USA Politics

[Florestan]

I believe everyone of us is an expert of being yourself meaning we are experts on things that have a major role in our lives.

Okay, here are some things that have a major role in our lives: IT (say, coding and automation), legislation, finance, banking, international relations. By your token, we are all experts on those fields.

I do NOT claim expertise on US politics for example. People in US are generally so badly misled politically by the corporate media* that my level of decent knowledge appears expert level in comparison.

People in US have repeatedly told you that your knowledge of USA politics is far from decent, yet you persist in claiming otherwise.

Oh, btw: hadn't you lost your interest in US politics?

[Karl Henning]

Another example of accusing Democrats of something most of them are not.

Poor use of that awesome IQ

[milk]

I'm an expert on nothing. My opinions derive from my best efforts at reading comprehension and understanding visual and aural cues. However, the late 1980s were a bit wild for me and I get foggy sometimes. I can never remember when to put a comma after the word "including" and I always forget the word "nostalgia." I'm like, "Tiny Tim is...sentimental...what's that word?"
One of my university professors told me that I have my "peaks and my valleys." I was like, "thanks?"
My opinions are subject to change.

[drogulus]

For centuries, even millennia, some of the best and brightest minds have devoted a whole lifetime of scholarly study and deep thought to the problems of philosophy and economy, without reaching any definitive conclusions or even a minimal general consensus

     Yes, it's a mess, no doubt. What are they doing wrong? I think it amounts to making knowledge claims they are not entitled to, in particular about how knowledge is constructed. The veto they want they can't have. Happily, there are philosophers who agree that knowledge of the world needs no a priori validation from the philosophical beyond.

     Then you should consider the degree of ridiculousness that prevailed in the late 19th century, like this gem from F.H. Bradley:

The Absolute enters into, but is itself incapable of, evolution and progress.

     Is it any wonder that there would come an era when philosophers themselves would call a halt to this kind of mush?

[greg]

Saying Democrats hate straight, white men is just that old phenomenon of 'When You're Accustomed to Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression'.

This is exactly what I'm talking about.

Maybe stop with that privilege nonsense.

There's countless types of "privileges," many of which are strongly clearcut*. Yet the left wants to go on and on about those two specifically. The whole white privilege and male privilege things are ridiculous.

For one, "white privilege" only works in a majority white area, so it's not even white privilege, it's just majority privilege. And then for male privilege, let's just say that men aren't more privileged than women. I'll leave it that.

*looks, height, family wealth, country of birth, IQ, mental health, etc.




Also notice that I can criticize the left and the right in the same post and get zero backlash from the right, and get several disagreements from the left. So I hope everyone is self-aware at how strongly left-leaning this thread is.

[71 dB]

Okay, here are some things that have a major role in our lives: IT (say, coding and automation), legislation, finance, banking, international relations. By your token, we are all experts on those fields.

IT itself has a major role for those who do coding. For the rest of us the applications of IT have a major role. So, if you use Google Maps a lot, you are likely an expert in using Google Maps, but it doesn't mean you could write the code for it.

People in US have repeatedly told you that your knowledge of USA politics is far from decent, yet you persist in claiming otherwise.

Oh, btw: hadn't you lost your interest in US politics?

Any american who has good knowledge of US politics would admit I have decent knowledge of US politics. Those who don't think so are judging my knowledge wrongly due to the lack of their own knowledge.

Oh, this isn't much about US politics, but who is an expert and who isn't.

[Todd]

So, if you use Google Maps a lot, you are likely an expert in using Google Maps

It is good to know what some people consider expertise.

[JBS]

I claim expertise only on some narrow fields of stuff that I have studied a lot or done a lot. I believe everyone of us is an expert of being yourself meaning we are experts on things that have a major role in our lives. I do NOT claim expertise on US politics for example. People in US are generally so badly misled politically by the corporate media* that my level of decent knowledge appears expert level in comparison.

* It's not only the smears, lies and omissions. It's not only what you know or don't know It's about how watching corporate propaganda every day makes people think. Corporate media has fearmongered for example about single payer healthcare for decades to serve the healthcare insurance companies and Big Pharma. No wonder about 1/3 of the country is against medicare for all even when many of these people are underinsured, without insurance, denied care, struggling to pay medical bills or in danger of medical bankruptcy.

What you call fearmongering is what well informed people would call pointing out the obvious flaws.
Under Medicare for All there would be three groups of people

People with good health care now who would be receiving lower quality care
People with mediocre care now who would be receiving poor to mediocre care
People with no health care now would be receiving poor to mediocre care.

The last group, and only the last group, would be better off, but only in the sense that having a lousy MD is better than having no MD.  Everyone else would be either worse off or no better than before.

If universal health insurance leaves most people with not very good health care, it's not a good system.

[JBS]

Any american who has good knowledge of US politics would admit I have decent knowledge of US politics. Those who don't think so are judging my knowledge wrongly due to the lack of their own knowledge.

Oh, this isn't much about US politics, but who is an expert and who isn't.

You know a bunch of leftist talking points.  But your knowledge of US politics is very limited, and will remain so until you recognize the people you think of as trustworthy sources are merely propagandizing for a political agenda you agree with but most Americans don't.

[Florestan]

if you use Google Maps a lot, you are likely an expert in using Google Maps

Btw, this very summer I was using Google Maps and Waze simultaneously. At a crossroad, the former told me "Turn left" while the latter told me "Turn right". I drove forward but eventually the Waze's turned up to have been the correct advice.

[71 dB]

Btw, this very summer I was using Google Maps and Waze simultaneously. At a crossroad, the former told me "Turn left" while the latter told me "Turn right". I drove forward but eventually the Waze's turned up to have been the correct advice.

Never heard of Waze. Does the name come from "Maze" ?

[Karl Henning]

You know a bunch of leftist talking points.  But your knowledge of US politics is very limited, and will remain so until you recognize the people you think of as trustworthy sources are merely propagandizing for a political agenda you agree with but most Americans don't.

Good, plain sense.

[Florestan]

Never heard of Waze. Does the name come from "Maze" ?

I should have thought you were an expert on googling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waze

[Karl Henning]

Btw, this very summer I was using Google Maps and Waze simultaneously. At a crossroad, the former told me "Turn left" while the latter told me "Turn right". I drove forward but eventually the Waze's turned up to have been the correct advice.

I have found Waze superior to Google Maps. However, I am no expert.

[Karl Henning]

) Trump's campaign is suffused with race-baiting and condescension toward women ("suburban housewives"). On health care, normally the most important issue for women, Trump threatens to undo the Affordable Care Act. He also lied to the public about covid-19, resulting in close to 200,000 deaths, "virtual schooling" (a nightmare for many women who must work and supervise their children's education), food insecurity, 27 million workers looking for jobless benefits, and widespread fear of eviction. What's not to like, right? (

[Florestan]

I have found Waze superior to Google Maps. However, I am no expert.

[71 dB]

I should have thought you were an expert on googling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waze

Never claimed expertise on that, but googling comes AFTER you realize you don't know something. I was busy, but I checked the link: Developped in Israel, bought and owned by Google. Concerns about individuals tracked. That's about it I guess.

[drogulus]

I dabbled in some philosophy, especially in my misspent youth. But you won't see me pontificating about how philosopher X got it right or how wrong was philosopher Y, particularly if I haven't read one single original work of his and all I know about their ideas is from secondary sources, mostly internet essays.

     That's too bad. It's a good way to learn. I examine philosophers who pontificate about other philosophers and point out how little has come of it, just like you did.

     One way to learn is to put ideas you encounter into your own language. You should do that, if philosophy interests you. If it no longer does, that's OK, too. I'm not discouraged, in part because the history of nonsense is not nonsense, it's history.

[Daverz]

But your knowledge of US politics is very limited,

You guys keep dunking on 71dB for not being American, but it's not clear to me that living in the US gives one any special insight into US politics when reliable information sources are just as available to anyone living abroad (unreliable ones, too!)  I'd even say that living in the US probably obscures a lot of things about US politics.  As the saying goes, it ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble; it's what you know for sure that just ain't so.

[greg]

You guys keep dunking on 71dB for not being American, but it's not clear to me that living in the US gives one any special insight into US politics when reliable information sources are just as available to anyone living abroad (unreliable ones, too!)

Probably only the cultural aspects of politics. It's a good point, but only goes so far.

I'm sure we can all agree North Korea and China aren't doing politics in a good way, and we don't need to be born there to have a valid opinion on that.