Matt Cox

Former staff writer @rockpapershot, current freelance roamer. "Wannabe armchair philosopher for a narrow zealot censorious worldview." He/him

[Matt Cox @coccyxx]

@johnharrison But I see no problem with constantly measuring wealth to tax it fairly, it doesn't't matter if you (or the AI I'm actually debating with, for some reason) want to call that intrusive. And how are people going to fly away with the buildings they own?

[Matt Cox @coccyxx]

@johnharrison Why wouldn't it be possible to dial up wealth redistribution tools so they *do* push, say, five units of wealth down for every ten that go up?

[Matt Cox @coccyxx]

@johnharrison Could you clarify how this argument leads to the conclusion that poorer people would be worse off? Unless I'm misreading, you're not saying Zack's approach would kill the economy, so why wouldn't wealth redistribution tools... redistribute wealth?

[Alan MacLeod @AlanRMacLeod]

In years to come, students in university departments around the world will be studying the propaganda embedded in this headline.

As someone who regularly lectures in sociology, journalism and media studies, I could teach an entire lesson on the title alone.

For example:

1. Treating the 4 Israeli soldiers as more important than the 23 Palestinian children (by leading the story with their deaths and just chucking in the others at the end) implies their lives are of higher value.

2. Infantilizing active duty soldiers as "teenagers" while not emphasizing the age of the schoolkids, despite many of them being demonstrably younger.

3. The classic use of the passive voice: Israelis are "killed" while Palestinians merely "die".

4. Putting scare quotes around "23 die" subtly undermines the credibility of that claim. Maybe no one died, and the Palestinians are just lying?

5. Using the word "attack" for Hezbollah actions, but choosing a more neutral, clinical word like "strike" for Israeli aggression.

6. Allowing Israeli sources to dictate the framing of the story ("Israel names teenage soldiers") etc.

7. Actually naming the Israeli soldiers, but not doing the same for the far greater number of Palestinians, again sends the message to the reader that Palestinian lives don't matter nearly as much, if at all.

It's truly incredible how much propaganda has been packed into 16 words. We are swimming in an ocean of propaganda. That's why it is crucial to deconstruct it and critically assess everything you read, see and hear.

[Matt Cox @coccyxx]

@CWDGH It was a pleasure, thanks for the great responses!

[Matt Cox @coccyxx]

I haven't tweeted in years, but I like this piece I did interviewing the localisation teams for Thank Goodness You're Here and thought you might too
https://t.co/Y3ZdZftEsa

[Matt Cox @coccyxx]

@SilentBob_G Hah, I wonder wether I'd have found that too blue to write if I spoke German!

[Matt Cox @coccyxx]

@JacobOller Cheers Jacob!

[Matt Cox @coccyxx]

@ABeeWords Cheers, and cheers to proud small pie households

[Matt Cox @coccyxx]

@pillowfort cheers Mat!

[Matt Cox @coccyxx]

Also my Satisfactory review, why not! https://t.co/qZazy5dVh4

[Matt Cox @coccyxx]

@MeLaanKandra @shaun_vids Excellent book

[Mitch Benn @MitchBenn]

Can we all make sure the fact that the Greens did EXACTLY as well as Reform with a *fraction* of Reform’s money and airtime does not go unnoticed, even if the news media furiously ignores it?

[Shehab Khan @ShehabKhan]

Interesting point on vote share. Labour's vote share is currently the lowest ever to win a majority.

For Labour:

2024
33.9% vote share = huge landslide

2019
32.1% vote share = 31.1% of seat share

2017
40% vote share = 40.3% of seat share

[Richard Murphy @RichardJMurphy]

This is telling. Labour has not won. The Tories lost and the SNP have lost, whilst Reform and the Greens have won, and the LibDems have been exceedingly organised. But Labour has not won hearts and minds. Not in the slightest.

[Matt Cox @coccyxx]

@ABeeWords Exhalation by Ted Chiang includes a great short story about humanity becoming galaxy-spanning waveforms

[Matt Cox @coccyxx]

@ABeeWords Idiots.

[Matt Cox @coccyxx]

@mtrc My undergrad dissertation was, in the context of a hypothetical superintelligence, "Should we turn to AI for moral guidance?" (broadly my answer was "no")