The Partisan Divide on Issues

[David Horn]

(01-04-2020, 01:18 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:

(01-04-2020, 07:56 AM)David Horn Wrote:

(12-30-2019, 11:43 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:

(12-30-2019, 11:36 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: People are not as media-savvy as they need be. They need learn the techniques of manipulation, including logical fallacies.

Amen.  I figure learning how to read liars is one of the natural skills we all well have to have in the Information Age.  It is one of the new values we have to transition to, and the Trump alternate reality is a hard lesson which will drive the values change.

While I agree with this, it's not the entire story.  Ask yourself three questions

1. Which nations with long(ish) histories of democratic values and responsible government are flailing around in this cesspool?
   
2. Which nations have Murdock media as dominant news providers?
   
3. How close is the correlation?
   

We're in a close race here.  Brexit may do more damage to the UK than anything short of the world wars, and Australia is burning while both political parties offer total support to the coal industry.  It's hard to cite the Murdock's as uniquely at fault, it's impossible to give them a bye.

Too much of a coalition, but that only reenforces the need for the skill.

I've been super busy so this is very late.  You have a great point about knowing what's BS and what's at least feasible, but the Republicans really don't care.  They've found a mode of operation that's impervious to reason or even shame.  Some of it's old (Roy Cohn was pitching this in the McCarthy era), and some is new (Twitter, Facebook and the rest of the no-ethics new media).  Essentially, the game is all emotion: hate trumps reason every time.  And this won't change unless this modality is beaten into the ground -- a prospect I seriously doubt, at least in the near term.  

The old order sees its dominance fading, and will fight that to the death.  Count on it.  The forces opposed must get into the ring too, or concede.  The trick: getting into the ring without descending into the mud.