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Angus Johnston Profile picture
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8 Sep, 4 tweets, 1 min read
Gotta love an unfalsifiable, unrebuttable, undiscussible claim.
This kind of tweet is hermetically sealed—folks who are inclined to agree with it will agree with it, folks who are inclined to think Yglesias is full of shit will think it's full of shit, and nobody, literally nobody, will learn anything or reassess any of their beliefs.
If you value open dialogue and discussion, you should hate Yglesias's tweet, because it's the opposite of that. It sneers at that. It precludes it.
(I should note that he went back after my original QT to kind of sort of explain—he says his original tweet refers to "group polarization dynamics + the leftward skew of university faculty members," which is IMO a bad argument, but is at least an argument.)

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More from @studentactivism

Angus Johnston Profile picture
15 Sep
I know several people in their twenties and thirties who have decided not to have kids because the future looks so bleak. It breaks my heart.
Since some folks are misinterpreting, I want to be clear: The people I'm talking about aren't making an ethical decision to reduce their impact on the planet through population reduction. They're foregoing having kids because they're scared of what the world is turning into.
We could debate whether population restriction is going to solve the planet's problems (it mostly wouldn't, and would cause all sorts of other trouble, is my answer), but this isn't that.
Read 5 tweets
Angus Johnston Profile picture
15 Sep
I'd say tonight's results indicate pretty powerfully that "No On One, Leave Two Blank" was good, simple, effective messaging strategy.
Like Silver, I was made nervous by "No One One, Leave Two Blank." Unlike Silver, (1) I understood the argument in its favor, and (2) nobody's paying me gazillions of dollars a year to be smart about politics and elections.
This is the crux of where Silver (I'd argue) whiffed it on the "Leave 2 Blank" issue—an overconfidence in his own gut instincts, dressed up as spurious statistical precision. (I know, you're shocked.)
Read 17 tweets
Angus Johnston Profile picture
14 Sep
I had to read four different articles on the Dems' new voting rights bill to find one that clearly answered the question of whether it imposes a national Voter ID requirement. (It doesn't.) washingtonpost.com/politics/revis…
The Dems' old bill banned state-level Voter ID laws. The new bill dramatically restricts them. That's the difference. Either bill would limit Voter ID laws on the state level, neither would impose new Voter ID requirements.
So if you see people this morning asking why the Democrats are supporting Voter ID, the answer is that they aren't, but that sloppy reporting is leaving the impression that they are.
Read 7 tweets
Angus Johnston Profile picture
13 Sep
Minnesota’s two senate seats are held by popular Democratic women in their early sixties.
Having investigated further this morning, I see that Franken's interview was conducted as promotion for a new comedy tour, and feel mildly regretful for assisting with his viral marketing.
And just to close the circle, there really isn't anywhere other than Wisconsin for Franken to run. Schumer is running in 2022, and Franken will be nearly eighty in 2028. As much as I'm sure he'd love to, he's not going to primary Gillibrand.
Read 6 tweets
Angus Johnston Profile picture
10 Sep
I just hate this rhetoric so much. America won't be worse off if Democrats rack up huge electoral majorities. It won't be worse off if the GOP implodes.
I understand why politicians said this kind of stuff fifty years ago, although it was dopey back then too. But in 2021? It just makes you look weak, and it makes you look weird.
The US is currently facing a grave and imminent threat of descending into one-party rule, but it's not a threat of the GOP collapsing into irrelevance. It's the other thing. Talk about that. Scream about it. Fight it, and tell us you're fighting it every time you open your mouth.
Read 5 tweets
Angus Johnston Profile picture
9 Sep
It’s an untrue allegation because what Rowling actually said was “I've ignored porn tweeted at children,” and defamatory because Rowling has deep pockets and British libel law sucks.
Since Rowling stan Twitter has discovered this tweet, a little more: The question at hand isn't whether Juan Mac's tweet was kind, or fair, or nice. It's whether the tweet was defamatory. It wasn't, not under any reasonable definition of that word.
Also, it turns out that Mac didn't even misquote Rowling in the original tweet. Image
Read 18 tweets

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