Obama warns social media 'corroding civil discourse'

ArchXStanton

Bambi wrote: »

The translation is that the he's panicking over the waning power of his pals in the mainstream media

This elitist c**t makes the orange space hopper less objectionable every day. At least Trump hasn't turned a sizable chunk of a continent into a mad max set yet.

Obama always reminded me of some ghetto kid they took off the streets of Detroit, stuck in a suit and handed him a script

Grayson

batistuta9 wrote: »

Trump & brexit the best examples of this. How were so many people so shocked?

To be fair Farage all but conceded on the night of the vote and the trump campaign thought they might have to at one stage too.

The bubble is only partly responsible. If you go onto the guardians comment section you'll see plenty of right wing trolls. They're out of their bubble but just as nasty.

Robsweezie

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

bukkake obama

Dakota Dan

Donald Trump wrote: »

On the RTE news.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/1227/929781-bacak-obama/

Corroding civil discourse he says. Shut yer gob ya Kenyan bollix I say

Do people actually take notice what he says? He said climate change is the biggest threat to humanity while he bombed more countries than any other US president before him killing innocent women and children, hypocritical b@stard.

Irish Guitarist

On the one hand he obviously doesn't want people online discussing shit he's done or doesn't want anyone daring to say the sun doesn't shine out of his arse.

On the other hand there are some unhinged people talking about insane nonsense online that if they had said in real life a couple of decades ago would have gotten them committed. https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffect/

dr.fuzzenstein

Odhinn wrote: »

It should be noted that there's no small amount of guilt on the traditional media - eg British press, Fox news etc - either.

Yes indeed, there has always been trash media, no small thanks to Mr Murdoch. But the internet has certainly opened the floodgates to cranks, liars, conspiracy nuts, freemen and other assorted loons.
People believe the earth is flat, Obama is a giant lizard, the moon is an alien listening post, all our problems stem from those dirty foreigners and even that Donald Trump is a suitable statesman to fight for the common man.
Personally I believe that IQs have fallen sharply over the last 20 years and that global communication has radicalized a lot of people and made the rest stupid.

MrPudding

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Yes indeed, there has always been trash media, no small thanks to Mr Murdoch. But the internet has certainly opened the floodgates to cranks, liars, conspiracy nuts, freemen and other assorted loons.
People believe the earth is flat, Obama is a giant lizard, the moon is an alien listening post, all our problems stem from those dirty foreigners and even that Donald Trump is a suitable statesman to fight for the common man.
Personally I believe that IQs have fallen sharply over the last 20 years and that global communication has radicalized a lot of people and made the rest stupid.

Idiocracy is a movie that I enjoy, but I worry that it may become a documentary.

MrP

Chrongen

Donald Trump wrote: »

On the RTE news.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/1227/929781-bacak-obama/

Corroding civil discourse he says. Shut yer gob ya Kenyan bollix I say

Yeah, people don't believe that Assad gassed his own people or that Iraq was going to attack the West in 45 minutes or that Ghadaffi was giving his troops viagra to rape people.....if you peddle this gear in the mainstream Fourth Estate and people actually doubt it and express said doubt via the internet then, yes....that gives rise to peoples' alternate realities.

Hermy

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

That's not just for Christmas - it's an ongoing thing with the RTE News website and teletext service.

Irish Praetorian

He's not exactly wrong when he talks about the corrosive effects of social media, but to be fair the more traditional forms of media have been doing a great job of that too.

Vladimir Poontang

It's about control.

That;s why Governments and politicians don't like the internet and why tinpot regimes the world over do their best to shut it down.

Obama is a fraud from start to finish.

gerogerigegege

obama is a loser and a mass murderer

Herb Powell

BillyBobBS wrote: »

Yeah let's all get our news from fair and balanced sources like CNN. Feck of Obama..

That's the slogan of Fox News, actually.

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N9nVLXMhPc

Minderbinder

Vladimir Poontang wrote: »

It's about control.

That;s why Governments and politicians don't like the internet and why tinpot regimes the world over do their best to shut it down.

Obama is a fraud from start to finish.

The internet is not a threat to the control of governments imo. If anything it just causes more confusion and distractions for normal people, who distrusted politicians before the internet, and now they distrust media and educators too. Maybe it makes it easier for the elites to retain power while the rest of us are busy arguing what’s true and what isn’t.

pitifulgod

ArchXStanton wrote: »

Obama always reminded me of some ghetto kid they took off the streets of Detroit, stuck in a suit and handed him a script

One of the best orators of our time, made it to Harvard and became the editor of the Harvard Law Review. So yep he's pretty accomplished and is demonstrably substantially more intelligent and diplomatically successful than the current POTUS.

In relation to social media being corrosive. What was most worrying in 2016 is that foreign players seemed to generate stories that became fact via social media. You had pizzagate conspiracies etc. Best way to handle in the future is to expose that as early as possible for what it is.

Dyr

pitifulgod wrote: »

One of the best orators of our time, made it to Harvard and became the editor of the Harvard Law Review. So yep he's pretty accomplished and is demonstrably substantially more intelligent and diplomatically successful than the current POTUS.

In relation to social media being corrosive. What was most worrying in 2016 is that foreign players seemed to generate stories that became fact via social media. You had pizzagate conspiracies etc. Best way to handle in the future is to expose that as early as possible for what it is.

Baz took a massive a **** on Europe's doorstep on numerous occasions, and we're still left with the mess. Turns out he was not half as clever as he thought he was.

The Orange wig has got through his first year without doing that. From a European perspective, Obama has a worse batting average than a reality TV host. Just goes to show what good PR in the mainstream media can do for a president


You must mean Foreign Player like the United States of America. Because this is Ireland chief.

ArchXStanton

pitifulgod wrote: »

One of the best orators of our time, made it to Harvard and became the editor of the Harvard Law Review. So yep he's pretty accomplished and is demonstrably substantially more intelligent and diplomatically successful than the current POTUS.

In relation to social media being corrosive. What was most worrying in 2016 is that foreign players seemed to generate stories that became fact via social media. You had pizzagate conspiracies etc. Best way to handle in the future is to expose that as early as possible for what it is.

Don't forget the noble peace prize the bolox got....whilst he was dropping democracy bombs by the thousands

pitifulgod

ArchXStanton wrote: »

Don't forget the noble peace prize the bolox got....whilst he was dropping democracy bombs by the thousands

How does any of this detract from what I said? I'm far less certain of general global safety as Trump is unpredictable. Between supporting white supremacists and declaring Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel. He's actively destabilising the globe and the US domestically.

Ulysses Gaze

pitifulgod wrote: »

How does any of this detract from what I said? I'm far less certain of general global safety as Trump is unpredictable. Between supporting white supremacists and declaring Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel. He's actively destabilising the globe and the US domestically.

Who cares if Obama was a great orator. A great bull****ter is all that means.

Left relations with Britain at an all time low, the great diplomat that he was. The Fast and the Furious scandal rocked relations with Mexico. Exacerbated the migrant crisis in Europe. Destabilised Libya. Drone strikes that killed innocent civilians. Pussyfooted around Syria. Left race relations in the US at their worst ebb since the civil rights movement. Obamacare is the sum of his achievements.

Trump is a clown and a fool and will go down as a disaster of a President, but let's not think that Obama was anything other than an unmitigated failure himself.

pitifulgod

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

Who cares if Obama was a great orator. A great bull****ter is all that means.

Left relations with Britain at an all time low, the great diplomat that he was. The Fast and the Furious scandal rocked relations with Mexico. Exacerbated the migrant crisis in Europe. Destabilised Libya. Drone strikes that killed innocent civilians. Pussyfooted around Syria. Left race relations in the US at their worst ebb since the civil rights movement. Obamacare is the sum of his achievements.

Trump is a clown and a fool and will go down as a disaster of a President, but let's not think that Obama was anything other than an unmitigated failure himself.

When Obama's presidency ended, the US International reputation was at an all time high. I completely agree that he made decisions that I disagree with in relation to middle east but unfortunately that's par for the course for the US. He was far from a failure though, he improved US relations and pulled the US out of one its worst financial crisises. He literally left with Trump with America in a much better state than when he started.

daheff

They’re some pretty big n fancy words commin outta his keyster

Whats he ever done for us?? Huh?huh?
Named some bleedin pedertrol station after himselfs all

Ralf and Florian

ArchXStanton wrote: »

Obama always reminded me of some ghetto kid they took off the streets of Detroit, stuck in a suit and handed him a script

In what way?

Memnoch

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

I would totally agree.
Previous to Trump it was bad enough. Best examples are IMDB and YouTube. The comments section on those (now defunct on IMDB) are sad indictments of how low human discourse has sunk.
As far as the 70's and right up to the 90's public broadcasting of one's opinion was the reserve of professional broadcasters and journalists who were employed by TV, radio and print media who could be held accountable for any inaccuracies in their content.
Now any moron with an IQ in the single digit range can open a Twitter account and broadcast their insanity to the slobbering masses.
And the problem is twofold. Not only can a man who is the embodiment of every bad internet troll ever spout his worthless hate, bile and ignorance, there are hoards of morons in the world who willingly lap it up and sweep this man into power on a wave of cheering, hollering and shouts of "Fcuk Yeah!" and "USA! USA! USA!".
And this is how liberty and intelligence dies.
Ladies and gentleman, it's been a pleasure, I'll see you on the other side of the mushroom cloud.

Nothing you have said is untrue but the problem is a far deeper malaise, which is the fact that western democracy has been eroded to the point of virtual nonexistence in many countries such as the USA, the UK etc.

The entire media establishment is bought and paid for and journalists have been either unwilling, uninterested or simply unable to challenge the elite neoliberal consensus for decades leading to a huge increase in inequality and all of the damage that has done to the fabric of society.

Instead of investing in infrastructure, health, education trillions have been siphoned away to be hoarded for no other purpose than hoarding itself, while heavy taxes are tithed on the ordinary working person leaving them in a constant and desperate struggle just to keep their nose above water.

If people are uneducated and uninformed it is because those in power collude to keep them so. Not enough funding for education, privitisation, and a media that refuses to report the truth.

I despise Donald trump and everything he stands for, but he is only the symptom of the deep corruption that has taken root in western society.

Obama was no less a thrall of the neoliberal establishment who continued their policies apace. He simply put a charming, charismatic polish on the whole enterprise which has now been unmasked in the form of Trump for the cruel, ugly facade it truly is.

The proletariat are offered no real alternative as the principles of democracy have been ruthlessly eradicated step by step. People are struggling and they are desperate and the jack boot presses ever firmly on their necks. It is no surprise that they flail wildly in vain hope. Even if it is an ignorant and fear laden outcry.

It is all they seem to have. It may very well result in the destruction of the human race and if things really go that far, even all their billions won't be enough to insulate the powerful when the whole thing comes crashing down on all of our heads.

twill

Oh, please. This is the president who used Facebook as a campaigning tool and actively created memes to maintain his popularity among the idiot middle classes. He helped to create the problem.

Hector Savage

Obama outraged that people could dare have a different opinion than him...

#wrongthink

RDM_83 again

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Odhinn wrote: »

It should be noted that there's no small amount of guilt on the traditional media - eg British press, Fox news etc - either.

Yes indeed, there has always been trash media, no small thanks to Mr Murdoch. But the internet has certainly opened the floodgates to cranks, liars, conspiracy nuts, freemen and other assorted loons.
People believe the earth is flat, Obama is a giant lizard, the moon is an alien listening post, all our problems stem from those dirty foreigners and even that Donald Trump is a suitable statesman to fight for the common man.
Personally I believe that IQs have fallen sharply over the last 20 years and that global communication has radicalized a lot of people and made the rest stupid.

Interesting how every single thing your complaining about is associated with the right despite the left having their own long list of firmly held non factual beliefs.

I agree that social media is corroding civil discourse but it's simply a symptom of the way discussion that's acceptable to the chattering classes has narrowed to its most extreme degree.

A few months back there was a massive (10,000+) Right/far-Right/racist/anti-terror/ football fans (delete according to view) march in London what ever your opinion on that stuff it's a news worthy event. The BBC an organisation that's meant to have neutrality at its heart didn't report it at all, it would appear they had journalists at it too so this was an editorial decision.
Of course people look elsewhere when stuff like this occurs political correctness very much helped create this monster.

Noel82

If Trump did anything close to what his administration got up to you wouldn't hear the end of it. Obama was smart with the media gotta give him that, he hired hoards of journalists to work in his administration which really blurred the lines between honest news reporting and Government talking points

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Department_of_Justice_investigations_of_reporters