Need help figuring out how talk to my friends about our different political beliefs

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...that it's a tribal behaviour - becoming intolerant to seek feelings of a shared experience and safety.

Beautiful description, that's exactly what it is. It's the antithesis of civilisation, the rejection of civilisation in favour splintered groups and factions.

Some political leaders and large institutions deliberately encourage this type of thinking though, because once people have reduced themselves to this level of thinking it's so easy to feed them any propaganda you please and to get them wound up about any issue you please. Once people have been reduced to that they become easily manipulated political tools. (or political fools)

Want your people to attack another group in society? Easy peasey - tell them the other group kick puppies and eat babies, job done.

 

[Matthias]

I mostly blame the mainstream media because they're the ones promoting the idea that anyone who disagrees with a particular narrative or ideology is a bigot, fascist, Nazi, deplorable, etc. That kind of intolerance and hate divides society and encourages violence against good people. It's even led to civil wars in some countries.

 

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I mostly blame the mainstream media because....

Journalists are just people too and they're not immune to falling in to the same traps as everyone else, although a professionally trained journalist is less likely to allow their opinions to be corrupted in such a way. And when the chiefs and editors of news corporations are compromised in this manner then it doesn't matter how unbiased the journalist is because what they write will be altered. Classic examples - Sky and Fox, not taken as serious news outlets anywhere in the world, they're just propaganda rags.

There's a far more powerful influence in many societies than the media though. The more religious a people are the more likely that they're willing to follow along with whatever propaganda is thrown in front of them. It doesn't matter which religion, they're all the same. Look at India, look at middle eastern countries, then look at your own.

That's not to say that there's anything wrong with those religions, but whoever gets to stand in front of the altar wields an incredible amount of power and I suspect that that is the whole point of religion in the first place.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

The trick is do not treat politics as a team sport. I never have. Not too big on two parties, Just one party more than a one party state.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Journalists are just people too and they're not immune to falling in to the same traps as everyone else, although a professionally trained journalist is less likely to allow their opinions to be corrupted in such a way. And when the chiefs and editors of news corporations are compromised in this manner then it doesn't matter how unbiased the journalist is because what they write will be altered. Classic examples - Sky and Fox, not taken as serious news outlets anywhere in the world, they're just propaganda rags.

There's a far more powerful influence in many societies than the media though. The more religious a people are the more likely that they're willing to follow along with whatever propaganda is thrown in front of them. It doesn't matter which religion, they're all the same. Look at India, look at middle eastern countries, then look at your own.

That's not to say that there's anything wrong with those religions, but whoever gets to stand in front of the altar wields an incredible amount of power and I suspect that that is the whole point of religion in the first place.

Why I like Spinoza

 

[vergil96]

as it has already been pointed out, there are a lot of people who can benefit from the social divide from politicians to marketing.

 

[Matthias]

Journalists are just people too and they're not immune to falling in to the same traps as everyone else, although a professionally trained journalist is less likely to allow their opinions to be corrupted in such a way. And when the chiefs and editors of news corporations are compromised in this manner then it doesn't matter how unbiased the journalist is because what they write will be altered. Classic examples - Sky and Fox, not taken as serious news outlets anywhere in the world, they're just propaganda rags.

The owners deliberately twist the news by censoring stories that don't align with their ideology and twisting others to conform to it. Someone with an important role in one outlet (MSNBC) was actually caught on camera by an undercover reporter admitting they are the propaganda arm of the Democrat party in the US, not that it wasn't obvious to most people because of how blatantly they do it.

There's a far more powerful influence in many societies than the media though. The more religious a people are the more likely that they're willing to follow along with whatever propaganda is thrown in front of them. It doesn't matter which religion, they're all the same. Look at India, look at middle eastern countries, then look at your own.

That's not to say that there's anything wrong with those religions, but whoever gets to stand in front of the altar wields an incredible amount of power and I suspect that that is the whole point of religion in the first place.

That's interesting how things are in Australia because it's the exact opposite where I live. Religious people I know tend to reject the propaganda because it's opposed to their religion while non-religious people are more likely to embrace it, boasting about how "progressive" they are while looking down at others who aren't misled by it as old fashioned, uneducated, and narrow-minded. All the media has to do is tell these people that anyone who rejects their propaganda is racist, bigoted, transphobic, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, Nazi, fascist, and other made up words and they'll believe whatever they're told. They've even convinced people that murderers are good people, as long as the people they murder are Christians, conservatives, or capitalists (insurance company CEO) and that holding criminals accountable for their crimes is wrong (to the point where they support violently assaulting the police for enforcing just laws).

 

[Outdated]

The owners deliberately twist the news by censoring stories that don't align with their ideology and twisting others to conform to it. Someone with an important role in one outlet (MSNBC) was actually caught on camera by an undercover reporter admitting they are the propaganda arm of the Democrat party in the US, not that it wasn't obvious to most people because of how blatantly they do it.

One of the sickest of them all is one of my own countrymen - Rupert Murdoch.

They've even convinced people that murderers are good people, as long as the people they murder are Christians, conservatives, or capitalists (insurance company CEO) and that holding criminals accountable for their crimes is wrong (to the point where they support violently assaulting the police for enforcing just laws).

There's a prime example of the sort of propaganda I was talking about. The "us and them" mentality. You can't honestly tell me that you really believe that, surely.

 

[Matthias]

One of the sickest of them all is one of my own countrymen - Rupert Murdoch.

Of all the major media outlets in the USA, Fox is the most popular and widely considered the least biased.

There's a prime example of the sort of propaganda I was talking about. The "us and them" mentality. You can't honestly tell me that you really believe that, surely.

I don't believe that. That's the propaganda the media is portraying. They constantly try to divide people by race, gender, religion, wealth, social status, etc. I can't stand it.

 

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Of all the major media outlets in the USA, Fox is the most popular and widely considered the least biased.

Probably where half of your society's problems are being amplified. That's what Rupert does, deliberately stirs up conflict because that conflict sells newspapers. His interfering in Australia basically ended when we all got the internet and could easily cross check any of his stories. He still owns half the media in Australia but it has nowhere near as much influence here now as it used to. Since the 90s he's been much more focused in the UK and the US.

Here his "news" services are considered to be a joke on humanity, an example of just how low some people are willing to go for the sake of a dollar. No one takes his news reports seriously here and his fake News Poll that he starts putting out before every election is the one opinion poll rating that consistently fails to show anything resembling reality.

I don't believe that. That's the propaganda the media is portraying. They constantly try to divide people by race, gender, religion, wealth, social status, etc. I can't stand it.

You certainly won't see any propaganda like that published in Australia, not without them facing court afterwards anyway. Even Rupert Murdoch isn't game to try that here any more, that's why he's now focused on the UK and the US.

 

[Mary Terry]

Fox News paid $787.5M to settle the defamation lawsuit filed against it by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox deliberately lied about the security of the Dominion Voting System in the 2020 presidential election and paid a high price for its lies. Fox News is viewed as an entertainment channel, not a legitimate news organization. It feeds red meat to a certain type of American voter who actually believes Fox's extremely biased and selective reporting.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I have two brothers both I now now are Aspies like myself they both fell into the Ann rand trap after reading her book as teenagers, I never bother reading it sounded like crap to me, My intuition told me she was full of it history proving me correct. I trust my gut feeling more than someone else's opinion.

 

[Matthias]

Probably where half of your society's problems are being amplified. That's what Rupert does, deliberately stirs up conflict because that conflict sells newspapers. His interfering in Australia basically ended when we all got the internet and could easily cross check any of his stories. He still owns half the media in Australia but it has nowhere near as much influence here now as it used to. Since the 90s he's been much more focused in the UK and the US.

Here his "news" services are considered to be a joke on humanity, an example of just how low some people are willing to go for the sake of a dollar. No one takes his news reports seriously here and his fake News Poll that he starts putting out before every election is the one opinion poll rating that consistently fails to show anything resembling reality.


You certainly won't see any propaganda like that published in Australia, not without them facing court afterwards anyway. Even Rupert Murdoch isn't game to try that here any more, that's why he's now focused on the UK and the US.

Interesting. I had no idea Rupert Murdoch owned media outlets in Australia. I like the idea of taking people to court for pushing propaganda that divides citizens.

 

[Dagan]

Follow the money. If you want core answers to this kind of stuff, just follow the money. You'll find your answers. Sites like goodsuniteus (dot) com are pretty solid for figuring out such.

 

[Outdated]

I like the idea of taking people to court for pushing propaganda that divides citizens.

Sadly creating a legal framework for that concept is so difficult as to be almost impossible. What we can do however is take people to court for publishing lies, especially if their motive for telling said lies is to make money.

Murdoch learned the hard way to tread a little more lightly in Australia. Not only does he know what we're like, we also know him and all his tricks and his history because we grew up with him. And in fact there's a good way to pick just how much of his news is complete fabrication - check his Australian sites to see if you can see the same story there.