Unfortunately, we're at a point where any attempt to fix media directly will be met with push-back by those very same people - we see this happening RIGHT now. They are weaponized and can be turned on any outlet that DARES try to speak the truth.

These people are now an army and bad actors will NOT willfully give them up. You have to assume the worst... that any attempt to fix the system will necessarily involve confrontation with them, and more we can reduce their numbers or limit their reach the easier that will become.

Treating them lightly with kid gloves will only encourage more people to join their ideologies, and it's not a matter of hovering around 50%, there's a tipping point. The moment there are visibly more people on the side of lies and fascism, a huge chunk of people who simply want to fit in or be on the winning side will simply change sides. Fascism and populism are diseases, and like any disease, it's tragic that they're sick, but you first and foremost have to contain it and stop it from spreading. THEN you can start worrying about their well-being once they are no longer a threat.

Things are different now as the educational system is being intentionally damaged, but every single child who grew up in America between the ages of 10 and 80 was raised in an educational environment that taught them in no uncertain terms ALL of the warning signs of fascism and manipulation - these haven't changed in hundreds of years. They are either willfully ignoring them or spent their years in school eating paint instead of internalizing anything.

It's totally reasonable to recognize they're victims. It's also reasonable to recognize that in most cases, they made themselves that way.

Why does it have to be either or? It's totally reasonable to blame BOTH.

"Hey Verne! Found a perfectly good hammer for free downtown where all that fighting was happening! Now we can finally put the finishing touches on those cabinets in your kitchen, know-what-I-mean?"

"Your honor, rather than pay his outstanding debts, this shiftless f***wit used 75 million dollars to fund a SuperPAC to bother people at their homes for the benefit of the Trump campaign."

Not the original, but...

https://bash-org-archive.com/

The fallacy here is the idea that they care in any way about what gamers WANT.

They care about what gamers are willing to PAY for.

You didn't answer my question even a little.

It's not a difficult question.

We've established your action and your goal.

Your action: Voting for Jill Stein Your goal: To force Democrats to remove corporate interests from their platform and selection process

I'm with you. Now it's a question.

Do you, in your heart of hearts, rubber meets the road, believe the action you are going to take will lead to the goal you want?

It's a simple yes or no. Do you?

In all seriousness, do you think it will do that? There's no place on a ballot to put the REASON you cast your vote, so isn't it possible the Democrats who look at the post-mortem choose to interpret your vote in some other way?

I see an awful lot of angry putting people on the defense, but let's turn this around. What result that's brought about by your vote for Stein creates the world that you want to see? In your world, what does the world look like on the morning of November 6th, and what have you accomplished?

Actually, the lesson I'm starting to see over the past few years is that for certain groups of people, there are ABSOLUTELY no consequences and every failure is just failing up. There's a good chance this kid will never find out.

The Onion needs another one of those repeating articles for FOX News.

"Shitty network masquerading as a news organization does shitty partisan thing"

Absolutely. It's sucked a lot longer than that.

Bees are pollinators because they go to flowers and collect and move pollen.

Mosquitoes don't have time to hang out in flowers because they're busy screaming in your ear at 2 AM.

"Hope he's okay"

I don't. I hope he's very not okay.

I may disagree with the main thrust of your argument, but I respect that there's some truth to it, even if in my cynicism I think it's ideologically unrealistic to expect better, and do agree that it's a massive disappointment that we can't get more progress.

Edit: But on the flip side, it is POSSIBLE this isn't some crappy alternative - this just might be the best we can do. I would like to believe there's huge support for progressive action that would help people, but I'd also like to believe 50% of my country isn't Nazis, and that's also incorrect. If the realistic option is small, frustratingly tiny steps towards positive change, I'll choose that every time.

But... what will happen to all the bustling cross-border traffic??