Skepticizing the Skeptics: it might not be THAT bad, but it's not great, either

[LHX]

it is a trend now to second-guess messages in the media which seem aimed at evoking some kind of alarm response

this makes a bit of sense

from what i can tell - the most common reason for this has been the fall out from the the airplane - trade center situation

most people i have come across with any type of analytical insight have become at least somewhat more suspicious of media than they were prior to that event

as a brief summary of the situation, we had the following:
1. 'catastrophic' event
2. explanation of catastrophic events from dependable and relied-upon organizations and media sources
3. torrents of reports from a variety of sources that provoked a lot of reason to question the original explanation of events


right now - it seems we are experiencing some kickback from that kickback

and the purpose of this discourse is to give some kickback to the kickback to that original kickback


these days - even tho the 'environmental' trend is still hot (as can be seen in many malls and department stores or TV advertisements), the other trend that is developing is a dismissal of all worries and concerns


with so many people having so much action to information,
and a generation of people raised with the 'Law and Order' mentality of being able to twist and bend arguments
there is not a single shred of 'news' that cant be turned to swiss cheese by the analytical mind

just about 45 minutes ago i saw a book here at the library called 'Are We Scaring Ourselves to Death?'
in the summary on the back it mentioned elements such as how much more efficient our automobiles and technologies are now compared to how they were 30-40 years ago
it also discusses shady tactics that are involved with disseminating health information in regards to foods and products and their potentially harmful repercussions

there is a place for this kind of stuff

but
at a certain point
enough is enough

now - i respect that there are people living in north america and possibly other pockets of the world where they can wake up in the morning, take a look around and feel that everything is ok

- maybe the ice isnt melting
- the war images on tv are distant
- they like that fresh smell of javex-clean

i understand how this is possible

a few months ago - i posted something up about the resilience of youthful bodies and the ability to consume pharmaceuticals that make the body carry on

this understanding is pertinent to this situation

it is possible for certain people to be more tolerant to adverse situations than others

the funny thing with stimulants is that until you feel how they are destroying you - you use them as a fuel source

you live off them




in order to take a reasonable stance on any societal or environmental issue - the smart first step is always to take a inventory of the 24/7 you are living in

with our heads in the clouds, industrialized society was stomping recklessly over the planet
then
the warning came that we could not continue that way or we would be the authors of our own demise
so
we tried to slow down

now
we have been burned by the exposure of false information
and we have become unable to determine just how destructive we are
and for some people
we wonder if we are even destructive at all

now there are some people who seem to feel that it is ok for us to let up a bit


and the portion of the population that seems to believe this also seem to be in positions where they can air this message to a population who would LOVE some positive reinforcement to go back to living a sloppy lifestyle


when i wake up in the morning and take a look at the city
the smog is thicker than it used to be
and i am pretty sure im not hallucinating

when i take the subway in the morning
the perfume that the men and women wear burns

there are places on the planet that is not good for me to go because i have pale skin
not because of anything i did
but
because the society i represent has spelled nothing but bad shit to a lot of people

when i have to piss
there are few places to piss at
and this is a society that would have a individual hold it in

people discuss you when you are not present

almost getting hit by cars is getting on my nerves


there is no slack here

but there IS the appearance of slack


the carefully constructed hairstyle designed to look 'sloppy'

the environmentalist who pollutes the audible environment by not shutting up about how environmental he/she is

the anti-alarmist alarming everybody to not be alarmed by the alarms (wtf?)


no

the opposite of this society is not a lets-hold-hands-cumbayah scenario

it consists of nothing more than respect and a understanding that your output is a segment of somebody else's input
which leads subsequently to what you input next


so
even if by some stroke of good fortune this 'global warming' thing is just a promotional ploy by Gore Corp
using these types of justifications to proceed to live a oppressive, exhaustive and abusive life would be nothing short of begging for some foul shit to happen

[AFK]

This is a stellar segment of my input for today. 

[Cramulus]

You've done a great job here of summing up what I've been feeling for a while. In my frame, the painting looks like this:

I'm politically unaffiliated. Like many people in my demographic I lean mostly towards the left, but I do support several right notions. But I have no attraction for the Left or Right "identity". Honestly, I do much of my voting by die roll. But my beliefs are neither here (left) or there (right).

In recent years, the media has declared all-out war on Prez Bush. It's become an acceptable, dominant form of subversion. I watch the daily show and the colbert report like old women read the bible, and I've been getting sicker and sicker of it. The other day, the moment of zen was some Bush quote. Honestly, I thought what he was saying was reasonable, but when played on a political satire program, the attitude towards it becomes one of mocking. Last week Stewart had McCain on, and I really wanted to hear what McCain had to say, but he couldn't get a word in edgewise past Stewart and his anti-war audience.

Satire Comedy aside, I think we've arrived at a state where the media is unable to report objectively on political matters. The smokescreen is too thick. Opinions, spin, and bias run rampantly over any new developments. Bush could suddenly be possessed by American All Star Abe Lincoln and everybody would still criticize him. Nobody on the left even knows if he's making good decisions because the only coverage they watch reports him as a buffoon.

I'll catch shit for this, but I want to like president bush. Back in the old days, i hear they used to respect the President. And I want to live in that America. I've begun to grumble everytime I hear someone spew shit about how poorly he's leading, when they are just taking cues from the partisan media.

I seem to be getting more and more conservative as time goes on. And its mostly because I'm buried deep in a blue state where everybody hates whats going on and are eager to kick out the current hangman and put their man in his spot so he can make the same fucking errors.



You hit the nail on the head about those environmental issues too. The only evidence of global warming that I've seen is media hype led by someone who's likely running for president in 2012. I'm skeptical, at best. I'm not surprised at all that scientists are finding evidence of global warming when they're searching really hard for it. "What the thinker thinks, the prover proves."


But all this second guessing - where does it leave us? It takes a lot of energy to be skeptical of everything. There seem to be few possible solutions.

1. remain critical all the time
or
2. retreat and live the hermit life

obviously there's some balance between those, but it's a precarious one at best.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

1.

There is real evidence for Global Warming.  I know that isn't what this topic is about, but I just wanted to point that out.  Partly, the fact that rivers and lakes in my part of the country are as low or lower than they have ever been recorded as being, there is less rainfall every year, summer seems longer and more extreme and winter seems shorter and milder ever year, etc. etc.  Which is weird, because I'm deep in probably the reddest state there is, and everybody mentions that "15 years ago we'd be up to our necks in snow all of January," but nobody seems to draw the connection between what's actually going on with their climate and "global warming."

Largely, that's because "climate change" is a "political/media" issue, and they're trained not to allow it to become a "wait a minute.. my climate IS changing" thing.  whatever's responsible for keeping a firm distinction in people's minds between conservative/liberal politics and actual reality, it's been doing a good job of it.

2.

Experience is relative.  We know that, already.  People will not be motivated to care until they are directly affected by something.  The war is just something to talk about or something to pontificate on, unless you've got a personal or family stake in it.  Then it's still something to pontificate on but it's magnified.

Sending the poor to die in battle is a genius thing to do, especially in America(TM).  People are trained to put on the expression of patriotism.  They are also trained that being wrong is a sign of weakness.  Those Americans who stand to lose the most in this war are also the only force in this country capable of putting a definitive, abrupt end to it.  But through the media they are transformed into its strongest supporters.  Questioning the war becomes a betrayal of their own self-worth, and is that much more unlikely for it.

3.

The "fall back asleep when you're done smelling the roses" trend isn't new, especially not in the West, America in particular.  Our society used to be based on liberty.  That was successful, to a point, and because of that, our society is now based on comfort.  Doing the "easy" thing is now the American way, and that isn't sarcasm or cynicism.  It's just the way it is.  The American Way is not the honorable thing, but because historically (even if that's revisionist history) we have been taught that honor is intrinsically American(tm), then everything American is intrinsically Honorable.

4.

Nobody questions the Media.  They question your flavor of the media, but the media itself as a whole is above reproach.  Jon Stewart accuses FOXNEWS of being biased toward the Bush Administration, and he's right.  He makes token criticism of the other outlets as well, but using MSNBC's coverage to cancel out something FOX said is just playing the same game every American is playing.

[Richter]

Well spoken!  
We do have quite a volume of information and urgency shoved at us daily.  News and media being a buisiness, and not a public service, some of this may be intentional.  If you provide a new, interesting taste, you get better addicts.  Ask any peddler of narcotics.  Sounds cynical, but without consumers (viewers, readers, listeners) attention they have nothing.  
In the same way, one could criticize politics as having become a buisiness, but that's a rant that's been made before.  

But all this second guessing - where does it leave us? It takes a lot of energy to be skeptical of everything. There seem to be few possible solutions.

1. remain critical all the time
or
2. retreat and live the hermit life

obviously there's some balance between those, but it's a precarious one at best.

As Jim Bowie said, it's a crooked game, but it's the only game in town.  Though some days the hermit option sounds better and better...

-R

[Jenne]

That's why the truly thinking person is really desperately paranoid and tired all the time.  It takes an ENORMOUS amount of energy to keep it up.  That's also why the old just eventually give up and just bitch.  Because without that escape button, you're just like that cartoon character, running running running while your coattails are caught on a nail, holding you in place.

[Ambassador KAOS]

Relavent thought:

many I would call dullards are addicted to their emotions.  if the governement didn't use this as leverage for control I'd feel that they weren't doing their job and fulling exploiting all avenues.

people that I consider smarter than dullards aren't addicted to their emotions and thus can decide when and how to exploit them for themselves without the government, star magazine or whatever to tell them how.