(06-24-2018, 04:47 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: Another aspect of the current 4T, however, is the extent to which many on the left, on the right, and many who may be a blend of extreme left and right, fall prey to conspiracy theories. This is a descent into irrationality, which is already a deep trend in America. Brower referred to the denial of evolution, and then there's the denial of climate change. Genuine respect for facts and truth seems to be in the process of being replaced by fake news and conspiracy theory. A crisis mood certainly benefits from people acting only on passionate delusions. That's what happened in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, and it is happening in Trumpist America, fed largely by Trump and his alternative facts universe. This is serious delusional stuff, and it certainly drives the alt-right and their prejudices.
The biggest delusions on the left concern its obsession with the Clintons, especially Hillary even though she is already irrelevant. That does not stop their passionate denials of reality, with their unwillingness to see any facts regarding the Trumped-up email scandal which was never anything but a Republican propaganda program, and which is based on no facts whatsoever; along with bogus charges against her regarding the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One. Some zealots even feed into the oligarchy's purposes and the purposes of their Republican representatives by calling Hillary the most corrupt politician in history. This is made worse by conspiracy theories about how the DNC rigged the 2016 primary election and stole it from Bernie. I favored Bernie and his policies myself over Hillary, but this does not excuse continued dissension and destructive squabbling over false charges, alternative facts and conspiracy theories about what happened in New York City and Nevada, and DNC funding agreements with the Hillary campaign, all of which are bogus charges and add up to no basis whatever to believe that Hillary stole the election from Bernie. And the left even imitates Steve Bannon's slogans about the "deep state," which is only government employees doing their job and keeping the state and the country operating while the idiots are in charge, and which Bannon and his ilk want to destroy so they can't protect America from the oligarchs. And yet the zealots continue to help the oligarchs by dishing out this crap, and it amounts to self-destruction on the left which only helps the oligarchs to cement their power over us even more.
Conspiracy theories about JFK and 9-11 are the grandaddy of this irrational delusional mood, which have paved the way for the current quicksand. If we cannot conduct our politics based on facts, what sort of republic will we have? The answer is a state where reactive passions rule over us, and nothing can be accomplished because we are incapable of dealing with reality and are unwilling to work with one another across aisles and walls between us.
If we cannot conduct our politics based on facts, what sort of republic will we have?
I only want to know who determines fact? It is based on your subjective consciousness, and that is not fact at all. Pointing to "fact" only when it mimics your own subjective beliefs. Not even Factcheckers can be that succinct; sooner or later they will contradict you and no longer be "factual". If a Factchecker is not factual, what is her data then?
Also, when one chooses to exclude data for Factual Consideration, that means you have edited. Edited Fact is only subjective hyperbole. It is not factual. You are not allowed to comment on certain things when you have edited the data pool for your own subjective interpretation. You don't get that respect. All facts must be discovered in a non-subjective (by definition, objective and unprejudiced) manner. That is why judges recuse themselves from cases where personal opinion (subjectivity) might become inherent in the ruling. That is why all courts are processed to be as impartial as possible to avoid SUBJECTIVITY.
Who checks your facts? From where do your Facts originate? When "Fact" is different from your personal subjective belief system, does it cease being Fact? Can you name an example?
DO YOUR FACTUAL SYSTEMS UPDATE WITH PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN FACTS OR ARE THEY UNWAVERING TRUTHS OF ALL TIME?