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Agreed. It's a useless metric. It's like the "terrorism threat" color code crap. It'll never come down to a low setting because at the end of the day it's a

Agreed. It's a useless metric. It's like the "terrorism threat" color code crap. It'll never come down to a low setting because at the end of the day it's a propaganda tool to make people think a certain way (feel scared, in both cases). Setting it low is the same as turning it off and saying there's nothing to worry about which is totally counter to the goals of the people publishing these indicators. I know I'm going to get down-voted because being scared of nuclear annihilation is kind of a point of virtue around here but if you take the emotion out of it it becomes pretty clear that the doomsday clock, or any other indicator that acts in a similar manner is nothing more than a propaganda tool. It may be propaganda for something you like but it's still propaganda.

praptak 7y ago
Propaganda is a neutral term. Gaining collective attention for something which is both true and important is as much propaganda as pushing lies in order to subdue people.
entropea 7y ago
Yes you will be downvoted heavily for not being a status quo warrior and thinking outside of the box. I will be too. Hacker News generally dislikes any ideas or commentary that sits outside of their media manufactured overton window. >Such a perfect democracy constructs its own inconceivable foe, terrorism. Its wish is to be judged by its enemies rather than by its results. The story of terrorism is written by the state and it is therefore highly instructive. The spectating populations must certainly never know everything about terrorism, but they must always know enough to convince them that, compared with terrorism, everything else seems rather acceptable, or in any case more rational and democratic. -Guy DeBord
JoelTheSuperior 7y ago
To be fair I don't think it's just a propaganda tool - I think in the case of the terrorism threat levels at least they're ultimately used for justifying higher levels of funding. Compare it to working in an office - it's almost in your interests to convince others that you're very busy to avoid having more workload.

praptak 7y ago

Propaganda is a neutral term. Gaining collective attention for something which is both true and important is as much propaganda as pushing lies in order to subdue people.

entropea 7y ago

Yes you will be downvoted heavily for not being a status quo warrior and thinking outside of the box. I will be too. Hacker News generally dislikes any ideas or commentary that sits outside of their media manufactured overton window. >Such a perfect democracy constructs its own inconceivable foe, terrorism. Its wish is to be judged by its enemies rather than by its results. The story of terrorism is written by the state and it is therefore highly instructive. The spectating populations must certainly never know everything about terrorism, but they must always know enough to convince them that, compared with terrorism, everything else seems rather acceptable, or in any case more rational and democratic. -Guy DeBord

JoelTheSuperior 7y ago

To be fair I don't think it's just a propaganda tool - I think in the case of the terrorism threat levels at least they're ultimately used for justifying higher levels of funding. Compare it to working in an office - it's almost in your interests to convince others that you're very busy to avoid having more workload.