Conversation

I don’t think noting that Kim Jong-Un’s sister beats Pence on TV charisma counts as supporting North Korea over the US. It’s merely observing skill at optics.
2
5
Replying to
That is framing it oddly- Pence has bad optics precisely because many of the people whose job it is to write about his optics are predisposed to hate him. And it is strange that the bias isn’t stronger against a leading figure in the cruelest regime in the world.
2
1
Replying to and
I have seen studies that the bias against almost in-groups is stronger than against far out-groups. So it is not that weird, at least not until we look at the results where people are praising representatives of a totalitarian regime.
1
Replying to
There’s a difference between praising skills or even looks, and praising people or ideologies. The Olympics is about appreciating the skills of rivals after all What we’re seeing here is an attempt to manufacture patriotism purity tests around support for an unpopular politician
1
1
Replying to
Pence’s optics weren’t notable. Most of the people I see commenting find it more noteworthy that many different journalists and editors seemed to be positively portraying a high level official of a slave country. You attribute more to optics what others attribute more to bias.
1
Replying to
The N Koreans mounted a charm offensive using an attractive woman. That's worth reporting for same reason a military offensive is. Could increase probability of either war or peace. The US offered a sullen, ineffective, charmless political presence. That's worth reporting too.
Replying to
That is approximately true. Pence is a placeholder, US charm apparently comes from churro eating athletes. Issue w/reporting is context that Jong-yo is at the head of a slave state and her cheerleaders and their families would be tortured if they misbehaved was largely left out.
2
Replying to
I don't think it was left out. That's been widely publicized to the extent evidence was obtainable. Assad is a better example of that kinda bad of failure. My main point here is the effort to co-opt this into a patriotism test
1
1
Show replies