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I Should Have Seen This Coming

When I joined the conservative movement in the 1980s, there were two types of people: those who cared earnestly about ideas, and those who wanted only to shock the left. The reactionary fringe has won.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/05/trumpism-maga-populism-power-pursuit/682116/

David Brooks: I Should Have Seen This Coming

David Brooks (The Atlantic)

Neil E. Hodges reshared this.

in reply to Kenny Chaffin

Khurram Wadee
Khurram Wadee
• •
Hi Kenny, could you use quotation marks for the headline? I thought for a moment that those were your words. Thanks, KW.
in reply to Kenny Chaffin

Isaac Kuo
Isaac Kuo
• •

@Khurram Wadee For some reason, a lot of people on Mastodon never use quotation marks or anything else to indicate that they are quoting. I think it's a habit from using Twitter where the character limit is even more severe.

Personally, I think it's very stupid to not indicate use of quotation, but there's nothing I can do to alter the behavior of others. So I have to live with the fact that only weirdos like me use quotation marks.

@Khurram Wadee
in reply to Kenny Chaffin

Khurram Wadee
Khurram Wadee
• •
I sometimes can't tell if its their words or someone else's without referring to the link they use (if any). I don't care about Twitter (never have).
in reply to Kenny Chaffin

Isaac Kuo
Isaac Kuo
• •

@Khurram Wadee Once upon a time, I think it was standard on Diaspora and Google+ to quote using italics. For example:

It must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

But there is no italics in, for example, Mastodon.

@Khurram Wadee
in reply to Kenny Chaffin

Khurram Wadee
Khurram Wadee
• •
Yes, a lack of markdown and the limited length of posts are a downer for it.
in reply to Kenny Chaffin

Kenny Chaffin
Kenny Chaffin
• •
TBH I actually thought this as I posted it and should have put quotes or some indicator around the post headline. Will try to be more careful in the future.
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