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In Reply to: RE: The problem is confusing opinion with news. posted by ghost of olddude55 on September 23, 2021 at 04:40:19
A good example: "Stop the Steal!" A slogan alleging that Trump actually won the US presidential election, but that Biden stole it. Deliberate, fabricated, and false.
This isn't just a matter of separating opinion from fact. Huge numbers of people believed in this bogus post-campaign propaganda. And it's exactly the kind of thing that's divides and undermines our democracy in the USA.
How else to stop this gross conning of the public other than through regulation and law? I wanna see a legal clamp down on the cons, cheats, and bad actors that spread damaging public falsehoods.
Follow Ups:
It's not news, and it's easy to tell the difference. The problem is that there are too many people who either can't or don't want to tell the difference.
The government can't clamp down because you can't use the law to force people not to be willfully ignorant.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
.
I'll read a lot of "heavily biased" articles, just to see the perspective presented. Agree or not, it's out there, so let's see what others are thinking/spewing. BUT, most of the ones that I read state that the author is an "opinion editor" or the article is an "opinion piece" on whatever topic. It may appear under the header of a recognized news-source, but is advertised appropriately as an opinion article.
Some of this other BS, is just that, but advertised as "fact".
"So I talk to the night, I head for the light, try and hold it on the road. Thank God for the man who put
the white lines on the highway"--a very dear friend for decades Michael Stanley (Gee)--RIP
Imagine the previous attorney general deciding what is and what isn't propaganda. What could possibly go wrong?
In my opinion, what's really happening is that people are being told what they want to hear. They already believe in nonsense; as long as there's money in giving them more of it, there's no way to stop it.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
The blurb below is taken from an ACLU web page (linked)."The freedom of the press, protected by the First Amendment, is critical to a democracy in which the government is accountable to the people. A free media functions as a watchdog that can investigate and report on government wrongdoing. It is also a vibrant marketplace of ideas, a vehicle for ordinary citizens to express themselves and gain exposure to a wide range of information and opinions."
Edits: 09/23/21
They think the free press is propaganda and they look for somebody who'll tell them what they want to hear even if what they want to hear is harmful bullshit that can get them killed.
And again, who is the arbiter of what is and what isn't free press? If we aren't going to tolerate the OANs and Infowars of this world, who has the authority to shut them down? You can't possibly do it with a flurry of investigative articles in the NYT for obvious reasons.
You can't give government that power either, or you'll end up with RT .
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
experience, skepticism, and deductive reasoning are pretty good protections against BS as propaganda uses inductive reasoning as grist
once the lowest common denominators are sussed out the rest usually falls into place
it's the skeptical angle that trips up the inexperienced via Dunning-Kruger
they mistake being jaded for skepticism while not being experienced enough to be truly jaded ... sort of a 'Black Swan' dynamic
with regards,
But them dolts and their opinions are in a minority. I think... Well, not really sure about that either. Anyways, the rest of us can sip from better quality new sources. I pledge my allegiance to the NYT, Washington Post, Guardian, BBC, Financial Times, PBS News Hour, and a few other less demented media outlets. I think our mass media ain't yet completely broken, but sure could use a tune-up on the internet side of things. Already extremist crap is being voluntarily deleted by Google, Twitter, Facebook, and that's at least some janitorial control of human waste. But those are token fixes by them internet giants, and I'm not convinced. I want federal level regulation of the internet, just like the FCC has oversight over print, radio, and TV. The internet is relatively new technology and the law just hasn't caught up with it. Yet. Without proper oversight, disinformation is becoming mainstream and public IQ continues to plummet. I'm all for more law and order on the internet side of things. Them's my opinions, to be updated as I figure this stuff out.
That's what it would take. Lobbyists for the telecom industry and Silicon Valley will never allow it to happen.
And again, people don't believe what they believe because they read it on Infowars or heard Tucker Carlson say on TV.
They believed it before there ever was an Infowars or a Fox News. Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson tell the audience what the audience wants to hear because there's a lot of money in it.
But the key is, the audience wants to hear it . Those people already believed that stuff.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
From Wikipedia:"Required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was honest, equitable, and balanced."
But that got repealed a few years back. Attempts at reinstating the Fairness Doctrine in Congress have repeatedly failed. Yup, you are right Ghost. The system is rigged and we are doomed to a dystopian media landscape.
Edits: 09/23/21
Nt.
Mark in NC
"The thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains" -Paul Simon
It was the same problem and always comes back to who gets to decide. I wouldn't want to be the decider. Either everybody decides for themselves or we task aoc with that. At least she would relish the job.
Nt.
Mark in NC
"The thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains" -Paul Simon
so true that.
...because my wife has a subscription. Don't care for the NYT. We've got two formerly print outfits in Pittsburgh, one is the allegedly liberal Post-Gazette (which is actually owned by a hard right Trump supporter) and the Tribune-Review (which no longer publishes a print edition at all and was founded by notorious right wing loony Richard Mellon Scaife).
The Trib is actually a better source for news. We had major flooding here in the wake of Hurricane Ida and the PG didn't update its website with any news about it until after the fact.
The opinion stuff in the Trib though is toxic.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
'Can't stop a nation of dolts from drinking from a poisoned well'
so we'll charge them for it and tell them it's ambrosia!
brilliant!
problem solved!It would be an interesting experiment to punish people that interfere with Freedom of the Press. And the First Amendment too.
Edits: 09/23/21
Right. And that leads right back to the start. Who decides what is true. It really should be each individual gets to decide their own truth. Anything less is tyranny.
My brother-in-law refused to accept my definition of "xenophobia" until I sent him a picture of the page from a 1972 edition of Webster's .
It was word-for-word the same as the definition from Wikipedia, but he claims that Wikipedia is part of a Marxist conspiracy to change the meanings of words and would not accept anything from Wikipedia.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
Nt.
Mark in NC
"The thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains" -Paul Simon
permanently, to our society's great detriment.
Mark in NC
"The thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains" -Paul Simon
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