When outrage is all the rage, progressive politics suffer

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

A great piece on how social media is making everybody dumber, but primarily I blame the education system. Nobody is taught how to think critically anymore.

Did you hear, for example, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, had an actual, literal, real-life Nazi working for it? A Nazi! Also, there was a secret deal between retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy and Donald Trump where Kennedy agreed he would retire if and only if Trump subsequently nominated Brett Kavanaugh, Kennedy’s handpicked successor, to fill his seat.

If you spend any time on Twitter, you’ve likely come across these rumors, both of which exploded onto the social-media scene in recent weeks. It’s somewhat less likely you came across the news that both are false. The ICE story had an embarrassingly simple explanation: A bunch of people, including some professional journalists and policy mavens, decided that a tattoo visible on an ICE employee’s arm in a publicity photograph was a Nazi symbol, and began clamoring for ICE to be held accountable for allowing a dangerous extremist into its ranks. But the tattoo wasn’t, in fact, an Iron Cross: As Haaretz subsequently explained, the employee’s tattoo was a “‘Titan 2,’ the symbol of the platoon he fought with in Afghanistan, where he lost both of his legs in an IED explosion.”

When outrage is all the rage, progressive politics suffer - The Boston Globe

 

[night_son]

A great piece on how social media is making everybody dumber, but primarily I blame the education system. Nobody is taught how to think critically anymore.

Did you hear, for example, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, had an actual, literal, real-life Nazi working for it? A Nazi! Also, there was a secret deal between retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy and Donald Trump where Kennedy agreed he would retire if and only if Trump subsequently nominated Brett Kavanaugh, Kennedy’s handpicked successor, to fill his seat.

If you spend any time on Twitter, you’ve likely come across these rumors, both of which exploded onto the social-media scene in recent weeks. It’s somewhat less likely you came across the news that both are false. The ICE story had an embarrassingly simple explanation: A bunch of people, including some professional journalists and policy mavens, decided that a tattoo visible on an ICE employee’s arm in a publicity photograph was a Nazi symbol, and began clamoring for ICE to be held accountable for allowing a dangerous extremist into its ranks. But the tattoo wasn’t, in fact, an Iron Cross: As Haaretz subsequently explained, the employee’s tattoo was a “‘Titan 2,’ the symbol of the platoon he fought with in Afghanistan, where he lost both of his legs in an IED explosion.”

When outrage is all the rage, progressive politics suffer - The Boston Globe

Excellent article. I recommend an in-depth reading of Mao's 1960's Cultural Revolution--with particular attention paid to his Red Guards youth movement--to put this piece into proper contemporary American perspective.

 

[Billy000]

A great piece on how social media is making everybody dumber, but primarily I blame the education system. Nobody is taught how to think critically anymore.

Did you hear, for example, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, had an actual, literal, real-life Nazi working for it? A Nazi! Also, there was a secret deal between retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy and Donald Trump where Kennedy agreed he would retire if and only if Trump subsequently nominated Brett Kavanaugh, Kennedy’s handpicked successor, to fill his seat.

If you spend any time on Twitter, you’ve likely come across these rumors, both of which exploded onto the social-media scene in recent weeks. It’s somewhat less likely you came across the news that both are false. The ICE story had an embarrassingly simple explanation: A bunch of people, including some professional journalists and policy mavens, decided that a tattoo visible on an ICE employee’s arm in a publicity photograph was a Nazi symbol, and began clamoring for ICE to be held accountable for allowing a dangerous extremist into its ranks. But the tattoo wasn’t, in fact, an Iron Cross: As Haaretz subsequently explained, the employee’s tattoo was a “‘Titan 2,’ the symbol of the platoon he fought with in Afghanistan, where he lost both of his legs in an IED explosion.”

When outrage is all the rage, progressive politics suffer - The Boston Globe

This is so stupid. I haven’t seen a single progressive outlet report on this. Maybe a couple have, but they are shit sources no one cares about. I see this as desperation to make a massive false equivalency between the left and the right when it comes to perpetuating fake news.

 

[Marion Morrison]

A great piece on how social media is making everybody dumber, but primarily I blame the education system. Nobody is taught how to think critically anymore.

Did you hear, for example, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, had an actual, literal, real-life Nazi working for it? A Nazi! Also, there was a secret deal between retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy and Donald Trump where Kennedy agreed he would retire if and only if Trump subsequently nominated Brett Kavanaugh, Kennedy’s handpicked successor, to fill his seat.

If you spend any time on Twitter, you’ve likely come across these rumors, both of which exploded onto the social-media scene in recent weeks. It’s somewhat less likely you came across the news that both are false. The ICE story had an embarrassingly simple explanation: A bunch of people, including some professional journalists and policy mavens, decided that a tattoo visible on an ICE employee’s arm in a publicity photograph was a Nazi symbol, and began clamoring for ICE to be held accountable for allowing a dangerous extremist into its ranks. But the tattoo wasn’t, in fact, an Iron Cross: As Haaretz subsequently explained, the employee’s tattoo was a “‘Titan 2,’ the symbol of the platoon he fought with in Afghanistan, where he lost both of his legs in an IED explosion.”

When outrage is all the rage, progressive politics suffer - The Boston Globe

I agree, and that's just crazy. That needs to be rectified ASAP. You can't have a nation full of people incapable of figuring things out for themselves.

 

[AZGAL]

-to-be-persuasive-we-must-be-believable-to-be-believable-we-must-be-credible--edward-r-murrow-

 

[flacaltenn]

Nobody is taught how to think critically anymore.

That's the golden nugget right there. There is more indoctrination and less value on thinking freely for yourself.

At Hogwarts -- there was an emphasis on "Defense from the Dark Arts". We need that. Even if you have to hire a sketchy guy like Professor Snape to teach it. LOTS of "dark arts action" going on.

The reliance on fact-checkers, social media and media sources who have chucked integrity and reason is another cause.

Probably also need to require that journalism students take many more courses on how stuff works rather than being admonished to "change the world".

 

[Marion Morrison]

Here's another good article on the phenomenon:

Riot-Prone Mobs Are A Product Of America’s Cult-Like Education System

 

[Billy000]

Nobody is taught how to think critically anymore.

That's the golden nugget right there. There is more indoctrination and less value on thinking freely for yourself.

At Hogwarts -- there was an emphasis on "Defense from the Dark Arts". We need that. Even if you have to hire a sketchy guy like Professor Snape to teach it. LOTS of "dark arts action" going on.

The reliance on fact-checkers, social media and media sources who have chucked integrity and reason is another cause.

Probably also need to require that journalism students take many more courses on how stuff works rather than being admonished to "change the world".

Let me ask you this: you say to avoid indoctrination we have to think critically, right? Well if you were thinking critically you would explain the word’s context in what you’re describing. So who exactly is being indoctrinated? Who is doing the indoctrination? What sort objective evidence supports this conclusion? What you’ve said is very vague and your definition of the word may be different from mine so how do you convince me it is an actual social phenomenon?

How are people thinking less freely? What specific limitations are there?

Also, I find it odd you would think any fact-checking source has been compromised. No fact checker has a sense of integrity and objectivity anymore? That seems hard to believe. For instance, poltifact or factcheck.org do not seem to be compromised. If they have, I would like to know how and by whom.

My take on this thread is that DTMB is cherry-picking a single story and generalizing it to make a conclusion about the leftwing.

 

[Marion Morrison]

Nobody is taught how to think critically anymore.

That's the golden nugget right there. There is more indoctrination and less value on thinking freely for yourself.

At Hogwarts -- there was an emphasis on "Defense from the Dark Arts". We need that. Even if you have to hire a sketchy guy like Professor Snape to teach it. LOTS of "dark arts action" going on.

The reliance on fact-checkers, social media and media sources who have chucked integrity and reason is another cause.

Probably also need to require that journalism students take many more courses on how stuff works rather than being admonished to "change the world".

Let me ask you this: you say to avoid indoctrination we have to think critically, right? Well if you were thinking critically you would explain the word’s context in what you’re describing. So who exactly is being indoctrinated? Who is doing the indoctrination? What sort objective evidence supports this conclusion? What you’ve said is very vague and your definition of the word may be different from mine so how do you convince me it is an actual social phenomenon?

How are people thinking less freely? What specific limitations are there?

Also, I find it odd you would think any fact-checking source has been compromised. No fact checker has a sense of integrity and objectivity anymore? That seems hard to believe. For instance, poltifact or factcheck.org do not seem to be compromised. If they have, I would like to know how and by whom.

My take on this thread is that DTMB is cherry-picking a single story and generalizing it to make a conclusion about the leftwing.

Apparently you didn't read the articles posted before this post, Mr. non-critical thinker.

That wouldn't slow you down in the least, though.

 

[Billy000]

Nobody is taught how to think critically anymore.

That's the golden nugget right there. There is more indoctrination and less value on thinking freely for yourself.

At Hogwarts -- there was an emphasis on "Defense from the Dark Arts". We need that. Even if you have to hire a sketchy guy like Professor Snape to teach it. LOTS of "dark arts action" going on.

The reliance on fact-checkers, social media and media sources who have chucked integrity and reason is another cause.

Probably also need to require that journalism students take many more courses on how stuff works rather than being admonished to "change the world".

Let me ask you this: you say to avoid indoctrination we have to think critically, right? Well if you were thinking critically you would explain the word’s context in what you’re describing. So who exactly is being indoctrinated? Who is doing the indoctrination? What sort objective evidence supports this conclusion? What you’ve said is very vague and your definition of the word may be different from mine so how do you convince me it is an actual social phenomenon?

How are people thinking less freely? What specific limitations are there?

Also, I find it odd you would think any fact-checking source has been compromised. No fact checker has a sense of integrity and objectivity anymore? That seems hard to believe. For instance, poltifact or factcheck.org do not seem to be compromised. If they have, I would like to know how and by whom.

My take on this thread is that DTMB is cherry-picking a single story and generalizing it to make a conclusion about the leftwing.

Apparently you didn't read the articles posted before this post, Mr. non-critical thinker.

Oh well you should be able to explain how such sources contradict what I said. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

 

[Marion Morrison]

Nobody is taught how to think critically anymore.

That's the golden nugget right there. There is more indoctrination and less value on thinking freely for yourself.

At Hogwarts -- there was an emphasis on "Defense from the Dark Arts". We need that. Even if you have to hire a sketchy guy like Professor Snape to teach it. LOTS of "dark arts action" going on.

The reliance on fact-checkers, social media and media sources who have chucked integrity and reason is another cause.

Probably also need to require that journalism students take many more courses on how stuff works rather than being admonished to "change the world".

Let me ask you this: you say to avoid indoctrination we have to think critically, right? Well if you were thinking critically you would explain the word’s context in what you’re describing. So who exactly is being indoctrinated? Who is doing the indoctrination? What sort objective evidence supports this conclusion? What you’ve said is very vague and your definition of the word may be different from mine so how do you convince me it is an actual social phenomenon?

How are people thinking less freely? What specific limitations are there?

Also, I find it odd you would think any fact-checking source has been compromised. No fact checker has a sense of integrity and objectivity anymore? That seems hard to believe. For instance, poltifact or factcheck.org do not seem to be compromised. If they have, I would like to know how and by whom.

My take on this thread is that DTMB is cherry-picking a single story and generalizing it to make a conclusion about the leftwing.

Apparently you didn't read the articles posted before this post, Mr. non-critical thinker.

Oh well you should be able to explain how such sources contradict what I said. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

"
Radical education reformers have made a point of removing context from children’s education, and to squash their natural curiosity, undermining their capacity to think. They have done this in five ways: 1) by withholding the basic tools and codes of learning, such as suppressing phonics for reading, as well as clarity in standard arithmetic; 2) by withholding the content knowledge necessary to connect dots in understanding history and civics; 3) by withholding and demeaning literature that reveals universal human experiences and shared understanding, such as the classics and Shakespeare; 4) by de-stabilizing a child’s sense of self and identity. This is a natural byproduct of de-sexing every child, which happens through mandates to teach kids about transgenderism; and 5) by promoting relational aggression against any child or parent who might resist this totalitarian program. Radical education reform encourages schools and communities to single out those who disagree with this coercive program as misfits, bigots, or religious nuts.

All of the above would subvert anybody’s ability to think clearly. It leaves children unmoored from reality and in a constant state of anxiety about being socially rejected by peers or teachers for thinking thoughts deemed wrong."


There's some. Don't worry guy, I got more.

"Increasingly colleges are requiring “diversity” training for freshmen, which basically puts them on notice that they will become non-persons if they say one wrong word or think one wrong thought. (For more on this dark side of campus culture, see the book just published by humanities professor Robert Oscar Lopez.)"


"
The five methods on the “Continuum of Influence and Persuasion” are: education, advertising, propaganda, indoctrination, and thought reform (i.e., brainwashing). Look at the table, please. Singer describes how each method of persuasion operates in terms of openness, ethics, deceptiveness, structure, methods, and so on.

"


Riot-Prone Mobs Are A Product Of America’s Cult-Like Education System



And I'm done doing your homework for you, Billygoat.

It doesn't matter, from my observation, you clearly lack critical thinking skills,

and I'm sure you're on to the next thread already.

 

[Marion Morrison]

As an example: The brainwashy chants these protestor/rioters chant. That stuff's straight out of "The Patty Hearst Story".


The more they chant, the more indoctrinated they become.

 

[Billy000]

Nobody is taught how to think critically anymore.

That's the golden nugget right there. There is more indoctrination and less value on thinking freely for yourself.

At Hogwarts -- there was an emphasis on "Defense from the Dark Arts". We need that. Even if you have to hire a sketchy guy like Professor Snape to teach it. LOTS of "dark arts action" going on.

The reliance on fact-checkers, social media and media sources who have chucked integrity and reason is another cause.

Probably also need to require that journalism students take many more courses on how stuff works rather than being admonished to "change the world".

Let me ask you this: you say to avoid indoctrination we have to think critically, right? Well if you were thinking critically you would explain the word’s context in what you’re describing. So who exactly is being indoctrinated? Who is doing the indoctrination? What sort objective evidence supports this conclusion? What you’ve said is very vague and your definition of the word may be different from mine so how do you convince me it is an actual social phenomenon?

How are people thinking less freely? What specific limitations are there?

Also, I find it odd you would think any fact-checking source has been compromised. No fact checker has a sense of integrity and objectivity anymore? That seems hard to believe. For instance, poltifact or factcheck.org do not seem to be compromised. If they have, I would like to know how and by whom.

My take on this thread is that DTMB is cherry-picking a single story and generalizing it to make a conclusion about the leftwing.

Apparently you didn't read the articles posted before this post, Mr. non-critical thinker.

Oh well you should be able to explain how such sources contradict what I said. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

"
Radical education reformers have made a point of removing context from children’s education, and to squash their natural curiosity, undermining their capacity to think. They have done this in five ways: 1) by withholding the basic tools and codes of learning, such as suppressing phonics for reading, as well as clarity in standard arithmetic; 2) by withholding the content knowledge necessary to connect dots in understanding history and civics; 3) by withholding and demeaning literature that reveals universal human experiences and shared understanding, such as the classics and Shakespeare; 4) by de-stabilizing a child’s sense of self and identity. This is a natural byproduct of de-sexing every child, which happens through mandates to teach kids about transgenderism; and 5) by promoting relational aggression against any child or parent who might resist this totalitarian program. Radical education reform encourages schools and communities to single out those who disagree with this coercive program as misfits, bigots, or religious nuts.

All of the above would subvert anybody’s ability to think clearly. It leaves children unmoored from reality and in a constant state of anxiety about being socially rejected by peers or teachers for thinking thoughts deemed wrong."


There's some. Don't worry guy, I got more.

"Increasingly colleges are requiring “diversity” training for freshmen, which basically puts them on notice that they will become non-persons if they say one wrong word or think one wrong thought. (For more on this dark side of campus culture, see the book just published by humanities professor Robert Oscar Lopez.)"


"
The five methods on the “Continuum of Influence and Persuasion” are: education, advertising, propaganda, indoctrination, and thought reform (i.e., brainwashing). Look at the table, please. Singer describes how each method of persuasion operates in terms of openness, ethics, deceptiveness, structure, methods, and so on.

"


Riot-Prone Mobs Are A Product Of America’s Cult-Like Education System



And I'm done doing your homework for you, Billygoat.

It doesn't matter, from my observation, you clearly lack critical thinking skills,

and I'm sure you're on to the next thread already.

Lol oh no. I’m still here. Okay so this article you cited is talking about the various ways kids are supposedly indoctrinated. So where is the actual evidence this kind of curriculum is being required in schools? To what extent? What statistics back this up?

Your table chart cracks me up lol. There’s a simple logic to critical thinking: “just because sounds like it could be true does not mean it is actually true.” What statistical evidence confirms this convoluted chart?

Okay but let’s assume this table chart is based in reality. Who, exactly, is being manipulated? What actual psychological effect is it having? Where is the evidence this chart is a representation of the education system?

 

[flacaltenn]

Also, I find it odd you would think any fact-checking source has been compromised. No fact checker has a sense of integrity and objectivity anymore? That seems hard to believe. For instance, poltifact or factcheck.org do not seem to be compromised. If they have, I would like to know how and by whom.

They've always been compromised because they are HOSTED by partisan whores. But putting aside the snark, they don't "fact check". They largely spin with a single objective to declare a very short constrained claim as true or false. That's not possible for complex issues without taking in the CONTEXT of the claim being made.

For instance -- If someone exaggerates a bit -- it doesn't necessarily void their observation. If trump claims "that his campaign was spied on like no other American political campaign in history" -- you cannot rate that as either true or false without SPINNING by another name. MOST of what's done is INDEED spinning, not fact checking.

How are people thinking less freely? What specific limitations are there?

Here on USMB -- MOST of the political confrontation never GETS to any rational discussion. It winds up in a race to the very bottom by comparison of bad deeds to PAST bad deeds. NEVER do we see an admission that that the deed is BAD ----- only that "the other side did it FIRST or worse". It's all massive hypocrisy and AVOIDANCE of logical condemnation. HISTORICALLY, politics has ALWAYS been dirty and nasty. But the diff between now and Andrew Jackson days is BACK THEN -- the public KNEW right from wrong and a bad deed was a bad deed. Today -- you SANITIZE that bad deed by simply being a talking point parrot and pointing out that "they did it first". Thats KINDERGARTEN level avoidance of the facts and ethics and morality.

People are apt to "self fulfill" their bias because they can now Bing or Google their biases. Instead of thinking through the ACTUAL arguments that need to be made to resolve the truth of anything.

It's systemic. The reliance on "math calculators" and spread sheets are suppose to compensate for decrease ability to DEAL with math or statistics on a personal level and be FLUENT in setting up problems and employing the right tools. So it is with social/political issues and debate. It's all an app now. Like a "fact-checker".

 

[Billy000]

Also, I find it odd you would think any fact-checking source has been compromised. No fact checker has a sense of integrity and objectivity anymore? That seems hard to believe. For instance, poltifact or factcheck.org do not seem to be compromised. If they have, I would like to know how and by whom.

They've always been compromised because they are HOSTED by partisan whores. But putting aside the snark, they don't "fact check". They largely spin with a single objective to declare a very short constrained claim as true or false. That's not possible for complex issues without taking in the CONTEXT of the claim being made.

For instance -- If someone exaggerates a bit -- it doesn't necessarily void their observation. If trump claims "that his campaign was spied on like no other American political campaign in history" -- you cannot rate that as either true or false without SPINNING by another name. MOST of what's done is INDEED spinning, not fact checking.

How are people thinking less freely? What specific limitations are there?

Here on USMB -- MOST of the political confrontation never GETS to any rational discussion. It winds up in a race to the very bottom by comparison of bad deeds to PAST bad deeds. NEVER do we see an admission that that the deed is BAD ----- only that "the other side did it FIRST or worse". It's all massive hypocrisy and AVOIDANCE of logical condemnation. HISTORICALLY, politics has ALWAYS been dirty and nasty. But the diff between now and Andrew Jackson days is BACK THEN -- the public KNEW right from wrong and a bad deed was a bad deed. Today -- you SANITIZE that bad deed by simply being a talking point parrot and pointing out that "they did it first". Thats KINDERGARTEN level avoidance of the facts and ethics and morality.

People are apt to "self fulfill" their bias because they can now Bing or Google their biases. Instead of thinking through the ACTUAL arguments that need to be made to resolve the truth of anything.

It's systemic. The reliance on "math calculators" and spread sheets are suppose to compensate for decrease ability to DEAL with math or statistics on a personal level and be FLUENT in setting up problems and employing the right tools. So it is with social/political issues and debate. It's all an app now. Like a "fact-checker".

You definitely are right that context matters, but I don’t know why I should believe any fact checker has been compromised. If that’s the case, who exaxctly should I trust to find out the truth? I think if you checked out polifact or factcheck.org, you would see they examine a statement in a nuanced explanation that takes context into account.

I think your Trump quote is interesting. I think you’re right that the statement by itself can’t be determined to be true or false, but of course Trump would have an obligation to explain his context. What is his personal logic? I think he is too much of an idiot to explain it but I digress. I guess my question would be is this quote actually being examined by fact checkers? I mean there’s plenty of shit a politician says that can be debunked. One way of doing this is by determining the extent of it being true. Is it true, partially true, or false? As you said, context matters so the more detailed the statement is the more we understand the context. This is typically what fact checkers look for. Of course some things are blatantly false. Some dumb republican said climate change may be caused by human body heat. There is no evidence to his statement and it’s likely the first to ever something like this to the public.

 

[Marion Morrison]

A great piece on how social media is making everybody dumber, but primarily I blame the education system. Nobody is taught how to think critically anymore.

Did you hear, for example, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, had an actual, literal, real-life Nazi working for it? A Nazi! Also, there was a secret deal between retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy and Donald Trump where Kennedy agreed he would retire if and only if Trump subsequently nominated Brett Kavanaugh, Kennedy’s handpicked successor, to fill his seat.

If you spend any time on Twitter, you’ve likely come across these rumors, both of which exploded onto the social-media scene in recent weeks. It’s somewhat less likely you came across the news that both are false. The ICE story had an embarrassingly simple explanation: A bunch of people, including some professional journalists and policy mavens, decided that a tattoo visible on an ICE employee’s arm in a publicity photograph was a Nazi symbol, and began clamoring for ICE to be held accountable for allowing a dangerous extremist into its ranks. But the tattoo wasn’t, in fact, an Iron Cross: As Haaretz subsequently explained, the employee’s tattoo was a “‘Titan 2,’ the symbol of the platoon he fought with in Afghanistan, where he lost both of his legs in an IED explosion.”

When outrage is all the rage, progressive politics suffer - The Boston Globe

This is so stupid. I haven’t seen a single progressive outlet report on this. Maybe a couple have, but they are shit sources no one cares about. I see this as desperation to make a massive false equivalency between the left and the right when it comes to perpetuating fake news.

And you won't, because it's the dirty little secret of how to further their agenda by forcing it onto unwitting victims.

 

[Billy000]

A great piece on how social media is making everybody dumber, but primarily I blame the education system. Nobody is taught how to think critically anymore.

Did you hear, for example, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, had an actual, literal, real-life Nazi working for it? A Nazi! Also, there was a secret deal between retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy and Donald Trump where Kennedy agreed he would retire if and only if Trump subsequently nominated Brett Kavanaugh, Kennedy’s handpicked successor, to fill his seat.

If you spend any time on Twitter, you’ve likely come across these rumors, both of which exploded onto the social-media scene in recent weeks. It’s somewhat less likely you came across the news that both are false. The ICE story had an embarrassingly simple explanation: A bunch of people, including some professional journalists and policy mavens, decided that a tattoo visible on an ICE employee’s arm in a publicity photograph was a Nazi symbol, and began clamoring for ICE to be held accountable for allowing a dangerous extremist into its ranks. But the tattoo wasn’t, in fact, an Iron Cross: As Haaretz subsequently explained, the employee’s tattoo was a “‘Titan 2,’ the symbol of the platoon he fought with in Afghanistan, where he lost both of his legs in an IED explosion.”

When outrage is all the rage, progressive politics suffer - The Boston Globe

This is so stupid. I haven’t seen a single progressive outlet report on this. Maybe a couple have, but they are shit sources no one cares about. I see this as desperation to make a massive false equivalency between the left and the right when it comes to perpetuating fake news.

And you won't, because it's the dirty little secret of how to further their agenda by forcing it onto unwitting victims.

Lol you crack me up. So if it’s not in the media, how is this message being conveyed exactly? Who is saying it?

 

[frigidweirdo]

A great piece on how social media is making everybody dumber, but primarily I blame the education system. Nobody is taught how to think critically anymore.

Did you hear, for example, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, had an actual, literal, real-life Nazi working for it? A Nazi! Also, there was a secret deal between retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy and Donald Trump where Kennedy agreed he would retire if and only if Trump subsequently nominated Brett Kavanaugh, Kennedy’s handpicked successor, to fill his seat.

If you spend any time on Twitter, you’ve likely come across these rumors, both of which exploded onto the social-media scene in recent weeks. It’s somewhat less likely you came across the news that both are false. The ICE story had an embarrassingly simple explanation: A bunch of people, including some professional journalists and policy mavens, decided that a tattoo visible on an ICE employee’s arm in a publicity photograph was a Nazi symbol, and began clamoring for ICE to be held accountable for allowing a dangerous extremist into its ranks. But the tattoo wasn’t, in fact, an Iron Cross: As Haaretz subsequently explained, the employee’s tattoo was a “‘Titan 2,’ the symbol of the platoon he fought with in Afghanistan, where he lost both of his legs in an IED explosion.”

When outrage is all the rage, progressive politics suffer - The Boston Globe

And who is all for dumbing down education?

 

[flacaltenn]

You definitely are right that context matters, but I don’t know why I should believe any fact checker has been compromised. If that’s the case, who exaxctly should I trust to find out the truth?

That's the whole point silly. You don't go to a fact checker -- you WORK for it. You MIGHT have to read a Fox news article or something not TOTALLY reliable to GET TO reliable information. I never reject any sources that aren't flat out conspiracy nonsense. But I'll never DECIDE until I research a BROAD range of sources. Including trying to sit thru CSPAN re-runs of politicians spending 70% of hearings bloviating and self-congratulating. It's PAINFUL. It's not EASY. It's not thumb typing or clicking.

It's childish to let a "fact checker" THINK for you.

Where I'm coming from is almost 35 years in the sciences and engineering and technical academia. THere's the scientific method as a guide. There's setting up the DEFINITIONS for a statistic. A statistic without definitions and confidence levels is useless and manipulative. There's wondrous systems of analyzing facts and data -- from Occam's razor to Bayesian probabilities. ALL tools to find the truth. Even a bit of Philosophy 211 wouldn't hurt for learning to think LOGICALLY and organize theorems.

Hell --- there are no numbers coming out of that massive bureaucracy in DC that AREN'T subject to skepticism BECAUSE of the hokey definitions that were made to set them up. Like the 15 Unemployment indexes or the different sneaky ways that "ObamaCare enrollment" was calculated. Even DIPLOMATS cant agree on Trade Deficits because it takes EFFORT AND DILIGIENCE and clear thinking to understand the facts and numbers.

To borrow a phrase -- GET WOKE. This age of information is turning to a curse. EVERYBODY thinks they own your computer, your allegiance and your mind. It's "defense against the black arts". Only the folks that think for themselves are gonna survive.

 

[BULLDOG]

A great piece on how social media is making everybody dumber, but primarily I blame the education system. Nobody is taught how to think critically anymore.

Did you hear, for example, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, had an actual, literal, real-life Nazi working for it? A Nazi! Also, there was a secret deal between retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy and Donald Trump where Kennedy agreed he would retire if and only if Trump subsequently nominated Brett Kavanaugh, Kennedy’s handpicked successor, to fill his seat.

If you spend any time on Twitter, you’ve likely come across these rumors, both of which exploded onto the social-media scene in recent weeks. It’s somewhat less likely you came across the news that both are false. The ICE story had an embarrassingly simple explanation: A bunch of people, including some professional journalists and policy mavens, decided that a tattoo visible on an ICE employee’s arm in a publicity photograph was a Nazi symbol, and began clamoring for ICE to be held accountable for allowing a dangerous extremist into its ranks. But the tattoo wasn’t, in fact, an Iron Cross: As Haaretz subsequently explained, the employee’s tattoo was a “‘Titan 2,’ the symbol of the platoon he fought with in Afghanistan, where he lost both of his legs in an IED explosion.”

When outrage is all the rage, progressive politics suffer - The Boston Globe

Excellent article. I recommend an in-depth reading of Mao's 1960's Cultural Revolution--with particular attention paid to his Red Guards youth movement--to put this piece into proper contemporary American perspective.

Would I be fair and balanced if I said you think everyone should study the writings of Mao? How do you think fox and the entire right wing bubble would respond if a Democratic politician said exactly what you just said?