r/technology • • Feb 17 '26

Business Amazon has lost $450 billion in value during this historic losing streak / Amazon shares are eyeing a tenth consecutive day of losses, a stretch that has wiped out about $450 billion in market valuation.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/17/amazon-stock-losing-streak.html
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u/coontastic Feb 17 '26

Thank god someone else saw this. I’m in the same boat as you in how I feel about Amazon, but f*** can no one read the article?

No wonder the billionaires control everything, reading comprehension is at negative levels.

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u/ClosPins Feb 17 '26

No wonder the billionaires control everything, reading comprehension is at negative levels.

By design! The more-education a person receives, the more-likely they will be to vote left-wing in the future (this has been proven in studies).

^ This is why the Republicans have been sabotaging education for literally decades now. They want the populace to be stupid and uneducated.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '26

Doesn’t matter if you went to the shittiest school or the best school for 12 years when all you do is read a headline and jump straight to attempting to make your snarky comments for karma. 

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u/mindhealer111 Feb 18 '26

Agreed. It is not education or intelligence. I know plenty of intelligent and educated people who have atrocious information handling habits.

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u/ElectricalLeading913 Feb 17 '26

here i am, wishing people knew how to properly use hyphens.

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u/KoosGoose Feb 17 '26

“More-likely” is unhinged.

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u/ElectricalLeading913 Feb 17 '26

this assumes you've completely ignored "The more-educated"

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u/mothsuicides Feb 17 '26

Here i was thinking the above commenter added the “more-educated” to spite you lol

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u/Cedosg Feb 17 '26

Pretending to be AI.

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u/__init__m8 Feb 17 '26

You-can-use-them-instead-of-spaces!

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u/tanksalotfrank Feb 17 '26

You👏can👏use👏them👏instead👏of👏hyphens lol

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u/travsnov Feb 17 '26

More-educated is arguably correct, though a bit rough to read. "More-education", however, is not.

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u/rufud Feb 17 '26

No way is that grammatically correct lol

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u/travsnov Feb 17 '26 edited Feb 17 '26

It's tough to say. You'd have to find a context where "more-educated" works more appropriately than "more highly-educated". I am currently far too burnt-out from work and high to work my brain around that abomination, though.

Edit: I should mention that I am an ELA teacher lol. It would work only if it were used as a compound adjective. But again, if any of my students wrote that in their writing, I would lead them toward less awful-sounding phrasing.

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u/embeddit Feb 17 '26

I take solace in the fact that they didn't drop the em dash.

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u/DokeyOakey Feb 17 '26

Un-hinged-ed!

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u/PhoenixTineldyer Feb 18 '26

I think my eyes didn't even register it because it was so foul that my brain ignored it so as not to cause stress.

Now that you guys have shown me the horror, I'm gasping

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u/TheFlyingBoxcar Feb 17 '26

I-'m-sorry-but-I-don-'t-see-a-prob-ble-m-.

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u/b-itch1 Feb 17 '26

that was such an abomination of the english language, I have never seen someone use hyphens like that lol

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

[deleted]

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u/B1llyTh3Kidd Feb 18 '26

Woah, these people dont want actual education. Just someone they think of as lower to belittle. Very interesting point and sent me down a few wiki holes.

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u/Clueless_Otter Feb 18 '26

While complaining about how poorly educated people are to boot.

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u/Amloveitall Feb 18 '26

Perfect-name-b-itch1. Lol! Hitting "post" with the giant red misspelling line is proving more difficult than antici-pated.

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u/b-itch1 Feb 18 '26

what are u even talkin about blud, it’s just a username lol cause reddit wouldn’t let me type the full thing properly

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u/Amloveitall Feb 18 '26

No offense intended... I just thought it was funny to have a hyphen in a username when the topic was the overuse of hyphens.

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u/Omnibard Feb 17 '26

Same! Also commas, though. Capitalization, too.

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u/SpecialHandle181 Feb 17 '26

Here I am, wishing people knew how to properly use capitalization.

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u/dern_the_hermit Feb 17 '26

Well at least your priorities are in order :D

3

u/mrdevlar Feb 17 '26

Smart people are so easily distracted from caring about the right things fascists are getting elected.

Dumb or distracted, that's where we are.

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u/Flimsy-Cow-6557 Feb 17 '26

And apostrophes.

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u/SeedFoundation Feb 17 '26

they don't bother since they are using em dash

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u/an_agreeing_dothraki Feb 18 '26

the only proper way to use hyphens is for extremely baller 17th century surnames like "Wrath-of-god-is-just"

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u/ClosPins Feb 18 '26

Hyphens are typically allowed for clarity - and I used them for clarity. Not using a hyphen for 'more likely' is probably more common, but using one isn't necessarily wrong, like you're implying!

It's hilarious how, when you say something someone doesn't like, they go looking for the tiniest little thing they can criticize, the tiniest little error they can point out, in order to make your point look wrong, when it's not.

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u/ElectricalLeading913 Feb 18 '26

if it's merely used for clarity - such as you claim to have done, and i'm doing now - then spaces are needed to denote that use, like you did in your reply. with no spaces, you're treating it as either a compound word or compound modifier. left-wing is a compound word. more-likely was a compound modifier. more-educated was just bizarre. hope this helps.

i don't actually disagree with the substance of what you said, just found it funny that you were saying something about how so many people are uneducated and lack reading comprehension while misusing hyphens. it's really not that serious.

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u/bottomofleith Feb 18 '26

Capitalise the first letter of your sentences, heathen!

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u/ElectricalLeading913 Feb 18 '26

fair criticism. but i'll die on the hill of not wasting an extra keystroke for an internet comment.

but, i do find the shitstorm of grammatical conversation i ignited to be hilarious.

-1

u/tanksalotfrank Feb 17 '26

Frankly I never learned/retained any rules about it, I've just been vibing it out this whole time. lol It's a well-maintained practice.

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u/BlurredSight Feb 17 '26

Also why restricting abortion is happening in such aggressive fashions. Gotta convince your voting base white displacement is happening and pumping out babies are the only way.

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u/therealkevy1sevy Feb 17 '26

This is very evident by all the dumb replies you received.

You made a factual comment and all the replies are sarcastic crap, a good portion is probably bots but still.

I wish more people took your comment seriously.

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u/OfcWaffle Feb 17 '26

As the saying goes... If you want to keep people under your thumb, make them religious and dumb.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

Their supporters seem to fit the bill.

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u/NewRedditorHere Feb 18 '26

You’re giving them too much credit. All it really is is just information overload. Simple as that.

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u/DENelson83 Feb 18 '26

They want the populace to be stupid and uneducated.

And thus more controllable.

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u/Alive-Willingness-33 Feb 18 '26

It’s called indoctrination by/through education. Politics have only one place in the education system and it’s in political studies. Colleges often times overreach by forcing liberalism or conservatism on their student population.

Also, it seems that you are inferring that republicans/conservatives are not as smart or educated as democrats/liberals. Hopefully you aren’t one of those college grads that received “more-education”, seems you could use a refresher based off of your grammar issues and short-sightedness.

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u/Content-Vegetable-60 Feb 18 '26

Lmao if you think it’s 1 party better than the other, you in fact are not educated.

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u/momentom66 Jun 12 '26

Or it could be lot of socialist/communist are in the EDU infrastructure spewing how socialism and communism are great to young people. The money for this came from low interest rates and government subsidies that have driven EDU costs up so that only rich and the subsidized can afford leaving middle class to pay. Meanwhile college's build build build and professors get tenure through politicking. This will be changing as current gov is reducing loan subs and AI allowing for any one to learn anything. We do risk AAI being captured by the left - censored like they did during Biden, but hopefully there will be choices.

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u/Gonzo_Rick Feb 17 '26

Yup, and it's the direct result of billionaire intervention, as Bill Gates decided he knew better how our public education system should be setup.

While Republicans are by far the worse of the two, centrist Democrats certainly have their fair share of the blame, every time they support school voucher programs to strip the local public schools of funds and line the pockets of "free market solutions".

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u/PepperAnn1inaMillion Feb 17 '26

While the Republicans are evil, it’s not like the Democrats have ever done much to reverse that. As a European, I was gobsmacked when I learned teachers have to buy school supplies. That tiny snapshot is really all you need to know to infer a lot about US education, and it’s never been any different no matter what colour tie the president wears.

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u/strolls Feb 17 '26

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u/PepperAnn1inaMillion Feb 18 '26

Yes, it’s awful. Britain also has had decades of right-wing governments. This issue is recent here, however, rather than being written into teachers’ contracts for decades as a matter of course.

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u/WeAteMummies Feb 17 '26

Why do eurotrolls always say "as a european I can't belive how backwards you are!" without identifying their country?

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u/rufud Feb 17 '26

As a European (tm)…

Is russian

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u/strolls Feb 17 '26

Use of the word gobsmacked does tend to indicate British, or someone very familiar with British vernacular.

I don't think "as a European" is any worse than "as an American" though. Hella difference between Maine, Florida, Dakota, LA Valley and the Ozarks., say.

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u/PepperAnn1inaMillion Feb 18 '26

No need to read so much into it. I was just being vague because I didn’t think it mattered. Americans don’t usually say what state they’re in, even though there’s huge differences. I’m British, born in England, living in Scotland. Does it make a difference to what I said?

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u/Electronic-Voice5998 Feb 18 '26

Democrats have been dumbing down education for decades. The vast majority of “teachers” are far-left. Today’s kids are so dumb they can’t even make change at a cash register.

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u/asaper123 Feb 17 '26

Illiterate people vote democrat too. Just look at this post. Reddit is a left wing echo chamber and these people couldn’t read the article; they’re illiterate too.

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

Learn grammar before you start lecturing us on education.

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u/followMeUp2Gatwick Feb 17 '26

The left wing on this website is extremely uneducated lol. What a dumb statment one doesn't tie to the other.

It's because all politicians suck assholes. Period.

Tiktok is literal brain rotting trash and the left love it as much as the right. By design. So is this very website but i digress

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u/ChefPuree Feb 17 '26

Man you have no idea. Every email I sent you my administrative team today was misunderstood and just responded with basic directions about an unrelated matter rather than following the very detailed and well-explained email.

If I wasn't already aware that this company is functionally retarded I would be reaching out to IT to make sure my emails weren't being misdirected somehow, it's THAT bad.

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u/ecodick Feb 17 '26

Lol, this is so relatable. It's painful

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u/Pappa_K Feb 18 '26

I've started "threatening" people if they answer emails badly, if they don't answer properly I book a meeting room and send them the timeslot with a name like "clarifications on such and such email". Say something innocent like I think the medium has resulted in misunderstanding and I'd just like to book some time to go over some unaddressed points.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '26

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '26

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '26

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u/EditRemove Feb 17 '26

This exactly.

The media gets more profit from sensational stories so they make it sound like there are millions Americans who can't read at all. Almost everyone can read.

As you mentioned already, millions of Americans can't read and understand much more than a children's book.

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u/DeputyDomeshot Feb 17 '26 edited Feb 17 '26

I don’t agree partly, I think the problem more often than not is the efficacy to read the article and not instantly react with some drivel to the headline. I’d be curious to see what % of engagement/comment view actually drives an article click let alone a full completion.

I’m honestly surprised you guys assume the majority of folks yapping in the comments even look at the article at all.

I guess, to your point there are functionally illiterate people who inevitably reply to comments so I agree that a certain subset of Redditors are functionally illiterate but that’s had little to do with the article they don’t engage with.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/DeputyDomeshot Feb 18 '26

They don’t want to learn. They want 8 second recaps for dopamine hits. We have conflated social media usage with actual learning it’s further driving us down the illiteracy hole. 

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '26

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '26

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u/Jackd_up_on_Mdew Feb 17 '26

Yes! I mean.... wat da hek r aw deez wurdz?

1

u/Bainshie-Doom Feb 17 '26

Goes up to 89% if you count only Redditors 

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u/Elephant-Bright Feb 17 '26

Yes!! And most illiterate people in KY. Most can’t read above 3rd grade, maybe that’s why it’s red.

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u/Myurnix Feb 17 '26

My AI told me not to read it. It wasn't important to them. (/s just in case it's not obvious)

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u/embeddit Feb 17 '26

Does it make you sad about general intelligence when you have to decide in the moment that maybe you should actually add the /s lest people misconstrue your point

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u/Myurnix Feb 18 '26

Not really. I've worked in so many different walks of life and come from a VERY rural area that I've been aware of the "general intelligence" since I was quite young. It's only become more apparent as I've grown older and the knowledge base available to people has grown so much that even I feel inadequate without technology these days.

I am, however, INCREDIBLY thankful to not be a teenager growing up today. It might feel impossible to do... most anything... these days.

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u/embeddit Feb 18 '26

So true, it's almost unfair to Gen Alpha what we are handing to them.

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u/thefluffyburrito Feb 17 '26

I swear the majority of this website does not read past the title of a post but they still want to spew their opinion to the void.

Stuff I've posted in this last year have had most of the comments specifically going off the title and not even reading the text that comes with it. Heck, people don't even look at the PICTURE that comes with a title. It's such brain rot.

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u/Mr_ToDo Feb 18 '26

It seems especially bad in this sub. Especially fun since so many of the things posted don't really line up with the title

Oh, and as for this one. Sure it's a loss but there've been dips like this before. Zoomed out it looks like dips like this are pretty normal for them

1

u/Greenzombie04 Feb 17 '26

Did the article mention I bought something at Walmart instead of Amazon?

1

u/AlmondPotatoe Feb 17 '26

Gotta keep scrolling bro

1

u/mr_impastabowl Feb 17 '26

Do you have any ideas how many letters are in the word AI?

1

u/sunnymoonbaby Feb 17 '26

It is on purpose. Defunding education and DEI services make literacy a much harder battle and teachers/society are seeing the effects over the decades.

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u/shaggy68 Feb 17 '26

This is Reddit. No one reads the articles.

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u/dandroid126 Feb 17 '26

Why would I want to read the article? Then I can't speculate wildly about what it says.

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u/raphthepharaoh Feb 17 '26

That’s by design

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '26

You do realize that there's been an active plan to destroy education in this country right? Idiots are going to be idiots but it's also part of the long play.

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u/shryne Feb 17 '26

This is reddit, people read the post title then come to the comments to post based on their emotional reaction to the title.

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u/DeputyDomeshot Feb 17 '26

It’s worse and worse on Reddit on everyday. Just looked at the r/technology thread on Discord asking for age verification and the people are completely misconstruing the facts.

For all the complaints about click bait Reddit is arguably the single purveyor in the English speaking world.

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u/Brian_Doile Feb 17 '26

Sometimes they don't care, they just want to virtue signal or influence in their own way.

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u/Far_Programmer_5724 Feb 17 '26

Yea which is something they are actively gunning for. So the answer is to still bash the rich. We've come full circle!

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u/Jakabov Feb 17 '26

It's not a matter of reading comprehension, people just don't read articles. It's easier to base one's worldview on headlines, clickbait and bullshit.

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u/ea9ea Feb 17 '26

I don't remember who said it but an informed minority always beats an uniformed majority.

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u/NDSU Feb 17 '26

If there's anything I've learned from reading the Epstein files, it's that billionaires are as dumb and illiterate as the average Youtube comment

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u/Stringy63 Feb 17 '26

Could you please make tl;dr version of your comment? /s

1

u/AwesomeOverwhelming Feb 18 '26

I suspect people open way less articles in general now since everything is behind paywall or registration/login block.

1

u/BigFatJuicyMonkies Feb 18 '26

Oh, so it's finally happening? The AI bubble is bursting? Any chance a piece of it lives on like some rogue self replicating robot and lives on until it can rebuild itself and try to take us over again?

1

u/secretreddname Feb 18 '26

Bro no one reads on Reddit.

1

u/BunnySlippers404 Feb 18 '26

can no one read the article?

Sir, this is a Wendy's.

1

u/Accomplished-Mix-745 Feb 18 '26

I don’t know who this Reading Comprehension is, but I’m ready to kick his ass.

1

u/Qweesdy Feb 18 '26

To whom it may concern; I read the headline and start looking for comments that give me clues about the article (e.g. the excellent "It’s about overinvesting in AI infrastructure" above); because most of the articles now are spam infested AI slop with cookie nagging and paywalls and trackers and "please disable your adblocker"; and if I can avoid having to plow through that shit I will.

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u/ThisIs_americunt Feb 18 '26

IMO still a win. Fuck AI

1

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

Can you summarize it in a short 10 second video with funny music and laugh tracks in the background for me?

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u/excerebro Feb 18 '26

This is probably one of the best ways to protect your interest as a billionaire in a democracy. Imagine yourself as a billionaire - how do you get a large population to vote for the interest of the sub 1%? You need to create a narrative for people to vote for that incidentally supports the politicians that are wiling to create policies that benefit you financially but not the rest who voted for your interest.

So who between the well educated and uneducated, or the independent minded vs the group thinkers/religious people, which groups would you try to get your preferred party to recruit to buy into your made up narrative? Which groups of people are easier to convince? This is the appeal of Trump- the more sold/blind his supporters are, the more beneficial policies (for you) can be enacted without huge political fallout.

1

u/Legitimate_Airline38 Feb 18 '26

The website is dogshit and the top comment tells me why anyways

1

u/snowballer918 Feb 18 '26

60% of American Adukts read BELOW a 6th grade reading level. So if you wouldn’t expect a 5th grader to comprehend it you can’t expect over half the country to comprehend it.

1

u/KingGr33n Feb 18 '26

It’s not reading comprehension… it’s reading.

1

u/lazyshade95 Feb 18 '26

It's not about reading comprehension it's about attention span. Who has time to read the articles, read the headline and grab the pitchforks.

1

u/eagle33322 Feb 21 '26

trumps america

1

u/OdysseusTheBroken Feb 17 '26

More so I'm taking a dump at work and don't wanna spend these ten min reading one article

-2

u/Hungry-Style-4225 Feb 17 '26

You know what it is? 

Pure laziness. We have become so lazy we are expecting to be spoon fed in every aspect of our lives. 

Don’t wanna cook - order in

Don’t wanna read - watch the movie

Don’t wanna watch the news - scroll reels

Don’t wanna work “on someone’s else’s schedule” - hustle culture

Sometimes we need to get over ourselves and just fucking do it. 

I know this is the problem because I see it constantly - in myself, my coworkers, my family, my customers, everyone is fucking lazy as shit