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> It is fascinating that this article comes out in context of Broadcast Board of Governors announcing that US is losing the information war with Russia. Surpris
by wtbob 12y ago
> It is fascinating that this article comes out in context of Broadcast Board of Governors announcing that US is losing the information war with Russia. Surprisingly it does not occur to the media that telling the truth is the best antidote to Russian propaganda.
Is it though? I know that in a business context I've often been told that I have an 'incredible ability to see both sides of a question'; that's actually a problem, because at some point one has to decide for one side or another on a particular question.
Likewise, in real life there often aren't cut-and-dried issues: rather, there are two (or more!) sides, each with valid perspectives, valid grudges, and they can't all win; indeed, in some cases compromise is simply impossible. And yet people must decide between them.
Indeed, the more one learns the truth about an historical conflict, the less obvious is the Right Thing to do in that situation. But what great masses of people need is a clear, obvious Right Thing. You don't win WWII by emphasising that the post-WWI plebiscites were fixed against Germany, or that Japan had some valid grievances against the U.S.
- osipov 12y agowow your reply is as off topic as it gets...care to connect the dots?
- xtrumanx 12y agoIt didn't seem off-topic to me. The fellow he replied to stated he wanted free and independent journalism and the thesis of his reply seemed to me that free and independent journalism would cause confusion to the "great masses of people" and instead a simple narrative would be more effective instead of letting them decide for themselves who's right and who's wrong. I don't agree with him and he could have perhaps left some bits out of his comment but I don't think it deserves downvotes and to be greyed out.
- emodendroket 12y agoIt's a matter of opinion that the masses "need" a simplified, black-and-white view of every historical event rather than a nuanced one.
- aleh 12y agowtbob's comment being downvoted is kind of proof in itself.
- emodendroket 12y agoI don't see how.
- aleh 12y agoMy train of thought was following: 1. vote result represents opinion of "masses" 2. the comment in question says "masses of people need a clear, obvious Right Thing" 3. the comment itself is not clear and obvious as it contains double bind (asks to consider to be inconsiderate) 4. comment got downvoted which confirms #2 Just our of curiosity I've replied with another double bind "downvotes proof comment worthiness" which seems have reversed the trend. Speaking on topic, I think that choosing between Right Thing and Full Picture for the "masses" is like choosing between acceleration and breaks for a car: it is better to have both. Right Thing mobilizes masses while Full Picture helps to avoid dumb aggression.
- ionwake 12y agoGood break down regarding your own comment
- pyre 12y ago> Japan had some valid grievances against the U.S. I'm curious what Japan's valid grievances against the Chinese, Koreans, or various Pacific island groups was...
- emodendroket 12y agoWell, none (well I mean plenty if you want to go through thousands of years of history, but realistically, none), but modernizing largely meant copying Western ideas and that included having their own colonies and spheres of influence, just like Western powers. It's not as though that is the reason the US went to war with Japan.
- pyre 12y ago> It's not as though that is the reason the US went to war with Japan. I realize this, but WW2, for Japan, was mostly about taking over much of SE Asia and that would have happened regardless of them going to war with the US.
- emodendroket 12y agoI think the popular American image of the wartime Japanese doesn't have much to do with that, although they certainly did brutalize the places they took over.
- speeder 12y agoJapan attacked other asian nations to imitate UK and US, and defend against UK and US. Japan until mid 1800s was happily doing their own thing, and not caring for their neighbours, suddenly they had US metal ships on their docks, and the mighty China falling to UK. Their solution was outright imitate what western powers was doing, in several aspects (even clothes, mannerisms and cultural trends were copied), with the most important one being to act imperialistic, invade weak countries, and try to build the most strong military that you could, using resources from all the colonies as needed. Japan was only following a bad example set by the western powers, and trying to not become China.