[FRIAM] How I made my own VPN server in 15 minutes | TechCrunch

[Steven A Smith]

> Glen writes:
>
> < It's pretty exciting/terrifying to imagine "data scientists" being involved in whether or not Trump will remain president ... >
>
> As much as I like to see O'Reilly suffer, it is annoying how advertisers turn to social media consultants (and data science) to quantify the anger towards him (or other hot topics) rather than saying "Given the evidence we think you’re a scumbag, and we're dropping you" rather than asking if enough of their customers or potential customers think he is a scumbag.    It says to me they don't care if he is a scumbag, or even guilty; they care if he is radioactive and a liability.
Who *doesn't* know he's a scumbag?

Surely the people who choose to advertise with Fox already know the 
general level of scumbaggery involved and some sense of the specific 
personalities there.   It is O'Reilly's scumbaggery (just like other 
loudmouth pundits of his style like the not-quite-late/never-great Rush 
Bimbaugh) that gets them their ratings.  They are popular *because* they 
are loudmouth jerks with no obvious true moral compass (is that what you 
mean by scumbag?).

Sadly my mother is someone who doesn't know he's a scumbag, somehow she 
has been duped by his bombastic style and the echo chamber of Fox and 
their many dittos into believing that he is really "looking out for our 
best interests!" .    I forgive her, she's 87, and at ONE TIME in her 
life was one of the most thoughtful and progressive people I knew.  Age 
and loss have lead to fear which makes her vulnerable to their rhetoric.

I believe it is a similar type of fear that makes the "unwashed masses" 
huddled in the red states watch Fox News 24/7 and vote for dickheads.   
They simply don't see that they are being manipulated by fear (and some 
greed) by fairly unsophisticated, but apparently effective rhetoric.

Unfortunately there is a lesser version of all this running on the 
opposite side of the aisle too.  We got to see it fairly clearly when 
the DNC/Hillary machine went after Bernie (and Jill).

I really enjoyed watching Colbert go on O'Reilly's show and the way he 
stood up to him firmly and kept everything on topic and refused to be 
reduced in any way to O'Reilly's level.   A perfect juxtapose to this 
was Colbert hosting Bruce Willis where he insisted Willis doesn't do his 
own stunts and the two end up squaring off and doing fight-stunts 
together for a while.  Colbert is amazingly versatile.
>
> Marcus
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