A discussion on the validity of information sources

[Aragorn]

	Mod note: The following discussion was split off from the "[Disinformation] Wisest Woman On Earth, Found imo" thread.

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Now you are making no sense Aragorn, in fact i will allow you the option of going over your above post before further commenting, hint = you completely debunked yourself.

Not dissagreeing with you, am saying you are in a big said by you facet, TOTally agreeing with her, do you see this now on reflection ???.

I don't see where I would be contradicting myself, Vern.

What I was saying is that this woman was originally on the right path — having become a scientist and helping people — until she allowed her mind to become corrupted by the lure of a career in politics, and especially so, politics of the far-right persuasion. From that moment on, she let conspiracy theories and political ambitions prevail over her education and common sense. She went from being a scientist to becoming an anti-scientific conspiracy theorist.

As such, no, I am most definitely not agreeing with her.

[Aianawa]

Okay, you realizzze what you said that was in common regards the two of you = pollytics.

[Aragorn]

Okay, you realizzze what you said that was in common regards the two of you = pollytics.

Yes, but...:

• I myself completely left politics behind me in 2010, and I was never even an active member of the party — I was only a supporting member. She is an active politician.

• The party that I was a member of was moderately left-wing — actually, left-wing libertarian, to be precise — whereas the Irish Freedom Party that she is a member of is an ultra-nationalist far-right party.

So there's a huge difference.

Think of it this way...: dolphins and sharks both live in the oceans, and both have highly streamlined bodies with pectoral and dorsal fins, but while sharks are highly evolved fish, dolphins are mammals descending from land-dwelling animals.

See what I mean?

[Dreamtimer]

Whatever is wrong with the msm, and it's different problems for different outlets, that does not magically make the alternative correct. The alternative could be even more wildly askew. If something goes against the mainstream, it could be just as much shite.

Which is why critical thinking is so important. That and education. Education doesn't teach you 'the truth', it gives you information and thinking skills which are used throughout life. People who are raised in strict communities where you aren't allowed to question have great difficulties with critical thinking. Those brain pathways weren't well developed. But they can be.

I've been led down the garden path by more than one 'expert' in the alternative world. Humans dole out BS in all arenas, not just the mainstream. I have to be willing to tell myself something was wrong and move on.

Being a dolphin in a sea of sharks is a strange experience.

[Aianawa]

TOTally agree DT, imo also there be few sharks and mostly us dolphins, sharks appear happy in pollytics and more rite brained places or emotionless etc avenues imo, like verballlly tarring nfeathering.

[Dreamtimer]

The problem with ignoring politics is that policy still comes out of it. Policy which regular people have to live with. And when you just let the sharks keep having their way, everyone gets screwed.

So you have to get involved. It's like eating in a kitchen you never cook in but buy food for. Not smart. You gotta get your hands dirty and cook.

So at least folks should vote and be informed. Because the cray cray religious zealots think the rest of us are demons. As they are saying openly. They don't give a shit about due process. They've been chanting about locking people up and hanging people.

Maybe they'll ask questions later, after the damage is done and blood is in the water.

I'm not down with that so I'll fight within the system before they completely eff it up.

[Fred Steeves]

Whatever is wrong with the msm, and it's different problems for different outlets, that does not magically make the alternative correct. The alternative could be even more wildly askew. If something goes against the mainstream, it could be just as much shite.

Amen to that! Alternative does not = more accurate, just different. It can be more accurate (it's not hard to do), and in some cases it can be much more accurate, but there's a ton of BS to sift through in order to find it.

Which is why critical thinking is so important. That and education. Education doesn't teach you 'the truth', it gives you information and thinking skills which are used throughout life.

I was never really taught critical thinking skills in school, mostly a lot of memorization, which in large part looking back is why I wound up hating school and feeling trapped there come high school. They taught me what to think, now how to think. The latter came way on down the road when it was time to start learning it on my own.

The problem with ignoring politics is that policy still comes out of it. Policy which regular people have to live with. And when you just let the sharks keep having their way, everyone gets screwed.

So you have to get involved. It's like eating in a kitchen you never cook in but buy food for. Not smart. You gotta get your hands dirty and cook.

While true enough, the problem is the other party could easily win every national election by simply delivering for the people the way Roosevelt did; instead, they choose to pretty much ignore that, and their time and energy is wasted on nothing but fighting the other party. "They're bad, so vote for us!"

Rather than: "This is how we're going to make your life better!".

Either way the people get left behind, as those in both parties line their pockets along the way, while actually serving only their rich donors and corporate interests.

That's why people drop out of the political scene, or even roll the dice on a fake populist like you know who.

[Wind]

I was never really taught critical thinking skills in school, mostly a lot of memorization, which in large part looking back is why I wound up hating school and feeling trapped there come high school. They taught me what to think, now how to think. The latter came way on down the road when it was time to start learning it on my own.

Same with me and eventually I no longer could tolerate schools. Schools certainly did teach certain helpful things, but critical thinking wasn't among them. Naw man, you are not supposed to question anything that the official sources say. Only later thanks to philosophy and psychology too I actually learned how to think outside the box. In fact I would argue that philosophy was one of the most handy tools I ever got to have in life and I was only self-taught in that, school never taught me any of that. Although schools are supposed to educate people, they still make people fit into a certain kind of mold. Yet I was always the square peg. I suppose my bad experiences in school and rebellious anti-authority mentality helped with that. If people would know how to apply critical thinking skills both to msm and alternative media then they would actually get closer to the truth. If you blindly believe either one then you will be mislead. For the most part politicians are the ultimate bullshit sellers although there are some exceptions. The system will not tolerate them very well though.

[Aianawa]

Just from our posts here on thread, most believe that politicians are mostly corrupted or on the way to this due to their countries system, and schools are brainwashing on the governments behalf, not sure of others governments but ours pays tens of millions atm each year to media ( cannot make this up ), how long you gonna last as a real investigative journalist who comes across everdance of naughtyness ???.

Feel so much more to add but while most here are on the same page ( not often lol ) it is nice to be shoulder to shoulder.

[Dreamtimer]

Not all politicians are bad. Just a whole crapload of them.

[Aianawa]

Beautifullll 00.00 post DT.

[Aianawa]

As we live in times that from seeing of late both alternative and mainstream an obvious amount of corruption in politics , how much does that ripple to other governing posts like media-medicine-army,navy,airforce-education-justice etc etc ???. Or does it not ripple ?, we hear of the swamp regards Washington DC, is it really ?, would things have been better had Clinton won ?, or Trumo in 2020 ?.

[Emil El Zapato]

As we live in times that from seeing of late both alternative and mainstream an obvious amount of corruption in politics, how much does that ripple to other governing posts like media-medicine-army,navy,airforce-education-justice etc etc ???. Or does it not ripple ?, we hear of the swamp regards Washington DC, is it really ?, would things have been better had Clinton won ?, or Trumo in 2020 ?.

Clinton is a possibility, but she's pretty much set in stone, The Fool's Gold One is less than a zero, and Biden is like the kid's finger in the dike. Critical to understanding is that most politicians with a shred of decency limit their own power and influence to maintain a balance which is why Demos are always losing. One authoritarian like the Fool's Gold One can do untold harm.

[Aianawa]

If politicians are corrupt BNP, who be their corruptors ???.

[Aragorn]

If politicians are corrupt BNP, who be their corruptors ???.

In my own opinion (and experience), the lobbyists, the sponsors, and the politicians' own career ambitions. Oh, and peer pressure of course — it is absolutely taboo to go in against the party line.