Says the first commenter in a discussion at Metafilter, "The end of the road for FiveThirtyEight?"
Second commenter:
The end of the road for FiveThirtyEight?
With any luck! Because: Fuck that guy, and Christ, what an asshole and all that.
And someone else:
won't disagree with anyone who says some variation of "fuck Nate Silver," but having journalistic outfits of even marginal merit get hollowed out and obliterated on a weekly basis by an increasingly thinner gamut of omnivorous corporations has been extremely grim the past few years
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50 comments:
"but having journalistic outfits of even marginal merit get hollowed out and obliterated on a weekly basis by an increasingly thinner gamut of omnivorous corporations has been extremely grim the past few years."
Journalistic outfits with even marginal merit? And those are?
Every single person must go through a period of "bothsideism" before they can decide which ideological faction to join and how they live their lives. The trouble is that many who see the world in absolute terms never attempted to walk a mile in another's shoes before judging.
With Nate Silver's ejection, the pool of orphaned left-ideals-but-disgusted-with-the-establishment gains another member. When they find the will to toughen-up, watch for a decisive break from the corrupt-oligarchic-bully-or-bribe-you-for-votes left.
Jordan Peterson
Joe Rogan
Steven Pinker
Bret Weinstein
Bill Maher
Tulsi Gabbard
Krysten Sinema
Bari Weiss
Elon Musk
Howard Kunstler
Matt Tiabbi
Nate Silver
...
The ability to see both sides of the argument is the single most destructive concept to the republic? Trump is hardly this nations biggest problem.
Nate Silver did something new and different and exciting. And pretty cool too. I hope he lands on his feet.
When leftists say “bothsideism” what they actually mean is “democracy.” They think they’re cloaking their authoritarianism, but the clear-eyed see it for the Newspeak it is.
Shorter version: Finn’s Law.
Narrative slaves are almost physically unable to face information that contradicts their preferred narrative.
" ... having journalistic outfits of even marginal merit get hollowed out and obliterated on a weekly basis by an increasingly thinner gamut of omnivorous corporations has been extremely grim the past few years."
Nate Silver sold FiveThirtyEight 10 years ago.
It was purchased by ... wait for it ... ESPN. The alleged "sports" network. Now, one might wonder how it could be that ESPN purchased a politics blog that partnered with the New York Times. ESPN has nothing whatsoever to do with politics.
Right? It's a sports network. Showing nothing but sports. What possible nexus could it have with politics so much that it would purchase a political blog that has nothing whatsoever to do with sports?
Inquiring minds want to know. This is the moment when you knew that sports was the next "institution" on the Democrat Party radar to take over and destroy. To turn sports into just another way to inject politics into every aspect of your life and force transies and Kolin KaperniK down your throat.
ESPN has never been the same and was abandoned by its audience.
After the Reichstag Fire, the Nazis managed to convince the people of Germany that "bothsiderism" was a threat to their republic, almost as severe a threat as were rights for the accused. After all, of what use is a trial when you already know that the accused is guilty? Why allow the accused to speak. During the impeachments, Trump was not allowed to present any arguments that were not pre-approved by Schiff.
Silver was a flash in the pan. He got the Obama election right and little else since.
They really want that garden of pure ideology—where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory thoughts. I guess.
That said, I do have a mild perception that -- like Matt Yglesias -- Nate Silver has shifted somewhat to the right over the years. Not that they've become right-wing (except, perhaps, from the perspective of a progressive movement tgat has trended ever more to the extreme left). This isn't an Elon Musk-type "they've stayed the same, and progressives became crazy" point. Rather, my impression is that substantively they have become more open to centrist and conservative viewpoints than they were ten or fifteen years ago. Just my sense.
I think that’s actually a good take. The purge thus week has been to eliminate any trace of anyone who a year from now might possibly destroy the liberal narratives for an election year. It’s much easier to dismiss Tucker from his public access channel rather then tucker from Fox News Channel but I don’t get what their beef with Nate is. He didn’t fudge the numbers enough?
What is "bothsideism"? What is that, the cardinal sin of airing both sides of the argument so that the consumer has an informed decision? Not a fan of Silver, and to be truthful I never watched him once, but I'm a bigger 'not-fan' of one-sided yelling matches.
free speech that was more than a 100 years ago,
Single/central/monopolistic progression with bennies.
Burning Nate Silver as a witch reminds me of a kerfuffle I saw yesterday on Twitter. Apparently a left of center news site wrote a piece on Tucker Carlson 's firing that didn't call him a Nazi. Their Editor in Chief had to apologize for the crime. The online left has lost their minds.
the Nazis managed to convince the people of Germany that "bothsiderism" was a threat to their republic
Ah, yes, the Capitol Hill... Reichstag fire, and the good Germans would hold parades to celebrate their pride, many would go along to get along, others would idle with cruel neutrality, and deplorables in the diversity regime would be forced to take a knee, beg, abort.
Bothsidesism is newspeak for 'opposition is legitimate.'
The rejection of "bothsidesism" is, in fact, the threat the Republic faces, as its degeneration into a one party fascist authoritarianism proceeds
We really need to stop excommunicating people from public / civic life. Or worse, wishing death and destruction on them. I frequently disagree with the conclusions that Silver draws from his data. He makes the same error we all do (myself included) of confirming his priors, but he's thoughtful and will explain how he obtained the data and came to his conclusion.
I recommend his book on the signal and the noise.
Remember Citizen, your value is in your usefulness to the Party.
If Twitter has taught me anything, it's that a partisan can twist any fact to justify whatever they want to believe is true. There is no limit to the partisan's potential for willful stupidity.
Nate Silver is 538 in much the same way Jame O'Keefe was Project Veritas. It doesn't matter how you feel about his politics, what matters is that the value of the brand rests entirely on his reputation. If you fire him, you remove his reputation, so you better think about what you'd have left after he's gone before you get rid of him.
Same goes for Tucker Carlson--Fox is not a ratings juggernaut; Fox is nothing. The stable of hosts on Fox are the ratings juggernaut. Get rid of the hosts and you get rid of the ratings and Fox is left with nothing.
The only thing wrong with "bothsideism" is that it assumes there are only two sides. This is especially mindnumbing when the sides are "my team's side" and "the other team's side".
BIII Zhang said...one might wonder how it could be that ESPN purchased a politics blog that partnered with the New York Times.
I'm sure you've heard of Moneyball. Nate Silver (as with many statisticians) cut his teeth on sports statistics. Politics was the afterthought.
"Bothsidesism" is a distinguishing characteristic of intelligent people. Not to mention it's a prerequisite for sustaining a working democracy. The ability to regularly develop and peacefully accept compromise is what has differentiated the United States of America from most other countries for over 200 years. It may not reach 300 if it continues to eliminate "bothsideists" from both sides.
Coincidentally, on Bill James Online, the Leftists there are in a tizzy because James labeled "both-sideism" as fascism. Nate Silver was a noted disciple of Bill James and his work.
https://www.billjamesonline.com/hey_bill/
Tim, In Vermont wrote: "... the Nazis managed to convince the people of Germany that "bothsiderism" was a threat to their republic ... "
That's an interesting observation. The Nazi's also did medical experimentation on children. Horrible cutting parts off. Really weird stuff, lots of it on twins. Dr. Josef Mengele was hanged for his crimes against humanity. That's how bad the Nazis were.
Remind you of any recent events in medical frontiers?
I'm also reminded that after World War II the Nazi's were so hated worldwide for their crimes against humanity that nobody would even think about hiring one.
Except of course, the US government. Which had no problem hiring a bunch of Nazis. Remind you of Biden's "Blood Red Speech" which if you Google, the first link goes to the NY Times transcript of it.
I know what you're thinking: Are we are the baddies now?
Yes, Virginia, we're the baddies now.
Aggie said...
What is "bothsideism"? What is that, the cardinal sin of airing both sides of the argument ??
There is ONLY one side, to an argument.. The democrat side
Just as there is ONLY a Single Standard: Support the democrats
"Everything in the Party, nothing outside the Party, nothing against the Party."
Tim, In Vermont wrote: "... the Nazis managed to convince the people of Germany that "bothsiderism" was a threat to their republic ... "
That's an interesting observation. The Nazi's also did medical experimentation on children. Horrible cutting parts off. Really weird stuff, lots of it on twins. Dr. Josef Mengele was hanged for his crimes against humanity. That's how bad the Nazis were.
Remind you of any recent events in medical frontiers?
I'm also reminded that after World War II the Nazi's were so hated worldwide for their crimes against humanity that nobody would even think about hiring one.
Except of course, the US government. Which had no problem hiring a bunch of Nazis. Remind you of Biden's "Blood Red Speech" which if you Google, the first link goes to the NY Times transcript of it.
I know what you're thinking: Are we are the baddies now?
Yes, Virginia, we're the baddies now.
"pushing what might be the single concept most destructive to the republic right now: bothsidesism."
Correct. Since progs aim to destroy all institutions and traditions, bothsidesism only encourages them. That's what's meant, right?
"With any luck! Because: Fuck that guy, and Christ, what an asshole and all that."
Wait. I'm getting prog vibes here. They aren't saying Silver is an a##hole for occasionally saying something heterodox, are they?
"having journalistic outfits of even marginal merit get hollowed out and obliterated on a weekly basis by an increasingly thinner gamut of omnivorous corporations has been extremely grim the past few years"
I don't get the prog complaint here, assuming that's what it is. The prog audience likes its journalistic outfits hollowed out the better to spout propaganda and do the deep state's bidding, and all those corporations are eager to toe the prog line. What's not to like?
Nate Silver will never be forgiven for giving Trump a 1 in 3 chance of winning the 2016 election.
Nate Silver will never be forgiven for giving Trump a 1 in 3 chance of winning the 2016 election.
Leftwing? Heal thyself, you fucking dimwits!
Who knew Nate Silver ignited such passion?
Funny. I’m old enough to remember when “both sides” was the sober, maverick, adult in the room message.
With God as my witness, I didn't even know Nate Silver was employed by ABC. I just associated him w/ the Five Thirty-Eight website.
I think we can all agree our side is Good with a capital G and the other side is Bad with a capital B.
As I wrote two days ago, there is nothing unusual about the story of an entrepreneur starting a company, growing it to a certain size, selling it to a large corporation, and after a while (often a short while) the corporation lets him go.
What I find interesting is the complaint about “bothsidesism.” There is an objective reality out there but today’s lefty extremists no longer want to live in the real world anymore. The one thing Orwell got wrong about 1984 is the idea of a single target for the “Two Minutes of Hate.” Todays lefties have many targets — Tucker Carlson, Nate Silver, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and a cast of thousands of others — for them to hate serially.
Situations like Silver and 538, and O'Keefe and Project Veritas (there are others I am not mentioning) remind me greatly of when John Scully fired Steve Jobs from Apple, which worked out well for me as it eventually helped fund a great amount of my early retirement.
As someone who did modeling for a living for 20 years, I always appreciated 538 and Silver's attempt, however imperfect, to inject some statistical modeling into the then-standard punditry. It was similar to the impact of Moneyball on baseball. I started to see more statistics everywhere for a while.
Reading through the Metafilter comments, the criticism of Silver seems to be based on anger that he didn't properly reflect left-bias. The commenters seem to be particularly angry at Silver's COVID commentary, where he attempted to consider the impact of COVID lockdowns on kids' mental health etc. Maybe the commenters are all teachers union members.
The people screaming the about "bothsideism"
1) Don't want anyone reminding them that their "side" is often far worse at whatever they're complaining about now that's the worst ever, and
2) Never fail to deploy it when confronted with their "side's" perfidy.
The people screaming the about "bothsideism"
are insane, dishonest, scum
AMDG said...
Narrative slaves are almost physically unable to face information that contradicts their preferred narrative.
Nailed it
Dr. Josef Mengele was hanged for his crimes against humanity.
Er, no. Mengele escaped to South America and didn't die until 1979.
"Bothsidesism" occurs when people dare to consider a "side" that isn't on the approved list.
538 was first acquired by Disney sub ESPN. I have enjoyed the sports coverage.
Silver did great when he had access to the Obama campaign's internal polling to adjust his models. After that, not so much.
Earnest Prole: "I think we can all agree our side is Good with a capital G and the other side is Bad with a capital B."
I think we can all agree each side thinks of itself as Good with a capital G and the other side is Bad with a capital B whilst I actually stand above it all. -- Earnest Prole's likely innermost thought which is expressed in different forms almost every day
Re: Bill Zhang:
I'm also reminded that after World War II the Nazi's were so hated worldwide for their crimes against humanity that nobody would even think about hiring one.
Except of course, the US government.
Well, and half the governments of the Middle East, various Latin American governments, the USSR, and even, according to some, the government of Israel. The war had made their talents obvious, and those talents were in high demand in the broken post-war world.
I haven't visited Metafilter lately, and following AA's link, I saw that Metafilter's commenters are unrelentingly left wing, condemning Ned Silver for not being tough enough on right wingers. I'm surprised that so many people look at the full menu of ideological choice, and tell the waiter, bring me true socialism, not the phony kind tried in the Soviet Union, China, East Germany, or Cambodia.
Leftwingery is founded upon critique. They know what they don't like. But where are the positive statements of belief that go beyond the sententious or tautological ("love is love", etc.)? What will proletarian bliss be like when the left finally gets its way, and the one dollar bill has replaced the image of George Washington with that of Randi Weingarten? Who will grow the food for the rest of us? Who will have to clean up the vomit and maintain the sewers? Why would they want to? Technocratic mass slavery seems to me to be the inevitable outcome of socialism.
Nate Silver is a leftie who served up Data Stew to make his tribe happy … but it wasn’t spicy enough. The left has been in an uncontested, unpopped bubble so long they cannot tolerate even one degree of separation. The fall they are about to experience is going to be very, very dangerous for them. The house of cards they have constructed is about to collapse and indeed is already tottering.
#TheFallOfTheHouseOfUs-ers
Ah RMc beat me to it. Mengele fled to (IIRC) Argentina, along with a considerable number of other Nazis, and was never captured by his pursuers.
There was a trial of four defendants after the Reichstag Fire. Three got off, and only one was convicted and executed. (Later, post-Nazi courts found enough evidence that the conviction
stood, but ruled the death penalty excessive and/or not guilty by reason of insanity. Most recently, according to Wikipedia, all Nazi-era convictions have been voided.)
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