Difference between revisions of "Essay: Why I prefer to get my news from a wide variety of sources"

From Conservapedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Line 4: Line 4:
 
For example, the Bible mentions [[King David]]'s act of adultery and his subsequent punishment by God. ]]
 
For example, the Bible mentions [[King David]]'s act of adultery and his subsequent punishment by God. ]]
  
−
Within a [[news]] [[media]] and [[social media]] environment, an [[Echo chamber (media)|echo chamber]] is an environment or ecosystem in which individuals merely encounter beliefs that mirror, amplify or reinforce their [[Confirmation bias|preexisting beliefs]] via communication and repetition inside a completely closed system that offers no contrary facts or rebuttals.<ref>Nguyen, C. Thi (June 2020). "[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/episteme/article/abs/echo-chambers-and-epistemic-bubbles/5D4AC3A808C538E17C50A7C09EC706F0 Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles]". Episteme. 17 (2): 141–161. doi:10.1017/epi.2018.32. ISSN 1742-3600. S2CID 171520109.</ref><ref>[https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2023301118 The echo chamber effect on social media], PNAS, February 23, 2021, 118 (9) e2023301118 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023301118</ref><ref>[https://advertising.utexas.edu/news/what-social-media-echo-chamber What is a Social Media Echo Chamber?], Stan Richards School of Advertising & Public Relations, The University of Texas at Austin, 2020</ref> The problem with a "bubble boy" existence is that one's view of reality is warped. And ignorance is not bliss and it can be dangerous.
+
Within a [[news]] [[media]] and [[social media]] environment, an [[Echo chamber (media)|echo chamber]] is an environment or ecosystem in which individuals merely encounter beliefs that mirror, amplify or reinforce their [[Confirmation bias|preexisting beliefs]] via communication and repetition inside a completely closed system that offers no contrary facts or rebuttals.<ref>Nguyen, C. Thi (June 2020). "[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/episteme/article/abs/echo-chambers-and-epistemic-bubbles/5D4AC3A808C538E17C50A7C09EC706F0 Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles]". Episteme. 17 (2): 141–161. doi:10.1017/epi.2018.32. ISSN 1742-3600. S2CID 171520109.</ref><ref>[https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2023301118 The echo chamber effect on social media], PNAS, February 23, 2021, 118 (9) e2023301118 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023301118</ref><ref>[https://advertising.utexas.edu/news/what-social-media-echo-chamber What is a Social Media Echo Chamber?], Stan Richards School of Advertising & Public Relations, The University of Texas at Austin, 2020</ref> The problem with a "bubble boy" existence is that one's view of reality is warped. And ignorance and false beliefs are not bliss and they can be dangerous.
  
 
One of the great attributes of the [[Bible]] is that it gives a realistic portrait of its protagonists - warts and all. For example, the Bible mentions [[King David]]'s act of adultery and his subsequent punishment by God.  
 
One of the great attributes of the [[Bible]] is that it gives a realistic portrait of its protagonists - warts and all. For example, the Bible mentions [[King David]]'s act of adultery and his subsequent punishment by God.  

Revision as of 23:56, April 22, 2024

One of the great attributes of the Bible is that it gives a realistic portrait of its protagonists - warts and all.

For example, the Bible mentions King David's act of adultery and his subsequent punishment by God.

Within a news media and social media environment, an echo chamber is an environment or ecosystem in which individuals merely encounter beliefs that mirror, amplify or reinforce their preexisting beliefs via communication and repetition inside a completely closed system that offers no contrary facts or rebuttals.[1][2][3] The problem with a "bubble boy" existence is that one's view of reality is warped. And ignorance and false beliefs are not bliss and they can be dangerous.

One of the great attributes of the Bible is that it gives a realistic portrait of its protagonists - warts and all. For example, the Bible mentions King David's act of adultery and his subsequent punishment by God.

Question: Do partisan news sources generally reflect reality, aid critical thinking and promote emotional well-being?

Previously, in the below essays, I argue for a healthy degree of skepticism when it comes to any news outlet or political pundit and a noticeable trend of cultishness in politics:

Contents

Personality trait of openness

See also: Openness

The personality trait of openness "is how open-minded, imaginative, creative and insightful a person is or can be. More open minded people tend to prefer variety, seek new experiences and are curious and perceptive to their environment. Less open minded people tend to avoid change, dislike disruption and focus on a few specific interests."[4]

Openness is one of the Big Five personality traits

The personality traits of a good diplomat are: openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness and extraversion.[5]

Benefits of intellectual curiosity

Being observant, opening your eyes and being open-minded is good!

See: 7 Benefits of Intellectual Curiosity (In Case You Were Wondering)

The importance of critical thinking

The Thinker by Auguste Rodin, 1902.

See also: Critical thinking

Critical thinking is an approach to gathering data and making inferences about the world. It draws heavily on ideas from the scientific revolution and advocates an approach of data acquisition and rational assessment. When applying critical thinking, the goal is to collect as much relevant data as possible, assess that data for accuracy, and finally use the data to arrive at the most justified conclusions possible.

Critical thinking is an ongoing process, and even ideas that one feels are well supported need to be occasionally reevaluated to see if new information might change one's mind. For example, critical thinking eventually showed that Copernicus was correct in claiming that the Sun was the center of the solar system, even though many people believed this to be false at the time. However, this didn't make him completely correct either, since more critical thinking showed that he was wrong on other things (he also thought that the Sun was the center of the universe).

Critical thinking uses many aspects of formal logic and informal logic. It also focuses on discovering bias, propaganda, delusion and deception (more generally, logical fallacies) both in the sources of one's information and one's own views and approaches to reasoning problems out. Teachers often cite learning critical thinking as one of the most important goals of getting an education.

The principle of verification

See also: Verification

Verification is the testing of an hypothesis or alternative hypotheses through observation or experimentation. It is readily overlooked by evolutionist scientists in the effort to take out God from natural phenomena. Liberals also avoid verification because they know it will only invalidate their positions and confirm conservatives' positions.

"Trust but verify" was President Ronald Reagan's favorite approach towards the communist Soviet Union. He repeated his phrase again in his farewell address to the nation in 1989:[6]

"We must keep up our guard, but we must also continue to work together to lessen and eliminate tension and mistrust. My view is that President Gorbachev is different from previous Soviet leaders. I think he knows some of the things wrong with his society and is trying to fix them. We wish him well. And we'll continue to work to make sure that the Soviet Union that eventually emerges from this process is a less threatening one. What it all boils down to is this. I want the new closeness to continue. And it will, as long as we make it clear that we will continue to act in a certain way as long as they continue to act in a helpful manner. If and when they don't, at first pull your punches. If they persist, pull the plug. It's still trust but verify. It's still play, but cut the cards. It's still watch closely. And don't be afraid to see what you see."
"Trust, but verify" is a Russian proverb.

The phrase became internationally known in English after Suzanne Massie, who is a scholar of Russian history, taught it to Ronald Reagan, then president of the United States, who latter used it in the context of nuclear disarmament discussions with the Soviet Union.
Jonestown was a classic example of how groupthink and ideological rigidity leads to poor decision making.

"I was an atheist even then, and at that funeral parlor they held me up to look at her, and when I got down, I was bitter." - Jim Jones [7]

The principle of falsification

Karl Popper

See also: Falsifiable

A concept is falsifiable if it is possible to show that it is false if it were false.[8] A concept that could not possibly be shown to be false, even if it were false, is not falsifiable. Many true theories are falsifiable, such as the prediction that sun will rise in the East tomorrow morning, because if that theory were false then it would be possible to show that it is false.[9] That experiment could consist of waiting until the next morning to see what happens. Independently of the outcome of that test, the fact that one can devise such a test renders the theory falsifiable.[10]

To be considered scientific, a hypothesis must be "falsifiable", i.e., capable of being proven false. If no one, not even the supporters of the hypothesis, can think of a way the hypothesis might be proven false, then most scientists would agree that it is not part of science (see pseudoscience). However, the history of science is full of examples whereby supporters of various theories refused to consider the prospect that someone might prove them wrong.

For example, the suggestion that I would be very happy if I were ten years younger is not falsifiable, because it is impossible to test the hypothesis by making myself ten years younger and seeing how I feel. Similarly, emotions that things would be better if only [fill-in-the-blank] are not falsifiable, and thus not worth thinking about.

Falsifiability is commonly used as a criterion for whether a particular proposition is "scientific." Philosopher Karl Popper popularized this criterion, arguing that science progresses through the process of "Observation, speculation, falsification;" That is, we observe the universe, we develop a speculative hypothesis about the universe, and we test our hypothesis. If our hypothesis is proven false, we discard it. If our hypothesis is not proven false, we can consider it provisionally true. According to Popper, there is no such thing as scientific certainty; on the contrary, all our beliefs are properly held provisionally, and always subject to the possibility that they will someday be disproven by experiment.

It's good to not put all your news sources eggs in too few baskets or in one basket.

There is value in diversification when it comes to news sources such as a greater ability to engage in falsification of news stories.

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket." - Popular saying

Historiography principles, inference to the best explanation, genetic fallacy and guilt by association: Why news sources should not be automatically and totally disqualified in various cases

See also: Genetic fallacy and Guilt by association

Historiography is "the writing of history", or otherwise-preserving of historical facts to the generations in hence of the eyewitnesses of the events. In the bulk of cases, this writing, or preserving, of a future knowledge of past events is based on such things as "the critical examination of sources, the selection of particulars from the authentic materials, and the synthesis of particulars into a narrative that will stand the test of critical methods."[11]

Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE) is scientific device of logical reasoning residing on the idea that entities, conditions, or processes that have the capability or so called causal powers to produce the evidence in question constitute better explanations of that evidence than those that are not. The method of IBE does not attempt to answer the question Why this? but the question Why this rather than that? Especially in historical sciences, the process of determining the best explanation necessarily involves generating a list of possible hypotheses. Then, to infer the best explanation necessarily implies the need to examine and compare competing explanations. None of evidences ultimately prove that the hypothesis is absolutely correct but they provide support for it and place it in contention as a possible best explanation.[12]

The genetic fallacy is a logical fallacy wherein an argument is based on the circumstances of something's origin or history when that origin or history has nothing to do with the present value of that something.[13] The fallacy is thus a fallacy of relevance. An example is arguing that Christians should not decorate Christmas trees because thousands of years ago such practices were performed by pagans.

Guilt by association is a term which describes the act of attempting to discredit a person because of his connection to a certain group or organization or to discredit a position because people whom the speaker expects the audience to dislike agree with that position or are otherwise associated with it.[14] Guilt by association is sometimes referred to as collective guilt, the act of a member of an organization being held responsible for the actions of the group or other group members.

"When you have eliminated all which is impossible then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." - The character of Sherlock Holmes[15]
"Even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while." - Popular saying

The difference between low to high IQ thinking vs. very high IQ thinking

See also: Dunning-Kruger effect

The difference between low to high IQ thinking vs. ultra high IQ thinking, where VHIQ represents low to high IQ thinking and UHIQ represents ultra high IQ thinking.[16]

Notice how the low IQ to high IQ individuals often gravitate towards binary either/or thinking and taking sides rather than towards probabilistic thinking and balancing between contradictory possibilities.

While scientific thinking did cause the scientific revolution and all its benefits when it comes to advanced technology, medicine and a proliferation of scientific knowledge, science does have its limitations (See: Limitations of science).

Why I don't overly rely on journalists, political pundits, political scientists, and other experts

Limitations of science

Why many college-educated journalists are not critical thinkers

See also: Academia and intellectual development

Presently, there appears to be a higher education bubble that will burst.[17]

In addition, college is clearly not delivering the goods in terms of intellectual development for a large percentage of its students. An American study found that forty-five percent of students achieved no significant improvement in their critical thinking, reasoning or writing skills during their first two years of college. After four years, 36 percent displayed no significant increases in these so-called "higher order" thinking skills.[18] Students, particularly those who made poor curriculum choices, are increasingly angry that college does not adequately prepare them for the marketplace and leaves them with a pile of debt.[19]

“Too much of what is called 'education' is little more than an expensive isolation from reality.” - Thomas Sowell

The case for being less partisan/political and being more objective

See also: Openness

The abstract for the journal article At Least Bias Is Bipartisan: A Meta-Analytic Comparison of Partisan Bias in Liberals and Conservatives which was published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science states:

"Both liberals and conservatives accuse their political opponents of partisan bias, but is there empirical evidence that one side of the political aisle is indeed more biased than the other? To address this question, we meta-analyzed the results of 51 experimental studies, involving over 18,000 participants, that examined one form of partisan bias—the tendency to evaluate otherwise identical information more favorably when it supports one’s political beliefs or allegiances than when it challenges those beliefs or allegiances. Two hypotheses based on previous literature were tested: an asymmetry hypothesis (predicting greater partisan bias in conservatives than in liberals) and a symmetry hypothesis (predicting equal levels of partisan bias in liberals and conservatives). Mean overall partisan bias was robust (r = .245), and there was strong support for the symmetry hypothesis: Liberals (r = .235) and conservatives (r = .255) showed no difference in mean levels of bias across studies. Moderator analyses reveal this pattern to be consistent across a number of different methodological variations and political topics. Implications of the current findings for the ongoing ideological symmetry debate and the role of partisan bias in scientific discourse and political conflict are discussed."[20]

Arthur C. Brooks wrote in his article Reading Too Much Political News Is Bad for Your Well-Being: "A 2012 survey conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University asked a sample of Americans about their news-consumption habits, and quizzed them about U.S. and international political and economic events. They found that those watching the most partisan television news sources—on both the left and the right—were often less knowledgeable about world events than those who consumed no news at all."[21]

"In this article, we examine psychological features of extreme political ideologies. In what ways are political left- and right-wing extremists similar to one another and different from moderates? We propose and review four interrelated propositions that explain adherence to extreme political ideologies from a psychological perspective. We argue that (a) psychological distress stimulates adopting an extreme ideological outlook; (b) extreme ideologies are characterized by a relatively simplistic, black-and-white perception of the social world; (c) because of such mental simplicity, political extremists are overconfident in their judgments; and (d) political extremists are less tolerant of different groups and opinions than political moderates. In closing, we discuss how these psychological features of political extremists increase the likelihood of conflict among groups in society."

Polarized thinking and depression/anxiety

Political ideology, media consumption, political websites and its effects

Media consumption: Conservatives vs. liberals:

Ground News on media bias

Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. She was the longest-serving Prime Minister in the 20th century.

Thatcher was often vilified by the British press.

See also: Media bias

Ground News on why reading news from overly partisan news outlets is a bad practice

Ground News on why reading news from overly partisan news outlets is a bad practice:

“ Over the past decade, online news and ad-driven algorithms have made it profitable for news outlets to embrace a position on the bias spectrum to target specific consumers.

Bias in the media affects everything from what events receive coverage, to how a news outlet frames those events in their reporting.

As media outlets narrow their perspective and range of coverage, it’s become impossible to consult a single news story for a well-rounded view on important issues.

Ground News was created to offer clarity in an increasingly chaotic media landscape. Our vision is positive coexistence where cooperative, civil debate is the norm, media is accountable, and critical thought is the baseline of our information consumption. We’re on a mission to well inform the world by empowering readers to think freely about the issues of our times.

Every day we process nearly 60,000 news articles from over 50,000 different news sources. Articles from different outlets covering the same event are merged into a single story, making it possible to get multiple perspectives in one place.[22]

”

Most thoughtful American right-wing news and political commentary websites

Right-wing media online ecosystem

Why conservatives and right-wing ideologues are not pouring their money into news outlets and foreign news bureaus. Are news outlets becoming more unprofitable and more distrusted?

More and more newspapers are going bankrupt or closing up shop

According to the Associated Press: "At its current pace, the country will hit 3,000 newspapers closed in two decades sometime next year, with just under 6,000 remaining, the report said. At the same time, 43,000 newspaper journalists lost jobs, most of them at daily publications, with the advertising market collapsing." - Decline in local news outlets is accelerating despite efforts to help

Americans' Trust in media is low

  • "U.S. adults under 30 now trust information from social media almost as much as from national news outlets." - Trust in Media, Pew Research

Steve Bannon, who Conservapedia calls a movement conservative, said he has a subscription to the Financial Times (mainstream news website focusing on financial matters)

Steve Bannon, who Conservapedia calls a movement conservative, says he has a subscription to the Financial Times in his interview with the Financial Times (mainstream news website focusing on financial matters):

Steve Bannon in 2017

Why I prefer to not get all my news from godless liberals, leftists and libertarians

See also: Atheism and the media

The Media Research Center released a study in 2008 reporting pro-atheism bias by major press outlets in the United States.[23] The study found that 80% of mainstream media coverage of atheism was positive and that 71% of Christian-themed stories had an atheist counterpoint or were written from an atheist perspective.[24] The study is not surprising given the liberal bias that commonly exists in the major media outlets.

In 2012, the Media Research Center reported:

“ Such hostility toward traditional faith is facilitated by a media that doesn’t understand people of faith, and is eager to use religious and cultural issues as a weapon against conservative policies and politicians while pays lip service to the religious claims of liberals.

The liberal media’s innate disdain for religion has never been more useful in achieving their political goals. As a result, 2012 is the year of the Crusade against Faith.[25]

”
Dr. Jonathan Sarfati is a staff member of Creation Ministries International.

Atheism and open-mindedness

Atheism and critical thinking

See also: Atheism and critical thinking

Tony Wichowsk of the Christian Apologetics Alliance wrote:

“ ...I have encountered numerous atheists and other critics of Christianity who by all accounts have stopped thinking critically themselves. The common perception among them is that by being critical of religion (particularly Christianity in the west), they are exercising critical thinking. However, critical thinking implies not only questioning authority and commonly held views, but your own views as well.

Critical thinking has often been popularly described as “thinking about thinking.” Stephen Brookfield is an award winning expert on education and teaching critical thinking skills. Below is his definition of what critical thinking really is.

"Critical thinking describes the process we use to uncover and check our assumptions. First we need to find out what our assumptions are. We may know some of these already (these we call explicit assumptions) but others we are unaware of (implicit assumptions)…. Once we know what our assumptions are, we enter the second phase of critical thinking, that of research. We try to check out our assumptions to make sure they are accurate and valid… The third and final phase of critical thinking puts the first two stages into practice by applying our analysis to our decisions. Decisions based on critical thinking are more likely to be ones we feel confident about and to have the effects we want them to have.”

– Stephen Brookfield Developing critical thinkers: Challenging adults to explore alternative ways of thinking and acting. (1987, Page 9)

If an atheist wants to be a good critical thinker, and not simply a cynic, I would recommend that he or she would do as Brookfield suggests, and check their assumptions. This might entail opening a book by an apologist that they do not like, such as William Lane Craig or a conservative text critic like Daniel B Wallace, and be open minded that they might have some things right.

Checking multiple sources that disagree with each-other and weighing the evidence in your mind is sometimes tedious, but in the end it is worth it.[26]

”

The fallacy of exclusion is a logical fallacy where "Important evidence which would undermine an inductive argument is excluded from consideration. The requirement that all relevant information be included is called the 'principle of total evidence'.".[27] Atheists avoiding and ignoring the many legitimate arguments against atheism and for theism are engaging in fallacious reasoning (see also: Rebuttals to atheist arguments).

Richard Dawkins
According to Jonathon Haidt's study Richard Dawkins was found to be more dogmatic than Glenn Beck.[28]

Why its not healthy to consume too much news

News outlets, thinktanks and manufacturing consensus

See also: Manufacturing Consent and Propaganda

Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky is highly critical of Walter Lippmann and Edward Bernays, both of whom wrote about the "Manufacture of Consent" (Bernays uses the phrase "the engineering of consent").[29] Particularly Lippmann, whom Chomsky begins the preface criticizing.[29]

The influence of wealthy class, media and the military-industrial complex on American politics

Manufacturing consent

USA, power and politics

Related resources

Benefits of being of not being overly political

Brain scans and political ideology

Scientists discover biological differences between the political left/right and liberals/conservatives

  • "And only the empathy (emotional faces) task was significantly associated with moderate ideology."[1]
  • "Conservatives tend to be more resilient and have better self-control".[30](Science proves that conservatives have more machismo!)

Liberals vs. conservatives: Real-life bad implications of being too ideologically rigid

American liberals give less to charity than American conservatives.[31]

Liberals

Liberals/leftists and neuroticism: Research indicates that conservatives are less prone to neuroticism.[32] See also: Secular leftists and psychogenic illness

Sexual mores and behavior:



The website Marketwatch reported concerning the aftermath of the 2016 presidential race: Donald Trump’s win is causing a surge in demand for mental health services.[33]

See also: Secular leftists and psychogenic illness

Conservatives

See also: Future Shock

"We have never done it that way before." - The lamest excuse for excess conservatism.

The leader of the Luddites. A luddite is a person opposed to technological change.

Why I don't get my news from the Global Times and why I am skeptical of Chinese communist propaganda

See also: China and atheism and Atheism and human rights violations

China banned Winnie-the-Pooh because of the similarities between Winnie-the-Pooh and Xi Jinping.

Xi Jinping is obese. See also: Atheism and obesity

Related essays

Recommended YouTube channel concerning China

Why I don't get all my news from Russia Today and hyper Russophilia bloggers

Vladimir Putin is a corrupt kleptocrat and an authoritarian

See: Vladimir Putin is a corrupt kleptocrat and an authoritarian

Vladimir Putin and authoritarianism

See also: What drives Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin?

Vladimir Putin and electoral authoritarianism

Putin lays a wreath a the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the anniversary of the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

A description of the book Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes by Vladimir Gel'man which is published by the University of Pittsburg Press states:

“ Russia today represents one of the major examples of the phenomenon of “electoral authoritarianism” which is characterized by adopting the trappings of democratic institutions (such as elections, political parties, and a legislature) and enlisting the service of the country’s essentially authoritarian rulers. Why and how has the electoral authoritarian regime been consolidated in Russia? What are the mechanisms of its maintenance, and what is its likely future course? This book attempts to answer these basic questions.

Vladimir Gel’man examines regime change in Russia from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to the present day, systematically presenting theoretical and comparative perspectives of the factors that affected regime changes and the authoritarian drift of the country. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia’s national political elites aimed to achieve their goals by creating and enforcing of favorable “rules of the game” for themselves and maintaining informal winning coalitions of cliques around individual rulers. In the 1990s, these moves were only partially successful given the weakness of the Russian state and troubled post-socialist economy. In the 2000s, however, Vladimir Putin rescued the system thanks to the combination of economic growth and the revival of the state capacity he was able to implement by imposing a series of non-democratic reforms. In the 2010s, changing conditions in the country have presented new risks and challenges for the Putin regime that will play themselves out in the years to come.[34]

”

The abstract for the 2018 journal article Regional elections in Russia: instruments of authoritarian legitimacy or instability? states:

“ This study examines three rounds of regional assembly and gubernatorial elections in Russia that took place in September 2015, 2016 and 2017. In particular, it examines the ways in which the regime has manipulated the elections to guarantee the victory of United Russia. The study shows that the Kremlin has adopted a new electoral strategy. Rather than engaging in the risky business of outright fraud during the vote count, which was an important factor in sparking mass protests against the regime, in the wake of the 2011 elections to the State Duma, the authorities have decided to concentrate their efforts on preventing opposition parties and candidates from registering for the elections. Whilst other forms of electoral malpractice have continued to be practiced, such as coercing or bribing voters to turn out and vote for United Russia, promoting “carousel voting” (multiple voting by groups of mobilised citizens), or ballot stuffing, much more focus has been paid in these elections on manipulating the registration process in favour of United Russia. As is clearly demonstrated, scores of opposition candidates and party lists, have been prevented from competing because of problems with their registration documents. However, whilst this strategy has helped United Russia win large majorities in all of the gubernatorial and assembly elections, it has also created lacklustre and predictable contests, and this in turn has led to a sharp decline in turnout, particularly in the gubernatorial elections. There is a real danger that these low levels of turnout may gradually erode the legitimacy of United Russia, embolden the opposition, and threaten the stability of the regime.[35] ”

Vladimir's Putin's propaganda machine

The below videos provide information on Vladimir Putin's propaganda machine:

Critics of Vladimir Putin have often died under suspicious circumstances and he has shut down press outlets that are critical of him. Protestors of the Russia-Ukraine War have been arrested

Also, click on these Google searches which show a lot of relevant results: Vladimir Putin kills opponents and Vladimir Putin shut down press outlets in Russia

Vladimir Putin is a ruthless dictator, but admittedly he is not as bad as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin or the Chinese Communist Party. For example, he is letting people flee Russia with their money - even many men who are fleeing the country due to Russia calling up reservists. And Russia is a freer and better country to live in than China.

As noted in my previous essays, Ukraine is not considered to be a democracy for various good reasons. It is a hybrid regime and in a recent democracy index it was ranked 92 which is low, but Russia was ranked even lower at 144.[36]

Why I read the news from nonaligned countries

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally politically aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the purpose of advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold War confrontation. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide.

One of the benefits of reading news from non-aligned countries is that the news outlets often give a more impartial view of matters related to the major powers of the United States, China and Russia. But even then, these new outlets not always impartial due to some non-aligned countries having their bread buttered more by one of the major powers, having various national interests, or having conflicts with one of the major powers, etc.

The more you know how the informational sausage is made, the more your informational palate becomes more refined and critical

I have worked in media-related fields and still do some work in this general field. So I see how the informational sausage is made. The more you know how the informational sausage is made, the more your informational palate becomes more refined and critical.

When I assisted a conservative news website with its web marketing, certain "hot issues" were promoted, but important "not hot" issues went uncovered. My client catered to its audience's interests which were often provincial and so the website often covered the same handful of topics over and over and over.

In many industries, the idiom “how the sausage gets made” connotes pulling away the facade of something to discover the unpleasant, even nasty process behind it.[37]
Upton Sinclair's Law is named after the journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair. It states, quite simply, "If a man's paycheck depends on his not understanding something, you can rely upon his not understanding it."

For part of his career, the journalist Upton Sinclair was a muckraking journalist and novelist who exposed and publicized the health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meat-packing industry during the early 20th century, which led to sanitation reforms including the Meat Inspection Act.

Why do I choose to totally ignore people who try to force their very important political opinions and other opinions on me?

God has given you a limited time on earth.

Don't waste your precious time on earth dealing with unreasonable people. Get away from them as soon as possible.
"Better to meet a she-bear robbed of its cubs than to confront a fool immersed in folly." - Wise King Solomon, Proverbs 17:12 (NRSV)
St. John Climacus on avoiding arguments.jpg

Recommended books

Favorite book on critical thinking

  • The Thinker's Way by John Chaffee, Ph.D., Little, Brown and Company; First Edition (October 1, 1998)

User:Conservative's essays

References

  1. ↑ Nguyen, C. Thi (June 2020). "Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles". Episteme. 17 (2): 141–161. doi:10.1017/epi.2018.32. ISSN 1742-3600. S2CID 171520109.
  2. ↑ The echo chamber effect on social media, PNAS, February 23, 2021, 118 (9) e2023301118 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023301118
  3. ↑ What is a Social Media Echo Chamber?, Stan Richards School of Advertising & Public Relations, The University of Texas at Austin, 2020
  4. ↑ Openness Personality Trait
  5. ↑ Traits of a successful diplomat, The Diplomat website
  6. ↑ http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/speeches/farewell.asp
  7. ↑ An untitled collection of reminiscences by Jim Jones
  8. ↑ Definition A Dictionary of Psychology, Andrew M. Colman, via encyclopedia.com
  9. ↑ If the outcome of an actual experiment has an outcome that disproves a theory, then that theory is both falsifiable and demonstrably false.
  10. ↑ Of course the test gets conducted every morning, and has never failed.
  11. ↑ Historiography - Merriam-Webster dictionary
  12. ↑ Meyer, Stephen C. (2008). Signature in the Cell. New York: HarperOne, 154–159, 327. ISBN 978-0-06-147279-2. 
  13. ↑ Fallacy Files: Genetic Fallacy
  14. ↑ Fallacy: Guilt By Association
  15. ↑ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes
  16. ↑ The IQ Delta
  17. ↑ Multiple references:
  18. ↑ Rimer, Sara (January 18, 2011). "Study: Many college students not learning to think critically". The Hechinger Report. Reprinted at McClatchyDC website/News/Nation-World/National.
  19. ↑ Vedder, Richard (April 5, 2011). "The higher education bubble". Forbes website/Sites/CCAP.
  20. ↑ Comparison of Partisan Bias in Liberals and Conservatives by Peter H. Ditto, Brittany S. Liu, Cory J. Clark, Sean P. Wojcik, Eric E. Chen, Rebecca H. Grady, Jared B. Celniker, and Joanne F. Zinger, Perspectives on Psychological Science, May 31, 2018
  21. ↑ Reading Too Much Political News Is Bad for Your Well-Being by Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic, 2020
  22. ↑ Ground News
  23. ↑ "Smoking gun proof that there is an atheist media bias" (July 17, 2008). YouTube video, 2:56, posted by Atheism Sucks! Retrieved on July 25, 2014.
  24. ↑ "Smoking gun proof that there is an atheist media bias" (July 17, 2008). YouTube video, 2:56, posted by Atheism Sucks! Retrieved on July 25, 2014.
  25. ↑ The Crusade Against Faith, Media Research Center, 2012
  26. ↑ What Is the Value of Freethought
  27. ↑ http://onegoodmove.org/fallacy/exclus.htm
  28. ↑ Study Exposes Atheist Dogma by [[Eric Hovind]
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 (2011) Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, lix-lxii. ISBN 978-0375714498. 
  30. ↑ Conservatives tend to be more resilient and have better self-control
  31. ↑ http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/conservatives_more_liberal_giv.html
  32. ↑ Why Do Conservatives Report Being Happier Than Liberals? The Contribution of Neuroticism, Journal of Social and Political Sociology
  33. ↑ Trump’s win is causing a surge in demand for mental health services, Marketwatch 2016
  34. ↑ Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes By Vladimir Gel'man
  35. ↑ Regional elections in Russia: instruments of authoritarian legitimacy or instability? by Cameron Ross, Palgrave Communications volume 4, Article number: 75 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-018-0137-1
  36. ↑ Ranking of Countries by Quality of Democracy
  37. ↑ How the Sausage is made - literally
Retrieved from "https://conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Essay:_Why_I_prefer_to_get_my_news_from_a_wide_variety_of_sources&oldid=2042685"