Headlines that signal that the story will be misleading and/or stupid

[arthwollipot]

He promised to drain the swamp last time too. Did he?

[sparks]

Of course not. But he told The Great Unwashed exactly what they wanted to hear and they, like the guppies they are, bought it hook, line and sinker.

And they're gonna do it again.

Jesus titty fucking christ.

[Meadmaker]

Of course not. But he told The Great Unwashed exactly what they wanted to hear and they, like the guppies they are, bought it hook, line and sinker.

And they're gonna do it again.

Jesus titty fucking christ.

I got to thinking about this. Does Trump do this any more than any other politician? I think they all do that. Well, Walter Mondale famously didn't, and he won Minnesota. I think there's plenty of pandering on both sides.

So I still wondered what made Trump different, and that led me to think about why people vote the way they do. Is it that they look to a candidate who shares their goals and will be effective at making the lives of they and their neibhbors better? That might be what they tell pollsters, but is it true?

I think not. After pondering this problem in between games of online Dominion yesterday, I concluded that the single most important thing that goes into a voting decision wass whether or not the other candidate says things that you think are incredibly stupid, or that really piss you off.

Trump is very good at goading Democrats into saying things that either make people roll their eyes, or really piss them off.

Let's take Trump's early signature issue, immigration. Trump says we should make it harder to enter the US illegally, we should be selective about who we allow in, and we should throw out people who cheat and sneak in illegally. In order to make thoe points he talks about "bad hombres", terrorists all sorts of thing, but his position goes back to the first sentence. Now, instead of saying, "Hmmm.....sounds like a good idea." A lot of Democrats and activists on the left say "THAT"S RACIST!" And America, collectively, rolls their eyes.

Trump's position on immigration is overblown, hyperbolic, fueled by racism.........and correct. By making it into a big issue, even though it really doesn't affect our lives all that much, Trump goads Democrats into saying things that totally turn off people.


It works the other way, too. Why do I hate Trump so much? Because he says things that piss me off. Things like "They stole the election." That pisses me off. I won't vote for him.

[Meadmaker]

Not one specific headline, but rather, anything with "expert" in the headline.


I saw three articles in a row today that sais what experts say. Oddly enough, the experts said things that agreed with the bias of the author. "Experts say I am always right."

[stanky]

They DID steal the election!
(But not from Trump.)

I can't vote for him either.
Too much like Hillary.

[stanky]

(according to undisclosed sources)

[Meadmaker]

Today's headline:

What Does “Cis” Mean, And Is It Bad?


This one is a bit topic specific. The words of the headline don't automatically scream "stupid!" Nevertheless, I sense some stupid coming.


Ok, presumably they are talking about "cisgender" as opposed to "cisalpine". So, the headline asks if it is bad. Why is that stupid?

Because anyone who understands the term knows that it isn't a bad thing to be called cisgender. However, some people might be offended by being called cisgender. Those are two different things. I sense a straw man coming. Let's see....

(Read.....)

Here's the odd quote:

"Even though it’s just one of many terms that can describe someone’s relationship to gender, some conservative pundits have willfully misconstrued its meaning, insisting that it’s used derogatorily,"

I read an awful lot of conservative punditry, and liberal punditry, and bizarre weirdo punditry, and I, personally have never seen anyone misconstrue the term. As noted earlier, it is considered offensive by some, but not because it insults the person referred to as "cis". Therefore, it's not derogatory.

They don't provide a link to any conservative pundit doing what they claim, so I can't find a positive example. It seems unlikely to me that such an example exists, but obviously I cannot claim to have read every conservative pundit.


As for the article itself, there's nothing else in it that's stupid. It's coming from a particuler perspective, but that's not stupid. That's just an editorial, as opposed to being stupid or misleading. It gives the author's opinion, but that's ok, if a piece is obviously an opinion piece. It gives a strong statement about what the term means and why it is necessary, in the author's opinion. My only objection is that it does use that misleading statement about conservative pundits. It's not an actual straw man, because the author doesn't go on to refute those conservative pundits and their alleged claims. It's just a misleading statement.

(And yes, I click on a lot of trans-related articles, so a lot show up in my feed, and an awful lot of them contain an awful lot of stupid.)

[arthwollipot]

Hardly surprising. Yes, "cis" is being used as a slur, like "woke" has become.

[Meadmaker]

Hardly surprising. Yes, "cis" is being used as a slur, like "woke" has become.

I've never seen "cis" as a slur. I've seen people who are offended at being called "cis", but that's not the same thing.

"Woke" is a slur.

ETA: "Woke" is a derogatory term for people who use the term "cis".

[stanky]

I've never heard anyone use either term.
(But i don't get out much)

I'm offended by people that are easily offended. That makes me want to be offensive. If a person's feelings are easily hurt, they're asking for more pain. I don't like to hurt anything, but if i did, it would be the 'special' ones.
(Is that anti-Semitic? Anti-American? Anti-diva?)

They say "a warrior has nothing to defend". A warrior is at war with 'self'. Or the idea of it. Walking on egg-shells around folks that haven't had real challenges yet is a thankless task. People that have been scrubbed hard by life are generally a joy to encounter. They share humility without needing to mention it. Spoiled brats are hard to endure. I'm out to kill the one in me.