The Endgames of Bad Faith Communication

Seeking to understand others and communicate honestly is an essential democratic virtue. Can it be maintained in the digital age?…

Powerful disincentives and barriers to making this choice have been put in place during many decades of escalating cultural conflict. Understanding why it has become so hard to engage in good faith communication is the first step towards shifting the cultural balance back in its favor…

The article includes “Some signs of good faith communication” (noting that any of these can be faked), plus “Some signs of bad faith communication” (and noting that these can be disguised and denied).

In some political discussions today, it is common to hear that “you can’t engage in good faith with Nazis!” A generous interpretation of this statement is that there are truly unreasonable people who must not be trusted because they have proven themselves to be dangerous and unethical. But this is not an argument against good faith communication in general. It’s an argument against engaging in naive forms of good faith communication, which would play into the hands of those actively seeking to cause harm to others. Likewise, for those who have been lied to historically and treated with disrespect by specific groups, naively engaging with those same groups again in good faith would be foolish.

2,100 words: https://consilienceproject.org/endgames-of-bad-communication/.

And here is someone who is working on good-faith communication:

Sharon McMahon, the 45-year-old Instagram star in question, regularly performs what amounts to a magic trick. Hearing information that challenges our beliefs does not usually feel good. Yet participants in McMahon’s abortion workshop did not seem to want the lesson to end…

3,100 words: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/06/sharon-says-so-podcast-mcmahon/661150/

Celestial white noise

“White noise” (evenly-distributed random noise) from the sky:

This 10 hour ambient track of soothing white noise masks distracting sounds to help you sleep better and focus at work or school. The video is ten hours long so that you can achieve deep sleep and not be woken by extraneous noises in the night. You’ll enjoy the benefits of relaxation, focus, deeper sleep and freedom from outside distractions.

The sound, uniquely crafted and based upon cosmic radiation, is similar to brown noise but has more bass and less on the high end.

Tinnitus sufferers may also find their symptoms temporarily masked by the ambient mix.

Ten hours long: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzjWIxXBs_s. And for maximum enjoyment, turn on the closed captioning.

The comments are also good, here are a few:

Robloxmemer 59: Can’t believe I’m still listening to this song 14 billion years after it first came out

Comrade Wolf: This is my favorite band. I can’t wait to see them in concert!!

Tomi 24: i love the fact that i paused the video when i went to the bathroom so i wouldn’t miss a thing 💀

Guns are now leading cause of death for US kids

By the numbers: Nearly two-thirds of the 4,368 U.S. children up to age 19 who were killed by guns in 2020 were homicide victims, per the CDC. Motor vehicle crashes, formerly the leading cause of death for kids one and older, killed nearly 4,000 children.

• Another 30% of firearm-related child fatalities were suicides, 3% were accidental and 2% were of undetermined intent.
• Male youths were significantly more likely to be killed by guns, while vehicle crashes claimed more females.
• There were also stark racial disparities. The firearm death rate for Black children was more than four times that of white children, and white children were still more likely to be killed by motor vehicles than guns.
• D.C. had the highest firearm death rate, followed by Louisiana, Alaska and Mississippi.

https://www.axios.com/2022/05/26/gun-deaths-children-america