news sources to do traditional news anymore.

/image Gary gnu

@eonfifty @therealjrn I read a reference to an old article about the first female patrol officer the other day in the local (Montgomery Advertiser, still daily) paper… it said it had been buried on page A-58… nowadays my entire page count for the newspapers from Monday thru Friday doesn’t total 58 pages… Sigh…
(/giphy luddite) evidently giphy has no idea WTF that means…

@therealjrn yes. We can. Just stop going on Twitter. It was super simple to avoid it can’t be that hard to delete.

@chienfou @eonfifty @therealjrn as if anyone ever read straight through to page 58. Every day. They had 58 pages because that was the only way to get information and an index to pick which pages you read

@therealjrn There’s no such thing as reporters or journalism anymore. They’re all commentators.

@therealjrn I get a lot of my news from MEH, is that bad?

@chienfou @therealjrn @unksol
I agree that most people didn’t read 58 pages straight through, and as broadcast news became more prominent, there was no need to print many stories. If you look at old newspapers, they’re crammed with columns of text. Then when photography got good, a lot of those words were replaced by pictures. When radio and TV got good, many of those words and pictures were just omitted because most people heard or saw the story already. When content started to be cut, the page count was reduced, and that left less space for advertisers which reduced the newspapers’ income.

Fast forward to today, and newspapers are bordering on extinction. Advertisers get more bang for the buck on TV and the internet, and even radio stations play advertisements for radio ads which tells me radio news is going the way of newspapers.

I think this is just media evolution in action.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@unksol
I like Twitter.
/giphy I like Twitter

@lseeber @therealjrn
There are lots of good journalists still out there, but the commentators are more profitable.

@eonfifty @lseeber @therealjrn Sadly this is true. Unfortunately since ads drive ‘news’ it’s hard to find a good source for hard news that doesn’t also have a metric shit-ton of clickbait links

@eonfifty not on there for you to block. Sorry.

@chienfou @eonfifty @lseeber @therealjrn

Re news/commentary pollution:

I just use a variety of sources. Most of them distort is some way or other; at least on some topics. You just have to get a feel over time for their methods and attitudes.

Many of them are not great with econ.
And there are way too many econ writers who can’t tell the difference between their own mixup of news and POV bias; and way too many econ writers who treat one econ theory or another as being equivalent to “philosophical gospel”.

The WSJ is usually good with news, with a biz/econ lean; but their opinion/editorial articles are not anything close to news.
(WSJ thinks highly of itself and the subscrption/full access cost is v v high.)

Similar w the NYT (culture instead of biz/econ) and plenty of other news orgs.
They all have their specialities in areas of quality coverage. And they all have their blind spots and weaknesses.

Good judgment re econ and politics news (re both individuals and organizations) can be a hard-to-win, precarious, never-fully-mastered, and partly-ephemeral “gain”.

@unksol
Make an account. You can be my first.

@eonfifty I’m saving it for my wife sorry. If you want that posting I’d need way more info

@eonfifty @unksol Honestly, sometimes I block so many Nazis in a day that I feel like I might as well play Cookie Clicker instead.

@eonfifty

No gnus is good gnus. – Gary

@eonfifty @whogots I think you’re playing with the wrong cookies

@chienfou @eonfifty @f00l @therealjrn I USED to use a variety of sources. I haven’t watched ANY news for over a yr now and I’m much happier. People have a way of filling you in on what’s happening without it.

@eonfifty @f00l @lseeber @therealjrn my only problem with that method is that so many people get their “news” from Facebook etc…
I find that frequently I get told ‘news’ that is bogus at best…

@chienfou @eonfifty @f00l @therealjrn Well… generally if they start talking politics, I tell them to stop. I don’t want to hear it. I’m talking like… hey… there’s a hurricane on the way. Or Did you hear about so and so is coming to town… etc. Nothing too serious. If that happens, I consider the source. I pretty much know who I trust and who I don’t that are sharing it. If it’s something that interests me… I triple check. And snopes AIN’T my go to source for truth either.

@chienfou @f00l @lseeber @therealjrn
What, if anything, happened to Snopes? As far as I knew, they were a good fact checking group, but your post here is not the first time I’ve heard in recent months that Snopes isn’t so good anymore.

@chienfou @eonfifty @f00l @therealjrn You can look it up… I don’t want to press it but… they have a definite slant and they will often put a bias in a “fact” and on occasion a ‘fact’ has proven wrong. I actually haven’t been to the site for probably about 8 yrs or so now so, maybe things have changed but I doubt it. And, I read some bio yrs and yrs ago on the founders.

@chienfou @eonfifty @lseeber @therealjrn

Re facts:

Alternative facts are nothing but lies.

That said:.

Most facts are incomplete pix of any situation. Esp re politics/econ. Judgment always comes into play. From a new organization or from a news consumer.

We used to have some notion of what a “fair centrist news presentation” take on things was.
I think some outlets (notably CSM) are still pretty good at this. And the “fair centrist facts on what happened” is accomplishable and is not a bad place to start. Then one can add in what seems relevant (this process is often/usually influenced by personal bias or personal preference tho)

But we are in a different world now. Too many people - and too many news outlets - seek out outrage. Are addicted to it.

There are always going to be outrageous stories supporting this or that POV. How do they with against the whole? No one seems to want to ask that.
This is where a commitment to telling as much as possible of a fairly complete pix of the situation gets to be important.

But what is one or both or many sides insist on “fake facts” and distortion and outrage? And that’s their usual MO? And then they insist that distorted POV be treated as morally and ethically equal to more respectable and honest versions of events?

What if we approach living in a “Ministry of Truth” era?

The defenses against these current realities and future possibilities is difficult. It will take very large percentages of the population turning as a whole against distortion or against unfairness or against the deliberate ignoring of complexity. And against wild claims. And against news-maker and news organizations various attempts to “stir the pot” or to distort facts as a means of endlessly corrupting serious conversations.

This difficult “fix” ain’t happening this week.
: (

@chienfou @eonfifty @f00l @therealjrn
The length of this conversation has now exceeded my interest.

@chienfou @eonfifty @lseeber @therealjrn

The length of this conversation has now exceeded my interest.

Sounds like a fairly sane reaction.

@ShotgunX Is that true? Are there polls somewhere that shows that?

@craigthom @ShotgunX No, it’s a whole-cloth lie.

@craigthom @ShotgunX They have done surveys on college campuses that say students believe in free speech in theory but also think they should be protected from things they feel are offensive. That scares me.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/tomlindsay/2019/05/31/new-report-most-college-students-agree-that-campus-free-speech-is-waning/amp/

@sammydog01 @ShotgunX That article does not support your contention. It says a majority believe hate speech is protected speech, and a majority believe in free speech but are afraid of offending people.

Those who think speech should be limited are in the minority.

@craigthom @ShotgunX Yes, the 41% of college students that think hate speech should not be constitutionally protected is in fact a minority. But not by much.

I would like to think that people mature and become more open minded as they age but the fact is that the concept of free speech being a great thing for me but not you unless I agree with you is growing in popularity. And the colleges are supporting it.

@craigthom @sammydog01 @ShotgunX

the concept of free speech being a great thing for me but not you unless I agree with you is growing in popularity.

Yep. And the people doing it don’t even know they’re being so appallingly discriminatory. They’re just “STFU you.”

@craigthom @sammydog01 @ShotgunX @therealjrn
The concept of free speech, which too many people seem to misunderstand, is freedom from government censorship and/or legal punitive actions.
Too many people believe the concept of free speech means you can say whatever the fuck you want without any consequences.
If you say something so offensive to someone that they punch you in the face, that person is guilty of battery, but not of infringing on your freedom of speech.
A private citizen can not violate another citizen’s 1A rights. Only the government/legal authorities can violate your right to free speech.
If an individual bullies, intimidates, or takes physical action to silence you, that may be any number of crimes but it is not a violation of the 1st amendment.

All of which is to say, the person who says, “STFU you” has just as much right to say that as the person who said the mindbogglingly ignorant and offensive thing that incited such a reply.

People who were protesting certain speakers at certain forums by gathering, holding signs, shouting over the speaker in an attempt to drown them out, etc. were not violating those speakers’ right to free speech, they were exercising their own.
The misguided dicks at those events who resorted to violence to stifle the speakers were… also not violating the speakers’ rights to free speech; but they were committing crimes and should suffer the legal consequences for those crimes.

@carl669 add another one to the count

@mediocrebot Stop your passive/aggressive attempts to stifle my God given right to free and liberal use of that word!

@DennisG2014 Pretty sure it’s celebrating the use of the fucking word.

Hey @lichme can you tell caaaaaarrrrllllll @carl669 about this?

@MrMark I was mostly joking, but I do find the automated responses annoying, which makes me think twice about using the word, and I’m not convinced that’s not the intent.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@Fen_Star usertag: fun at parties