Happy new year to you, too, T-Bone. And to other Cafe denizens.
2021 has got to be a lot better than 2020. Please.
I'd like to be optimistic too Twinks...yet down here here in the Asia/Pacific region we have China (the great red dragon) continuing to threaten and bully us Pacific nations and we've got your mad Prince Charlie and the leader of the World Economic Forum, the equally insane, Klaus Schwabb advocating a 'great world reset'...apparently they're already advertising in the U.K. with slogans like "You will own nothing and you will be happy"....geesh, now where have I heard that before...
reflect on the ways you gather information and how you process it.
What news media, social media and such do you follow? What websites do you favor? What magazines, books and articles do you like to read? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? They’re not just personality traits but reflect how we are wired – it’s something we bring to the table when we take in new information and make choices. Critical thinking is different from that.
Critical thinking is an intellectual discipline – something you have to train at – - I think it may be because it doesn’t come naturally - we do not come wired as critical thinkers. Critical thinking can help us see beyond our personal biases and personality traits as we observe, analyze, evaluate, reflect, and reason through information and experiences. It’s a more skillful way to guide our beliefs, choices and actions.
Something that my help jumpstart your little project is to watch the 2020 docudrama on Netflix titled The Social Dilemma. Here’s some excerpts from what Wikipedia says about it:
“…It explores the rise of social media and the damage it has caused to society, focusing on its exploitation and manipulation of its users for financial gain through surveillance capitalism and data mining. It goes into depth on how social media's design is meant to nurture an addiction, manipulate its use in politics, and spread conspiracy theories such as Pizzagate and aiding groups such as flat-earthers…
…The film features interviews with many former employees, executives, and other professionals from top tech companies and social media platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Apple. These interviewees provide their first-hand experiences of working in and around the tech industry. They state that social media platforms and big tech companies have been instrumental in providing positive change for society; they also note that such platforms have also caused problematic social, political, and cultural consequences. These interviews are presented alongside scripted dramatizations of a teenager’s social media addiction and a primer on how a social media algorithm powered by artificial intelligence may work…
…The final point the film touches on is fake news. Tristan Harris refers to it as a "disinformation-for-profit business model" and that companies make more money by allowing "unregulated messages to reach anyone for the best price". The film discusses the dangerous nature of the flow of fake news regarding COVID-19 and propaganda that can be used to influence political campaigns. The documentary also champions Wikipedia for being a neutral landscape that shows all users the exact same information without curating or monetizing it. The documentary concludes with the interviewees casting their fear over artificial intelligence's role in social media and the influence these platforms have on society. In the film, Tristan Harris states “It’s not about the technology being the existential threat, it’s the technology’s ability to bring out the worst in society. And the worst in society being the existential threat.” The interviewees come to the unanimous decision that something must be changed for society to prosper. They claim that social media companies have no fiscal reason to change, one given example of a way to combat this would be to charge taxes on the data that social media companies acquire to incentivize lowering data collection measures.”
The only negative thing I can say about The Social Dilemma is the segments that have a dramatic reenactment of how social media influences the end user. It seemed sort of cheesy to me at first - but after awhile it kind of grew on me and I eventually thought it helped reinforce the points made in the interviews with the industry insiders - that were spot-on in my opinion.
It seems there's a lot of noise and interference to sift through nowadays as we try to stay up on issues, news, events, etc. - which brings to mind a related topic. I read an interesting article on why we fall for conspiracy theories - it mentions the typical attributes they have:
“A few common characteristics of conspiracy theories are that, first, they locate the source of unusual social and political phenomena in unseen, intentional and malevolent forces. Second, they often interpret political events in terms of the struggle between good and evil. And third, most conspiracy theories suggest that mainstream reporting of public affairs is a ruse or an attempt to distract the public from a true source of power.”
Part of the problem, T-Bone, is that in the US as I understand it, there is no requirement for fair and balanced reporting. So some rabid nutter with an idea can spout forth and there is no more balanced perspective presented at the time to say that rabid nutter's perspective is totally off the wall. Thus, if only watching (say) one news channel, one gets fed info that only promotes rabid nutter's PoV. Of course, in newspapers, there's a flavour, a bit of a bent, tht can put a slant on what news is promoted and how, but it's not as bad as on TV programmes or other media. Hence, you end up with this huge and inflammatory polarisation about (say) whether Trump has been a good or awful president - among other things. Effectiveness of vaccines, wearing of masks, race problems, etc, are other current issues.
If you're going to get your news and opinions from TV, it's only reasonable that you listen to other PoVs. Watch the pro-widget channel - and then watch a anti-widget channel. The truth may lie somewhere in between, with both pro- and anti- having some relevance.
As for what you find on Facebook (and other social media) - well, every man is king in his own castle. And everyone has a castle on FB. In other words, much is not to be trusted. What's this new breed of "influencers"? Paid by how many clicks they get for stuff they really don't care about, just what they think will make them popular. Always check the source. Shouting that something works/is good/is desirable just doesn't make it so.
I agree with your sentiment Twinky…and it’s probably due to my experience of being in a cult and being told what to think and how to interpret a situation, that I’ve developed a weird mix that is a part-jaded-skeptical-critical-analytical-clinical-approach to how I gather information and process it all. I don’t think anyone has a perfect approach to sifting through what’s making headlines – but it’s not always as difficult as it seems. Most of the time it’s fairly easy to separate fact from fiction if you follow the accessible details.
Without naming names and hopefully keeping this from devolving into a political discussion – I will refer to a certain group only as a cult since they exhibit cult-like qualities of blindly following a charismatic leader who spouts lies and propaganda, defies science, facts, institutions and the rule of law and who makes mischief, abuses power and is self-serving.
This charismatic leader had not only downplayed the coronavirus in February 2019 (in his own words his voice can be heard in a recording made during an interview with Bob Woodward ( see T***p’s statement is at about the 4:59 minute mark of this YouTube clip ) - he continued to mislead the public on how bad the pandemic was - three quarters of the way into 2019 as the U.S. approached election time he declares at a political rally “we’re rounding the turn” while new covid-19 infection cases continued to surge higher every day. Around the same time in October I noted in my calendar the U.S. had 8,189,710 cases and 219,950 deaths due to covid-19. If that’s not alarming – you can check out this current chart, you may indeed wonder if the U.S.A. is a world leader on this? . Also see current world map of coronavirus cases and deaths . Maybe his phrase "we're rounding the turn" refers to him and his followers going in circles - not really achieving anything and they keep coming back to the same point of ignoring the science, facts, the impact to our economy, the surge in cases, the many hospitals on the brink of being overloaded and the growing tally of those who have died from covid-19 . I'm not trying to make a political statement...I'm not using dog whistle rhetoric to send coded messages for support to any particular group. this situation goes beyond politics...it's about a cult's existential threat to life as we (the general public who are NOT part of this cult) know it.
My point is that most of the time it’s fairly easy to separate the facts from the fiction with easily accessible information. It does not take a genius to figure it out. There’s what happened in the real world as reported in reputable news sources and sometimes in various social media. I’m talking actual events – facts – public statements…some tragic event happened…some celebrity passed away…some civic leader gave a speech. I’m NOT talking about the analysis, opinions, speculations on motivations or the possible hidden causes, or conspiracy theories by any commentators, anchors, reporters, bloggers, Twitter or Instagram posters – I mean just cold hard facts (devoid of opinion). I don't care what your religion or political affiliation is - I merely want to ask you - does what the cult leader / followers say about the topic line up withthe cold hard facts?
For many of us who have broken free of a cultic-mindset – it should be a walk in the park to discern fact from fiction with what the pandemic-deniers are saying and even more recently their treacherous efforts to ignore the voice of the people in our free and fair, transparent, inclusive, and accountable election process. It is interesting to note that no concrete evidence of election fraud has been presented and of the - is it close to 60 (?) lawsuits that have been filed - most if not all have since been thrown out of court - which says a lot about the credibility and legality of the cases - because lawyers can brag to the general public at press conferences all they want about the supposed evidence in their possession - but they will not risk lying or submitting false or fabricated evidence in a court of law before a judge for fear of disbarment and maybe convicted of a felony and receive jail time ...the phrase put your money where your mouth is comes to mind.
In my previous post – as well as in this one I don't intend to lead people in any one direction. My challenge was to “reflect on the ways you gather information and how you process it.” My questions after that: “What websites do you favor? What magazines, books and articles do you like to read? Are you an optimist or a pessimist?” were not meant to solicit from each Grease Spotter where they get their news or their analytical approach. I simply wanted to stimulate interest in the docudrama The Social Dilemma by getting folks to think deeply on how they observe and analyze what’s going on around them. The reason I found The Social Dilemma so thought-provoking is that it opened my eyes to the fact that to some degree we all may be unaware of the “research bias” we unintentionally propagate as we pursue news events via our preferred social media. (I found an interesting article on market research that gets into confirmation bias, culture bias, social desirability bias, etc. – see9 types of research bias to avoid in market reseacrh ). Tech industry insiders that were interviewed in The Social Dilemma explained the different ways they feed our preferences and specific appetites with more of the same. In that regard social media is a somewhat bias-confirming platform.
So I’ll end by putting a different twist on my new year’s challenge: reflect on the sources you trust and why you trust them….and again just so I’m clear - I’m not asking for Grease Spotters to reply to that on this thread…It’s just something you may want to think about from time to time throughout this year.
So once again I wish you all well and may you all have a very insightful journey on your chosen path.
Part of the problem, T-Bone, is that in the US as I understand it, there is no requirement for fair and balanced reporting. So some rabid nutter with an idea can spout forth and there is no more balanced perspective presented at the time to say that rabid nutter's perspective is totally off the wall. Thus, if only watching (say) one news channel, one gets fed info that only promotes rabid nutter's PoV. Of course, in newspapers, there's a flavour, a bit of a bent, tht can put a slant on what news is promoted and how, but it's not as bad as on TV programmes or other media. Hence, you end up with this huge and inflammatory polarisation about (say) whether Trump has been a good or awful president - among other things. Effectiveness of vaccines, wearing of masks, race problems, etc, are other current issues.
If you're going to get your news and opinions from TV, it's only reasonable that you listen to other PoVs. Watch the pro-widget channel - and then watch a anti-widget channel. The truth may lie somewhere in between, with both pro- and anti- having some relevance.
As for what you find on Facebook (and other social media) - well, every man is king in his own castle. And everyone has a castle on FB. In other words, much is not to be trusted. What's this new breed of "influencers"? Paid by how many clicks they get for stuff they really don't care about, just what they think will make them popular. Always check the source. Shouting that something works/is good/is desirable just doesn't make it so.
Journalist Masha Gessen (staff writer for the New Yorker), in her most recent book writes about the importance of that point:
In their relationship to the next president, journalists will have to reassert their position as representatives of the American people, guarantors of the people's right to know. Journalists will have to do their part to rebuild the expectation that statements made by the president have immediate meaning. Meaning is distinct from consequences, but their meaning is often secondary to their tone, hard to discern, or downright [unintelligible]. ... speech intended to find common ground across difference, to negotiate the rules of living together in society-- is speech that, on the one hand, brings reality into focus and, on the other, activates the imagination. ... It will be the job of journalists to embody and enforce the expectation of meaning. It will also be the job of journalists to create a communications sphere in which people feel not like spectators to a disaster that defies understanding but like participants in creating a common future with their fellow citizens. This is the fundamental project of democracy, and the reason it requires media.
I agree with your sentiment Twinky…and it’s probably due to my experience of being in a cult and being told what to think and how to interpret a situation, that I’ve developed a weird mix that is a part-jaded-skeptical-critical-analytical-clinical-approach to how I gather information and process it all. I don’t think anyone has a perfect approach to sifting through what’s making headlines – but it’s not always as difficult as it seems. Most of the time it’s fairly easy to separate fact from fiction if you follow the accessible details.
Without naming names and hopefully keeping this from devolving into a political discussion – I will refer to a certain group only as a cult since they exhibit cult-like qualities of blindly following a charismatic leader who spouts lies and propaganda, defies science, facts, institutions and the rule of law and who makes mischief, abuses power and is self-serving.
This charismatic leader had not only downplayed the coronavirus in February 2019 (in his own words his voice can be heard in a recording made during an interview with Bob Woodward ( see T***p’s statement is at about the 4:59 minute mark of this YouTube clip ) - he continued to mislead the public on how bad the pandemic was - three quarters of the way into 2019 as the U.S. approached election time he declares at a political rally “we’re rounding the turn” while new covid-19 infection cases continued to surge higher every day. Around the same time in October I noted in my calendar the U.S. had 8,189,710 cases and 219,950 deaths due to covid-19. If that’s not alarming – you can check out this current chart, you may indeed wonder if the U.S.A. is a world leader on this? . Also see current world map of coronavirus cases and deaths . Maybe his phrase "we're rounding the turn" refers to him and his followers going in circles - not really achieving anything and they keep coming back to the same point of ignoring the science, facts, the impact to our economy, the surge in cases, the many hospitals on the brink of being overloaded and the growing tally of those who have died from covid-19 . I'm not trying to make a political statement...I'm not using dog whistle rhetoric to send coded messages for support to any particular group. this situation goes beyond politics...it's about a cult's existential threat to life as we (the general public who are NOT part of this cult) know it.
My point is that most of the time it’s fairly easy to separate the facts from the fiction with easily accessible information. It does not take a genius to figure it out. There’s what happened in the real world as reported in reputable news sources and sometimes in various social media. I’m talking actual events – facts – public statements…some tragic event happened…some celebrity passed away…some civic leader gave a speech. I’m NOT talking about the analysis, opinions, speculations on motivations or the possible hidden causes, or conspiracy theories by any commentators, anchors, reporters, bloggers, Twitter or Instagram posters – I mean just cold hard facts (devoid of opinion). I don't care what your religion or political affiliation is - I merely want to ask you - does what the cult leader / followers say about the topic line up withthe cold hard facts?
For many of us who have broken free of a cultic-mindset – it should be a walk in the park to discern fact from fiction with what the pandemic-deniers are saying and even more recently their treacherous efforts to ignore the voice of the people in our free and fair, transparent, inclusive, and accountable election process. It is interesting to note that no concrete evidence of election fraud has been presented and of the - is it close to 60 (?) lawsuits that have been filed - most if not all have since been thrown out of court - which says a lot about the credibility and legality of the cases - because lawyers can brag to the general public at press conferences all they want about the supposed evidence in their possession - but they will not risk lying or submitting false or fabricated evidence in a court of law before a judge for fear of disbarment and maybe convicted of a felony and receive jail time ...the phrase put your money where your mouth is comes to mind.
In my previous post – as well as in this one I don't intend to lead people in any one direction. My challenge was to “reflect on the ways you gather information and how you process it.” My questions after that: “What websites do you favor? What magazines, books and articles do you like to read? Are you an optimist or a pessimist?” were not meant to solicit from each Grease Spotter where they get their news or their analytical approach. I simply wanted to stimulate interest in the docudrama The Social Dilemma by getting folks to think deeply on how they observe and analyze what’s going on around them. The reason I found The Social Dilemma so thought-provoking is that it opened my eyes to the fact that to some degree we all may be unaware of the “research bias” we unintentionally propagate as we pursue news events via our preferred social media. (I found an interesting article on market research that gets into confirmation bias, culture bias, social desirability bias, etc. – see9 types of research bias to avoid in market reseacrh ). Tech industry insiders that were interviewed in The Social Dilemma explained the different ways they feed our preferences and specific appetites with more of the same. In that regard social media is a somewhat bias-confirming platform.
So I’ll end by putting a different twist on my new year’s challenge: reflect on the sources you trust and why you trust them….and again just so I’m clear - I’m not asking for Grease Spotters to reply to that on this thread…It’s just something you may want to think about from time to time throughout this year.
So once again I wish you all well and may you all have a very insightful journey on your chosen path.
IF you believe 'mainstream media' concerning anything from corona virus to election results I think you exhibit a declining lack of critical thinking skills and a headline reading only depth of engagement in the REAL facts !! Notice you didn't mention anything regarding sleepy Joe and his son Hunters involvement in Ukraine and China...and the possible VP Kamalah Harris...as prosecutor laughing as she had black Americans incarcerated for doing next to nothing wrong...so which 'cult' leader/ organization do you blindly follow ? hmnn ?
It's wise to consider a variety of different news sources. From opposite sides of any political argument. The truth is probably in the middle somewhere.
What I do not trust: Facebook! (1) presents selective and highly prejudicial info according to what its algorithms assess the reader might want to see;
(2) too much vox pop where every person has an opinion regardless of any knowledge ("I know nothing about epidemiology, but that epidemiology expert there, well, his opinion is rubbish! He's just lying to you!")
IF you believe 'mainstream media' concerning anything from corona virus to election results
I think you exhibit a declining lack of critical thinking skills
and a headline reading only depth of engagement in the REAL facts !!
Notice you didn't mention anything regarding sleepy Joe and his son Hunters involvement in Ukraine and China...and the possible VP Kamalah Harris...as prosecutor laughing as she had black Americans incarcerated for doing next to nothing wrong...
so which 'cult' leader/ organization do you blindly follow ? hmnn ?
“IF you believe 'mainstream media' concerning anything from corona virus to election results” – so WHERE do YOU get your information on anything from the coronavirus to election results?
“a declining lack of critical thinking skills” actually says the shortage of critical thinking skills is on the decline - or simply - critical thinking skills are increasing – so thank you very much, I try, I try.
“a headline reading only depth of engagement in the REAL facts” – I do not speak Yoda, but I ‘ll give this a shot; a headline is only a short text to grab your attention and draw you into the article. The headline is NOT the article – there are many types of headlines – see here for an example of some types…nevertheless, continuing on with my reply and assuming you're referring to the substance of an article and not just an eye-catchingheadline - when you said “depth of engagement in the REAL facts” I assume you’re referring to specific items, statistics, accurate and legitimate metrics, reality, matters of public record, stuff that can be verified – and I also assume you’re excluding alternate facts, conspiracy theories, inflated numbers, commentary, opinions, mischaracterizations, conflating , distorting and confusing points… You make it sound like folks cannot find out what’s real going on. Cult leaders mislead followers by suggesting they have the inside scoop and that they are the only source that can be trusted…With current technology we have numerous ways to fact-check articles, commentaries, issues, events, debates, etc. here is a partial list of what’s available:
“Notice you didn't mention anything regarding sleepy Joe and his son Hunters involvement in Ukraine and China...and the possible VP Kamalah Harris...as prosecutor laughing as she had black Americans incarcerated for doing next to nothing wrong.” You missed the point of my posts. It was not about criticizing a political party, suggesting that one political leader is worse than another or muck about with name calling (as you did here and in your previous post) – nor will I be distracted now by your silly attempts at political debate. Btw, ever since I was old enough to vote, I have never straight-ticket voted , I try to stay informed and up to date on the individuals in an election and choose one based on their record of service, character, transparency, position on issues, etc. – regardless of what party they belong to.
“so which 'cult' leader/ organization do you blindly follow ? hmnn ?” seriously - why did you ask that? Don’t tell me you feel like I called you out by my criticism of a certain cult leader in my previous posts. That would be disappointing indeed since you were once involved in The Way cult. You should know better by now …what is a cult? I found this one definition to be on point, in my humble opinion:
“A cult is a group or movement held together by a shared commitment to a charismatic leader or ideology. It has a belief system that has the answers to all of life’s questions and offers a special solution to be gained only by following the leader’s rules. It requires a high level of commitment from at least some of the members.”
From: Tennessean - what makes a cult a cult? . For a cult - I believe that definition is spot on. I don’t think it fits very well to describe the political parties or decentralized form of government with a separation of powers such as in the United States – we are a democracy – NOT an autocracy. Furthermore my posts have not been a criticism of any one particular political party – but of a cult-like phenomena – an insidious mutation – or perhaps a hijacking effort that has been growing inside one political party. Perhaps we’re seeing the emergence of a new political party that has yet to be named…this reminds me of wierwille hijacking the Jesus movement…I guess there will probably be offshoots from this too…
I’m not the only person to be aware of this. Even some political leaders, federal and state officials, pundits, journalists, celebrities, and social media influencers who support the Republican Party have for various reasons distanced themselves from the aforementioned cult leader – campaigning incognito as the commander-in-chief. That says something – that even many folks within the Republican Party recognize something is awry. I’ve even heard some Republicans admitting they have split-ticket voted in the most recent presidential election (November 2020) – explaining they voted for the Democratic candidate for president but for the rest of the political offices on the ballot, they voted Republican.
To the best of my knowledge (unless I’m intermittently posting messages like this one from my alter ego that thinks it’s free from a cultic mindset – yikes - did I take the red pill or the blue pill – I don’t remember !!!!!) I do not blindly follow cult leaders or cults. I like any other normal person have the ability and freedom to think for myself.
Allan, I wish you well and may you have a very insightful journey on your chosen path.
IF you believe 'mainstream media' concerning anything from corona virus to election results I think you exhibit a declining lack of critical thinking skills and a headline reading only depth of engagement in the REAL facts !! (snip)
Outside the US, the US has been a source of amusement concerning the complete disconnect between some people and reality. The CDC is about as reliable a source as exists on Covid- and a lot of people would rather believe ignorant sources on Facebook and so on rather than the CDC. Nearly every other country is TIRED of Covid, but we're taking it seriously. The idea of it being used as a political litmus test is ridiculous. If the sharks are in the water, we stay on the beach if we go that far. That's not even getting into the other thing.
If "mainstream media" means Facebook and anywhere a rumor can be floated, no, I don't trust them. Networks with educated, vetted journalists have a shot at being right, so I compare what they say. That's what I do with my critical thinking skills.
These are some of the sources that I also use to check weird reports.
I've seen people post on FB shouting about the latest news on, I dunno, the shortage of widgets, and it's easy to check on some of these fact check sites that the widget factory on the dark side of the moon has indeed cut production, but that's because the widget factory on the lighter side of the moon has doubled its production, and in total widget production is which now well in excess of previous combined production levels and there is a small surplus. So, there was a grain of truth in the original story - but it wasn't the whole story.
And if it's claimed that widgets must now only be sold in packs of 40 (when they used to be sold singly), well, that can be checked as well.
Often, though, there's some grain of truth that is embellished and other information with a wider view is conveniently ignored. Though lately... even a grain of truth would be welcome.
Where some people have posted really outlandish claims (of which many, recently) on FB, I've posted a rebuttal straight from one of the fact-check sites - with a link to the site (any kind of link or source for the outlandish claim is rarely in the original post). All in the interest of fair and balanced reporting, of course!
…and now ladies and a-gentle-peoples …drum roll please…the tune that had burned a deep rut in my auditory canal when I was just a mere embryonic bass player…no matter where I was…(drum roll continues) no matter what the setting – whether it was someone’s hi fi, a jukebox, or some garage band playing at a sweet sixteen party (still drumming)…my earball passageways always tingled with subwoofic-excitement when I heard this tune:
That's Donald "Duck" Dunn playing bass on the record, in case you wondered.
Waysider, thanks for bringing that up…I didn’t know that while in my preemergent-bassist phase – and even now reflecting on my formative years of collecting and listening to LPs, I don’t recall if Stax Records or other labels listed the studio musicians for vocal performers – and I probably didn’t think to check anyway back then…I lost most of my LPs that were stored in the basement of my parents’ house, while I was out W.O.W. … It wasn’t until a couple of years after I left TWI – I think – that I had a renewed interest in details like that…In 2011 we took a road trip vacation to several states – and in Memphis we went to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music... and we also discovered Gus’ World Famous Fried Chicken mmmm mmmmm good! Normally I'm very skeptical of anything that says "world famous" but in this case I am a believer.
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Twinky 876
Happy new year to you, too, T-Bone. And to other Cafe denizens.
2021 has got to be a lot better than 2020. Please.
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waysider 970
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Allan 91
I'd like to be optimistic too Twinks...yet down here here in the Asia/Pacific region we have China (the great red dragon) continuing to threaten and bully us Pacific nations and we've got your mad Prince Charlie and the leader of the World Economic Forum, the equally insane, Klaus Schwabb advocating a 'great world reset'...apparently they're already advertising in the U.K. with slogans like "You will own nothing and you will be happy"....geesh, now where have I heard that before...
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T-Bone 1,031
Hey Grease Spotters,
here’s a fun little project for the new year,
reflect on the ways you gather information and how you process it.
What news media, social media and such do you follow? What websites do you favor? What magazines, books and articles do you like to read? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? They’re not just personality traits but reflect how we are wired – it’s something we bring to the table when we take in new information and make choices. Critical thinking is different from that.
Critical thinking is an intellectual discipline – something you have to train at – - I think it may be because it doesn’t come naturally - we do not come wired as critical thinkers. Critical thinking can help us see beyond our personal biases and personality traits as we observe, analyze, evaluate, reflect, and reason through information and experiences. It’s a more skillful way to guide our beliefs, choices and actions.
Something that my help jumpstart your little project is to watch the 2020 docudrama on Netflix titled The Social Dilemma. Here’s some excerpts from what Wikipedia says about it:
“…It explores the rise of social media and the damage it has caused to society, focusing on its exploitation and manipulation of its users for financial gain through surveillance capitalism and data mining. It goes into depth on how social media's design is meant to nurture an addiction, manipulate its use in politics, and spread conspiracy theories such as Pizzagate and aiding groups such as flat-earthers…
…The film features interviews with many former employees, executives, and other professionals from top tech companies and social media platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Apple. These interviewees provide their first-hand experiences of working in and around the tech industry. They state that social media platforms and big tech companies have been instrumental in providing positive change for society; they also note that such platforms have also caused problematic social, political, and cultural consequences. These interviews are presented alongside scripted dramatizations of a teenager’s social media addiction and a primer on how a social media algorithm powered by artificial intelligence may work…
…The final point the film touches on is fake news. Tristan Harris refers to it as a "disinformation-for-profit business model" and that companies make more money by allowing "unregulated messages to reach anyone for the best price". The film discusses the dangerous nature of the flow of fake news regarding COVID-19 and propaganda that can be used to influence political campaigns. The documentary also champions Wikipedia for being a neutral landscape that shows all users the exact same information without curating or monetizing it. The documentary concludes with the interviewees casting their fear over artificial intelligence's role in social media and the influence these platforms have on society. In the film, Tristan Harris states “It’s not about the technology being the existential threat, it’s the technology’s ability to bring out the worst in society. And the worst in society being the existential threat.” The interviewees come to the unanimous decision that something must be changed for society to prosper. They claim that social media companies have no fiscal reason to change, one given example of a way to combat this would be to charge taxes on the data that social media companies acquire to incentivize lowering data collection measures.”
From: Wikipedia - The Social Dilemma
The only negative thing I can say about The Social Dilemma is the segments that have a dramatic reenactment of how social media influences the end user. It seemed sort of cheesy to me at first - but after awhile it kind of grew on me and I eventually thought it helped reinforce the points made in the interviews with the industry insiders - that were spot-on in my opinion.
For extra credit here’s a review from Roger Ebert website - The Social Dilemma
It seems there's a lot of noise and interference to sift through nowadays as we try to stay up on issues, news, events, etc. - which brings to mind a related topic. I read an interesting article on why we fall for conspiracy theories - it mentions the typical attributes they have:
“A few common characteristics of conspiracy theories are that, first, they locate the source of unusual social and political phenomena in unseen, intentional and malevolent forces. Second, they often interpret political events in terms of the struggle between good and evil. And third, most conspiracy theories suggest that mainstream reporting of public affairs is a ruse or an attempt to distract the public from a true source of power.”
From: LSU EDU - fight fake news
Anyway that’s all for now Grease Spotters – I wish you all well and may you all have a very insightful journey on your chosen path.
Edited by T-Boneformatting and typos
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Twinky 876
Part of the problem, T-Bone, is that in the US as I understand it, there is no requirement for fair and balanced reporting. So some rabid nutter with an idea can spout forth and there is no more balanced perspective presented at the time to say that rabid nutter's perspective is totally off the wall. Thus, if only watching (say) one news channel, one gets fed info that only promotes rabid nutter's PoV. Of course, in newspapers, there's a flavour, a bit of a bent, tht can put a slant on what news is promoted and how, but it's not as bad as on TV programmes or other media. Hence, you end up with this huge and inflammatory polarisation about (say) whether Trump has been a good or awful president - among other things. Effectiveness of vaccines, wearing of masks, race problems, etc, are other current issues.
If you're going to get your news and opinions from TV, it's only reasonable that you listen to other PoVs. Watch the pro-widget channel - and then watch a anti-widget channel. The truth may lie somewhere in between, with both pro- and anti- having some relevance.
As for what you find on Facebook (and other social media) - well, every man is king in his own castle. And everyone has a castle on FB. In other words, much is not to be trusted. What's this new breed of "influencers"? Paid by how many clicks they get for stuff they really don't care about, just what they think will make them popular. Always check the source. Shouting that something works/is good/is desirable just doesn't make it so.
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T-Bone 1,031
I agree with your sentiment Twinky…and it’s probably due to my experience of being in a cult and being told what to think and how to interpret a situation, that I’ve developed a weird mix that is a part-jaded-skeptical-critical-analytical-clinical-approach to how I gather information and process it all. I don’t think anyone has a perfect approach to sifting through what’s making headlines – but it’s not always as difficult as it seems. Most of the time it’s fairly easy to separate fact from fiction if you follow the accessible details.
Without naming names and hopefully keeping this from devolving into a political discussion – I will refer to a certain group only as a cult since they exhibit cult-like qualities of blindly following a charismatic leader who spouts lies and propaganda, defies science, facts, institutions and the rule of law and who makes mischief, abuses power and is self-serving.
This charismatic leader had not only downplayed the coronavirus in February 2019 (in his own words his voice can be heard in a recording made during an interview with Bob Woodward ( see T***p’s statement is at about the 4:59 minute mark of this YouTube clip ) - he continued to mislead the public on how bad the pandemic was - three quarters of the way into 2019 as the U.S. approached election time he declares at a political rally “we’re rounding the turn” while new covid-19 infection cases continued to surge higher every day. Around the same time in October I noted in my calendar the U.S. had 8,189,710 cases and 219,950 deaths due to covid-19. If that’s not alarming – you can check out this current chart, you may indeed wonder if the U.S.A. is a world leader on this? . Also see current world map of coronavirus cases and deaths . Maybe his phrase "we're rounding the turn" refers to him and his followers going in circles - not really achieving anything and they keep coming back to the same point of ignoring the science, facts, the impact to our economy, the surge in cases, the many hospitals on the brink of being overloaded and the growing tally of those who have died from covid-19 . I'm not trying to make a political statement...I'm not using dog whistle rhetoric to send coded messages for support to any particular group. this situation goes beyond politics...it's about a cult's existential threat to life as we (the general public who are NOT part of this cult) know it.
My point is that most of the time it’s fairly easy to separate the facts from the fiction with easily accessible information. It does not take a genius to figure it out. There’s what happened in the real world as reported in reputable news sources and sometimes in various social media. I’m talking actual events – facts – public statements…some tragic event happened…some celebrity passed away…some civic leader gave a speech. I’m NOT talking about the analysis, opinions, speculations on motivations or the possible hidden causes, or conspiracy theories by any commentators, anchors, reporters, bloggers, Twitter or Instagram posters – I mean just cold hard facts (devoid of opinion). I don't care what your religion or political affiliation is - I merely want to ask you - does what the cult leader / followers say about the topic line up with the cold hard facts?
For many of us who have broken free of a cultic-mindset – it should be a walk in the park to discern fact from fiction with what the pandemic-deniers are saying and even more recently their treacherous efforts to ignore the voice of the people in our free and fair, transparent, inclusive, and accountable election process. It is interesting to note that no concrete evidence of election fraud has been presented and of the - is it close to 60 (?) lawsuits that have been filed - most if not all have since been thrown out of court - which says a lot about the credibility and legality of the cases - because lawyers can brag to the general public at press conferences all they want about the supposed evidence in their possession - but they will not risk lying or submitting false or fabricated evidence in a court of law before a judge for fear of disbarment and maybe convicted of a felony and receive jail time ...the phrase put your money where your mouth is comes to mind.
In my previous post – as well as in this one I don't intend to lead people in any one direction. My challenge was to “reflect on the ways you gather information and how you process it.” My questions after that: “What websites do you favor? What magazines, books and articles do you like to read? Are you an optimist or a pessimist?” were not meant to solicit from each Grease Spotter where they get their news or their analytical approach. I simply wanted to stimulate interest in the docudrama The Social Dilemma by getting folks to think deeply on how they observe and analyze what’s going on around them. The reason I found The Social Dilemma so thought-provoking is that it opened my eyes to the fact that to some degree we all may be unaware of the “research bias” we unintentionally propagate as we pursue news events via our preferred social media. (I found an interesting article on market research that gets into confirmation bias, culture bias, social desirability bias, etc. – see 9 types of research bias to avoid in market reseacrh ). Tech industry insiders that were interviewed in The Social Dilemma explained the different ways they feed our preferences and specific appetites with more of the same. In that regard social media is a somewhat bias-confirming platform.
Something Mick West said in his book Escaping the Rabbit Hole: How to Debunk Conspiracy Theories Using Facts, Logic, and Respect on page 20 I think applies to us all: “Many people base their beliefs in a large part on what they see as information from trusted sources.”
So I’ll end by putting a different twist on my new year’s challenge: reflect on the sources you trust and why you trust them….and again just so I’m clear - I’m not asking for Grease Spotters to reply to that on this thread…It’s just something you may want to think about from time to time throughout this year.
So once again I wish you all well and may you all have a very insightful journey on your chosen path.
Edited by T-Boneformatting and typos
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Rocky 1,144
Journalist Masha Gessen (staff writer for the New Yorker), in her most recent book writes about the importance of that point:
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Twinky 876
Press will be allowed to work, then, not just government by tweet?
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Allan 91
IF you believe 'mainstream media' concerning anything from corona virus to election results I think you exhibit a declining lack of critical thinking skills and a headline reading only depth of engagement in the REAL facts !! Notice you didn't mention anything regarding sleepy Joe and his son Hunters involvement in Ukraine and China...and the possible VP Kamalah Harris...as prosecutor laughing as she had black Americans incarcerated for doing next to nothing wrong...so which 'cult' leader/ organization do you blindly follow ? hmnn ?
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Twinky 876
Good post, T-Bone.
It's wise to consider a variety of different news sources. From opposite sides of any political argument. The truth is probably in the middle somewhere.
What I do not trust: Facebook! (1) presents selective and highly prejudicial info according to what its algorithms assess the reader might want to see;
(2) too much vox pop where every person has an opinion regardless of any knowledge ("I know nothing about epidemiology, but that epidemiology expert there, well, his opinion is rubbish! He's just lying to you!")
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T-Bone 1,031
“IF you believe 'mainstream media' concerning anything from corona virus to election results” – so WHERE do YOU get your information on anything from the coronavirus to election results?
“a declining lack of critical thinking skills” actually says the shortage of critical thinking skills is on the decline - or simply - critical thinking skills are increasing – so thank you very much, I try, I try.
“a headline reading only depth of engagement in the REAL facts” – I do not speak Yoda, but I ‘ll give this a shot; a headline is only a short text to grab your attention and draw you into the article. The headline is NOT the article – there are many types of headlines – see here for an example of some types…nevertheless, continuing on with my reply and assuming you're referring to the substance of an article and not just an eye-catching headline - when you said “depth of engagement in the REAL facts” I assume you’re referring to specific items, statistics, accurate and legitimate metrics, reality, matters of public record, stuff that can be verified – and I also assume you’re excluding alternate facts, conspiracy theories, inflated numbers, commentary, opinions, mischaracterizations, conflating , distorting and confusing points… You make it sound like folks cannot find out what’s real going on. Cult leaders mislead followers by suggesting they have the inside scoop and that they are the only source that can be trusted…With current technology we have numerous ways to fact-check articles, commentaries, issues, events, debates, etc. here is a partial list of what’s available:
Fact Check org
Washington Post fact-checker
Full Fact org
BBC reality-check
Metabunk
Snopes
“Notice you didn't mention anything regarding sleepy Joe and his son Hunters involvement in Ukraine and China...and the possible VP Kamalah Harris...as prosecutor laughing as she had black Americans incarcerated for doing next to nothing wrong.” You missed the point of my posts. It was not about criticizing a political party, suggesting that one political leader is worse than another or muck about with name calling (as you did here and in your previous post) – nor will I be distracted now by your silly attempts at political debate. Btw, ever since I was old enough to vote, I have never straight-ticket voted , I try to stay informed and up to date on the individuals in an election and choose one based on their record of service, character, transparency, position on issues, etc. – regardless of what party they belong to.
“so which 'cult' leader/ organization do you blindly follow ? hmnn ?” seriously - why did you ask that? Don’t tell me you feel like I called you out by my criticism of a certain cult leader in my previous posts. That would be disappointing indeed since you were once involved in The Way cult. You should know better by now …what is a cult? I found this one definition to be on point, in my humble opinion:
“A cult is a group or movement held together by a shared commitment to a charismatic leader or ideology. It has a belief system that has the answers to all of life’s questions and offers a special solution to be gained only by following the leader’s rules. It requires a high level of commitment from at least some of the members.”
From: Tennessean - what makes a cult a cult? . For a cult - I believe that definition is spot on. I don’t think it fits very well to describe the political parties or decentralized form of government with a separation of powers such as in the United States – we are a democracy – NOT an autocracy. Furthermore my posts have not been a criticism of any one particular political party – but of a cult-like phenomena – an insidious mutation – or perhaps a hijacking effort that has been growing inside one political party. Perhaps we’re seeing the emergence of a new political party that has yet to be named…this reminds me of wierwille hijacking the Jesus movement…I guess there will probably be offshoots from this too…
I’m not the only person to be aware of this. Even some political leaders, federal and state officials, pundits, journalists, celebrities, and social media influencers who support the Republican Party have for various reasons distanced themselves from the aforementioned cult leader – campaigning incognito as the commander-in-chief. That says something – that even many folks within the Republican Party recognize something is awry. I’ve even heard some Republicans admitting they have split-ticket voted in the most recent presidential election (November 2020) – explaining they voted for the Democratic candidate for president but for the rest of the political offices on the ballot, they voted Republican.
To the best of my knowledge (unless I’m intermittently posting messages like this one from my alter ego that thinks it’s free from a cultic mindset – yikes - did I take the red pill or the blue pill – I don’t remember !!!!!) I do not blindly follow cult leaders or cults. I like any other normal person have the ability and freedom to think for myself.
Allan, I wish you well and may you have a very insightful journey on your chosen path.
Edited by T-Boneformatting and typos
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WordWolf 831
Outside the US, the US has been a source of amusement concerning the complete disconnect between some people and reality. The CDC is about as reliable a source as exists on Covid- and a lot of people would rather believe ignorant sources on Facebook and so on rather than the CDC. Nearly every other country is TIRED of Covid, but we're taking it seriously. The idea of it being used as a political litmus test is ridiculous. If the sharks are in the water, we stay on the beach if we go that far. That's not even getting into the other thing.
If "mainstream media" means Facebook and anywhere a rumor can be floated, no, I don't trust them. Networks with educated, vetted journalists have a shot at being right, so I compare what they say. That's what I do with my critical thinking skills.
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Twinky 876
These are some of the sources that I also use to check weird reports.
I've seen people post on FB shouting about the latest news on, I dunno, the shortage of widgets, and it's easy to check on some of these fact check sites that the widget factory on the dark side of the moon has indeed cut production, but that's because the widget factory on the lighter side of the moon has doubled its production, and in total widget production is which now well in excess of previous combined production levels and there is a small surplus. So, there was a grain of truth in the original story - but it wasn't the whole story.
And if it's claimed that widgets must now only be sold in packs of 40 (when they used to be sold singly), well, that can be checked as well.
Often, though, there's some grain of truth that is embellished and other information with a wider view is conveniently ignored. Though lately... even a grain of truth would be welcome.
Where some people have posted really outlandish claims (of which many, recently) on FB, I've posted a rebuttal straight from one of the fact-check sites - with a link to the site (any kind of link or source for the outlandish claim is rarely in the original post). All in the interest of fair and balanced reporting, of course!
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T-Bone 1,031
Waysider, thanks for that Maria Muldaur tune! here's another midnight tune:
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T-Bone 1,031
…and now ladies and a-gentle-peoples …drum roll please…the tune that had burned a deep rut in my auditory canal when I was just a mere embryonic bass player…no matter where I was…(drum roll continues) no matter what the setting – whether it was someone’s hi fi, a jukebox, or some garage band playing at a sweet sixteen party (still drumming)…my earball passageways always tingled with subwoofic-excitement when I heard this tune:
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waysider 970
That's Donald "Duck" Dunn playing bass on the record, in case you wondered.
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T-Bone 1,031
Waysider, thanks for bringing that up…I didn’t know that while in my preemergent-bassist phase – and even now reflecting on my formative years of collecting and listening to LPs, I don’t recall if Stax Records or other labels listed the studio musicians for vocal performers – and I probably didn’t think to check anyway back then…I lost most of my LPs that were stored in the basement of my parents’ house, while I was out W.O.W. … It wasn’t until a couple of years after I left TWI – I think – that I had a renewed interest in details like that…In 2011 we took a road trip vacation to several states – and in Memphis we went to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music... and we also discovered Gus’ World Famous Fried Chicken mmmm mmmmm good! Normally I'm very skeptical of anything that says "world famous" but in this case I am a believer.
songwriter, producer, actor, and bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn 1941 - 2012
Stax Museum of American Soul Music
Gus’ world famous fried chicken
Edited by T-Bonerevision
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