uberpinguin 📎 (He/Him)
Jen SorensenThis week's comic: "Polarization" is a reality-obscuring weasel word
Miles Offit... 🇨🇦🇪🇺🇺🇦@jensorensen "Nattering Noggins" is usually my go-to in prime time tbh.
Cat!@jensorensen I've often felt the same about the word 'divisive'. People who draw attention to a division are so often accused of causing the division.
All it comes down to is people who prefer ignoring problems over solving them. People who, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, "prefer a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice."
Randall Lee@Catriona @jensorensen I ghosted on a 30 year friendship after hearing her say if people just stopped talking about race then people wouldn't get upset about it. A few vodka lemonades later and she thought it was a good time to reveal her very shallow understanding of the world with me. Uncomfortable topics are easier to deal with if they are ignored
Passenger
Afternoon T@jensorensen
I'm reminded of an ancient Cosma Shalizi quote:
“… our gracious host would really _like_ to be just a little bit to the left of a technocratic center, and to debate those just a little bit to his right about optimal policies within a shared objective function, and pretending that it is a technical and not a political discussion..."
I'm reminded of an ancient Cosma Shalizi quote:
“… our gracious host would really _like_ to be just a little bit to the left of a technocratic center, and to debate those just a little bit to his right about optimal policies within a shared objective function, and pretending that it is a technical and not a political discussion..."
@jensorensen "...But because everything is fucked up and bullshit and because everyone at all on the right has spent forty years (at least) doing their damndest to _make sure_ everything is fucked up and bullshit, even the smallest gesture in that direction is not so much reconciliation as collaboration. And so our host has sads.”
Harald WernerA world with only one pole ...
craignicol@jensorensen in physics, polarization of light means that you can only see a tiny sliver of reality.
Basically, polarisation looks like this https://youtu.be/aiMLJAZajxg
Keep up the great work 😎
They Live - glasses scene
T. Mohammad from Gaza@jensorensen How are you, my friend? Could you share my latest post? Sharing is my source of income in Gaza.
Taran Rampersad@jensorensen just because people use the word improperly doesn't mean the word should be canceled.
For example, a legitimate use: centralized social media polarizes as a byproduct of the incentives of platform owners.
True.
How it's used in the wrong contexts, though, is something that should be called out.
A simple question to ask the claimant is, "How?"
That generally stops them from abusing a useful word in future. 🙃
@knowprose It is true that social media companies thrive on conflict and tend to incentivize arguments. In this case, I am referring to the use of the word "polarization" among journalists and others to describe the political landscape in a safe way that avoids talking about what is actually happening.
@jensorensen Agreed. And it makes the point that it's not just social media, either. It's media.
Which is also a fair point.
Faraiwe@jensorensen 117% that.
You never fail to deliver, and we love you for that, and more. Keep trucking!
@faraiwe Thank you!
Peter Brown@jensorensen I think this is somehow missing the point. The root of the problem is the first past the post voting system which leaves voters in practical terms with a binary choice between two parties. That is polarisation. That is black or white; right or left; billionaires or poverty - it is not a real reflection of life or politics and the only solution is to adopt proportional representation.
That produces a range of political parties reflecting the range of political views.
That produces a range of political parties reflecting the range of political views.
Remy Whisker 
@jensorensen I believe that there are inherent rights of people, and that those rights are nonnegotiable. They should be defended at all costs, even with violence if need be.
Flipper 🐬🏳️🌈@jensorensen This is also how I feel when (quite frankly: mostly conservative) people bemoan the "lack of civility" or "death of manners". What they really mean is: can the people who used not to be able to speak out just shut up again so I can enjoy my nice cup of status quo.
Love your comics.
Qole
Nantucket Lit@jensorensen The late civil rights activist Israel Shahak would say "There are encouraging signs of polarization." It is the process of polarization that affects change.
troy_friz_zellWhen one pole is Nazis, I must insist on polarization.
disorderlyf@jensorensen This certainly explains the alarm bells that go off in my head when I hear people say it.
Zach@jensorensen fascism relies on people submitting before they're even asked to
Lucy Weir@jensorensen completely disagree. Used polarisation precisely because it’s extremism becoming evident at both ends of the spectrum and mastodons might like to think on that.
@lucyweirphd @jensorensen
I guess it isn't a two-ended spectrum then, because the polarized, radical people on this end of the spectrum are loving their neighbours and standing up for empathy *so hard* that it gets them murdered...
I guess it isn't a two-ended spectrum then, because the polarized, radical people on this end of the spectrum are loving their neighbours and standing up for empathy *so hard* that it gets them murdered...
Zoidberg For President@jensorensen Question for our hard of hearing comrades: does capitalized alt text sound as yelling in your applications ?
Traveling OSM Salesgirl Problem ✊🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🇺🇦@jensorensen Thanks for making this…the word had been annoying me for a while, and now I know why 🙂
I improved the alt text a bit for sharing somewhere, figured it could also be useful here -
Four-panel comic.
Panel one: “It’s a common refrain these days.”
Nattering Noggins hosts: “The problem as i see it is that America has become too polarized.” “Yes, it’s so sad.”
Panel two: “But the term “polarization” can be a form of both-sidesing that obscures specifics.”
Armed extremist: I’m here to stop the transgenders from destroying the country.
Transgender person: I prefer not to die, and sometimes share this opinion!
Panel three: “When a movement becomes extremist, do we really want to see the opposition as part of the problem?”
Man: Anyone who helps a 10 year-old rape victim get an abortion should go to jail!
Woman: That’s barbaric and I’m going to do everything I can to fight it.
This panel has the warning, “Polarization Alert”.
Panel four: “Would this be better?”
Man in military gear: You will do as I say, subhuman!
Latino man: I will politely acquiesce!
Nattering Noggins host: How nice! No more polarization!
ShiroBloo
Matilda Lovethe white moderate ... who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice
— Dr. Martin Luther King
JacobRPG❌👑@jensorensen
Thank you, I’ll do what you tell me!
Thank you, I’ll do what you tell me!