Elephant

Yesterday, I learned that AR does not stand for assault rifle, as I originally thought and as I've heard over and over again from the news; it's yet another piece of misinformation repeated ad nauseam to the point that it becomes someone's trunk. According to those who know how to use the associated weapon, A stands for ArmaLite. I may not need to use either the acronym or the weapon, but knowing the meaning of the acronym helps to differentiate the informative from the merely hysterical.

- This video ended up in my feed earlier - it's from overseas, but look at 5:45 to about 7:33 if you will. For me, the meat of the answer's earlier on in that exchange, but how different is that experience to those of similar people here?

Now look at the people who were involved in the mess earlier, and some of the associated mess now. There's coverage on these people being cosplay zombies (knowing this is the sort of cosplay that sells doesn't require buying into it), but then there are articles about participants and sympathizers from the military, police officers, firefighters, on-site security detail. If these are the people who are willing to go to such lengths to have their say, I say it's a reflection of the problem in the video above, not just racial issues. Connected to this as well, I think, is the issue of which sites people choose because that's where they think they're more likely to be heard.

I'm not surprised at the anger, but it seems autonomous zones aren't enough to remind people of the need for these professions, and I haven't seen much change since this. In contrast, I think these numbers are likely to have changed since they first came out, which wouldn't be surprising given the coverage a la AR.

This is why I look forward to different perspectives, and why I use book-burning and censorship as a metric to help determine my choices. (I still compare headlines, sickles, and a long-standing organization ought to be ashamed of gaslighting in the same line as a toilet-paper tabloid.) A moment's anger is not enough for me to forget a sustained pattern.

*Amended to add: "They're not gonna let up, and they should not. And we should not."

I'll sleep well enough knowing I didn't vote for someone who, despite being billed at the top of the ticket, still plays second fiddle. Also (cough-months-late-to-the-game-on-COVID-source-cough), лгун and fabulista have a buddy in that mission statement too, storytellers.

Today I learned that integrity and respect has nothing to do with a guy named Don.

- By the way, still keeping an eye on tactics that, from the looks of things, have had such an effect here that even when tenets held in such high regard are twisted, the tacticians themselves are still favored. Perhaps I should say, rather, that the people on the payroll remain loyal to their financiers. Slow clap congratulations on this, though, and another weather eye on tactics that are a touch more blatant.

- Here's another question to add to all the others raised about the effect of social media - moderation's been tried, hasn't it? (Wow, all that in return for what they went through? That's a generosity on par with the current stimulus.)