IA-SEN 2022: Grassley vs Franken

[South Dakota Democrat]

I changed the thread title to something more "serious" and won’t bother you (or anyone else) with these "unfunny memes" anymore, so don’t worry. Feel free to delete this entire thread and replace it with a new one that contains more insightful analysis about how low-propensity Trump voters in the Driftless area will stay home/tear up their ballots without Trump on the ticket or how Biden's approval rating in one Selzer poll may signal a reversion to pre-2016 voting patterns in IA.

All sarcasm aside (and this time for real), I can see why some people think that these "memes" (most of which are responses to actual analyses that have been posted here and not something users just came up with — largely exaggerated reponses, yes, but often not nearly as hyperbolic as you may think and, with very few exceptions, no products of our imagination*) have gotten out of hand. I sincerely appreciate any honest criticism that’s been made in good faith on this matter (and only that kind of criticism), and I’ve always tried to confine these types of posts to threads which are largely based on conjecture/random tweets/subjective assessments/one- or two-sentence predictions and rarely contain any lengthy, granular analysis like the threads on the Political Geography Board. Admittedly, the memes were also somewhat of a distraction for me considering that I’m more than occupied with "serious" analyses and "effort contributions" in my not seldom exhaustive real life. It’s also a lot easier to deal with the one-sided nature/political bias of this forum through less "serious" discourse like that. For all the flak the "memers" have been taking from certain posters on here, it is remarkable that I’ve never received a single private message alerting me of the 'seriousness' of this matter. It’s a little sad that certain (and it’s really only a handful) moderators would prefer bashing/insulting posters publicly rather than just discussing the issue via PM, which is probably the first thing that would come to my mind in a situation like this if I were a moderator. Many (not all!) complaints about these things come from posters who very clearly bear a grudge against people they don’t even know, are not nearly as consistent in their criticism of "repetitive, unfunny memes" on different boards and in interactions with different posters and Atlas "institutions," apparently (and quite literally) spend their entire day accumulating easy recommends by fixating on other posters, and largely seize the occasion to put on a disingenuous show. I’ve said this repeatedly, but if a particular poster supposedly bothers you this much and you still refuse to make use of the ignore button (instead preferring to publicly obsess over their posts/jump on the trendy bandwagon that bashes them or "calls them out"), it really does reveal more about you than about them. Paradoxically, I am grateful for the recent meme hysteria because this episode is a prime example of how this forum encourages arbitrary nastiness and dishonesty — I’m not exclusively talking about a certain contingent of particularly vitriolic posters here, I’ve very much noticed these tendencies in myself and in the way I behave on here as opposed to real-life interactions (this might be reflected in some of my "meme-ish" posts as well). It’s one of the reasons some of my comments come across as condescending or even (at times, at least) aggressive, but the weird part is that I’ve rarely had these experiences outside this forum. I concur with others who have noted that there’s something about this site that brings out the worst in people and fuels destructive, addictive tendencies in oneself that should be stifled as soon as possible. I will reiterate that I don’t bear a grudge against anyone here (even those posters with whom I strongly disagree I don’t consider "unpleasant" unless there’s a clear level of obsessive vitriol directed against me/others), and again with very few exceptions, I’ve enjoyed the individuality and uniqueness of each poster on this forum. I also owe ElectionsGuy an apology because I was unjustifiably harsh in my interactions with him in the lead-up to the 2020 election, being way too confident about my own predictions and deriding his (if anyone else feels like they’ve had that experience with me, I’m genuinely sorry if you thought that I was intent on putting you down or deriding you; in fact, I honestly still have a hard time processing the fact that I haven’t been interacting with random states/avatars this entire time). I genuinely do not wish harm of any kind on anyone — the "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" commandment is one I cherish more than any other one (in spite of its underlying daunting view of human nature given the appeal to man's self-centeredness which it cannot wholly transcend) and I fear violating it myself, be it 'anonymously' or not. It’s in our hands what path we choose to go down, and I try my best to choose good over malice.

In any case, memes or not**, I’ve wasted way too much of my lifetime on this website and it’s time to step in for my personal well-being more than anything else. If anyone wants to discuss something, take it to the PMs — if I can still log in, I will probably pay a visit every once in a while (I might also continue working on that one TL at some point), but you’ll be spared the "memes" from my side from now on. I do (unironically, for once) hope that further contributions will greatly enhance the quality of this thread/board without the abundance/proliferation of memes. Irrespective of this episode, it has long been time for me to devote attention solely to my life outside this forum and not let this site negatively impact me to an extent which I would regret if I did not forestall it right now. If there’s one piece of advice I can offer to all of you, it’s not to lose sight of your actual life and not to let this forum/the internet/social media take hold of you before it’s too late. Don’t waste your life, especially in a manner which you know does not reflect the better sides and the potential inherent in you.   

*That NH "meme" aside, which (believe it or not), I never actually intended to become a meme.

**I will say that I’ve been fond of the moments when the memes became reality (e.g. Cornyn's 2020 NUT map, which I adamantly and foolishly did not foresee — kudos to swamiG for that).

You will be sorely missed and it's a shame that a bunch of people chased you off, especially when they're more than content to force memes on the forum that they like. Honestly, this is no different than what happened to Calthrina and those that chased you off should be punished.

Punished?

[South Dakota Democrat]

Wth are yall talking about...?

Someone didn't like IndyRep's sarcasm, so they got butthurt and are semi leaving Atlas.

[South Dakota Democrat]

My god, is this the third election in a row that she's underperformed compared to expectations? Maybe she's just a bad candidate.

What were the expectations in 2018?

Rod Blum was seen as one of the likeliest incumbents to go down. While he did end up losing, Finkenauer's margin was decidedly underwhelming.

It was 5 points.