We converted President Biden's 1 minute message on standing up to Democracy into Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, German and French using AI. It's an important message and it should reach all American, regardless of what language they speak. thedemlabs.org/2024/01/…
I thought it was terrific, too. Until I saw they did not include Dothraki and Klingon. How are we to keep the votes of the youth and nerd contingents if we cannot communicate with them in their native tongues? [/sarcasm]
Will, I've admired your comments for quite awhile. I have an idea for outreach to young voters and wonder if you'd like to collaborate or point me towards someone who could help me. I agree that humor is a good way to reach all voters but particularly younger voters. I'm wondering if we could crowdfund a pot of money for prizes and sponsor a contest to create viral videos for use on tiki tok or other social media towards GOTV and other priority Dem topics. This could be a creative way to offer content to Dem politicians to aid in messaging, bypassing MSM. I've thought about approaching the League of Women Voters' Education Project, a 501(c)3, to encourage tax deductible donations towards this project. Thoughts?
Sorry for the delay in replying. Check out this blog about a nonprofit Students For Justice which gives college interns (mainly from minority communities). One of the things they do is create TikToks. I think it is very cost effective and the students get a small stipend. Glad to discuss further. deepak@thedemlabs.org
Frankly Bob..anyway you can capture the ‘youth vote’ from Taylor Swift to viral videos is just fine with me..also like both the Hispanic and black vote and any stray ‘independents’ as well as all sensible women!
I think it is a fantastic idea. I have no idea exactly hiw to go about such a thing and would not be the right person for the set of skills that would require. But there are definitely many who would be, and they are certainly easy to find on the internet! I say go for it!
I enjoy reading comments by readers of the HCR’s Letters, but often find it annoying to skip past the threads that fall outside my interests. Threads are often long, so it takes a lot of time and effort to locate the next thread. I would like Substack to adopt a commentary format for their “Top first” mode that the NYT now uses: Comments are displayed in decreasing order of up-votes, and reply streams are suppressed unless the reader asks to see them. That way, widely popular comments come first, whether they are lead comments or replies, and readers can easily skip streams that don’t interest them. I’ll submit this request to Substack, but I’m putting it here, too, because I’d like to find out whether other Letters readers find reply-streams annoying and whether they think the NYT method would help. To bring the idea to the attention of readers, I’m using a dirty trick that I see in commentary streams here and in the NYT, WaPo, and other publications. Namely, I’m posting this comment as a reply to a popular message, even though the comment is irrelevant to that stream. Sorry, Will from Cal, Joan Leslie, and Deepak Puri. Won’t do it again. Probably.
And since many Americans get their information through comedians, Conan O’Brien interviewed Joe Biden for his podcast last December. It gives a great sense of Biden’s actual cognitive abilities, his values, and his integrity. It’s a great listen. I’m passing it on to fence-sitters. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conan-obrien-needs-a-friend/id1438054347?i=1000639169916
Thanks MLRGRMI. I love the voice of Joe Biden and am so grateful for him fighting to be our President; to encourage us to save the soul of America. He's nothing less than a true American Hero!
Thank you! I didn't know. I'm posting on FB and X (Twitter) with this comment:
Is President Biden too old?
If you want to vote for a president who cares about saving democracy, but are afraid that President Biden is "too old" and/or has dementia, PLEASE take a few moments and listen to him during this conversation. Get your evidence first hand."
This is a podcast with Conan O'Brien, be sure you listen all the way to where they take off to see to "see the oval". Some great moments toward the end especially. I agree this is an impossible conversation for anyone even slightly demented. Some good laughs too.
If I made this remark about checking translations, it is because I have over half a century's experience as a translator and still see that most people haven't a clue what this work involves.
From time to time I take a look at one of the latest IT efforts -- mostly into English, my native language. Some very straightforward texts come across quite well. The information is all there, maybe a phrase or two need correcting or improving. Messages that called for some hard thinking on the part of the writer risk coming out as gobbledegook.
This morning I read an obvious machine translation, and its broad meaning could only be construed if you had some inside knowledge of the subject matter.
I was reminded of a crucial scene in Andrei Tarkovsky's film The Mirror, in which a proofreader wakes up in the morning with a severe panic attack and rushes to the printing works where an important political text is already being turned out... to check a single word. Under Stalin, a single embarrassing misprint and she and others could have been shot.
I and my colleagues may never have run such risks, but every single word in an important policy statement was carefully weighed up. Not work that could be performed on automatic pilot...
Bear in mind that every language represents a different culture, a different way of thinking, so that a perfectly normal expression in English will sound very strange in Spanish. Even more so when we're translating from or into, say, Japanese.
Day in, day out, what the president says gets misconstrued or misrepresented by English-speaking fellow Americans... Need I say more?
Yet, even some insiders have trouble coping with cultural diversity... In France, where I live, the French way of doing things is often seen as the only conceivable way...
I'll never forget a French jurist arguing that a German expression was impossible because it couldn't be said in French...
Constant refrain of a naive young man observing the world of politics from the wings.
I am no cynic, except in the original doggie sense, but by the time that "What's in it for ME?" ousted "What's in it for us?" I'd understood how widespread cynicism and dishonesty are.
All that has become so much more flagrant since November 2016... when straight discussion with people holding different views was still possible and you could still understand where the other was coming from.
Thanks Deepak. The GOP realizes how large and important the Hispanic speaking block is.
After the 2020 elections, a Democrat Congresswoman talked about how the GOP took out full page ads in the local Spanish language newspapers full of lies and misrepresentations about her and other Democrats.
It seems that when the media talks about voters of color it's always blacks and never any other voting blocks. People of color are not mutually exclusive. Bring them all into the tent!
I think you're right on. The challenge is that many groups and campaigns do not have the funds or capacity to translate their content into other languages, espeically in a timelly manner. That's where AI supplemented with human editing can help. There's a good group called Ethnic Media Services which is a collection of 600+ publications, radio stations and TV stations that target minority communities. https://ethnicmediaservices.org
I knows it's not cheap to translate content, but what other languages besides Spanish, Chinese and Korean should be translated for this site? French? Hindi?
So many countries speak fluent English they may not need translation like India and Pakistan and most of the European countries.
There are programs that will automatically translate content into those and other languages with AI. Actually about 32 languages. But I had limited time so I just did a few to illustrate the process. it only costs about $5 to translate a video including the human labor involved to proofread the machine generated transcript first.
I'm hoping that native speakers of these languages verified the translations. I remember when a friend of mine who was a re-enactor with the local Minutemen went to a sister city meeting in France. They had the Google translator translate their speech into French. It translated "Minute Men" into "tiny men." Ever since then, I've been skeptical of machines' ability to understand words with multiple meanings and to pick up nuance.
I wish people wold refrain from conflating the horrible 45th pres with a body part that for many of both genders is a very attractive secondary sex characteristic. The derriere actually evolved--along with the nuchal ligament, the achilles tendon, and body hairlessness--to enable our ancestors to run, which they did to catch prey animals, which lacked our stamina, and overheated when they ran due to said hair. Harvard's Daniel Lieberman is the expert on this stuff.
"Corporate Joe" Biden hails from tiny postage-stamp Delaware, a suburb of Wall Street and a tax haven for corporate headquarters.
"Corporate Joe" Biden and his fellow Vampire Liberals fund Worthwhile Programs by selling Treasury Bonds to suck money out of foreign countries, depending on the imperial power of the Almighty Dollar to add to the Unpayable Debt.
(Vampire Conservatives, on the other hand, suck money to give tax breaks to the rich.)
Zombies don't think. Zombified Vampire Liberals like Heather Cox Richardson DON'T THINK about where the money comes from for President Biden's Worthwhile Programs.
By far the largest fraction of our large deficit was caused by crooked Republicans lying about "fiscal responsibility" while simultaneously cutting taxes on their Oligarch butties.
Reagan alone, after Carter ran a four year surplus, added $3.1 Trillion dollars during his 8 years of "fiscally responsible" bit of BS. That is like $40 Trillion or something in today's dollars.
So, I know you don't like Biden because Putin is paying you to not like him and post here, but, really, Trump added more to the deficit than Biden, yet, you are blinded by the money Putin is paying you to post here.
I simply shared the truth with you. My apology for upsetting your fragile ego with a bit of reality, but, hey, I live in reality, why not you? Equality is my goal.
Democrats are also playing their role in the slow-motion ruin of our finances. President Clinton undermined Social Security by loading up its trust fund with government IOUs (Treasury bonds). When the government debt hits the fan, probably through hyperinflation to escape from our foreign creditors, all the old people will starve.
John! None of us are happy with the national debt. Neither are Democrats in our government. I can find example after example of quotes that advocate a re-arrangement of our tax structure to go after the richest persons and businesses. They come from Democrats and democratic socialists. Which, if implemented, would again run surpluses, and reduce the debt. If implemented - there are powerful special interests and a strong political party that will do anything to make sure it doesn't get implemented. Don't blame Democrats.
Each comment posted on here offers the opportunity for others to 'like, reply, or share,' all postitive choices, two of which do not involve writing one's own comment.. Substack ought to offer a further option, 'to dislike,' a simpler way of disagreeing other than posting a reply. Then the number of 'likes' and 'dislikes' could be compared on a level playing field.
Yeah...when the troll starts with the ad hominem attacks, it's pretty clear that the troll hasn't got anything substantial to say (not that he ever does, anyway) but is merely trying to provoke and thusly, earn his "clicks=turnips" pay from some Russian troll farm.
Virginia Witmer - "Please stop wasting time and space with this 'person.'”
Note that every response to him is perceived as "encouragement" which in every case results in a loop that is, indeed, nothing more than a "time waster" -- for everyone, participant or not. Never a move forward.
Geeze Louise Schmeek, Did someone cut you off on the road or something? You have to be the nastiest commenter ever! Most of us would be happy if you would go vent your negative comments about our President and beloved Historian someplace else!
If your post is more than just rhetoric, then we could have an exchange of views. The way I see things, Biden, after stealing the nomination from Bernie Sanders, had to get real liberal to get Bernie's voters to show up on Election Day. ...
It was Hillary who sort of stiffed Bernie in 2016. Biden had nothing to do with Bernie at all. But, keep feeding us what Putin wants you to. It is really having a big effect here. Who knows, we all may become big Putin fans as a result.
But, you have a ways to go to earn your money that Putin is paying you. Better get on your knees. Putin does not like failure.
I think I'm beginning to understand you, John. You're a disenchanted Bernie boy. Well, listen, I was a Bernie fan, too, but things didn't work out. The problem with so many idealists, such as yourself, is that you refuse to allow for the good when you can't get the perfect. I have been pleasantly surprised by Joe Biden- an infrastructure bill, the Chips and Science Act, a lot of student debt forgiven, some control over insulin and other critical drugs just to name a few of his accomplishments that benefit everyday people. Take off the rose colored glasses, John, and you might see that there is a huge difference between Biden and Trump.
I remember, as a child, Bernie was mayor of nearby Burlington. My father didn't think it was bad that Bernie was a socialist, but others clearly did.
In general, I've thought of Bernie as being better than most politicians, but I've never really been one of his fans. He has worked within a broken system to get some good things done, including succeeding in imposing some of his agenda on the Biden administration.
I can tell you are idealistic, John. Just not very realistic. Still and all, we need a few dreamers to set the bar. Just don't be so hard on Uncle Joe and don't equivocate when it comes to Biden or Trump- I don't think there will be a place for any kind of dreamer under a tyrannical government, which is what Trump promises.
I don't charge for things. I have an honest job and I say what I think, and I am capable of changing my mind if people convince me that I'm wrong. My agenda is here:
What a wonderful thing to do. Thank you so much. President Biden doesn't yell and scream but his words make sense and call us to our better selves. How good to broadcast them loudly and clearly for everyone to hear.
We converted President Biden's 1 minute message on standing up to Democracy into Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, German and French using AI. It's an important message and it should reach all American, regardless of what language they speak. https://thedemlabs.org/2024/01/06/how-to-use-ai-to-convert-videos-into-different-languages-like-the-biden-harris-ad-to-preserve-democracy/
Terrific!
I thought it was terrific, too. Until I saw they did not include Dothraki and Klingon. How are we to keep the votes of the youth and nerd contingents if we cannot communicate with them in their native tongues? [/sarcasm]
Dothraki speakers are just a bunch of royalists. Klingons, well, I just want them on my side. :)
Where's Spock when we really need him?!
Me too Steve--but I'm pretty sure Klingons are republicans....
Same Steve. Bring on the Klingons!
Not a joking matter, Will.
Grow up.
If we cant even find humor in a situation - it gets pretty sad!
Amen, Maggie!
Live long, and prosper....
At this point in time? How else can we survive?
It is actually pretty sad.
Uh, sometimes humor is what is called for.
Maybe "often" instead of "sometimes"! The deity gave us funny bones because they knew we'd need them!
When the joke is obviously a joke then it is OK...relax, and I am a pretty serious guy, usually the last to see humor in anything.
There is always room for a pause to laugh. It does good to the soul!
I agree with you, Laine. Not appropriate at this point.
Will, I've admired your comments for quite awhile. I have an idea for outreach to young voters and wonder if you'd like to collaborate or point me towards someone who could help me. I agree that humor is a good way to reach all voters but particularly younger voters. I'm wondering if we could crowdfund a pot of money for prizes and sponsor a contest to create viral videos for use on tiki tok or other social media towards GOTV and other priority Dem topics. This could be a creative way to offer content to Dem politicians to aid in messaging, bypassing MSM. I've thought about approaching the League of Women Voters' Education Project, a 501(c)3, to encourage tax deductible donations towards this project. Thoughts?
Bob,
Sorry for the delay in replying. Check out this blog about a nonprofit Students For Justice which gives college interns (mainly from minority communities). One of the things they do is create TikToks. I think it is very cost effective and the students get a small stipend. Glad to discuss further. deepak@thedemlabs.org
The blog describing the groups is at https://thedemlabs.org/2024/01/10/student-activists-make-great-tiktoks/
Frankly Bob..anyway you can capture the ‘youth vote’ from Taylor Swift to viral videos is just fine with me..also like both the Hispanic and black vote and any stray ‘independents’ as well as all sensible women!
I think it is a fantastic idea. I have no idea exactly hiw to go about such a thing and would not be the right person for the set of skills that would require. But there are definitely many who would be, and they are certainly easy to find on the internet! I say go for it!
How about Hindi, Urdu and Arabic? I would say more people speak these languages than Klingon.
Sad that you have to tell us it’s sarcasm
I enjoy reading comments by readers of the HCR’s Letters, but often find it annoying to skip past the threads that fall outside my interests. Threads are often long, so it takes a lot of time and effort to locate the next thread. I would like Substack to adopt a commentary format for their “Top first” mode that the NYT now uses: Comments are displayed in decreasing order of up-votes, and reply streams are suppressed unless the reader asks to see them. That way, widely popular comments come first, whether they are lead comments or replies, and readers can easily skip streams that don’t interest them. I’ll submit this request to Substack, but I’m putting it here, too, because I’d like to find out whether other Letters readers find reply-streams annoying and whether they think the NYT method would help. To bring the idea to the attention of readers, I’m using a dirty trick that I see in commentary streams here and in the NYT, WaPo, and other publications. Namely, I’m posting this comment as a reply to a popular message, even though the comment is irrelevant to that stream. Sorry, Will from Cal, Joan Leslie, and Deepak Puri. Won’t do it again. Probably.
I hope you got the translations checked by competent native speakers of each language...
And since many Americans get their information through comedians, Conan O’Brien interviewed Joe Biden for his podcast last December. It gives a great sense of Biden’s actual cognitive abilities, his values, and his integrity. It’s a great listen. I’m passing it on to fence-sitters. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conan-obrien-needs-a-friend/id1438054347?i=1000639169916
Thanks MLRGRMI. I love the voice of Joe Biden and am so grateful for him fighting to be our President; to encourage us to save the soul of America. He's nothing less than a true American Hero!
Thank you! I didn't know. I'm posting on FB and X (Twitter) with this comment:
Is President Biden too old?
If you want to vote for a president who cares about saving democracy, but are afraid that President Biden is "too old" and/or has dementia, PLEASE take a few moments and listen to him during this conversation. Get your evidence first hand."
Thank you again!
Exactly ! Thank you for amplifying this positive message!
You are welcome! It's something I've been feeling called to do whenever I can in those two places - working my way up to Instagram and TikTok!
I heard that interview and wish everyone who thinks President Biden has dementia would listen also. It was a wonderful interview!
Agree, it was a great Interview; very human. he actually wants to listen to others and laugh with them. don't get much of that anywhere else.
“ he actually wants to listen to others and laugh with them. ”. That sums it all up, No?!
Wow. This is great! Thank you so much for sharing!!!!
This is a podcast with Conan O'Brien, be sure you listen all the way to where they take off to see to "see the oval". Some great moments toward the end especially. I agree this is an impossible conversation for anyone even slightly demented. Some good laughs too.
And thanks for the share!
If I made this remark about checking translations, it is because I have over half a century's experience as a translator and still see that most people haven't a clue what this work involves.
From time to time I take a look at one of the latest IT efforts -- mostly into English, my native language. Some very straightforward texts come across quite well. The information is all there, maybe a phrase or two need correcting or improving. Messages that called for some hard thinking on the part of the writer risk coming out as gobbledegook.
This morning I read an obvious machine translation, and its broad meaning could only be construed if you had some inside knowledge of the subject matter.
I was reminded of a crucial scene in Andrei Tarkovsky's film The Mirror, in which a proofreader wakes up in the morning with a severe panic attack and rushes to the printing works where an important political text is already being turned out... to check a single word. Under Stalin, a single embarrassing misprint and she and others could have been shot.
I and my colleagues may never have run such risks, but every single word in an important policy statement was carefully weighed up. Not work that could be performed on automatic pilot...
Bear in mind that every language represents a different culture, a different way of thinking, so that a perfectly normal expression in English will sound very strange in Spanish. Even more so when we're translating from or into, say, Japanese.
Day in, day out, what the president says gets misconstrued or misrepresented by English-speaking fellow Americans... Need I say more?
Fellow translator here, Peter!
I'm sure you get the picture then...
Yet, even some insiders have trouble coping with cultural diversity... In France, where I live, the French way of doing things is often seen as the only conceivable way...
I'll never forget a French jurist arguing that a German expression was impossible because it couldn't be said in French...
Das kann nicht sein! (That can’t be - one of Germany’s favorite sayings!)
"But that's not possible!"
Constant refrain of a naive young man observing the world of politics from the wings.
I am no cynic, except in the original doggie sense, but by the time that "What's in it for ME?" ousted "What's in it for us?" I'd understood how widespread cynicism and dishonesty are.
All that has become so much more flagrant since November 2016... when straight discussion with people holding different views was still possible and you could still understand where the other was coming from.
That was my thought, after I saw what AI did to my daughter's fund raising letter for her foundation, which she gave to me to proof!
AI... Founded on the quicksands of good old natural, traditional human stupidity!
Thanks Deepak. The GOP realizes how large and important the Hispanic speaking block is.
After the 2020 elections, a Democrat Congresswoman talked about how the GOP took out full page ads in the local Spanish language newspapers full of lies and misrepresentations about her and other Democrats.
It seems that when the media talks about voters of color it's always blacks and never any other voting blocks. People of color are not mutually exclusive. Bring them all into the tent!
Am I wrong?
I think you're right on. The challenge is that many groups and campaigns do not have the funds or capacity to translate their content into other languages, espeically in a timelly manner. That's where AI supplemented with human editing can help. There's a good group called Ethnic Media Services which is a collection of 600+ publications, radio stations and TV stations that target minority communities. https://ethnicmediaservices.org
What a great site! Thanks for the link.
I knows it's not cheap to translate content, but what other languages besides Spanish, Chinese and Korean should be translated for this site? French? Hindi?
So many countries speak fluent English they may not need translation like India and Pakistan and most of the European countries.
There are programs that will automatically translate content into those and other languages with AI. Actually about 32 languages. But I had limited time so I just did a few to illustrate the process. it only costs about $5 to translate a video including the human labor involved to proofread the machine generated transcript first.
May your efforts pay off. Elections are getting closer and I need to stock up on Lomotil or Imodium...
Well done, Deepak!
Thank you for doing this!
I'm hoping that native speakers of these languages verified the translations. I remember when a friend of mine who was a re-enactor with the local Minutemen went to a sister city meeting in France. They had the Google translator translate their speech into French. It translated "Minute Men" into "tiny men." Ever since then, I've been skeptical of machines' ability to understand words with multiple meanings and to pick up nuance.
"minute" (emphasis on first syllable, which is pronounce just like "my") does mean small, or tiny.
But that was the point. A human translator gets that. The AI did not.
tRump's cult followers (most of them) can't read, plus they would think it is propaganda and they can't even spell that correct.
I wish people wold refrain from conflating the horrible 45th pres with a body part that for many of both genders is a very attractive secondary sex characteristic. The derriere actually evolved--along with the nuchal ligament, the achilles tendon, and body hairlessness--to enable our ancestors to run, which they did to catch prey animals, which lacked our stamina, and overheated when they ran due to said hair. Harvard's Daniel Lieberman is the expert on this stuff.
Perhaps converting it into Malayalam should also be done, as it is the fastest growing language in the US.
Sorry Steve but you have your Indian languages confused, fastest growing in the US is Telugu, official language of Hyderabad and Telengana.
Thanks for the translation of Joe's speech. Hopefully Googles AI system will automatically translate it into all the other languages- a good use of AI
if you take the slightest interest in what Peter says, I do not think we want Googles AI system involved at all.
Well done!
Good idea. But how is the message distributed to those who will see it? On X?
"Corporate Joe" Biden hails from tiny postage-stamp Delaware, a suburb of Wall Street and a tax haven for corporate headquarters.
"Corporate Joe" Biden and his fellow Vampire Liberals fund Worthwhile Programs by selling Treasury Bonds to suck money out of foreign countries, depending on the imperial power of the Almighty Dollar to add to the Unpayable Debt.
(Vampire Conservatives, on the other hand, suck money to give tax breaks to the rich.)
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-national-debt-dilemma#:~:text=Years%20of%20elevated%20budget%20deficits,GDP)%20since%20World%20War%20II.
Zombies don't think. Zombified Vampire Liberals like Heather Cox Richardson DON'T THINK about where the money comes from for President Biden's Worthwhile Programs.
Schmuckle,
By far the largest fraction of our large deficit was caused by crooked Republicans lying about "fiscal responsibility" while simultaneously cutting taxes on their Oligarch butties.
Reagan alone, after Carter ran a four year surplus, added $3.1 Trillion dollars during his 8 years of "fiscally responsible" bit of BS. That is like $40 Trillion or something in today's dollars.
So, I know you don't like Biden because Putin is paying you to not like him and post here, but, really, Trump added more to the deficit than Biden, yet, you are blinded by the money Putin is paying you to post here.
Stop engaging with a troll
Schmuckle! You win the prize! Schmuckle is like a mosquito!
Why is it that anyone speaking out about Biden is called Putanist?
Childish behaviour.
It’s classic projection. #45 is and no one in his cult admits it. So they project instead of believing the truth. Common protective mechanism.
Schmuckle is not anyone, this is a troll.
Oh I am sure you know this Marj. Probably a PUTIN troll!!!!!!! Paranoia in the US reigns supreme!
I've reported the troll. In my experience, reporting them gets their comments eliminated.
...said the thuggish Biden Bigot
Schmuckle,
I simply shared the truth with you. My apology for upsetting your fragile ego with a bit of reality, but, hey, I live in reality, why not you? Equality is my goal.
...said Bad Breath the Biden Bigot.
Democrats are also playing their role in the slow-motion ruin of our finances. President Clinton undermined Social Security by loading up its trust fund with government IOUs (Treasury bonds). When the government debt hits the fan, probably through hyperinflation to escape from our foreign creditors, all the old people will starve.
John! None of us are happy with the national debt. Neither are Democrats in our government. I can find example after example of quotes that advocate a re-arrangement of our tax structure to go after the richest persons and businesses. They come from Democrats and democratic socialists. Which, if implemented, would again run surpluses, and reduce the debt. If implemented - there are powerful special interests and a strong political party that will do anything to make sure it doesn't get implemented. Don't blame Democrats.
Hahahahahahahaahahaha
This system needs an ability to remove this shit
Seriously, John, were you wringing deficit hearts when Trump was adding $7 trillion to the debt?
Wow! You are so confused !!!
So, Tovarich, how's that corner office in the Kremlin?
Another Biden Bigot without a reasoned rebuttal
Will not even offer you a blindfold as we put you up against the wall.
Try offering reason yourself. There is no "Pravda" in "Izvestia." No "Izvestia" in "Pravda."
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Each comment posted on here offers the opportunity for others to 'like, reply, or share,' all postitive choices, two of which do not involve writing one's own comment.. Substack ought to offer a further option, 'to dislike,' a simpler way of disagreeing other than posting a reply. Then the number of 'likes' and 'dislikes' could be compared on a level playing field.
What a great idea, Jack!
I was going to suggest that we reply to trolls with just a 'thumbs down' emoji--but your idea is better. Thanks!
Trolls feed on long replies anyway....
If it's a known troll, it's best to scroll on by. A "dislike" indicates you read their diatribe. They loathe being ignored.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Yeah...when the troll starts with the ad hominem attacks, it's pretty clear that the troll hasn't got anything substantial to say (not that he ever does, anyway) but is merely trying to provoke and thusly, earn his "clicks=turnips" pay from some Russian troll farm.
Please stop wasting time and space with this “person.”
Virginia Witmer - "Please stop wasting time and space with this 'person.'”
Note that every response to him is perceived as "encouragement" which in every case results in a loop that is, indeed, nothing more than a "time waster" -- for everyone, participant or not. Never a move forward.
The bot is back. They could have picked a better name for it.
Actually, he’s a schmeckle-head so picture him walking around that way. Tfg fans are no-brainers.
Biden Trolls have dismissive comments without any substance.
Geeze Louise Schmeek, Did someone cut you off on the road or something? You have to be the nastiest commenter ever! Most of us would be happy if you would go vent your negative comments about our President and beloved Historian someplace else!
Your beloved Historian has become a sold-out Biden shill.
I hope HCR recovers her integrity.
You can be anti-Trump without whoring for Biden.
Would you have corporations subject to some government regulation or none at all?
If your post is more than just rhetoric, then we could have an exchange of views. The way I see things, Biden, after stealing the nomination from Bernie Sanders, had to get real liberal to get Bernie's voters to show up on Election Day. ...
Schmuckle,
It was Hillary who sort of stiffed Bernie in 2016. Biden had nothing to do with Bernie at all. But, keep feeding us what Putin wants you to. It is really having a big effect here. Who knows, we all may become big Putin fans as a result.
But, you have a ways to go to earn your money that Putin is paying you. Better get on your knees. Putin does not like failure.
...said Bastard Breath the Biden Bigot, who wants to drown out any effort at reasoned exchange of views.
Hahahahahahaha
I think I'm beginning to understand you, John. You're a disenchanted Bernie boy. Well, listen, I was a Bernie fan, too, but things didn't work out. The problem with so many idealists, such as yourself, is that you refuse to allow for the good when you can't get the perfect. I have been pleasantly surprised by Joe Biden- an infrastructure bill, the Chips and Science Act, a lot of student debt forgiven, some control over insulin and other critical drugs just to name a few of his accomplishments that benefit everyday people. Take off the rose colored glasses, John, and you might see that there is a huge difference between Biden and Trump.
I remember, as a child, Bernie was mayor of nearby Burlington. My father didn't think it was bad that Bernie was a socialist, but others clearly did.
In general, I've thought of Bernie as being better than most politicians, but I've never really been one of his fans. He has worked within a broken system to get some good things done, including succeeding in imposing some of his agenda on the Biden administration.
I can tell you are idealistic, John. Just not very realistic. Still and all, we need a few dreamers to set the bar. Just don't be so hard on Uncle Joe and don't equivocate when it comes to Biden or Trump- I don't think there will be a place for any kind of dreamer under a tyrannical government, which is what Trump promises.
Bernie bro?
Hahahahahahahaha
...said Giggles the troll
John, how much would you charge to antagonize a party of ten Magats?
I don't charge for things. I have an honest job and I say what I think, and I am capable of changing my mind if people convince me that I'm wrong. My agenda is here:
https://earthwarning.org/index.php/what-should-we-do/
John, don't you know sarcasm when you hear it?
Yes, when I HEAR it. Online, sarcastic intent often gets lost.
🙄
...said Stalker the troll
Hahahahahahaha.
So you now admit you're a troll? Time to retire under your bridge and wait for some tasty goats.
Stalker the troll likes to talk about trolls
Ok, so what have you got that's better ?
For starters, my general approach is here:
https://earthwarning.org/index.php/what-should-we-do/
By the way, do you listen to GasslitNation?
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9nYXNsaXRuYXRpb24ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M/episode/NmRhZWZlZWQtODdhZS00ODc1LWIzMDktY2E0MTI5OTgyZTc5?ep=14
Some of that seems absurd to me; I'm willing to share my views but don't need to argue about it.
What a wonderful thing to do. Thank you so much. President Biden doesn't yell and scream but his words make sense and call us to our better selves. How good to broadcast them loudly and clearly for everyone to hear.
Thank you!
Great idea, Deepak!