berg80
Diamond Member
- Oct 28, 2017
- 20,707
- 17,317
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I was just watching some video of deluded Trump supporters who were at the Capital on 1/6. Repeating all the usual myths about voting machines being hooked up to the internet, votes gone missing, votes being changed, a rehash of the false accusations Trump made for months. A rehash of the untruths pushed on Faux about the Dominion machines. Not to pick on Faux. Many right wing media outlets reinforced the charges of voter fraud either directly or by innuendo. Many still are.
Millions of Trump's base supporters still believe this, as Bill Barr said, "bullshit."
We can't have a significant percent of the population be detached from reality if we are going to successfully govern ourselves. Self governance requires hard work, participation, being informed on the issues no matter what your position on them is. It requires informed debate so people get a chance to hear both sides of the issues we need to design solutions for.
At this point, we have become dysfunctional in our collective ability to debate issues because we can't agree what the facts are. How can we shore up our election procedures to ensure fairness if we can't agree what the problems are? How can we solve the problem of climate change if we can't even agree it's a problem?
I offer no solutions because I am pessimistic about the efficacy of available remedies. The reason, the mixed messages from media outlets leaving their audiences with a choice of which narrative to consume and therefore believe. One side saying Trump won the election, climate change in the era we now live in is not man made, gun control equates to gun confiscation, and more outrageous falsehoods like China owns Biden, Obama is a Muslim, and Dem's eat babies. Unfortunately, many on the Right have become the political equivalent of National Enquirer readers. Attracted by sensationalism and absent critical thought.
For those optimists out there who disagree with me, I invite you to read the replies from the conservatives on the board.
Millions of Trump's base supporters still believe this, as Bill Barr said, "bullshit."
We can't have a significant percent of the population be detached from reality if we are going to successfully govern ourselves. Self governance requires hard work, participation, being informed on the issues no matter what your position on them is. It requires informed debate so people get a chance to hear both sides of the issues we need to design solutions for.
At this point, we have become dysfunctional in our collective ability to debate issues because we can't agree what the facts are. How can we shore up our election procedures to ensure fairness if we can't agree what the problems are? How can we solve the problem of climate change if we can't even agree it's a problem?
I offer no solutions because I am pessimistic about the efficacy of available remedies. The reason, the mixed messages from media outlets leaving their audiences with a choice of which narrative to consume and therefore believe. One side saying Trump won the election, climate change in the era we now live in is not man made, gun control equates to gun confiscation, and more outrageous falsehoods like China owns Biden, Obama is a Muslim, and Dem's eat babies. Unfortunately, many on the Right have become the political equivalent of National Enquirer readers. Attracted by sensationalism and absent critical thought.
For those optimists out there who disagree with me, I invite you to read the replies from the conservatives on the board.
