(Alberto) Brandolini’s law: “Brandolini’s law, also known as the Bullshit Asymmetry Principle, is an internet adage coined in 2013 that emphasizes the effort of debunking misinformation, in comparison to the relative ease of creating it in the first place. The law states the following: The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it.” What Steve Bannon referred to as “flooding the zone with bullshit.”
No different from the other innumerable victims of demagogues throughout history.
I think you’re either giving Trump too much credit, or not enough.
My guess is that he genuinely doesn’t give a shit; that he noticed that it gets a reaction he likes, and so he doubles down on it — and if it didn’t, he’d shrug and say something else instead. But, to the extent that this clicked with the audience, he’s just kept on with it.
You might also include the work of Leon Festinger. He studied a small cult in Chicago in the 1950s, which predicted the end of the world on a specific date. When the predicted date came and went, some people left the cult, but others clung even more tightly to the group. It led to theories of belief perseverance and cognitive dissonance.
Why bother to provide cites when your cult members believe every cockamamie drool that flows from your mouth. Have you not seen any of the Jordan Klepper Interviews Trump Supporters videos? These people are stupider and more gullible than you can imagine.
Actual death threats against a Federal Congress member is Secret-Service-comes-to-visit-you stuff. I suspect some idjits are going to be surprised by that.
But my underlying point, that issuing death threats to Congresscritters gets a bigger Federal response than death threats to, e.g., Dopers, still stands.
If the US is anything like Australia (for trans kids) the process doesn’t occur during morning recess. It’s a YEAR’S long drawn-out process.
First there’s consultation with a GP, then a referral to a specialist clinic that deals with trans kids…involving numerous interviews, counselling, testing and what not. This continues until approval is given for puberty-blockers, and takes months in itself.
Then, after even more intensive counselling, hormone-treatment might be prescribed, and this will continue until the age of 18 when the (now adult) can consent to surgery if desired. My trans granddaughter was 11 when she indicated initially that she was gender-queer, but this fairly rapidly grew into a full trans decision. She is 15 now, and has JUST gone on to hormone therapy.
So no, it doesn’t happen at school, and it takes friggin’ years to go through all the hoops to get to where they want to be.
My understanding is that what happens in the US is very similar to what you described in Australia, including the time it takes.
What the right is trying to push out is a moral panic akin to the “devil worship” stories of the 80s. Or the more recent stories about murderous clowns lurking in the woods in various places. It’s absolutely fabricated nonsense with no basis in fact whatsoever, it only gains traction because people are terrified it might be true.
These parents want example 2 to be what happens. And they will want to treat example 1 as just as bad as some imaginary transitioning without warning just so that they can outlaw any recognition.
Yes. And if you did it over interstate comms, well, then FBI hops on too.