5 ms·

Anyone else read this and feel rage bubbling over about Trump and his enablers? I'm not trolling, either. I used to not get _that_ emotional about politics, but

Anyone else read this and feel rage bubbling over about Trump and his enablers? I'm not trolling, either. I used to not get _that_ emotional about politics, but lately I feel like I'm about to explode.

hammock 6y ago
Have you considered whether the way you feel reading the news is by design?
- arcticbull 6y ago
  Have you considered the underlying actions were designed to solicit an emotional reaction via news channels, I.e. trump is trolling to own the libs, at the cost of watching the country burn (literally here in CA).
  - garmaine 6y ago
    Trump is responsible for the fires in California? Edit: seriously people? He’s a monster but let’s accuse him of the things he’s actually done. To make stuff up is not helpful.
    - arcticbull 6y ago
      Of course not. Although, he did blame the last fires on insufficient raking of the forest [1]. If he actually stands by it, and didn't do anything to address the lack of forest, uh, raking, then one could reasonably assign him responsibility for the current fires. I don't advocate for that, because raking forests makes no sense. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/19/make-america-rake-again-finland-trump-forest-fire https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/19/make-america...
  - bdamm 6y ago
    You're exactly right, which is why we've ended up with a reality TV president. He knows how to play this game, and the game is now very much in favor of ppl that know how to play it. This is the leader we get when enough mid-life trolls spread their pepe love.
- nostrademons 6y ago
  Not mutually exclusive. The news heavily optimizes for pageviews and one way of doing that is to optimize for anger. (Other than awe, which is hard to generate, anger has been shown in studies to be the most viral emotion.) However, they wouldn't have any raw materials for this if certain folks in government weren't routinely doing stuff worthy of anger. Trump and the mainstream news media exist in this unhealthy symbiosis, where they create this toxic emotional environment for a whole country because both of them would fade away into nothingness if they didn't.
- majormajor 6y ago
  The thought behind your comment seems to be "Trump is no different than other recent Presidents, just he's treated differently" without saying it in so many words. Is that indeed what you think? Republicans have long complained about the media being mean to right-wing presidents (or, sometimes, remembering Clinton and Carter, to white presidents, where Obama is considered a PC outlier), but this sort of non-defense is a convenient dodge in terms of having to actually defend Trump's specific actions... The irony here, too, is that it also ignores right-leaning media's long history of fear-based politicking.
  - hammock 6y ago
    No. I'm suggesting a new (?) media purpose is to rile people up, divide and polarize them. It may have worked
- necrotic_comp 6y ago
  Politics and reporting are scummy, biased games, but none of what is happening now is business as usual. If the stories about what is currently happening in the Post Office were reported in a completely factual, completely neutral way, they would still be enraging.
- r00fus 6y ago
  Yes I have. Then I consider the hysteria news agencies would be doing if Obama did this. And I feel the current coverage is laughably sedate.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- duhuh 6y ago
  I feel like op established that this type of thing does not usually affect them. Are you suggesting the LA Times has cracked the code to finally reach the psyche of op? Or can we take them on their word that the USPS situation rankles them. Seems silly to suggest that they don’t really care, “but for the media”.
  - hammock 6y ago
    The media has been evolving over the years, it's not a sudden shift. However if you are looking for one, I suggest watching the Shadowgate documentary on youtube (released in the last few days). It's about a specific government program whose aim was exactly to "crack the code to finally reach the psyche of op."
    - duhuh 6y ago
      I think op likes the Postal Service
- BoorishBears 6y ago
  > Packages piled up, blocking the aisles and the heavy sorting machinery. Boxes of steaks, fruit and other perishables rotted. Rats dashed across the floor. At one point, Scantlebury said, the “whole building was filled with gnats.” Keeping in mind this is the result of a conscious decision made at a high level, at one of the times the postal services has been most crucial to the functioning of a nation in modern history... Can you rephrase this in a way that doesn't make it aggravating to hear?
- duderific 6y ago
  Thank goodness there are still news agencies going out and getting stories at the ground level. Live animals dying slowly while packaged in boxes is a fact that they uncovered, not hyperbole.
daveslash 6y ago
I generally try to avoid bringing my political opinions to Hacker News. I think a general attitude in this community is that this is a refuge from politics. I also try to keep my politics out of the work place. That said, we're living in a world where even wearing a mask is political! Now the post office is political! I almost can't check my politics at the door any more; I too.... feel like I'm about to explode. You're not alone, but hang in there! (the 'hang in there' part is just as much me talking to myself as it is to you ;-) )
ironman1478 6y ago
I don't know, but at this point its not really "politics". We have a malicious actor in the whitehouse and his cronies ruining the country. There is nothing political about this, its just a fact. Whether a person chooses to believe (or cannot understand) this doesn't invalidate this fact. You don't have to subscribe to a particular political party to be upset with what is happening.
vga805 6y ago
Yes. A clear indication that the republican party is now rotten as could be is that its core now consists of mindless qanon idiots. To see incel bullshit that was on 4chan 4 years ago become mainstream in a national party is depressing, to say the least.

hammock 6y ago

Have you considered whether the way you feel reading the news is by design?

arcticbull 6y ago
Have you considered the underlying actions were designed to solicit an emotional reaction via news channels, I.e. trump is trolling to own the libs, at the cost of watching the country burn (literally here in CA).
- garmaine 6y ago
  Trump is responsible for the fires in California? Edit: seriously people? He’s a monster but let’s accuse him of the things he’s actually done. To make stuff up is not helpful.
  - arcticbull 6y ago
    Of course not. Although, he did blame the last fires on insufficient raking of the forest [1]. If he actually stands by it, and didn't do anything to address the lack of forest, uh, raking, then one could reasonably assign him responsibility for the current fires. I don't advocate for that, because raking forests makes no sense. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/19/make-america-rake-again-finland-trump-forest-fire https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/19/make-america...
- bdamm 6y ago
  You're exactly right, which is why we've ended up with a reality TV president. He knows how to play this game, and the game is now very much in favor of ppl that know how to play it. This is the leader we get when enough mid-life trolls spread their pepe love.
nostrademons 6y ago
Not mutually exclusive. The news heavily optimizes for pageviews and one way of doing that is to optimize for anger. (Other than awe, which is hard to generate, anger has been shown in studies to be the most viral emotion.) However, they wouldn't have any raw materials for this if certain folks in government weren't routinely doing stuff worthy of anger. Trump and the mainstream news media exist in this unhealthy symbiosis, where they create this toxic emotional environment for a whole country because both of them would fade away into nothingness if they didn't.
majormajor 6y ago
The thought behind your comment seems to be "Trump is no different than other recent Presidents, just he's treated differently" without saying it in so many words. Is that indeed what you think? Republicans have long complained about the media being mean to right-wing presidents (or, sometimes, remembering Clinton and Carter, to white presidents, where Obama is considered a PC outlier), but this sort of non-defense is a convenient dodge in terms of having to actually defend Trump's specific actions... The irony here, too, is that it also ignores right-leaning media's long history of fear-based politicking.
- hammock 6y ago
  No. I'm suggesting a new (?) media purpose is to rile people up, divide and polarize them. It may have worked
necrotic_comp 6y ago
Politics and reporting are scummy, biased games, but none of what is happening now is business as usual. If the stories about what is currently happening in the Post Office were reported in a completely factual, completely neutral way, they would still be enraging.
r00fus 6y ago
Yes I have. Then I consider the hysteria news agencies would be doing if Obama did this. And I feel the current coverage is laughably sedate.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
duhuh 6y ago
I feel like op established that this type of thing does not usually affect them. Are you suggesting the LA Times has cracked the code to finally reach the psyche of op? Or can we take them on their word that the USPS situation rankles them. Seems silly to suggest that they don’t really care, “but for the media”.
- hammock 6y ago
  The media has been evolving over the years, it's not a sudden shift. However if you are looking for one, I suggest watching the Shadowgate documentary on youtube (released in the last few days). It's about a specific government program whose aim was exactly to "crack the code to finally reach the psyche of op."
  - duhuh 6y ago
    I think op likes the Postal Service
BoorishBears 6y ago
> Packages piled up, blocking the aisles and the heavy sorting machinery. Boxes of steaks, fruit and other perishables rotted. Rats dashed across the floor. At one point, Scantlebury said, the “whole building was filled with gnats.” Keeping in mind this is the result of a conscious decision made at a high level, at one of the times the postal services has been most crucial to the functioning of a nation in modern history... Can you rephrase this in a way that doesn't make it aggravating to hear?
duderific 6y ago
Thank goodness there are still news agencies going out and getting stories at the ground level. Live animals dying slowly while packaged in boxes is a fact that they uncovered, not hyperbole.

daveslash 6y ago

I generally try to avoid bringing my political opinions to Hacker News. I think a general attitude in this community is that this is a refuge from politics. I also try to keep my politics out of the work place. That said, we're living in a world where even wearing a mask is political! Now the post office is political! I almost can't check my politics at the door any more; I too.... feel like I'm about to explode. You're not alone, but hang in there! (the 'hang in there' part is just as much me talking to myself as it is to you ;-) )

ironman1478 6y ago

I don't know, but at this point its not really "politics". We have a malicious actor in the whitehouse and his cronies ruining the country. There is nothing political about this, its just a fact. Whether a person chooses to believe (or cannot understand) this doesn't invalidate this fact. You don't have to subscribe to a particular political party to be upset with what is happening.

vga805 6y ago

Yes. A clear indication that the republican party is now rotten as could be is that its core now consists of mindless qanon idiots. To see incel bullshit that was on 4chan 4 years ago become mainstream in a national party is depressing, to say the least.