This whole election has got me thinking about the history books. We all know victors write them, but I've never had such curiosity about the underdog until now. Has the media always published such demonstrably false info, or is their doubling down something new? Has an unbiased press ever existed? And not just media in the time we've been alive to dissect it, but even the news before we were born. About the empires, the monarchs, etc.
It sounds simplistic but I've not realized before this election how two different groups can have diametrically opposed narratives about what is right and wrong. It's also a bizarre situation to be on the "wrong" side of history (thanks, corrupt gaslighting media) but still know you're right. Have there been other groups in history that were right, but lost the popularity contest? This experience will now compel me to read history books in a very different light, and I think I'll go out of my way to read the other side's opinions/propaganda.
Preemptory remark about WWII: I respect your opinion, but I'm really hoping this doesn't devolve into an anti-Semitic post that disgusting left-leaning think tanks will then use to discredit this whole site.
This whole election has got me thinking about the history books. We all know victors write them, but I've never had such curiosity about the underdog until now. Has the media always published such demonstrably false info, or is their doubling down something new? Has an unbiased press ever existed? And not just media in the time we've been alive to dissect it, but even the news before we were born. About the empires, the monarchs, etc.
It sounds simplistic but I've not realized before this election how two different groups can have diametrically opposed narratives about what is right and wrong. It's also a bizarre situation to be on the "wrong" side of history (thanks, corrupt gaslighting media) but still know you're right. Have there been other groups in history that were right, but lost the popularity contest? This experience will now compel me to read history books in a very different light, and I think I'll go out of my way to read the other side's opinions/propaganda.
Preemptory remark about WWII: I respect your opinion, but I'm really hoping this doesn't devolve into an anti-Semitic post that disgusting left-leaning think tanks will then use to discredit this whole site.
And Smith Mundt Modernization Act of 2014. Boy was that a mistake.
For my sanity I like to believe the media's just gotten way worse since that enables me to trust that the sense of history I've learned is true, but this event made me realize the probabilities assigned to those truths must be recalculated. For ex: I honestly am beginning to wonder if the overthrows of the European/Russian monarchs were not necessarily a good "pro-Democracy" thing as the great Age of Enlightenment thinkers would have us believe.
my impression is it was always left leaning or atleast they did a better job to cover it up , and were more likely to be more balanced.
Social media came and became the way we communicate. So they needed to match the currency of social media with their news coverage.
So hence, what we get is clickbait, ragebait and the like. It now leans heavily left because that side is fucking neurotic and will react crazily and hence more views etc. The more outlandish things have to be to compete.
Thanks, I'm going to look into this.
Yes. They used to call them muck rakers
Short answer: yes
Trump is exposing it for all the world to see.
Once there were various different local news voices, that all had their own particular viewpoints and flavors.
Today it's all the same exact voice, all across the US. That's not so good.
In the day of the newspaper, people read columns and opinion, and there were personalities. But that wasn't the same as the TV news presenter personalities, who are just reading a script and are just actors. The columnists of the past had to think of something to say.
The language used to be more complicated. There were longer words.
It is said that everyone is right-wing about what he knows well, and his views move left the less he is intimately familiar with a subject. Things about which he has only vague hearsay impressions, he is the furthest left about.
About the business he himself is in, and so is his family, and he knows every screw and bolt of, about that, he is a total right-winger.
That doesn't stop him from defining himself as generally left of center. He just makes an exception for things he knows a lot about.
He reads an article about his own business, or an event he was part of, and yells that the newspaper people are idiots. Then, he turns the page, and piously believes everything they say about OTHER businesses and other events. That is called Gell-Mann Amnesia.
Yes. Look up Pulitzer vs. Hearst. "Pulitzer and Hearst are often adduced as a primary cause of the United States' entry into the Spanish–American War due to sensationalist stories or exaggerations of the terrible conditions in Cuba."
Not as obvious but the propaganda has always been there.
No, I don't believe we've ever had a truly unbiased news organization, but rarely have they ever been this blatant about it- or, I should mention, as terribly bad at keeping their credibility as they are now.
History too, isn't exactly accurate. I'm a history buff, and the Ancient stuff is my absolute favorite to read about, but Roman "historians" writing about things that happened hundreds of years ago is certainly not the source that I would choose to use if there was an option of someone who was actually there.
Actually, perhaps Roman history is a very interesting one to look at. In particular, about Emperor Nero. Pretty much any history book you read about him mentions him as a mad, incestuous, murderous, narcissistic tyrant. But more and more historians, looking back, have found that the people of Rome seemed to be pretty fond of him, and his biographers had very close ties to the Senate that very clearly hated the man with a passion considering that they did everything they could to remove any and all influence that Nero had had on policies and the populace once he died.
Now, I don't know if it's true or not, obviously, since I've no access to a time machine, but I can tell you that I'm more inclined to believe that something like that could happen after watching four long years of TDS controlling at least half of our ow politicians.
Here's an archive to a NatGeo article about it, if you'd maybe enjoy giving it a skim: https://archive.is/44gRf
This is great, thank you! I appreciate hearing the perspective of a history buff too, since I recognize my post is not at all profound to any student of history--they're basic, fundamental questions. But I also don't remember ever being taught how to critically analyze such records, and that's one of the many failings of our school system.
Don't underestimate the importance of asking basic questions, my Fren. I tend to find it's usually the basic fundamentals that get skipped over that leads us to these kind of messes in the first place. Common Sense was titled that for a reason, after all, and that was the kick in the ass that we needed as Colonists to pull at least some of our shit together and really make a stand.
Yes, but the internet is so vast that they have lost control of those within it. much as happened to the British empire. It became so vast that they could no longer control every acre they held.
We are seeing the technocratic version of the worlds rebellion against the English crown. Once again, The United States and its free citizens are leading the way. In a major "fuck you" to those that do not believe in American exceptionalism, we are currently proving that we are, in fact, Gods chosen people and rising above their control. We are first, The French and Venezuelans will follow.
The great reset is here and it is a complete rejection of the globalist plan for the world. Patriots, we are literally saving the world from being slaves to the elite.
due to the internet we have constant information at our fingertips. So we swim in propaganda. It is why thedonald.win must exist. It is out of their reach. This is true grass roots rebellion.