Very good and informative comment. Thanks for taking the time to contribute.
A superb, thorough, and well-informed post. If there was one summary of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election I could give to someone just back from a year in the wilderness or on a desert island, it would be this. Disillusionment was the deciding emotion, and even though Trump got in I'm unsure the elites will realise it's past time to throw the rest of humanity far more than an occasional bone.
Donald Trump's victory is a much-needed wake up call to the elites of the USA and the wider world. Hillary Clinton remembered the affluent east and west coasts and forgot those in-between. Trump did not persuade voters; voters persuaded Trump to represent them. The orchestrated anti-Trump narrative in the media did not achieve the desired effect of promoting Clinton, who is popularly viewed as untrustworthy and corrupt.
The 'status quo' candidate representing the interests of high finance and corporations lost and the change candidate emerged victorious. The House, Senate and Presidency are all in Republican hands, thanks to the votes of people inhabiting cities and towns of the USA which have been in decline for decades due to a lethal combination of unhindered free trade, advancing technology, and outsourcing of labour. Millions of desperate people were left to drown by a disdainful elite, and would grasp any life raft offered; it was Trump who made that offer. Whether he'll follow through and actually help those left behind, only time will tell.
The U.S. election result is further evidence that the majority of the mass media lives in a self-perpetuated bubble, insulated from the harsh and grim realities ordinary people face every day. Huge frustration and discontentment in modern politics manifested in the UK with the Brexit vote to leave the European Union, and it is manifest in the U.S. Presidential election. In Bernie Sanders the Democratic Party had a more palatable populist, but preferred to nominate their Establishment candidate instead.
So they did...and so she lost.
This article contains a lot of surprising points about Greek debt - namely that a large part of it was essentially preallocated to serve as bank bailouts, and as repayment of other debt. Back in 2010 those issuing the cash knew it was doomed to fail, yet it went ahead anyhow. The general populace of Greece saw relatively little of the cash borrowed by their elected government, which goes a way to explaining why the campaigns run by Syriza were so successful:
http://jubileedebt.org.uk/repo...
Nice how certain bloggers, not beholden to the interests that define and distort so much media now, end up presenting actual facts over the masses of bluster and propaganda that qualifies for reporting in the news media nowadays.
How many places even mention that back in the 1950s, the Greeks voted to cancel 50% of the war debt levied on Germany? Or raise the shocking idea that it would be good of Germany to reciprocate that favour?
You'll notice that there was virtually no griefing or trolling in old MMOs.
I call bullshit.
From 2001 till 2004 I played the oldest of the popular online MMOs; Ultima Online. Trolling occurred through excessive player killing, disruption of guild activities and dungeoneering plus people doing some honest mining. It was characteristic celebrated amongst perpetrators and adrenaline junkies but reviled amongst those wanting a less combative, PvE experience.
It was already on the decrease when I joined up thanks to the introduction of a non-combat realm. Nowadays a few thousand people yearning for the lawlessness of the old UO have founded their own free servers replicating the 'Wild West' culture.
Trolling isn't exclusive to new MMOs or modern forums, social media and so on. It was present in the early days of Usenet, the earliest chat rooms and IRC channels, and from the very first online games venturing beyond LAN and Intranet play.
Taco Bell should release a Bland Sauce for her. It would basically be chopped tomatoes with a little onion.
Plus a couple of preservatives, some xanthan gum, and a few other chemicals to match those in the food itself.
Fuck Slashdot Beta. Fuck it straight to oblivion.
Contact Alice Hill, honcho at Dice/Slashdot, to make yourself heard: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/al...
There is no royal road to geometry. -- Euclid