On democracy, the other thing Tyler is missing is the "Y2K phenomenon": warning about the problem is a spur to doing the needful to avoid it, even though when the problem is avoided, those who did that necessary warning will be derided as Chicken Littles. If indeed US democracy survives the next few years in good shape, it will be in large part because of the lawsuits, citizen movements, etc motivated by the fear that it might fall.
This, of course, will be the position of those who claimed it was falling--they saved it! Whether that is empirically true will be a different question.
Great stuff, as for moderation I think the whole "Chuygate" (or whatever we are going to call it) thing with MGP shows another variant of no. 2 where you "show moderation by being uncompromising on a principal" thus differentiating yourself from your group*. Maybe MGP has really strong personal opinions on this but ballot games are nothing new in politics in general and Chicago in particular (see Obama playing hardball and knocking people of the ballot in his first race for State Senate). Likewise I have a hard time thinking her constituents care much about this one race in a whole another part of the country or that many people outside of the district will care much at all about this next year. But intentionally or not it was a clever bit of politicking in terms of building her brand of "I'm a different kind of Democrat"** especially when various progressives (Jackson etc) got mad and did the whole "Respect your elders girl!" thing. Maybe they were in on the plan from the beginning LOL.
*see also the Mugwumps
**see also her "I live in a house in the woods" stuff, Hakeem Jeffries very much doesn't live in a house in the woods etc
The thing about the aphantasia article that blew my mind was when I tried to put into words how vivid my own mental imagery is. I was like “it’s not as vivid as reality but it’s not far off. It’s like I’m looking at it through a pane of glass. Only darker”. And then I was like “that sounds familiar actually”. And then I was like 🤯.
Apparently I see mental imagery exactly as vividly and in approximately the same way as the Apostle Paul, and we’ve been misunderstanding somewhat what he was saying in 1 Corinthians 13:12 for a couple thousand years.
#2: strongly recommend rewriting #2 and remove the words boring and looney. I mean, I get your point but the President of the United States being involved in sex trafficking and pedophilia is anything but. Matt, I’m a lot older than you and can confirm in your life this is the biggest political story that has happened to you. And it has financial, political, and yes, possible procedural implications. Have a great Thanksgiving.
Disappointed to see you say that refusing to discriminate against trans people is “stupid,” though of course you’re entirely right that it’s unpopular.
On democracy, the other thing Tyler is missing is the "Y2K phenomenon": warning about the problem is a spur to doing the needful to avoid it, even though when the problem is avoided, those who did that necessary warning will be derided as Chicken Littles. If indeed US democracy survives the next few years in good shape, it will be in large part because of the lawsuits, citizen movements, etc motivated by the fear that it might fall.
This, of course, will be the position of those who claimed it was falling--they saved it! Whether that is empirically true will be a different question.
As Homer puts it to Marge: "You bought those smoke alarms, and we haven't had a single fire!"
Great stuff, as for moderation I think the whole "Chuygate" (or whatever we are going to call it) thing with MGP shows another variant of no. 2 where you "show moderation by being uncompromising on a principal" thus differentiating yourself from your group*. Maybe MGP has really strong personal opinions on this but ballot games are nothing new in politics in general and Chicago in particular (see Obama playing hardball and knocking people of the ballot in his first race for State Senate). Likewise I have a hard time thinking her constituents care much about this one race in a whole another part of the country or that many people outside of the district will care much at all about this next year. But intentionally or not it was a clever bit of politicking in terms of building her brand of "I'm a different kind of Democrat"** especially when various progressives (Jackson etc) got mad and did the whole "Respect your elders girl!" thing. Maybe they were in on the plan from the beginning LOL.
*see also the Mugwumps
**see also her "I live in a house in the woods" stuff, Hakeem Jeffries very much doesn't live in a house in the woods etc
The thing about the aphantasia article that blew my mind was when I tried to put into words how vivid my own mental imagery is. I was like “it’s not as vivid as reality but it’s not far off. It’s like I’m looking at it through a pane of glass. Only darker”. And then I was like “that sounds familiar actually”. And then I was like 🤯.
Apparently I see mental imagery exactly as vividly and in approximately the same way as the Apostle Paul, and we’ve been misunderstanding somewhat what he was saying in 1 Corinthians 13:12 for a couple thousand years.
#2: strongly recommend rewriting #2 and remove the words boring and looney. I mean, I get your point but the President of the United States being involved in sex trafficking and pedophilia is anything but. Matt, I’m a lot older than you and can confirm in your life this is the biggest political story that has happened to you. And it has financial, political, and yes, possible procedural implications. Have a great Thanksgiving.
Disappointed to see you say that refusing to discriminate against trans people is “stupid,” though of course you’re entirely right that it’s unpopular.