Tag: trump

The Uninformed vs. The Misinformed

Here’s a small example of someone who’s apparently angry about something they know little about. All too common in this world overloaded with too much information:

He’s concerned that Rapid City’s “7% Vision Fund tax” needs to be done away with – and of course the roads fixed to perfection.

Well, if the Vision Fund tax was 7%, I would agree it needs to be eliminated. But it’s not – it is 1/2 of one percent. That’s .5% not 7%. It’s 1/2 of .01 cent, not 7 cents on the dollar. So how did this person get it so wrong? How did they inflate the tax by 1300%? The answer seems obvious.

This person is either uninformed or misinformed. If they are uninformed, they used their ignorance of the issue to lash out publicly… to vent unintelligibly. The anonymous Two Cents forum attracts such comments, as do other anonymous social media forums. But this person is in good company:

Recently President Trump announced that prescription drug prices were going to be reduced by “1000%, 1100%, 1200%, 1300%, 1400%” and ” not 30 or 40 or 50%, but numbers the likes of which you’ve never even dreamed of before.”

Well, he’s right about one thing, I have never dreamt of the pharmacy paying me to get a prescription filled. If you think about it:

A prescription that costs $50, if offered at 50% off would cost $25.00. If offered at 100% off would be free. If offered at 1400% off …… the cost would be -$650. Thats negative $650. In other words, the pharmacy would owe you $650! So where did the President come up with these figures? Who knows, but what is truly shocking is that people defended him on social media. One commenter posted “Nobody have calculators on their phone? …. 100-1000% = 10.”

I asked ChatGPT to explain how something could be reduced by 1000%. The response was: “1000% off is mathematical absurdity” and further “any claim of 1000% off is either a joke, a mistake or marketing nonsense.”

So why would people believe things like this? Why does the person believe the Vision tax is 7%? This is the problem without a solution, but the internet obviously has undue influence or is taking the place of people using their own brains to form opinions.

It is estimated that 20% of all social media interactions are the doing of Bots (software that performs automated tasks). So when internet ramblings occur, and people blindly believe what they read or hear, then people are misinformed. It is also estimated that in 10 years, as much as 70% of social media interactions will be bots. The question need to ask yourself is: why are the bots posting on social media?

A 2023 paper from the University of Southern California projected that if current bot development trends continue, bot posts will outnumber human posts by 2030.

Will the internet ever lose credibility? I doubt it. Because the chronically uninformed are always seeking to be informed and misinformation satisfies that – especially if they can blab on about it, in an anonymous platform.

The internet is an excellent place to acquire knowledge and find soluti0ns to problems, but great care must be used, in other words one must still use their brain to vet that information.

Follow @theother98cents on “X” (formerly Twitter)

Political Parties are not our Friend.

To avoid arguing, don’t discuss religion or politics. This age-old advice has probably never been more accurate but at the same time, never been more ignored.

Political discussions have become toxic, maybe more so since 2016, and especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even in South Dakota, which only has three electoral votes, and will likely never be a determining factor of a presidential election, we argue at the expense of community, friendships, and family relationships. It makes even less sense in our area of the state, which is nearly all Republican, that we argue and fight over partisan politics, like never before.

The difference between this era and past eras of political debate? Today it’s more personal.

Friendships and even families have been fractured by differences in political viewpoints. Members of one political party are labeled as evil or otherwise defective by the other party. Members are grouped together and associated with the most radical element of their party.  Guilt by association.

25% of South Dakota voters have chosen to register as “independent” or have chosen to not designate a political party.  This percentage of non-party voters is growing. The reason for this, in large part is based on their unwillingness to affiliate with one party or the other on ethical or moral grounds. And who could blame them?

The political parties have been working diligently to prove to all of us that they are not our friend. There was a reason George Washington warned against partisan division, and resulting elections. It does not unite, but rather divides along social, as well as political lines.

We are just over two months until the presidential election. As a lifelong Republican, I am watching as the Republican party does their best to put another Democrat in the White House for four more years. The political parties, led by their most extreme factions, have lost touch of the best interests of America.

Political party support is now being framed as a quest for a ruling class, rather than a group of people who share political ideologies and preferences. Both parties are guilty of this. And we are all guilty for allowing it to happen.

Next up: How to help change this.

Steve Allender is a former mayor and former police chief from Rapid City, South Dakota

The State of Our Governor

What an unfortunate week this has been for South Dakota and South Dakotans.

It began with our governor promoting her new book “No Going Back” almost nonstop on social media. The promotion included a video of her, presumably at home, recording the audio version of the same book.

Advanced copies of the book were given to media outlets as part of the promotion- and that’s when the controversy started.

In her book, the governor apparently told the story of shooting a goat and an “untrainable dog” named Cricket several years ago. She wrote the dog was aggressive, killed chickens, and that she “hated” that dog.

Farm and ranch life is different than most city dwellers might think, and putting down animals is part of an unfortunate reality. I have the sense that she could’ve told the story 20 years ago, and people would’ve understood, or at least held her to a different standard rather than the current one.

To boast of Cricket’s demise during a time when society is at the most sensitive (if not unstable) phase in our memory, first appeared to be risky. It was only risky until she began to defend it publicly- then it became ugly. At some point, the dialogue with the media brought out the worst in her. Her response raised doubts and eyebrows and undoubtedly drew more negative attention to her book.

Noem’s book documents stories of her scheduling, then canceling a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron because of a comment he made about Hamas. This one may not have been harmful by itself, but it was accompanied by a similar story that she had met North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-Un. Her story in the book included her interpretation that the dictator probably underestimated her, then it made light of the meeting, claiming she had been a children’s pastor and was used to staring down little dictators. Well, this was much too much for the media to accept.

Several organizations went on fact-finding missions and ultimately confirmed that the stories of the French president and the North Korean dictator were false. This is where things went from sad to tragic.

South Dakota’s Governor, the highest elected official in our state, was caught telling bald-faced lies. Rather than be held accountable, she took us through an ugly cycle which included bloviating, exaggerating, blaming others, denial, and ultimately embracing victimhood. Governor Noem refuses to be held accountable for her lies and is willing to tell more lies in an attempt to dig her way out of this mess.  Meanwhile, South Dakotans need leadership.

I believe the straw that broke South Dakota’s back occurred on the May 5th edition of Face the Nation. Governor Noem was asked directly if she met with Kim Jong-Un in North Korea. She repeatedly refused to directly answer, instead deflecting to her world travels and opportunities to meet other world leaders. Most disturbingly, she stated, “As soon as this was brought to my attention, I certainly made some changes and looked at this passage… We went forward and have made some edits, so I’m glad this book is being released in a couple of days and that those edits will be in place and the people will have the updated version.” When asked again directly about meeting Kim Jong-Un, she again evaded the question and eventually said she would not talk about her meetings with world leaders.  This charade was repeated the next day on CBS Morning News.

There’s been mention of a “ghostwriter” and blame was even cast on the editor at one point.  But remember – she read her own book aloud for the recording of the audio version.

Anyone who’s been a parent has seen this type of behavior: storytelling; lying; bragging. Governor Noem‘s response to this entire debacle is childish, if not pathological. She can’t seem to help herself.

This past week, I personally have gone from being shocked, to annoyed, to angry, and now to sad and worried for the state of our State. The brazen and public lies of our governor now cast doubt on other claims made by her. I’m not sure it’s possible for South Dakotans to truly know who she is, or to trust her.

What’s more worrisome is that one would think those closest to the governor would have proofread the book and offered feedback. If this happened, those same proofreaders knew she had not met with the North Korean dictator, but either failed to say something about it, or she failed to listen to them. Either way, our lying governor has now exposed herself and her network of close followers as being untrustworthy.

It’s one thing to tell stories. It’s another thing to assume everyone listening is too dumb to tell the difference between an error and a lie and also between humility and hubris.