6 ms·

I understand why you'd reach this conclusion. I would like to offer another viewpoint for you and others reading this to consider. Simply put, you are underest

I understand why you'd reach this conclusion. I would like to offer another viewpoint for you and others reading this to consider. Simply put, you are underestimating the impact you have on those around you. Every media literate and well-informed critical thinker has the ability to dramatically change someone's perspective. Not just by knowing what to say, but even more importantly how to listen. Empathetic 1:1 conversation that is respectful is literally the only way to help people escape their bubbles. If you don't know wtf you're talking about, you're missing every shot you don't take. Essentially, this would be fine if you lived alone, but in reality when you insulate yourself from politics you're just setting yourself up for frustrating moments where you know that your racist uncle is wrong but you have neither the facts nor the confidence to address his ignorant points in a way that doesn't just boil over into hurt feelings. In short: this attitude taken to the extreme is an abdication of social responsibility. Much like herd immunity, you don't need to be a hero... just not part of the problem.

a3n 7y ago
Has any racist uncle ever been turned? Or is that also a waste of time and effort? I do agree that a responsible citizen must stay informed. But you need to direct your efforts to the possible and impactful.
- peteforde 7y ago
  I left a longer reply on another comment, but if you're interested and willing, I think that this Big Think clip sums it up (for me): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFfWv0EnHQw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFfWv0EnHQw
  - a3n 7y ago
    That was interesting, thanks.
RookyNumbas 7y ago
Yes, empathetic 1:1 conversation is critical, and yes you can have a huge impact on those around you. But this has nothing to do with keeping up to date with news. Facts will not change your racist uncle's opinion. 99% of the news you consume will have absolutely 0 effect on your ability to convince others to be better. Develop a vision for your life. Become an expert in topics that are important to you. Read good books, befriend interesting people, and focus on problems where you can make a large difference, and inspire others to do so as well. Daily news plays no role in this.
- peteforde 7y ago
  You are, forgivably, projecting several assumptions onto my words. Give me an attempt to clarify my intent further. As I explained in another reply, I am not advocating for keeping up to date with the news so much as I refuse to absolve smart people from accepting responsibility for confident media literacy, and it's hard to be media literate without at least parsing what's being reported so that you can reason about it, even amongst people who are in your bubble. I am suggesting that if you think you can avoid this step and still be able to hold your own in a discourse, you are willfully proving the Dunning-Kruger effect. Our goal should not be to enter a conversation intended to change the racist uncle's opinion. That is, indeed and sadly, a fool's errand. But it's also the wrong tactic. I would argue that the #1 goal of such a family dinner should be to listen compassionately, being the progressive that defies all of the stereotypes about elitist, know-it-all coastal intellectuals, and choose your battles really, really carefully. At the very least, the other people observing are judging every subtle nuance of what's going down, and even though uncle racist will still likely be a terrible person after dessert, the other six people at the table will find themselves much more confident that you quietly made him look like an asshole. The left is far too hung up on the shallow win of a "fully pwned" outcome, where the racist uncle is sobbing and begging for forgiveness and promising to lead a better life. Not only is this a stupid goal, it's insulting to the fact that your racist uncle probably has some ideas that are not fully wrong. The notion that the left is right and the right is dumb is roughly 95% of the problem. I am typically not quick to delegate my points to video, but I was really impressed by this Big Think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFfWv0EnHQw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFfWv0EnHQw
kristopolous 7y ago
News isn't critical political theory though. If you wanted to become well versed in, say, Marx, you don't get there through watching the news, you just read Marx. Go on eBay, buy a couple used books, read them instead. They'll have quite a bit more insight than a Twitter stream
- peteforde 7y ago
  I'd prefer that you not put words in my mouth when it's such an important concern. I didn't come close to suggesting that news == critical political theory. Media literacy is actually the opposite of just consuming a lot of news. There is absolutely a skillset that must be developed and exercised which allows an individual to see patterns and tune their BS detector. News - even FOX "news", contextualized - is all necessary and loaded with information. It just isn't the information Rupert Murdoch and pals consciously engineer.
- peteforde 7y ago
  Late thought: I want to say that as someone who reads or listens to 3-4 books a week, there are a lot of mediocre, terrible books out there. Many non-fiction books are based on opinion instead of research. Just because something is printed and bound doesn't make it inherently better than a profoundly insightful series of tweets. Then again, don't believe everything you read in the comments on Hacker News, either.

a3n 7y ago

Has any racist uncle ever been turned? Or is that also a waste of time and effort? I do agree that a responsible citizen must stay informed. But you need to direct your efforts to the possible and impactful.

peteforde 7y ago
I left a longer reply on another comment, but if you're interested and willing, I think that this Big Think clip sums it up (for me): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFfWv0EnHQw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFfWv0EnHQw
- a3n 7y ago
  That was interesting, thanks.

RookyNumbas 7y ago

Yes, empathetic 1:1 conversation is critical, and yes you can have a huge impact on those around you. But this has nothing to do with keeping up to date with news. Facts will not change your racist uncle's opinion. 99% of the news you consume will have absolutely 0 effect on your ability to convince others to be better. Develop a vision for your life. Become an expert in topics that are important to you. Read good books, befriend interesting people, and focus on problems where you can make a large difference, and inspire others to do so as well. Daily news plays no role in this.

peteforde 7y ago
You are, forgivably, projecting several assumptions onto my words. Give me an attempt to clarify my intent further. As I explained in another reply, I am not advocating for keeping up to date with the news so much as I refuse to absolve smart people from accepting responsibility for confident media literacy, and it's hard to be media literate without at least parsing what's being reported so that you can reason about it, even amongst people who are in your bubble. I am suggesting that if you think you can avoid this step and still be able to hold your own in a discourse, you are willfully proving the Dunning-Kruger effect. Our goal should not be to enter a conversation intended to change the racist uncle's opinion. That is, indeed and sadly, a fool's errand. But it's also the wrong tactic. I would argue that the #1 goal of such a family dinner should be to listen compassionately, being the progressive that defies all of the stereotypes about elitist, know-it-all coastal intellectuals, and choose your battles really, really carefully. At the very least, the other people observing are judging every subtle nuance of what's going down, and even though uncle racist will still likely be a terrible person after dessert, the other six people at the table will find themselves much more confident that you quietly made him look like an asshole. The left is far too hung up on the shallow win of a "fully pwned" outcome, where the racist uncle is sobbing and begging for forgiveness and promising to lead a better life. Not only is this a stupid goal, it's insulting to the fact that your racist uncle probably has some ideas that are not fully wrong. The notion that the left is right and the right is dumb is roughly 95% of the problem. I am typically not quick to delegate my points to video, but I was really impressed by this Big Think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFfWv0EnHQw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFfWv0EnHQw

kristopolous 7y ago

News isn't critical political theory though. If you wanted to become well versed in, say, Marx, you don't get there through watching the news, you just read Marx. Go on eBay, buy a couple used books, read them instead. They'll have quite a bit more insight than a Twitter stream

peteforde 7y ago
I'd prefer that you not put words in my mouth when it's such an important concern. I didn't come close to suggesting that news == critical political theory. Media literacy is actually the opposite of just consuming a lot of news. There is absolutely a skillset that must be developed and exercised which allows an individual to see patterns and tune their BS detector. News - even FOX "news", contextualized - is all necessary and loaded with information. It just isn't the information Rupert Murdoch and pals consciously engineer.
peteforde 7y ago
Late thought: I want to say that as someone who reads or listens to 3-4 books a week, there are a lot of mediocre, terrible books out there. Many non-fiction books are based on opinion instead of research. Just because something is printed and bound doesn't make it inherently better than a profoundly insightful series of tweets. Then again, don't believe everything you read in the comments on Hacker News, either.