I have to express some disappointment at a good man and hard thinker in that JC started out in his post on the right track, civil liberties, but spent the rest of the post dwelling on partisan politics. It reminded me of when the Republican strategists who brought Reagan to office had mastered the art of direct mailing to bring voting blocs together.
That sort of thing goes on all day every day. I don’t like it. I don’t dislike it. I nothing it. It’s partisan politics. If Mitt Romney had won, had out-maneuvered the Obama people, would we be worse off? According to the first part of the long post, no. That’s what matters – Bush III.
A good man was I think a bit intimidated into using only acceptable mainstream sources. NY Times, WaPo. Isn’t it interesting how, in doing so, he went completely thought-free and partisan on us?
A big “Meh.”
Piece of Mindful 
it just goes to show you that 2 people can read the exact same article and get a completely different take away.
i liked the article because it explained in fairly detailed fashion how people are persuaded into action to vote.
Which partisan politics paragraph rankled you in particular? i didn’t see it.
LikeLike
are you bored or just fishing for more traffic?
LikeLike
Please, if I was going to fish for traffic, I’d have started long before this. The article ended up being merely an exposé of how one campaign organization was more effective than the other in assembling voting blocs, violating privacy rights in the process. It’s the sort of thing that has gone in twice before breakfast since they first discovered people were suggestible.
What disappointed me most was that JC, in deference to Pogie?, used only mainstream sources. Pogie has a housebroken mind, JC not. I don’t think he ought to be playing by Pogie’s rules. It leads to predictable and boring thoughts.
LikeLike
using mainstream sources as a way to show deference to Don? whatever floats your boat.
LikeLike
It’s right in front of you – Don attacked JC for using a non-trusted source. That was his lever to disregard JC’s entire post. In this one, JC stuck to conventional sources only. Maybe accidental, but Pogie has to be pleased.
Truth is unconventional and can happen anywhere, even at ID. But following mainstream journalism will only turn your brain to Kardashian soup.
LikeLike
Actually, I used the same sources this time. And a lot more. I did defend my sources (Baker and Vatis) better this time, and i grew weary of trying to convince DOn & Co. that the sources are good. And I looked but no one else was making the argument about illegality. But I wanted to see how the whole data suck worked, and then tried to liken it to Stasi 2.0 tactics.
I’m sure there was too much partisan politics in there for you. And I punted at the end as I had spent far too much time researching and writing up to that point, so the conclusion was sort of just blather.
But I got a lot more to think about and write about in the future. I think that basically, electoral politics are dead at the level where the campaigns have enough money to play the big data game. Just another nail in the coffin of democracy in the world.
What’s happening in Europe, however is to a large degree cloaked in foreign language media, and is hard to dissect without some translation. But the movement there is already well underway rejecting Stasi 2.0 to a far larger degree than we see any opposition here.
LikeLike
I’ve got nothing but respect for you, JC, and my “Meh” is to partisan politics only. If it mattered that Obama won and Romney lost (and it might well have mattered – I’m no genius), then how he pulled it off matters too.
LikeLike
Somewhere in the recent melee there was a great quote. Can’t remember where or by whom, and probably paraphrasing: “Wall Street used him (Obama) like a Bic Lighter.” So what does it matter who sits in the Oval Office — really? Hedge funds, mega-banks, Big oil, and so on are immune from politics and can buy whatever they want, including 50 years of silence from Tax-God-Baucus for raising taxes on someone, or something, else. Christ, even lowly politicians can exempt themselves from the laws they write with impunity. Remember the “insider trading” dust-up?
LikeLike