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Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

(www.scientificamerican.com)
757 points headalgorithm | 5 comments | 05 Feb 25 14:55 UTC | HN request time: 0.249s | source
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Glyptodon ◴[05 Feb 25 20:30 UTC] No.42954673[source]▶
I don't have outrage fatigue. Outrages are outrages and they are what they are. Are there many exaggerations and fake outrages? Sure. But things like the USA's current constitutional crisis are real.

What I struggle with isn't fatigue at outrage, it's knowing what to do about it.

I think violence is going to become more common, but I don't particularly think it will be effective.

So less so than outrage, it's the feeling that we're trapped in a real life doom loop with no clear off ramp that I struggle with.

I would like to do something... But what?

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LeoPanthera ◴[05 Feb 25 20:54 UTC] No.42954975[source]▶
I decided that other people are far more organized than I am and can respond more effectively, so I'm outsourcing political action in the form of donations. I've earmarked 3% of my income every month for a list of selected charities that currently includes the ACLU, the HRC, and a short list of smaller ones.

I encourage you to do the same!

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yostrovs[dead post] ◴[05 Feb 25 23:53 UTC] No.42957108[source]▶
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kbelder ◴[06 Feb 25 05:17 UTC] No.42959335[source]▶
One of the very best things you could do for your cause is to tone down your rhetoric. You're driving far more people away than you're convincing of anything.

There's no shortage of things to criticize Trump for that are clear and hard to argue against. What you're saying is only fuel for the extreme to become more extreme.

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1. BadCookie ◴[06 Feb 25 06:16 UTC] No.42959591[source]▶
I think yostrovs was talking about Musk, not Trump. And calling someone who did two Nazi salutes in front of a crowd “Hitler” is maybe not as unfair as you are making it out to be. My guess is that Musk did it for outrage purposes rather than because he is an actual Nazi, but it’s hard to know really.

Video in case you somehow have not seen the incident I am referring to: https://youtu.be/gDkuwRx14hQ

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2. yostrovs ◴[06 Feb 25 12:46 UTC] No.42961822[source]▶
Why would the video you shared take out the words "from my heart" that were said just before the gesture? Would that maybe change the meaning of the gesture? This is the problem with MSM that makes you actually think you're dealing with Hitler.
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3. cyberlurker ◴[06 Feb 25 12:58 UTC] No.42961891[source]▶
If the live audience was outraged by his Nazi salutes, I wouldn’t care so much.

The fact he did two Nazi salutes to an applauding audience with smiles is deeply concerning.

4. zelphirkalt ◴[06 Feb 25 22:34 UTC] No.42967196[source]▶
So he did Hitler Gruß from his heart? How am I to interpret that, except even more negatively?

Fact is, one does not simply do a Hitler Gruß without being either extremely dumb or intentionally doing it. Maybe he is both. Nevertheless the influence he has and normalizing this kind of action are scary.

5. BadCookie ◴[07 Feb 25 17:10 UTC] No.42975006[source]▶
I agree that the video I shared should have included those words. But the words do not change the meaning of the gesture, which is very uniquely recognizable and important historically. Doing this gesture during WW2 in the U.S. would’ve led to Elon getting arrested at a minimum, or maybe just shot on the spot based on what I know of this time period. (I would love to hear the opinions of actual historians though.)

Then Elon did not apologize or make any attempt to explain it away, and in fact made jokes about it.

Imagine that you were a neo-Nazi. Would you take this gesture and his lack of apology as a sign that Elon is on your side?

This is also not the first time that Elon has done something like this. His Twitter history is not something I would be proud of.

Anybody who thinks it was accidental seems extremely gullible to me. Nobody does a Nazi salute by accident. A “my heart goes out to you” gesture looks absolutely nothing like this gesture for normal folks.