Politics Oct 27, 2020 at 9:30 am

Public and private Culp pages fill feeds with conspiratorial nonsense.

Comments

1

And at the bottom of this article and every other one there are links to share to Facebook. Stop being part of the problem.

2

@1: Why do you think that sharing a post that describes the problem is part of the problem?

3

Republicans’ credulous preference for candidates whose competence doesn’t distract from their zealous hypocrisy gives Facebook’s AI a warm, soupy medium in which to blossom.

i.e.: Culp is a fucking idiot, and Facebook wouldn’t be able to do shit, if Republicans weren’t so in fucking love with stupidity as a virtue.

5

I wish for once Rich would actually provide a balanced view on a topic. It's painful to read his work, even when its good like this is, and realize he is so blinded by his allegiance to the progressive cause he is unable or unwilling to even bring up the possibility that this isn't an issue unique to the crazies on the right. Here's a news flash the crazy left uses Facebook, Twitter et al just as much to pass on their slanted and dystopian views on society as well. The problem isn't having Facebook regulate their content the problem is their business model is fundamentally broken. Watch the Social Dilemma, it lays out the problem with Facebook and many of the other social media platforms perfectly. They aren't selling a product they are selling their users. Pass regulations to protect the users, disrupt the business model and all of this goes away.

6

"warts and all", good grief. Now that's some studied obtuseness.

Tally ho for liberty and all that, but half the population getting seized by the demented fantasy that the Queen of England is conspiring with international Jewry to microchip the world seems like a real problem. No matter what one thinks about marginal tax rates.

7

No shit. We put a sheriff in congress after he lied about his education because we saw him pushing protesters around at WTO.

9

Something that I’ve been thinking about.

Fact, most people who are reading any of this represents a minority, the politically engaged. The majority of people in the US do not care about politics. They think of it like most people would think about a laptop. They don’t care how it works, just that it works.

This presents a sort of unspoken deal between the majority and the politically engaged.

The engaged make sure things run well enough so that the majority don’t have to get involved. The majority of the country isn’t “center right” or “left” or whatever, they are “I hate politics and don’t want to be bothered.”

I think that the Republicans are going to lose because they forced a LOT of people to get involved. Look at who has already voted.

The real silent majority, the ones who hate all this, have been riled. And wow are they mad about it.

10

@8 are you really trying to say this is limited to right wings nuts only? I didn't say anything about the merits of the GOP. Crazy is crazy but pretending this problem is limited to one point of view is its own form of propaganda. You do you though.

11

How are Facebook to police utter stupidity? They can't screen all content before it is posted.
They could remove political groups and politicians from the graph algorithms that propogate content, but with campaigns spending $$$ like mad on their platform why would they? I mean, they SHOULD, but why would they? The end-user must bear some responsibility in determining the validity of content, no? Like, did we ever ask the USPS to take responsibility for deceptive mailers? Do we blame Google and Microsoft for deceptive political emails that are sent through their servers? We know they have the ability to screen emails for content, that is part of how they sell ads; but nobody is saying "shut down the email servers because the corporations aren't doing enough to combat deceptive spam!"

12

@5 - When the “crazy left” [sic] is nowhere near as dangerous and destructive as the loony right, “balance” isn’t helpful. It’s a distortion. Being middle of the road is not objective or accurate, especially when petty demagogues like Culp push a shitpoor ideology. What’s the “left” got? The random guy claiming to be antifa? Disorderly anarchists? None of them are running for elected office. Even AOC, despite being elected and a “socialist,” isn’t trying to undermine the separation of powers or encourage armed insurrection (militias). The right is, so fuck balance. Balance is a vice.

13

I'm not a Republican, but I voted for Culp to open the state back up.

14

No, the reason we have Loren Culp is because we have idiots in government like Jay Inslee.

15

We should all be very worried, because the COVID-19 virus has developed sentience and is now posting blog comments through sock puppet accounts! They're easy to spot, as they're all saying things like:
"I just think we should open the state back up."
and
"Mask laws violate my rights!"

Don't be fooled. This unscrupulous virus will stop at nothing to propagate itself.

16

@15 Maybe the fact you act with such vitriol with those that disagree with you explains the rise of Culp. Looking at hospitalization rates and mortality rates currently especially those amount younger people (under 70) seems to suggest we are overreacting. The goal should be to lower the total amount of suffering by all people, not just only think about one cause.

Also there is another argument to be made that certain groups of people think they can violate the laws (largest protests in decades) but others must be subject to them is a big factor I think.

18

@16 - none of the stay home orders have been enforced, so even if a lawful emergency order were a violation of liberty (it’s not, but let’s play right wing make believe), it is a theoretical violation. That lack of enforcement is the same reason the protests have been allowed to proceed, same as the gun-toting freedom protests on the steps in Olympia. Now that I think about it, only one of those two groups got tear-gassed, punched and arrested.

19

@16- I see no vitriol there. Is that what you call disagreement?

20

@14: LOL. Culp’s a HS dropout. Inslee has multiple degrees including a law degree. Culp couldn’t even put together a statement for the he voters guide. A guppy could outwit him. And, apparently, you as well.

22

@16, I never said "violation of liberty", I just think these continued half measures are unwarranted if you look at hospitalization rates even with the recent spikes (check King County Dashboard) . I think the initial lockdown was warranted (as do most people) with the spike in hospitalizations.

@20 Culp is an idiot, yes. But this is what happens when you have to choose between 2 people. I'd rather vote for a democrat who wouldn't force businesses to stay closed.

@21 Correct, Inslee will win.

23

"Hey, can you give me a full sleeve tattoo that implies I only source my news from Facebook?"

25

@22 - Lowering the total amount of suffering suggests “not being able to go to a restaurant” can be measured on the same scale as “dying in agony” or “not being able to say goodbye to gam gam.” They can’t, and your attempted argument is abhorrent. Fret not, though. The half measures are already being relaxed, so even here, we will be right back to filling up the hospitals, just like Trump insists we do.

27

@25 Full of such strawman arguments. It appears you aret rying

The suffering I am referring to is the people that have lost their livelihoods and those suffering in solitude during all this. Those in privilege are inflicting severe pain on those hourly workers in the name of "safety"

Your argument about filling up hospitals is moot because hospitalization rates (in King County) have stayed constant (2% of beds) through the last spike and the beginning of this one (perhaps this changes).

All I am saying is if the hospitalization rate is not moving and as long as it doesn't what it the point of these continued measures.

Those who don't see an undue risk can be allowed to live their lives and those that are concerned can continue to stay home. If hospitalizations start to tick up it can be revisited.

28

@25:

Ironically, our hospitals will most likely be filling up with RWNJ/MAGAts from E WA and ID who've spent the last nine months screaming "it's all a HOAX!" at the top of their lungs, and will now receive treatment far superior to what they would have gotten in a small, rural, county health clinic - and they'll still be ungrateful fucks even while they continue to gasp out their "socializm iz EVIL!" screed through a ventilator tube.

30

@2 if you use facebook you give legitimacy to a corporation that is undermining democracy and are therefore complicit in allowing this shit to continue. It's not complicated, even for you.

31

@29: What is "facism?" Is it some form of government? A society ruled by faces? There's so much I don't understand.

33

Very well played @15. Hoping to hear more from "Vaccinate Your Mind."

And just to add to my amusement. The fact that the innocuous comment @15 got such a rise out of the commenter @16.

34

It's important to note the "Queen Elizabeth/The Rothschilds" part of that chart- that is an indication that there are people involved with this who came out of the Lyndon LaRouche cult- the people who demanded "beam weapons" and claimed that Henry Kissinger was also colluding with Her Majesty and The Rothschilds.

For those who weren't around in the Seventies, the LaRouchies were also involved in helping the Teamster Union leadership bully dissidents, expressed implacable hostility towards nearly every piece of music written after the death of J.S. Bach(they may have given Mozart a pass, I'm not sure) and, in the days when non-passengers could still hang out in most parts of airports, were the ones shaking down your grandmother to donate her lifesavings to them when she was just trying to catch her flight to Spokane.

35

@33 I'm enjoying the facts that you guys never learn and don't realize that just being terrible doesn't bring anyone over to your side.

Keep saying your tropes and keep losing elections...

37

@34 - Good catch on the Queen Elizabeth part. Too many of today's right wingers give her a pass on her drug smuggling activities, but Lyndon fearlessly called her out.

I always thought LaRouche was comedy gold - had not heard about him being involved in anything actually nasty. Also, to be fair, the Hare Krishna got a good share of Grandma's spare change too.

And it's a good thing that a lot of America's aluminum industry is here in WA. We're going to need a lot of tinfoil to make hats for all of Culp's followers.

38

@27 - What this virus has shown repeatedly is that the second you ease up, it comes roaring back. King County has done a great job of keeping it in check. As soon as you make it a matter of “personal choice,” it’s totally predictable that a lot of those personal choices will be selfish and reckless.

This elite is well aware that current measures fall unfairly on lower-paid workers, which is why this elite favors a strong social safety net and, oh I don’t know, a robust aid package now, and I am glad that salt of the earth republicans Like DJT and Mitch McConnell are working tirelessly on the same. What? They’re not? I am shocked.

41

@35,

"Keep saying your tropes and keep losing elections.."

Ha ha, what!?! The subject from the headline of this post is going to lose in a fucking landslide, a fact that's widely accepted on both the left and the right. And his opponent is fast approaching a decade of gubernatorial reign. Please let me know what kind of odds you'd like me to offer in a significant wager on Culp and I'll be glad to offer them.

Dumbass.

42

@38 Check out King County COVID Dashboard, throughout our second spike there was no increase in total mortality or hospitalizations. Into the 3rd spike, there is still no increase yet.

@39 I never claimed to know more about the disease than an epidemiologist. However, their role should be limited to explaining what they think might happen and risks involved with different decisions. However, it should not be up to them to determine policy. I've been following state guidance and going to what is permitted to be open. In my experience has been people being respectful and following the rules.

Not one person has explained to me how during the protests everyone said that was fine, but doing something similar (i.e. same type of crowding, in similar numbers) is riskier and puts people at risk. Would you not say that the protesters didn't care about the damage they were doing?

43

@32 I don't know if you just don't get it or are so full of vitriol that you don't want to get it. The problem is not the extreme on either side of the aisle. They have always existed and always will. You will never eliminate the fringe and to focus on one of those being the big bad is fucking pointless. Pull your head out of you butt for one second and look at the big picture.

The problem with Facebook and all social media is that what is going on is a feature not a flaw. Everyone who uses their platforms is the product being sold. That's not saying the technology itself is inherently evil or the people who built it set out to do this but the business model evolved to allow for it. Fix the business model and all these assholes who use it to spread whatever version of hate they want disappear back into whatever hole they crawled out of.

44

Culp's supporters really are a bunch of morons. When he was too stupid and/or lazy to submit any information for the voter's guides - other than the fact that he was born in Everett (or was it Oly?) had a company, went to a pissant little town and became a mediocre cop who wrote a self-published book that had a forward by Ted Nugent) they believed that it was intentionally left out by some malicious voter's guide publisher. (Stupid people love a conspiracy)

He's the darling of the yokels in Eastern Washington (please not that not all Eastern Washingtonians are yokels, but they have a high percentage of yokels) with his get-government-out-of-the-way schtick. In a region that is heavily government dependent (both federal and state) the idea that the government needs to get out of the way is a recipe for a lot of starving yokels.

45

@33 There is a certain online culture (as seen by @32) that no longer knows how to have a discussion with someone outside their silo. All they are able to do now is hurl insults and compare the person to some stereotype they've constructed in their head. It's really fascinating, since every time they speak it makes people less likely to see their view point. Once everyone realized the kind of people (and the way they acted) who were the Bernie Bros, Bernie's support basically got cut in half.

46

Oops meant @43 in the last one.

47

@35

Being terrible? I thought the RW was the side of memes, owning the libs, suck it up snowflakes, fuck your feelings, agro "tell like it is" talk radio, talking shit about minorities/homeless/drug addicts, etc, pro-war and police violence, rallying to defend "non-PC" discourse. The President is renowned for being rude and cruel pretty much every time he opens his mouth. The RW loves it when he grabs pussies, calls veterans losers, breaks up immigrant families, and tells seniors they might have to die for the economy. It's so alpha.

I thought you all said the left is a bunch of elitist, wishy washy snowflakes and degenerates. Trolls come here to Slog weekly to remind us that "your liberal urban centers will run with blood, and the rest of the country will be glad."

GTFO with this garbage. Mean old Democrats! Haha.

48

@42 - You are mischaracterizing the King County data, and you are mis-generalizing past trends from a small sample. There were rises in hospitalizations and deaths - not as pronounced as during the first wave of cases (which caught us off-guard due in no small part to a certain commander in chief withholding information), but still a rise. The current trends are with restrictions in place. Remove the restrictions and the patterns of a future surge can’t be assumed to be consistent with past trends.

You won’t be the first to misuse the data to support your own preferences, and you won’t be the last. Me on the other hand, I will be at home, telecommuting from a bathtub of Dom Perignon while my servant accepts a delivery of caviar for me.

49

@44 - exactly. I'm way past tired with the yokel regions happily consuming state resources and then bitching when we raise the taxes needed to pay for said resources. It does occur to me that running Culp was a gift to us from the Republican party, as it meant that we no longer had to worry about the gubernatorial election.

52

@50: Facebook is a lot more than conspiracy pages. It's family fun pics, cat videos, recipe ideas, hobbies, social outreach, and on and on.

You FB bigots are hell bent on mind control. Sorry, you can't have it.

53

@52 refers to @30

54

@50 as a Professor I'm sure you're familiar with the concept of projection. Here I am talking about Facebook as a platform and you're raving on and on about imaginary boogeymen coming to take you away and upend the republic. Then you say I'm the crazy one. I'm gonna leave you to stew in your own bile. See you in the next thread.

55

@52: You are the only one here talking about mind control. Our problem with FB is how the company's business model encourages the dissemination of hate speech, conspiracy theories, outrageous lies, and other such communications. As none of that helps our democracy, we are asking for FB to change its business model to de-emphasize these types of communications. That is all.

No cat videos will be harmed by this action. :-)

56

@26: Darling, I didn’t say boo to any of the “blue-collar, traditionally democratic voters” since all the ones I know voted for Clinton in 2016. And it amuses me mightily that you apparently think I went door to door or on social media to be mean to these mythic salts of the earth voters who live in your head. Nor do I equate a college degree with intelligence necessarily since on the one hand three of the smartest people I know don’t have more than HS diploma and on the other we need only look to highly educated morons like Ben Carson.

And I’m terribly sorry but Culp is no more qualified to run a state government than the manager of a Krispy Krème would be. That isn’t being elitist, it is a fact.

I am so sad to break it to you, but a lot of people are indeed unintelligent and selfish and racist, and while those traits can be seen across all political and socio-economic spectrums they most certainly can be seen in those who voted for Trump in 2016 or who will vote for him again in 2020 as well.

57

@14 & @26: Begone, trolling lil MAGA tool, before you draw Dencey Pencey's flies.

@28 COMTE, @44 Catalina Vel-DuRay, and @56 Lissa for the WIN!

58

"Facebook Is the Reason We Have Loren Culp"

Actually, the reason we have a high-school dropout with no real experience of, well, anything as a gubernatorial candidate for a major party is the GOP's ever-dwindling relevance to Washington State's politics. As our Dear Divine Mrs. Catalina has noted, the GOP has ceded Seattle to the Democrats for decades now. The results:

Washington state's electoral votes have gone to the Democrats for over thirty years.
Washington State's last Republican governor left office over thirty years ago, and Gov. Dan Evans had founded the Evergreen State College. (Washington state's GOP would revile him as a left-wing Democrat now.)
The last election Jay Inslee lost was in 1994.
Washington State's last Republican senator, Slade Gorton, was retired by voters twenty years ago.

Right now, the Republicans are looking at a Democratic sweep of all statewide offices, and larger Democratic majorities in both houses of our state's legislature.

At the rate our local GOP is going, the right-wing nut-case conspiracy theorists on the internet will soon expel Republicans for being too wacko.

60

Well, the Fed does want to eliminate cash and convert to a digital currency. This is the next logical step when they can't get the inflation they want.

61

@20 - Inslee is walking proof that multiple college degrees don't mean you have any common sense at all.

62

@61 So...still struggling with Remedial 7th Grade Math, huh? Begone, lil MAGA tool before you draw Pence's flies.


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