That was Musk on Biden of course. Nothing could have been more obviously bullshit. But half of your voters still got taken in by it all.

Hello from New Zealand. Don’t get any ideas about moving in with Neil Gaiman on Waiheke.

I don’t think it’s impossible (sorry, I know that was a typo) and I’m sure a significant minority are aware, and they are the Israelis actually voting on the right side of history.

But, it’s easier than you think for a huge number of people to be woefully wrong about the people they are voting. The best example of this in the world right now is Donald Trump and his Republican party.

Trump’s so obviously tyrannical it’s hard to imagine anyone not knowing, and yet around half of those who voted, voted for him. Objectivity there cannot be that many psychopaths in the population, so what explains their belief in him?

Occam’s razor suggests it has to be ignorance.

I’ve no doubt the technology, the Internet and social media algorithms in particular, have played their role. Fox news too, and now the Podcastisphere. Media echo chambers are a relatively new phenomenon and it’s taken a little while for bad faith actors (mostly on the right, and in oligharical circles) to twist the narrative in their favour, but here we are.

There’s every possibility it’s the same for most Israelis in the default case.

Naturally, in any nation with crippled media, propagandistic control is going to be even worse (like Hamas’s Gaza, Iran, previously occupied Syria, etc.). So it just doesn’t make sense to blame voters is all I’m saying, because they think they’re making the right voting choice in the end.

Thanks for that. I am not suggesting it need to be directly tangible like the gold standard, but something ostensibly public (perhaps embedded into an international economic alliance) that is directly ties to ownership of a secure portfolio of investments across a variety of intrinsically valuable staples or otherwise being carefully managed by skilled investors.

Think 401K, and the bond market, but without being subject to the whims of national foreign policy.

Crypto regardless of how impenetrable it is technologically, if it’s inevitably controlled by unethical actors, it’s still worse for the world and not a safe investment to recommend. And like everything else, tangible or untangable, it’s value is still subject to market interest, i.e. as you say, people agreeing to pay for it assuming others will buy it off them in the future.

I agree, but political propaganda is what it is.

I wouldn’t be surprised if most Israeli voters are deeply misinformed about what is really happening, and most people don’t care to question what they know, since most people are just trying to get through the day and live their best lives.

Blame has to go to those in power. Blaming people for voting wrong doesn’t achieve anything.

“Troubled” is a weird way of wording the question. It’s not the same as “support” per se, but it’s bad enough I concede your point. I’m probably getting a biased perspective from more progressive Israelis.

That’s actually not true, at least not anymore.

Anyway, if we’re not blaming Palestinians for electing Hamas, we shouldn’t be blaming Jews for electing Netanyahu.

Political propaganda is real problem for everyone, and those who know better need to be morally consistent role models for the rest, or we’re doomed to repeat history over and over.

My ankle flexibility makes it impossible for me. So my career path is fixed I guess.

Fair points, cheers.

You’re not really selling it for me, which I guess is the point aye? 😂

What I imagine as ideal is an open-source and transparent bank and payment system that issues its own currency backed by ties to its investment portfolio that is properly regulated by its host country. i.e. you would use their currency to trade among others on the platform according to the percentage value of their portfolio that you own as measured by the currency to which you which to convert your holdings for a given purchase. You could select different tiers of risk if you’d like your “savings” to grow in value over time but experience potential dips or even loss of value if there is major market stability.

I am not an expert on such things, but this at least has real links to tangible asset worth, and isn’t based on the artificial scarcity of an increasingly unsolvable math problem.

Banks or governments as opposed to who though? There’s a reason we usually want those publicly owned and regulated institutions to handle our transactions. Obviously, it depends what country you live in, and what currency you’re talking about. But I don’t think Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency actually solves the problem it purports to.

Why use them and not… normal fiat currency?

I mean sure but better if all in attendance vote for a better future at the ballot as well.

I would have much preferred a connections Republican party over what we got.

If revolutions bring ultimately successful, examples?

I know there are some, with the obvious one being the American Civil War that ended slavery. But, wars come with an intense cost to human life, and sounds be a list resort. Precisely because most around the world have not been successful, and have lead to things like military rule.

Why do you think change from within impossible?

That’s exactly what Trump and MAGA did to the Republican party.

Violent revolution brings change but rarely the kind of change most of those who engaged in it actually wanted.

And how will we do that?

Organizing to do what?

You can and should support them as they align with your values, but you’ll never get enough votes for them to have any chance of overthrowing the big two. It has to be changed from within, unless you’re prepared to try violence.

Where?

Progressive social change has always occurred under the auspices of the left-most of the two major parties. That’s just how it overwhelmingly is. What’s not to agree with? How do you think progress will happen next time it happens?