It seems that it's a matter of when not if the networks start calling it for Biden. One analyst group has Tweet— Twitter API (@user) date
I suppose it's a question of granularity - some key states were won with barely a couple of percentage points difference and others showed sizeable support one way or the other, but the gap in the EC vote is huge. Remember, Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 but edged it via the electoral college.
True, and as with social media, some people will allow it to completely dominate their life. But gambling, however, is widely recognised as being potentially harmful to people and is regulated extremely heavily. Far more support exists for gambling than it does for social media. No one is regulating the absolute cess pits on social media, not even the people who own the sites. And unlike gambling there's no up-front financial cost; there certainly is a cost however, but it's hidden far more insidiously than with gambling.
All the more reason to keep at least some meme free spaces? There's not been any problems with poilicial content in the demotes thread (that I'm aware of), which is a much better place for it. If nothing else it keeps this thread clear of clutter (although it's possibly outlived its purpose at this point).
What matters is semantics, not syntax. Memes are almost a language unto themselves, and what matters is how language is used, not what form it takes. e.g. disparaging names can be used as terms of endearment among a group of friends. We Brits/Irish have no dog in this particular race, and so memes aren't being used antagonistically, but as commentary among friends. There is no debate to drag down.
Ignoring the fact that that doesn't really answer the question of why it belongs here rather than in General, while I agree that medium shouldn't override substance, all communication is inherently restricted by it's medium, and a medium where the prime directive is to be funny is not necessarily suited to serious discussions. Anyway, I'm not advocating for a completely meme-free zone, just pointing out that the last few posts have all been memes, coming off the back of a whole series of posts commenting how overuise of memes has been eroding discourse. I mean, maybe I am being a stick in the mud and misread the tone of the thread (which is a real possibility, this stuff doesn't translate well over cyberspace), in which case I apologise if I've come across as a bit brusque.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact there hasn't been anything to actually discuss for a while
Define overuse? I've been pointing out serious flaws in the Trump admin for years, in fact I had to stop complaining in the other thread about all the illegal **** they got up to because it would have just been me, myself and I quintuple posting 37 times a day. So I welcome some meme filled respite until 2024 when Trump Jr and Kanye will have a boxing match live on Fox News for biggest joke candidate ever (and I say that as someone who is in the same country as Lord Buckethead and that Dude in the Dolphin suit).
It's cool, it's just that current events have been so outright bizarre this year that it's hard to maintain a serious engagement with them. The world has turned into a caricature of itself; sometimes a meme seems the only sane response.
