The All-Purpose Political Thread

[lester1/2jr]

they stopped the tax which stopped the riots. hey idiot, next time don't wait for the riot.

france makes a quadrillion dollars a year from tourism they shouldn't have any taxes

[Trevor]

This new thing where you type the word IDIOT into Google Images and Donald Trump's picture comes up: I'm not a fan but that is incredibly disrespectful. 

[Svengoolie 3]

This new thing where you type the word IDIOT into Google Images and Donald Trump's picture comes up: I'm not a fan but that is incredibly disrespectful. 

To show respect to one unworthy of it is to disrespect those worthy of respect.

[Alex]

Agreed. I've known a few idiots who were otherwise damn fine people, and none of them deserve to be associated with trump.

[Rev. Powell]

This new thing where you type the word IDIOT into Google Images and Donald Trump's picture comes up: I'm not a fan but that is incredibly disrespectful. 

There is a strain of American political theory that would argue it's important to be disrespectful to the President. It's one of the checks on the power of the office.

[ER]

I believe the military rule that you salute the rank, not its holder should probably apply to the dignity of the office of President, whoever occupies that role, and however much that person might fail in the role of President. Not the reverence paid royalty, but a respect for what the office is, so I have to agree with our South African friend. That's why I always tried to say "President Obama" and "President Bush" no matter how deeply I disagreed with those Presidents.

I believe this topic of Googling "idiot" arose out of hearings about Google's partiality toward certain political leanings, which certainly exists, of course, but you know, I am not sure I can entirely fault Google for that, since supporting an agenda has always been part of the business of newspapers and the like.

Does Google owe the world impartiality and neutrality in content delivery? It'd be nice, but does the mindset of the operators of a business not have a right to direct how the business operates? For instance Hobby Lobby and its Christian overtones, the blatantly pro-Israel mentality of an accounting firm I deal with.

If Google is prejudiced against conservative thought and biased toward leftist opinion, isn't that Google's right? And isn't it the right of the marketplace to adjust to any existing desire on the part of those who use the internet to put forth alternatives in competition? (Or to try to, since Google right now is probably more dominant in its field than Standard Oil was in its time.)

Google should be up front about how it does steer web searches, and consumer reaction aside, be left alone to do so.

If this sounds like a contradiction, it's really not. Setting a President up to be called an idiot in web searches (as a Democrat pointed out, by the way) is disrespectful, though Google has the right to do it, though by doing so Google shows what it is.

Maybe that's a good thing.

[Rev. Powell]

Google doesn't manipulate image search results. Pictures of Trump are coming up marked "idiot" because people on the web are tagging pictures of Trump with the word "idiot" on pages with lots of contextual text using the word "idiot." It's only accelerating now because even pages defending Trump or reporting the story objectively are necessarily using the word "idiot" in their stories.

[Alex]

Really hoping they walk away. I doubt the benefits would live up to his promises.

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen/1630776/trump-organisation-warns-it-will-walk-away-if-north-east-housing-plans-are-rejected/?fbclid=IwAR0mjHUYlH2Bpp3pUGcnkMU321GPyIV2UMx2yPiTYCe9EAgBG6_-R3ZbGlg

Hell, if the whole thing was closed down and packed up I doubt there would be too many tears shed.

[ER]

Google doesn't manipulate image search results. Pictures of Trump are coming up marked "idiot" because people on the web are tagging pictures of Trump with the word "idiot" on pages with lots of contextual text using the word "idiot." It's only accelerating now because even pages defending Trump or reporting the story objectively are necessarily using the word "idiot" in their stories.

How we do know Google doesn't manipulate image search results?

[Rev. Powell]

Google doesn't manipulate image search results. Pictures of Trump are coming up marked "idiot" because people on the web are tagging pictures of Trump with the word "idiot" on pages with lots of contextual text using the word "idiot." It's only accelerating now because even pages defending Trump or reporting the story objectively are necessarily using the word "idiot" in their stories.

How we do know Google doesn't manipulate image search results?

Occam's razor. The normal unconscious operation of Google's algorithm that occurs a billion times a day explains the observed phenomenon perfectly well. We'll never know for sure but it makes more sense than the alternative, which would require a ton of currently nonexistent evidence to prove.

[RCMerchant]

 Trump's an idiot.
It's like the f**king sky is blue.
If you type 'Nazi'- you get Hitler.
You type 'idiot' you get Trump.

[Rev. Powell]

If you do an image search for "very stable genius" you also get pictures of Trump.

[RCMerchant]

If you do an image search for "very stable genius" you also get pictures of Trump.

Next to Mr.Ed.

[Svengoolie 3]

Could it be because the ochre tumor acts like an idiot?  He doesn't know no to work an umbrella,  he can't remmebertbe name of the town he just toured for a photo op,  he doesn't get that murdering dictators are bad and democracies are good,  he thinks clean coal exists,  he doesn't get the fact presidential power is limited by the constitution,  hecd ran one business after the other into the ground,  etc.

[Rev. Powell]

This is kind of fun. Also, if you search for "best president," 7 of the top ten hits show Trump's face. Half of the attached articles are satirical, but still.