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Cayce Jones's avatar

The amount of time spent on social media may increase the amount of radicalization, if Mike Lee, Elon Musk, and JD Vance are representative.

Social media could be required to send informational posts to users, like the Nutrition Facts Label, or perhaps warning posts, such as the messages on tobacco products, would be more relevant.

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Cheryl Johnson's avatar

Here are some ideas that will help to retain the PA Supreme Court Justices:

Vote Forward has letter writing campaigns for PA and there are still hundreds of thousands of names and addresses still available: https://votefwd.org/campaigns. If you are new to Vote Forward, start here: https://votefwd.org/instructions

Swing left Philadelphis is hosting two Vote Forward letting righting zooms on Sept. 15th and 29th. Register here: www.mobilize.us/swingleft/event/812534/

Activate America (www.activateamerica.vote) has recently added more postcards to the PA GOTV campaigns for Nov. Please note: Activate America has recently transitioned their postcard platform to SincereApp. For instructions on how to set up an account, follow the instructions on the left-hand panel of this web-page: https://www.activateamerica.vote/postcards

Promote the Vote is hosting phonebanks for the PA Election on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, 4-6 p.m ET. Register here: https://www.mobilize.us/promotethevotepa/event/805547

Turn PA Blue is also hosting phonebanks Tuesdays and Sundays, 6-8 p.m ET. Register here: https://www.mobilize.us/turnpablue/event/823746

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John Petersen's avatar

We would be well served if the proverb "measure twice, cut once" was updated to "research twice, post once". Thanks again for drawing from a rich set of information in framing views of political violence. Now if we could just get a larger group doing more thinking and less posting ....

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Martha Ture's avatar

Monetization of anger. But anger can't buy groceries.

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Marci Morris's avatar

Maybe some folks could learn a few things from Dr. Seuss' 1984 The Butter Battle Book!

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Cyndi's avatar

One thing that might be revealing / interesting:

What do real people think about reporting on the health of the president? With a history that includes FDR, Wilson, and Reagan plus the relative handling of Biden and Trump is top of mind, do Americans believe various types of media are reporting appropriately?

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Michelle's avatar

I really like this piece and obviously I don’t disagree with the findings which are objectively true. I don’t think that most Americans support violence, but I also feel like we’re not addressing an issue. These random acts of politically motivated violence have historically been more likely to be committed by racially motivated, violent extremists of the white supremacist variety. The FBI, DHS, and DOJ have known for decades that white supremacists are our biggest domestic terrorist threat. So are we gonna keep ignoring the root cause of the majority of these politically motivated violent acts so that we can claim bipartisanship? It’s not working.

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Russell Owens's avatar

There should be no equivocation or qualification about political violence. It is wrong, regardless of politics, religion, ethnicity or any characteristic. All political disagreements should be resolved peacefully and democratically - no exceptions. Political leaders need to take account of your findings here and lead with this message.

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Susanna J. Sturgis's avatar

I came of political age ca. 1968. In my lifetime, I haven't seen all that many disagreements "resolved . . . democratically," at least at the national level. At first, women and people of color were mostly absent from the process. From the Reagan administration onward, money spoke louder and louder, culminating in the Citizens United decision (2010). As an ideal, it's great, but at this point we're nowhere close to it.

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Russell Owens's avatar

I take your point - and peaceful protest, the courts and all other options in a democratic society have to be pursued. There is however, no room for political violence, for wherever violence is the chosen route democracy is the victim.

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Cyndi's avatar

Politicians learned a long time ago that re-election is a turnout game. Voters turn out when they are riled up. Politicians want to keep their jobs.

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Bewickswren's avatar

Or when they are inspired - perhaps a different form of being riled up. As in: Obama first term, Mamdani currently.

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