Program_Deprogram

Audio Programming and Everything Deprogramming

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Elections Have Consequences

https://www.thenation.com/article/why-do-white-working-class-people-vote-against-their-interests-they-dont/

I keep seeing, over and over, this same kind of analysis, typically from the left as criticism of itself and/or the Democratic Party.  It’s fairly straightforward: Why would working class Americans trust the Democratic party after they’d failed to stand up for worker’s rights, after they’d capitulated to financial interests?

The answer is simple: Politicians who remained staunchly leftist got voted out of office.

I understand it may feel as though we were betrayed by our party, but the reality of the last several decades is that it was our vote they were chasing.  The American voter, by and large, fell in love with the conservative message that regulation, unions, minimum wages, and worker protections killed jobs.  So they would not have tolerated, correction, did not tolerate politicians who advocated for these things.

I have my criticisms of our current form of government.  There are plenty of structural changes we could benefit from.  But a government that dismantles social programs and removes itself further from the workings of the market is exactly what we’ve asked for over and over again.

As Americans we like to think that the underdog can win.  Not only that they can win but that they’re destined to win, that the disadvantages and lack of support they face are just blessings in disguise.  This isn’t how democracy works.  In a democracy, people vote.  Those with the most votes become representatives.  Elect enough like minded representatives for a majority in congress, and that’s all you need to start making laws.  Those in the minority have a few tricks they can pull to slow you down, but that’s it.  As a country, we voted for Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats, so those are the people who make our laws.

Honestly, am I wrong to think this?  Are the last 30 years rife with Democrats promising strong unions and minimum wage hikes and worker protections and then voting against those things upon hitting Washington?

[hawkeyedflame]

Flashback Interview: Trump Defends Gays from Clintons in 2000

Back in 2000 Donald Trump was interviewed by the gay Advocate magazine. This was after eight years of Bill and ...

Just in case anyone was still doubting that Trump is pro-LGBT.

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This article is a great example.

The content of the article is such that, yes, Trump does make very positive statements regarding LGBTs.  But nowhere does the article itself say anything about any actions of the Clinton administration or Trumps actions to do any defending against it.  It’s a kind of free association.  Trump said this in 2000, when Bill Clinton was in office, therefore, he was ‘defending’ against a supposedly anti-gay Clinton presidency.  How do we solve the problem that this counts as valid for some voters?

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Moral Foundation Theory

As I watch Trump pick his cabinet and staff, I’m trying to think of a way to coherently describe why this might be bad for people to those who don’t already agree with me.  I keep coming across the work of psychologist  Jonathan Haidt: https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind

Long story short, there are 6 moral criteria (five in earlier versions) that people use to make moral decisions

Care: cherishing and protecting others; opposite of harm. Fairness or proportionality: rendering justice according to shared rules; opposite of cheating. Liberty: the loathing of tyranny; opposite of oppression. [new addition] Loyalty or ingroup: standing with your group, family, nation; opposite of betrayal. Authority or respect: obeying tradition and legitimate authority; opposite of subversion. Sanctity or purity: abhorrence for disgusting things, foods, actions; opposite of degradation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_foundations_theory

In the linked video and elsewhere, Haidt does a good job of giving examples of how we can frame arguments differently for different ideologies.  But he never really addresses two big problems:

1. The typically conservative values of Loyalty, Authority and Sanctity are fairly, well, slippery, right?  They’re all dependent on the identity of the person, authority, or group in question without any qualifiers.  If I can condemn anything as long as I can successfully label it ‘impure’, then why should that foundation get the same standing as Fairness or Care?  I admit what constitutes fairness and caring across cultures and ideologies is not uniform, but I’d argue that they are more measurable and have a tighter consensus around them than the others.

It’s easy to see that someone who has broken their leg has come to harm.  But it’s less easy to judge if that same person has become impure by breaking their leg.  Your immediate reaction might be ‘of course they’ve not become impure’, but how are you determining that, given that you’re the kind of person who otherwise uses that foundation to make moral justifications?  Is it just that your church, or personal feelings of disgust happen not to make any negative rulings on broken legs?  And, is that really a sufficient basis for morality?  Further, how can you use this to convince a conservative of anything while these standards are being consistently reinforced within their community?  I can try to make some kind of argument from authority, but because there’s no qualifier on who should be that authority or what counts as authority, any argument I make can be easily beaten by louder or more numerous voices.

2. I’m not convinced that Conservatives are particularly consistent when applying the foundations of  Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity.  Would they still stand by them as moral foundations when they are an outsider, on the wrong side of authority, or considered impure by other standards of purity?  After reading through the research, I did not find that this was explored.

For example, we could ask a typical Christian Conservative American whether or not it’s OK for a city or neighborhood with a Muslim majority to enforce, say, the wearing of burqas for anyone passing through, regardless of religious affiliation.  I don’t know this, but I imagine they’d reject the idea.  If I were to point out that such a city ordinance has a moral basis built on Authority, Loyalty, and Sanctity of the community that created it, I imagine they would not accept that reasoning and would anticipate some appeal to Fairness or Care (any conservative reading, I invite your input).  If that’s the case, and Conservatives only accept the standards of Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity when they are the beneficiaries, doesn’t that disqualify those standards.  Or at least make them secondary?

My point: I’m not convinced the current state of research on how to really persuade someone via ideological debate is going to do anyone any favors.  Useful for understanding, but not actually useful for persuading anyone.  More of a description of the symptoms rather than a treatment.

[cordycepsspore]

(Emotional Response)

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smooth

[jzweibs]

Came in last night from the cold and rain to a private concert: my friends J and L, sweet girls of my homeland, played and sang their own enchanting, mournful, playful songs. I got to listen and watch their graceful hands, feet, and faces while the music moved through them. I got to sit there quietly, welcomed at the end of my week into a warm red room, rumbling with song and the friendship of women.  

I was going to take a train home but I ended up walking. It was not late, I was not drunk, just impatient to move and warm myself thereby. 

Our apartment is drafty and the heat’s not on yet, so it’s bitterly cold. I’ve been making myself baked things and just standing next to the open oven, naked, basking. 

(@juliannehalfpoems)

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[cornellajoan]

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BadChristian | I Am a Music Producer – An Essay by J Hall

I Am a Music Producer – An Essay by J Hall

“ When you go from a full body reaction (laughing from pure bliss), to reading venomous negativity about your art., what do you do with that?  Why can’t people simply say, “Thanks for doing this, but it’s not my thing”?  Why can’t we love well?  We want our art the way we want it.  We want it for free.  We want artists to churn out the same dribble, over and over again.  How dare they change and grow!!!!  HOW DARE THEY??  Get the pitchforks!!”

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NOTES: These tips are good for you even if you don’t produce EDM. Many sound mixing principles here.

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Modern Media Cabinet

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YOU NEED A REAL STEREO IF YOU’RE GOING TO LISTEN TO BJORK.  DIE.

[buzzwordsasart]

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Kill the part of yourself that finds this interview boring; this is how art gets made.

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My friend Lisa is fascinated by the self-cleaning oven. In principle, it takes care of itself, an ongoing cycle of productivity. One button gets it dirty, then another button cleans it right up. Even better, consider the camera that cleans...

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“If there is any value you do want to encourage in kids, it's looking out for each other.  The girl had it; the boy who tried to snag Devastator also had it.  Those were reflexes, they didn't plan this out over morning waffles, but whatever was going on at home and in their heads lead them to have, and to follow, those impulses.”

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The boy cried, Wolf! and the villagers came, but there was no wolf.

“ The boy grew up, resentful at the villagers' resentment towards him, what did he do wrong?  He called them and they did not come.   They told him they would.   They lied.  And like the children they are, they took no responsibility-- they tried to blame him.”

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“ To get the ruling class to agree that you have the exclusive right to cultural symbols and they have the duty to acknowledge that is to admit that they have power and you do not because it is your separateness which establishes your identity. “

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“Your actual feelings when you consider the question (How do I really feel?) are what are being avoided.  Contemplating the question “How do I really feel? ” is an imaginary process of fantasizing about your ideal self.”