Is the media designed to keep us stupid and angry?

[Dans La Lune]

I'm not using 'designed' in a conspiracy theorist sort of way. More like the media is packaged for what is perceived to be dumb audience, which ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in that it makes us dumb. We can't navigate political differences because the media tells us we can't. The media packaging machine doesn't give the audience any credit whatsoever. It's assumes we can't understand nuanced or complicated issues. So we get one side versus the other, in very black and white, almost child-like terms. Is it any wonder we're divided?

I think Trump and Bernie pull from the same underlying premise. The system is broken, the processed media is not telling it straight, we're being told when to be outraged, we're getting ripped off from any angle and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight without foundational change. The difference, IMO, is that I think Trump is a con artist and Bernie is legit and sincere.

On the conservative media spectrum, I do feel that it's more deliberate. Cultural anxiety is stoked over economic issues because the right-wing has convinced their base that the only thing they're allowed to have is their culture, which is always on the verge of slipping away. When's the last time your [insert conservative media source] has touted Trump's tax cuts or healthcare agenda?

 

[Mycroft]

I'm not using 'designed' in a conspiracy theorist sort of way. More like the media is packaged for what is perceived to be dumb audience, which ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in that it makes us dumb. We can't navigate political differences because the media tells us we can't. The media packaging machine doesn't give the audience any credit whatsoever. It's assumes we can't understand nuanced or complicated issues. So we get one side versus the other, in very black and white, almost child-like terms. Is it any wonder we're divided?

I think Trump and Bernie pull from the same underlying premise. The system is broken, the processed media is not telling it straight, we're being told when to be outraged, we're getting ripped off from any angle and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight without foundational change. The difference, IMO, is that I think Trump is a con artist and Bernie is legit and sincere.

On the conservative media spectrum, I do feel that it's more deliberate. Cultural anxiety is stoked over economic issues because the right-wing has convinced their base that the only thing they're allowed to have is their culture, which is always on the verge of slipping away. When's the last time your [insert conservative media source] has touted Trump's tax cuts or healthcare agenda?

Sounds to me like you are the media's audience.

 

[Slartibartfast]

I'm not using 'designed' in a conspiracy theorist sort of way. More like the media is packaged for what is perceived to be dumb audience, which ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in that it makes us dumb. We can't navigate political differences because the media tells us we can't. The media packaging machine doesn't give the audience any credit whatsoever. It's assumes we can't understand nuanced or complicated issues. So we get one side versus the other, in very black and white, almost child-like terms. Is it any wonder we're divided?

I think Trump and Bernie pull from the same underlying premise. The system is broken, the processed media is not telling it straight, we're being told when to be outraged, we're getting ripped off from any angle and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight without foundational change. The difference, IMO, is that I think Trump is a con artist and Bernie is legit and sincere.

On the conservative media spectrum, I do feel that it's more deliberate. Cultural anxiety is stoked over economic issues because the right-wing has convinced their base that the only thing they're allowed to have is their culture, which is always on the verge of slipping away. When's the last time your [insert conservative media source] has touted Trump's tax cuts or healthcare agenda?

Every watch the movie Network from the 70s?

That is pretty much how the more biased media outlets work (except the movie hams it up a bit)

 

[TheParser]

1. The media are designed to entertain us.

a. That is why there is always "breaking news."


2. Because of the Internet, print media are toast.

3. So media must do everything possible to get eyeballs for their Web publications.

a. The New York Times, for example, was going broke. Then the 2016 election produced an unlikely winner in the person of Donald J. Trump. The Times saw an opportunity to stay in business by becoming the media leader of the Resistance. Reportedly, its digital subscriptions are doing very well, indeed.


4. Most journalists nowadays are college graduates, having been duly indoctrinated by liberal professors. It is only natural that they let their liberal biases affect their "reporting."


5. There are no impartial news sources in our country and to be honest, there probably never have been.

6. Take everything you read or hear with a grain of salt. Many journalists -- like many other human beings -- are ignorant, misinformed, or simply liars.

 

[Rickeroo]

I'm not using 'designed' in a conspiracy theorist sort of way. More like the media is packaged for what is perceived to be dumb audience, which ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in that it makes us dumb. We can't navigate political differences because the media tells us we can't. The media packaging machine doesn't give the audience any credit whatsoever. It's assumes we can't understand nuanced or complicated issues. So we get one side versus the other, in very black and white, almost child-like terms. Is it any wonder we're divided?

I think Trump and Bernie pull from the same underlying premise. The system is broken, the processed media is not telling it straight, we're being told when to be outraged, we're getting ripped off from any angle and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight without foundational change. The difference, IMO, is that I think Trump is a con artist and Bernie is legit and sincere.

On the conservative media spectrum, I do feel that it's more deliberate. Cultural anxiety is stoked over economic issues because the right-wing has convinced their base that the only thing they're allowed to have is their culture, which is always on the verge of slipping away. When's the last time your [insert conservative media source] has touted Trump's tax cuts or healthcare agenda?

I'd say yes. The media is capitalist, and we're more likely to purchase if we're stupid or angry, like when a woman is depressed she'll go shopping to make herself feel better. I'll admit that every item I've posted about on this board (save for one) was generated by the media, and isn't conducive to my mental well-being.

Although I voluntarily expose myself to the trash that is the media, I do take some comfort in being able to call it trash. It's like drinking rum all night and cursing it as you drink.

 

[marke]

I'm not using 'designed' in a conspiracy theorist sort of way. More like the media is packaged for what is perceived to be dumb audience, which ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in that it makes us dumb. We can't navigate political differences because the media tells us we can't. The media packaging machine doesn't give the audience any credit whatsoever. It's assumes we can't understand nuanced or complicated issues. So we get one side versus the other, in very black and white, almost child-like terms. Is it any wonder we're divided?

I think Trump and Bernie pull from the same underlying premise. The system is broken, the processed media is not telling it straight, we're being told when to be outraged, we're getting ripped off from any angle and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight without foundational change. The difference, IMO, is that I think Trump is a con artist and Bernie is legit and sincere.

On the conservative media spectrum, I do feel that it's more deliberate. Cultural anxiety is stoked over economic issues because the right-wing has convinced their base that the only thing they're allowed to have is their culture, which is always on the verge of slipping away. When's the last time your [insert conservative media source] has touted Trump's tax cuts or healthcare agenda?

Stability in thought comes from trusting God for wisdom and guidance, not the media.

 

[bongsaway]

Stability in thought comes from trusting God for wisdom and guidance, not the media.

Whose god? I should trust something I've never seen, felt or heard. Good one.

 

[Thoreau72]

I'm not using 'designed' in a conspiracy theorist sort of way. More like the media is packaged for what is perceived to be dumb audience, which ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in that it makes us dumb. We can't navigate political differences because the media tells us we can't. The media packaging machine doesn't give the audience any credit whatsoever. It's assumes we can't understand nuanced or complicated issues. So we get one side versus the other, in very black and white, almost child-like terms. Is it any wonder we're divided?

I think Trump and Bernie pull from the same underlying premise. The system is broken, the processed media is not telling it straight, we're being told when to be outraged, we're getting ripped off from any angle and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight without foundational change. The difference, IMO, is that I think Trump is a con artist and Bernie is legit and sincere.

On the conservative media spectrum, I do feel that it's more deliberate. Cultural anxiety is stoked over economic issues because the right-wing has convinced their base that the only thing they're allowed to have is their culture, which is always on the verge of slipping away. When's the last time your [insert conservative media source] has touted Trump's tax cuts or healthcare agenda?

It's OK to embrace your inner CT. In truth we're all CT, but some keep tricking themselves into believing otherwise.

Hell yes the media is designed to misinform its readers and listeners. Until the internet came along, the television set was the best propaganda tool ever devised. The media as we know it is meant to shape out thinking.

Here is what Freud's nephew Edward Bernays had to say about it. It's not rocket science, just well known human behavior: "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of."

Too true.

 

[ElChupacabra]

I'm not using 'designed' in a conspiracy theorist sort of way. More like the media is packaged for what is perceived to be dumb audience, which ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in that it makes us dumb. We can't navigate political differences because the media tells us we can't. The media packaging machine doesn't give the audience any credit whatsoever. It's assumes we can't understand nuanced or complicated issues. So we get one side versus the other, in very black and white, almost child-like terms. Is it any wonder we're divided?

I think Trump and Bernie pull from the same underlying premise. The system is broken, the processed media is not telling it straight, we're being told when to be outraged, we're getting ripped off from any angle and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight without foundational change. The difference, IMO, is that I think Trump is a con artist and Bernie is legit and sincere.

On the conservative media spectrum, I do feel that it's more deliberate. Cultural anxiety is stoked over economic issues because the right-wing has convinced their base that the only thing they're allowed to have is their culture, which is always on the verge of slipping away. When's the last time your [insert conservative media source] has touted Trump's tax cuts or healthcare agenda?

No, I don't think it's designed that way per se. It creates content and runs with whatever gets the most ratings, which is why the viewer is an active participant in what's played on media networks. The one thing to keep in mind though, is that ratings are based on segments of the population so what those ratings participants enjoy watching is what will dominate the air waves. There's certainly a strategy around content creation, but by and large it's centered around generating ad sales dollars; and that's based on ratings.

The 24 hour news cycle upped the ante when it comes to having content to air; the pressure to do so has created this environment of sensationalism. You're not going to draw in viewers with news in the model of C-Span. While C-Span is informative, it isn't entertaining. People want to be entertained even when it's content that isn't necessarily "entertainment". A perfect example of this is The Weather Channel. They went from purely informational content to all flash and sensationalism. Media does its research to know us based on what we like to watch then creates content accordingly; as a general rule at least.

 

[Fenton]

I'm not using 'designed' in a conspiracy theorist sort of way. More like the media is packaged for what is perceived to be dumb audience, which ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in that it makes us dumb. We can't navigate political differences because the media tells us we can't. The media packaging machine doesn't give the audience any credit whatsoever. It's assumes we can't understand nuanced or complicated issues. So we get one side versus the other, in very black and white, almost child-like terms. Is it any wonder we're divided?

I think Trump and Bernie pull from the same underlying premise. The system is broken, the processed media is not telling it straight, we're being told when to be outraged, we're getting ripped off from any angle and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight without foundational change. The difference, IMO, is that I think Trump is a con artist and Bernie is legit and sincere.

On the conservative media spectrum, I do feel that it's more deliberate. Cultural anxiety is stoked over economic issues because the right-wing has convinced their base that the only thing they're allowed to have is their culture, which is always on the verge of slipping away. When's the last time your [insert conservative media source] has touted Trump's tax cuts or healthcare agenda?

Is the media designed to keep us stupid and angry ? Only if you let it

A rule that I've employed for many years is to never become emotionally invested in anything that's beyond my control.
So the media can hype all they want, I don't really care

 

[Fenton]

I'd say yes. The media is capitalist, and we're more likely to purchase if we're stupid or angry, like when a woman is depressed she'll go shopping to make herself feel better. I'll admit that every item I've posted about on this board (save for one) was generated by the media, and isn't conducive to my mental well-being.

Although I voluntarily expose myself to the trash that is the media, I do take some comfort in being able to call it trash. It's like drinking rum all night and cursing it as you drink.

I would rather have a media run by Capitalist than a media run by the State any day

 

[LouC]

Every watch the movie Network from the 70s?

That is pretty much how the more biased media outlets work (except the movie hams it up a bit)

So the movie falsely portrayed media, but it convinced you that what they portrayed was "pretty much" how "more biased" media works.

:lamo

 

[Thoreau72]

I would rather have a media run by Capitalist than a media run by the State any day

Rejoice! In this country for the most part you have both! The Mockingbird is singing full-throat the government and corporate agenda.

 

[Evilroddy]

I'm not using 'designed' in a conspiracy theorist sort of way. More like the media is packaged for what is perceived to be dumb audience, which ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in that it makes us dumb. We can't navigate political differences because the media tells us we can't. The media packaging machine doesn't give the audience any credit whatsoever. It's assumes we can't understand nuanced or complicated issues. So we get one side versus the other, in very black and white, almost child-like terms. Is it any wonder we're divided?

I think Trump and Bernie pull from the same underlying premise. The system is broken, the processed media is not telling it straight, we're being told when to be outraged, we're getting ripped off from any angle and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight without foundational change. The difference, IMO, is that I think Trump is a con artist and Bernie is legit and sincere.

On the conservative media spectrum, I do feel that it's more deliberate. Cultural anxiety is stoked over economic issues because the right-wing has convinced their base that the only thing they're allowed to have is their culture, which is always on the verge of slipping away. When's the last time your [insert conservative media source] has touted Trump's tax cuts or healthcare agenda?

Dans la Lune:



Cheers.
Evilroddy.

 

[Oborosen]

I'm not using 'designed' in a conspiracy theorist sort of way. More like the media is packaged for what is perceived to be dumb audience, which ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in that it makes us dumb. We can't navigate political differences because the media tells us we can't. The media packaging machine doesn't give the audience any credit whatsoever. It's assumes we can't understand nuanced or complicated issues. So we get one side versus the other, in very black and white, almost child-like terms. Is it any wonder we're divided?

I think Trump and Bernie pull from the same underlying premise. The system is broken, the processed media is not telling it straight, we're being told when to be outraged, we're getting ripped off from any angle and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight without foundational change. The difference, IMO, is that I think Trump is a con artist and Bernie is legit and sincere.

On the conservative media spectrum, I do feel that it's more deliberate. Cultural anxiety is stoked over economic issues because the right-wing has convinced their base that the only thing they're allowed to have is their culture, which is always on the verge of slipping away. When's the last time your [insert conservative media source] has touted Trump's tax cuts or healthcare agenda?

I think the media is getting desperate, the mainstream media groups at least. Because they're currently losing their standing in the public light and they're losing ground when set up against the independent media online.

So I think they're mostly throwing up whatever they can to either keep us engaged with their material, or to keep us angry and tuned in.

 

[slick]

Is the media designed to keep us stupid and angry?

Just look at Trrump's recent success 'ISIS Abu Al-Baghdadi was killed last night near the Syrian–Turkish border.'
Trump DID NOT NOTIFY All Congressional Leaders: “We Decided Not to Because Washington Leaks – Washington is a Leaking Machine”

IMO you could notify the Russians, the Turks and the Iraqis with this but not congressional democrats. Let that sink in

 

[chuckiechan]

I'm not using 'designed' in a conspiracy theorist sort of way. More like the media is packaged for what is perceived to be dumb audience, which ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in that it makes us dumb. We can't navigate political differences because the media tells us we can't. The media packaging machine doesn't give the audience any credit whatsoever. It's assumes we can't understand nuanced or complicated issues. So we get one side versus the other, in very black and white, almost child-like terms. Is it any wonder we're divided?

I think Trump and Bernie pull from the same underlying premise. The system is broken, the processed media is not telling it straight, we're being told when to be outraged, we're getting ripped off from any angle and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight without foundational change. The difference, IMO, is that I think Trump is a con artist and Bernie is legit and sincere.

On the conservative media spectrum, I do feel that it's more deliberate. Cultural anxiety is stoked over economic issues because the right-wing has convinced their base that the only thing they're allowed to have is their culture, which is always on the verge of slipping away. When's the last time your [insert conservative media source] has touted Trump's tax cuts or healthcare agenda?

What is going on now is too much news, especially cable news, is dependent on sensationalism. Anchors and talking heads as well as management are more concerned with views than truth. It better to present un attributed leaks as truthful reporting to gin up confidence in your particular brand. They wont sacrifice boring attributable truth for a sensational unattributable fabrication.

You can be sure, as soon as impeachment flames out, they will hatch something else. Like a heroin addict, their advertising revenues are their lifeline - nothing else matters.

 

[What if...?]

I'm not using 'designed' in a conspiracy theorist sort of way. More like the media is packaged for what is perceived to be dumb audience, which ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy in that it makes us dumb. We can't navigate political differences because the media tells us we can't. The media packaging machine doesn't give the audience any credit whatsoever. It's assumes we can't understand nuanced or complicated issues. So we get one side versus the other, in very black and white, almost child-like terms. Is it any wonder we're divided?

I think Trump and Bernie pull from the same underlying premise. The system is broken, the processed media is not telling it straight, we're being told when to be outraged, we're getting ripped off from any angle and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight without foundational change. The difference, IMO, is that I think Trump is a con artist and Bernie is legit and sincere.

On the conservative media spectrum, I do feel that it's more deliberate. Cultural anxiety is stoked over economic issues because the right-wing has convinced their base that the only thing they're allowed to have is their culture, which is always on the verge of slipping away. When's the last time your [insert conservative media source] has touted Trump's tax cuts or healthcare agenda?

Conservative media began a full court press on managed narratives with Gingrich and his "words republicans should not use and words they should. This is directly from cognitive linguistics. His "no republican should ever speak ill of another republican" bit is a propaganda technique designed to make it look like Republicans are always right.

The left adopted these techniques later.

George Lakoff a big name in cognitive linguistics tried to teach liberals how to counter "framing".

He gave up when the democrats just wanted him to teach them how to do it themselves.

I witnessed it happening on MSNBC. Which was originally just news from a liberal perspective. Confirmation bias but not active persuasive messaging.

Then I caught Maddow taking a conservative speaker out of context to make it appear he was saying something he clearly wasn't. I knew this because it had already been hashed out here, like most breaking news is.

I watched for a couple of days looking for a retraction of some kind. When none materialized I stopped watching MSNBC.

The "media" have become propaganda arms for the "teams" competing for who gets to feed off of us first and who has to make do on the shriveled husks.

At this point in time the only difference between the neoliberal corporatist parties is care and feeding of the livestock and I suspect that comes mostly from businesses that depend on American paychecks for their profits rather than any sense of decency and respect for their fellow man .

 

[What if...?]

Stability in thought comes from trusting God for wisdom and guidance, not the media.

Please don't have him send the bears to rip us up for making fun of your god-king, okay?

 

[What if...?]

It's OK to embrace your inner CT. In truth we're all CT, but some keep tricking themselves into believing otherwise.

Hell yes the media is designed to misinform its readers and listeners. Until the internet came along, the television set was the best propaganda tool ever devised. The media as we know it is meant to shape out thinking.

Here is what Freud's nephew Edward Bernays had to say about it. It's not rocket science, just well known human behavior: "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of."

Too true.

MaggieD, rest her soul, posted a list of ways to tell if you are being propagandized shortly before we lost her.

The first entry was "If you have an immediate, strong emotional reaction to any subject, be suspiscious."

 

[chuckiechan]

Is the media designed to keep us stupid and angry?

Just look at Trrump's recent success 'ISIS Abu Al-Baghdadi was killed last night near the Syrian–Turkish border.'
Trump DID NOT NOTIFY All Congressional Leaders: “We Decided Not to Because Washington Leaks – Washington is a Leaking Machine”

IMO you could notify the Russians, the Turks and the Iraqis with this but not congressional democrats. Let that sink in

Let this sink in. In shared battlespace you let people know to stay alway so they don’t get in the way and become collateral damage. If you aren’t the target you are simply told “we have an operation going on”. They get it. We don’t want to kill Russians accidentally.

I don’t blame Trump. Things are so toxic in the House, someone would have tipped off someone and got good men killed just to damage Trump. Plus, there is no guarantee Pelosi or her staff would not leak it to Schiff.

Yeah. It has come to that.

 

[marke]

Please don't have him send the bears to rip us up for making fun of your god-king, okay?

OK. Deal. Just don't blaspheme God and mock His children. That makes Him angry.

 

[What if...?]

OK. Deal. Just don't blaspheme God and mock His children. That makes Him angry.

Don't need a petty tyrant for a god.

You can keep him.

 

[marke]

Don't need a petty tyrant for a god.

You can keep him.

You will need God if you are to escape hell.

 

[Thoreau72]

MaggieD, rest her soul, posted a list of ways to tell if you are being propagandized shortly before we lost her.

The first entry was "If you have an immediate, strong emotional reaction to any subject, be suspiscious."

RIP MaggieD. I didn't realize she had passed.

Holy Cow, among many/most of the posters here, and immediate and strong emotional reaction is prevalent and common. What does that mean?

Appeals to emotion are common and warmly received here, far more than appeals to reason and analysis.

I think The Donald has offered and encouraged strong emotional reaction this weekend, with descriptions of dying like a dog. And it was well received by the media and viewers it seems. Most of this Christian country are rejoicing with the news (true or not) of the violent demise of Baghdadi, rather like the similar event Barack gave us with the legend of Abbottabad.

Let's justify that Global War Of Terror.