RANT: Being Oblivious

px_eliezer_ · 2025-05-16T18:35:58+00:00

Right now in New Jersey there is a massive strike by the railroad engineers who power NJ Transit. Hundreds of thousands of commuters take these trains every day, both within the state and also to get to NYC. Today many people showed up at train stations, totally unaware that there was a strike. Somehow, the managed to ignore ALL the messaging (TV, Radio, major social media sites, Newspapers, Announcements at all the train stations)…. The strilke has been expected for WEEKS… It’s been ALL OVER, probably even waking up dead people in the cemetery to make sure they knew. So HOW were people ignorant—ESPECIALLY the people who DO take the train everyday. Such people cannot contribute meaningfully to social discourse. LIKEWISE: I recently spoke with a woman in her 30’s who, even AFTER the Papal Election, was not aware that the OLD Pope had DIED many days earlier. And I think that she was Catholic… Are these people just on video games all day, or what?

HooRU

Here where I live two examples are The Republican-American newspaper and Voices, but of which cannot be accused of any extremism.

There is the Hartford Current, and there are other CT publications that are online as well. I sub to all of them that I can in social media and otherwise. I have journalists and writers in my family, one who was very famous, I won’t say who though.

I also had a family friend who was a cameraman for one of the big networks. He was really cool and much beloved.

GrumpyCanadian

urbanriot There is a potential solution that governments should seriously consider: mandate support for important messages on users’ social media feeds, with a secure interface provided by the companies operating the platforms, just as we have long had with broadcasters, etc. This would be a free service, and compliance would be inspected, and non-optional. Failure to comply (again) would result in their entire networks being null-routed; see how that looks on your precious “bottom line”.

Given all of the data that these companies collect as part of their profiles of users, they clearly know things like approximate age and location (if not eerily precisely), so it would be a good fit. The companies can actually be useful for a change.

Astyanax

px_eliezer_ So HOW were people ignorant—ESPECIALLY the people who DO take the train everyday.

New residents formerly from Right-to-Work states forced to relocate to NJ still learning the horrors of their new state. They probably haven’t tried to get gas for their cars there yet either. 😜

Somewhat-Reticent

News and entertainment used to be ad-supported; not so much now.

WYATT_JORDAN

HooRU Journalists need to call out their public for being poorly informed and just plain ignorant.

Yeah that’s the ticket. The media needs to double down on calling the public ignorant. This at a time when the media is polling at near historic lows. Call the people ignorant and piss away your remaining ratings and viewership. Ignorant indeed.

WYATT_JORDAN

GrumpyCanadian There is a potential solution that governments should seriously consider: mandate support for important messages on users’ social media feeds

Oh boy. The ministry of truth would love that. Government hooks into people’s accounts and devices. We’ll see how that runs power-happy government goons out of power.

WYATT_JORDAN

HooRU There are still a LOT of print news outlets that deserve support, they aren’t all gone yet.

The press does not “deserve” support, subsidization or any help. If they put out a decent product that people want to consume they will be successful. Otherwise they will be in the trash.

WYATT_JORDAN

Astyanax New residents formerly from Right-to-Work states forced to relocate to NJ

Why would any of them “relocate” there?

Astyanax

WYATT_JORDAN Why would any of them “relocate” there?

Mean employers forcing them to.

WalterDnes

GrumpyCanadian

There is a potential solution that governments should seriously consider: mandate support for important messages on users’ social media feeds

1) Please tell me you’re trolling and forgot the “/s”. This would never fly in the USA. It could happen in Canada in a worst-case scenario. We’ve already got…

Mommy CRTC says CanCon is good for you
Mommy CRTC says Indigenous Music is good for you
Mommy CRTC says Emerging Artists Music is good for you

So we’d simply be adding

Mommy CRTC says government-approved news is good for you

Oh yeah, Canada is officially bilingual. Does each “important news item” show up twice, once in English and once in French?

2) Define “social media”. I don’t do Fecesbook/Instagram/TikTok. Would the messages have to show up on Slashdot and Reddit and Broadband Bulletin?

Given all of the data that these companies collect as part of their profiles of users, they clearly know things like approximate age and location (if not eerily precisely)

GeoIP-location sucks. To paraphrase Darth Vader, “I find your faith in GeoIP-location disturbing”. I watch a lot of Youtube from the same desktop PC, in my computer den, in the same condo, just north of Toronto. No moving around and streaming on a mobile phone. Ads for specific candidates in federal and municipal elections have ALWAYS been not in my Electoral District. Sometimes Youtube shows regular ads in French. That’s “cute”. If all-knowing/all-seeing Google (Youtube’s parent) can’t get my PROVINCE right, forget it.

px_eliezer_

Wow!

So many high-quality rants (or heartfelt at any rate).

I guess that I am impressed that my original ranting inspired so many others! 😃

FIREMAN

HooRU There are a lot of sage people here. Young ones should listen to them, old ones should heed the young ones.

It has nothing to do with age. There are old ignorant people and young ignorant people.

FIREMAN

WalterDnes GeoIP-location sucks

A VPN should render most geo location moot.

ugly95

WYATT_JORDAN If they put out a decent product that people want to consume they will be successful. Otherwise they will be in the trash.

That’s a nice thought. Totally naive. But a nice thought.

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