4 ms·

This is the fundamental problem in the US. There is a large group of people on the right that think that pointing out the objective issues with Trump is being "

This is the fundamental problem in the US. There is a large group of people on the right that think that pointing out the objective issues with Trump is being "biased". Sometimes, there just aren't two sides to a story, or more accurately one side is true and the other believes they had the biggest inauguration crowd ever. The rest of the world clearly sees this. I'll openly admit to being a left-leaning liberal, but even my friends who vote right wing think that Trump is an embarrassment.

jeofken 6y ago
> The rest of the world clearly sees this. I’d encourage speaking for yourself Kind regards (Part of) The rest of the world
AnthonyMouse 6y ago
One of the most interesting things cable news networks do is compile clips of their competitors caught in acts of hypocrisy, self-contradiction, breathless hyperbole and blatant lying. They can all do this to each other because they are all guilty of it. Cable news is a tower of partisan propaganda.
- creato 6y ago
  Social media has the exact same problem magnified 100 fold, because there is so much more content to cherrypick from. People only see the actions of extremists and attribute that behavior to everyone that doesn't agree with them. Traditional media definitely has flaws, but rejecting them in favor of social media because of it is an absurd and incredibly destructive reaction.
  - AnthonyMouse 6y ago
    This is not (as) true of most other traditional media, e.g. local newspapers to the extent that they still exist. But cable news really is propaganda. Fox used to be the worst offender, but now they're all that bad, though playing for different teams of course. There seems to be some kind of law that the larger a media outlet is, the more partisan it gets. Which is why social media is like the Exxon Valdez crashed into Deepwater Horizon and caught on fire.
  - runawaybottle 6y ago
    It’s because the masses are trying to partake in serious discourse in a non-serious way. On any given day, two different perspectives agreeing to intellectually consider why the other side is objectively incorrect (as in, not just agreeing they are simply different) is a serious undertaking. If you casually take any topic, every single day, and allow people to do the thought experiment that one argument is more valid in a casual manner, you will 100% have to cut corners because you did not seriously approach the task. The most obvious way is you paint an enemy, or the notion of the other, an idea of a threat. The average person in NYC really has no business having a dinner time objective discussion with someone from Missouri about gun ownership. Really the discussion should come down to ‘we have a lot space and gun culture in Missouri and it’s something we enjoy’, followed by ‘Interesting, it’s not the biggest thing here in NYC actually’. That’s about it. But if there is an institution, I don’t know, let’s call it a fight club (the media), that says ‘you two at dinner, get ready to fight’, the two contestants will fight in an inexperienced way. Hair pulling, throwing rocks, no real jabs, conditioning, submissions, no fight experience. It is not a casual ordeal to debate, and this is what the media is making people do. We are not ready amongst ourselves to debate constitutional law and the rights of man, and the compromises needed to maintain society. It’s a serious thing to enter into that discussion. The only take away I see in all of this is that there is a market for the un-serious, and there are some serious people (media) interested in that market.
    - manigandham 6y ago
      Well put. This political battle is being fought at the lowest levels of discourse that's barely above animalistic screeching while trying to tangle some of the most complex and nuanced topics; and the results are predictably ridiculous.
- cgrealy 6y ago
  Sorry, but no. CNN, MSNBC, etc are far from perfect, but let's not pretend that "both sides are as bad as each other". Fox (to say nothing of the absolute swamp that is OANN or Newsmax) are an order of magnitude worse than the so called "left" channels (only in the US would CNN be considered a left wing news channel). The reason that CNN, etc are "biased" against Trump is because reality is bisaed against Trump. He's just a terrible president, a lousy business man and an awful human. Again, only in the US would that be considered a controversial statement.
  - loopz 6y ago
    Just consider the birther gaslighting, or everything else.
    - Noos 6y ago
      people forget the dominionist gaslighting of Sarah Palin. Pretty much every republican is seen as mini hitler these days-the shit that was said about George Bush Jr for example.
      - loopz 6y ago
        The criticisms of those people were about what they said and did though, not who they are. That is not gaslighting but speaking back at power.
  - manigandham 6y ago
    "Only in the US" is only what matters when discussing US politics. Who cares what a news channel is considered in some other country? And yes, all the news channels are equally terrible. This is not at all hard to find, but it may be hard to accept.
    - cgrealy 6y ago
      > “Only in the US" is only what matters when discussing US politics. And only in the US would someone be so insular as to make such a statement :) The US is still the largest economy in the world. As much as the rest of us would love to turn a blind eye when they elect an incompetent sociopath, unfortunately, we have to deal with his bullshit.
- reddog 6y ago
  The more cable news you watch the stupider you get. You can actually feel your IQ dropping minute by minute as you watch Fox or MSNBC. They aren't there to make you more informed, their sole purpose is to say whatever will keep you engaged long enough to sell you deodorant, prescription pharmaceuticals and pickup trucks. They are a Dunning-Kruger effect generator. Whenever someone mentions something they saw on CNN last night my opionion of them drops. The good news is that your cognitive function is not permanently lost, it can be quickly recovered by just turning off the TV and reading a book, playing with the dog or going on a long walk.
  - jimbob45 6y ago
    I wish this wasn’t being downvoted. It’s so tempting to sit back and let the news networks do your thinking for you. In reality, just 10 minutes of news browsing a day will garner 80% of the news you need to know about. Yes, keeping up with current events is an important part of being a good citizen but there are quickly diminishing returns on that and it’s never worth sacrificing parts of your life and livelihood for.

jeofken 6y ago

> The rest of the world clearly sees this. I’d encourage speaking for yourself Kind regards (Part of) The rest of the world

AnthonyMouse 6y ago

One of the most interesting things cable news networks do is compile clips of their competitors caught in acts of hypocrisy, self-contradiction, breathless hyperbole and blatant lying. They can all do this to each other because they are all guilty of it. Cable news is a tower of partisan propaganda.

creato 6y ago
Social media has the exact same problem magnified 100 fold, because there is so much more content to cherrypick from. People only see the actions of extremists and attribute that behavior to everyone that doesn't agree with them. Traditional media definitely has flaws, but rejecting them in favor of social media because of it is an absurd and incredibly destructive reaction.
- AnthonyMouse 6y ago
  This is not (as) true of most other traditional media, e.g. local newspapers to the extent that they still exist. But cable news really is propaganda. Fox used to be the worst offender, but now they're all that bad, though playing for different teams of course. There seems to be some kind of law that the larger a media outlet is, the more partisan it gets. Which is why social media is like the Exxon Valdez crashed into Deepwater Horizon and caught on fire.
- runawaybottle 6y ago
  It’s because the masses are trying to partake in serious discourse in a non-serious way. On any given day, two different perspectives agreeing to intellectually consider why the other side is objectively incorrect (as in, not just agreeing they are simply different) is a serious undertaking. If you casually take any topic, every single day, and allow people to do the thought experiment that one argument is more valid in a casual manner, you will 100% have to cut corners because you did not seriously approach the task. The most obvious way is you paint an enemy, or the notion of the other, an idea of a threat. The average person in NYC really has no business having a dinner time objective discussion with someone from Missouri about gun ownership. Really the discussion should come down to ‘we have a lot space and gun culture in Missouri and it’s something we enjoy’, followed by ‘Interesting, it’s not the biggest thing here in NYC actually’. That’s about it. But if there is an institution, I don’t know, let’s call it a fight club (the media), that says ‘you two at dinner, get ready to fight’, the two contestants will fight in an inexperienced way. Hair pulling, throwing rocks, no real jabs, conditioning, submissions, no fight experience. It is not a casual ordeal to debate, and this is what the media is making people do. We are not ready amongst ourselves to debate constitutional law and the rights of man, and the compromises needed to maintain society. It’s a serious thing to enter into that discussion. The only take away I see in all of this is that there is a market for the un-serious, and there are some serious people (media) interested in that market.
  - manigandham 6y ago
    Well put. This political battle is being fought at the lowest levels of discourse that's barely above animalistic screeching while trying to tangle some of the most complex and nuanced topics; and the results are predictably ridiculous.
cgrealy 6y ago
Sorry, but no. CNN, MSNBC, etc are far from perfect, but let's not pretend that "both sides are as bad as each other". Fox (to say nothing of the absolute swamp that is OANN or Newsmax) are an order of magnitude worse than the so called "left" channels (only in the US would CNN be considered a left wing news channel). The reason that CNN, etc are "biased" against Trump is because reality is bisaed against Trump. He's just a terrible president, a lousy business man and an awful human. Again, only in the US would that be considered a controversial statement.
- loopz 6y ago
  Just consider the birther gaslighting, or everything else.
  - Noos 6y ago
    people forget the dominionist gaslighting of Sarah Palin. Pretty much every republican is seen as mini hitler these days-the shit that was said about George Bush Jr for example.
    - loopz 6y ago
      The criticisms of those people were about what they said and did though, not who they are. That is not gaslighting but speaking back at power.
- manigandham 6y ago
  "Only in the US" is only what matters when discussing US politics. Who cares what a news channel is considered in some other country? And yes, all the news channels are equally terrible. This is not at all hard to find, but it may be hard to accept.
  - cgrealy 6y ago
    > “Only in the US" is only what matters when discussing US politics. And only in the US would someone be so insular as to make such a statement :) The US is still the largest economy in the world. As much as the rest of us would love to turn a blind eye when they elect an incompetent sociopath, unfortunately, we have to deal with his bullshit.
reddog 6y ago
The more cable news you watch the stupider you get. You can actually feel your IQ dropping minute by minute as you watch Fox or MSNBC. They aren't there to make you more informed, their sole purpose is to say whatever will keep you engaged long enough to sell you deodorant, prescription pharmaceuticals and pickup trucks. They are a Dunning-Kruger effect generator. Whenever someone mentions something they saw on CNN last night my opionion of them drops. The good news is that your cognitive function is not permanently lost, it can be quickly recovered by just turning off the TV and reading a book, playing with the dog or going on a long walk.
- jimbob45 6y ago
  I wish this wasn’t being downvoted. It’s so tempting to sit back and let the news networks do your thinking for you. In reality, just 10 minutes of news browsing a day will garner 80% of the news you need to know about. Yes, keeping up with current events is an important part of being a good citizen but there are quickly diminishing returns on that and it’s never worth sacrificing parts of your life and livelihood for.