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Personally I think Brexit was a bad idea but I don't understand the sentiment in the article. Back when Obama was using big data (and yes, big money) to win the

by jonyt 9y ago

Personally I think Brexit was a bad idea but I don't understand the sentiment in the article. Back when Obama was using big data (and yes, big money) to win the election he was hailed as smart and tech-savvy. Now when it's the Brexit supporters doing it democracy is coming to an end. How about instead of weakening people's support for democracy leftists instead try to win elections?

corford 9y ago
Yes, except I don't recall Obama using big data to blast people's facebook feeds with fake news citations, irrefutably wrong numbers and xenophobic clap trap. "With great power comes great responsibility" and all that... This is the problem with the far right (or any political extreme). They're not interested in debate or acting responsibly. An excellent example was Le Penn's 'debate' a few days ago with Macron. It was a fucking shambles and embarrassing to watch. She had the whole of France watching - it was her time to shine and capture voters with her programme. She failed miserably because other than soundbites, there's no meat on the bone. The FN cannot withstand the sunlight and rigour of genuine, intellectually honest political debate. They (and all other extreme parties) know this of course and so their solution is to try and debase the system itself. To convert people from reason to "gut". Given that back drop, yes, it's a little concerning extremists are awakening to the awesome power of big data. Coupled with the delivery mechanism and reach of the internet, it's a propagandist's wet dream and potentially extremely destabilising if left unchecked.
- Boothroid 9y ago
  'To convert people from reason to "gut".' Here in the UK all discussion of migration was successfully suppressed for decades by shouts of racism from the left. Perhaps if a sensible debate on migration had been allowed, and perhaps if the EU had been willing to yield a little more than absolutely nothing around controlling migration, Brexit might have been avoided.
  - corford 9y ago
    I'm not sure it has much to do with the EU. The UK's domestic politicians did a poor job of managing migration. Had the brains in London allocated proper resources to the North and applied some common sense approaches to where migrants were placed and in what numbers, most issues would have been resolved. Don't forget too that around half (iirc?) of annual migrants arriving in the UK come from outside the EU...

by jonyt 9y ago

corford 9y ago

Yes, except I don't recall Obama using big data to blast people's facebook feeds with fake news citations, irrefutably wrong numbers and xenophobic clap trap. "With great power comes great responsibility" and all that... This is the problem with the far right (or any political extreme). They're not interested in debate or acting responsibly. An excellent example was Le Penn's 'debate' a few days ago with Macron. It was a fucking shambles and embarrassing to watch. She had the whole of France watching - it was her time to shine and capture voters with her programme. She failed miserably because other than soundbites, there's no meat on the bone. The FN cannot withstand the sunlight and rigour of genuine, intellectually honest political debate. They (and all other extreme parties) know this of course and so their solution is to try and debase the system itself. To convert people from reason to "gut". Given that back drop, yes, it's a little concerning extremists are awakening to the awesome power of big data. Coupled with the delivery mechanism and reach of the internet, it's a propagandist's wet dream and potentially extremely destabilising if left unchecked.

Boothroid 9y ago
'To convert people from reason to "gut".' Here in the UK all discussion of migration was successfully suppressed for decades by shouts of racism from the left. Perhaps if a sensible debate on migration had been allowed, and perhaps if the EU had been willing to yield a little more than absolutely nothing around controlling migration, Brexit might have been avoided.
- corford 9y ago
  I'm not sure it has much to do with the EU. The UK's domestic politicians did a poor job of managing migration. Had the brains in London allocated proper resources to the North and applied some common sense approaches to where migrants were placed and in what numbers, most issues would have been resolved. Don't forget too that around half (iirc?) of annual migrants arriving in the UK come from outside the EU...