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    1. Washington debate discussion thread

      Admittedly I deleted and re-uploaded this because I was worried I had posted the original thread too soon. A'ight, here we are. Spreadsheet time. When will the debate be broadcasted? The debate...

      Admittedly I deleted and re-uploaded this because I was worried I had posted the original thread too soon.


      A'ight, here we are. Spreadsheet time.

      When will the debate be broadcasted?

      The debate will be recorded March 15th, 8-10 PM ET. (1-3 AM UTC)

      Where will it happen?

      In the CNN studio in Washington DC. Note that they moved it from Phoenix due to the Coronavirus.

      Who will moderate it?

      Dana Bash and Jake Tapper from CNN and Ilia Calderón from Telemundo.

      Where can I watch this?

      It will most likely be livestreamed in CNN's YouTube channel. it was livestreamed on CNN's website.

      So, what's new and how will this change anything?

      This is the first and possibly the last one-on-one debate in the primary between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden and (also due to Coronavirus concerns) It has no live audience. It will also occur before some of the largest states in the primary vote.

      So what do you think should happen? What questions should be asked? What should the candidates do and what should we talk about?

      12 votes
    2. "Can Biden beat Trump?"

      What the polls say about a Biden v Trump matchup (The polls say yeah so... yeah. Admittedly this is a repeat of 2016 and Ukraine will basically be the same thing as Clinton's emails and nothing is...

      What the polls say about a Biden v Trump matchup
      (The polls say yeah so... yeah. Admittedly this is a repeat of 2016 and Ukraine will basically be the same thing as Clinton's emails and nothing is truly guaranteed.)

      Can Biden beat Trump? The truth is he's just as risky as Bernie
      (Neither of them is a guaranteed win. If there was a safe choice, it wasn't one of these 2.)

      Stop saying Biden is the 'most electable'. Trump will run rings around him. (No. And not because of his record or gaffes, but because he is an establishment politician and Ukraine will leave the same impression on Biden as Clinton's emails. Are you people insane? Have you forgotten 2016?)

      15 votes
    3. "We Didn't Start The Fire" parody - Sherry Vine

      I just saw this parody of "We Didn't Start The Fire" on Reddit. It might be a parody song, but it's also a potted history of LGBT activism in the USA for the past 60 years. We Didn't Start The...

      I just saw this parody of "We Didn't Start The Fire" on Reddit. It might be a parody song, but it's also a potted history of LGBT activism in the USA for the past 60 years.

      We Didn't Start The Fire parody - Sherry Vine

      6 votes
    4. Book recommendation: Anti-Social by Andrew Marantz

      I just finished Andrew Marantz's Anti-Social: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation, and I think it's a book that would interest a lot of the people on...

      I just finished Andrew Marantz's Anti-Social: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation, and I think it's a book that would interest a lot of the people on this site. Marantz is a journalist for the New Yorker who embedded himself with alt-right influencers and social media companies. This book is a compilation of all of those stories; part memoir, part retelling, part observation, part commentary.

      Despite its title, the book is not a one-dimensional hit piece. I actually strongly dislike the title as I feel it's a bit too barbed for a book that's rooted in extensive, thoughtful contemplation. The author is honest, open-minded, and critical. I hate the word "balanced" for all of the baggage it brings to the table, but it really feels like the best word to use, especially as an antonym for "unbalanced". He deftly handles a lot of different subjects here. He doesn't shy away from giving criticism where its due, but he's also not quick to judge, trying to understand the broader picture first before casting any judgments about it.

      I mention it here because I think it has a lot of relevance to Tildes as a site, as well as the type of people that have congregated here. It covers a lot of ground of direct interest to Tildes: the role of social media platforms to police speech and ideology; how the structure of social media creates influence; how bad faith actors can manipulate systems; how noxious ideologies continue to appeal and propagate. I also know that Tildes trends toward the left, and as someone far on that side myself, I appreciated this book for giving me what I feel was a fair and thoughtful window into the lives of certain high-profile people on the right. It's easy to think of them as a monolith, but I was surprised by the differences between all of his various character portraits. Marantz never loses the individual humanity of his subjects, even when some of them are abjectly abhorrent people.

      I should mention that the book is very US-centric, as that was where he focused his journalistic efforts. As such, readers outside the US might not appreciate it as much, but I still think a lot of what he shares is relevant no matter where you are located since we all share space together online.

      6 votes