If being against the "everything" part, but admitting that there are indeed rackets and obviously many want to influence the public discourse (and those with money have more ability to do it) is a bit too complicated, well, sorry. — ssu
several large mainstream publications, in complicity with politicians of both major political parties
The effect is the manufactured consent
News media are helping to shape public opinion
Two white men frame what they think is rational, deeming any questioning of their stand as irrational.
the official death toll
Were they having a collective day off? — Isaac
What is absurd about it?, I just find the position absurd. You admit that "there are indeed rackets and obviously many want to influence the public discourse (and those with money have more ability to do it)", but then want to argue that sometimes they...just don't. — Isaac
You don't see the obvious illogicality in everything is a racket? — ssu
What is absurd about it? — ssu
So would I say that RT lies all the time? Of course not. — ssu
Is everything about it a lie? — ssu
And many news and media companies have this bias towards their country. In fact, their readers and viewers often do also. I can be rather sure that if/when the Finnish television reports on a Finnish company having problems with a third world government, they will likely be supportive of the view of the Finnish company and be skeptical about the third world officials making complaints.No one is suggesting the media always lie. But in your example its clear the objective is to favour Russia. That fact that the truth happened to do that on any given occasion is irrelevant to understanding the message the media deliver because had the crowd not been that way, the message would have been the same, all that would have changed would be the degree of manipulation required to get to it. — Isaac
Is he or she informed enough to notice what is true or not? — ssu
If BLM blockaded the US capital NOS would be singing a different tune.*
Just more ingroup-outgroup posturing.
I love when you foam at the mouth. — NOS4A2
No, they don't.How? All of the information most people get is from media of some description, so using their prior 'knowledge' (from previous media reports) to discern bias in current media reports is just question-begging. — Isaac
Books, documentaries, studies, seminars, lectures. — ssu
now it's so easy to circumvent the journalist just by looking up the actual documents, listen to what the politicians actually have said, not the points that a journalist has selected to pick up and made an interpretation of his or her own about it. — ssu
Or are you seriously of the opinion that whilst the unrivalled lobbying power of the largest organisations the world's ever seen has dominated the notoriously powerful mass media, but they've somehow met their match at a handful of tweed-suited university deans and the barely functional management of the main academic journals? — Isaac
Yet the discourse has been framed unhelpfully as a meaningless oversimplification: “masks work” versus “masks don’t work.” — Russell and Patterson
Yet the discourse has been framed unhelpfully as a meaningless oversimplification: “masks work” versus “masks don’t work.” — Russell and Patterson
Should be something like: masks can help (when used right). — jorndoe
We do our best to figure things out bona fides, like the truth of the matter for example :ghasp:, and take it from there. — jorndoe
• How efficient are facial masks against COVID-19? Evaluating the mask use of various communities one year into the pandemic (Jul 21, 2021) — jorndoe
Studies suggest the use of masks mainly in the healthcare facilities...Optimum use of face masks with additional precautions has been found to be useful controlling the spread of the respiratory viruses
• Surgical masks reduce COVID-19 spread, large-scale study shows (Sep 1, 2021) — jorndoe
• (meta) Do face masks work? Here are 49 scientific studies that explain why they do (Sep 17, 2021) — jorndoe
• Why We Need to Upgrade Our Face Masks—and Where to Get Them (Sep 30, 2021) — jorndoe
• What’s the best MASK to protect me from the Delta variant? (Oct 6, 2021) — jorndoe
• An Ocean Away, I Found Some Common Sense on Mask Wearing (Oct 12, 2021) — jorndoe
• How well masks protect (Dec 2, 2021) — jorndoe
• Face mask fit modifications that improve source control performance (Dec 15, 2021) — jorndoe
• N95, KN95 Or Cloth Masks? What To Wear To Best Protect Against Omicron (Jan 10, 2022) — jorndoe
• What Do Masks Do to Kids? (Feb 7, 2022) — jorndoe
the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence; just because there is no research showing something exists doesn’t mean it’s not happening. And there are few long-term studies on masks and development because we’ve only been wearing them widely in the United States for two years or so
• Children and COVID-19: State-Level Data Report — jorndoe
those notoriously powerful mass media or the "unrivalled lobbying power of the largest organisations" aren't so insuperable as you portray them.
It's not them, it is up to yourself to make up your mind! — ssu
I’m well aware that the government can invent crimes and violate its charter of rights and freedoms. I’m just saying it’s wrong and tyrannical to do so. — NOS4A2
Nobody is a gospel of truth. And since a global pandemic hit us, it's totally understandable that there are errors, overreactions and misguided attempts as there also can be successful decisions. Good example of this is how totally different was the response in Sweden compared to other Nordic or European countries. A totally different response on the lockdown issue simply shows that these aren't things that are "right" or "incorrect". And the Swedes are totally happy with the path that their social democrat government put them. Even if the deaths were a little bit higher in Sweden, they weren't all that higher at all.Right. So you'd agree with me, on this topic, then, that the presentation of data from the CDC, FDA, journals, experts etc. should not be presented as if it were gospel truth, but rather as contributions to be critiqued like any other (within the bounds of our prior knowledge)? — Isaac
That can indeed have happen, because I also don't find an obvious disagreement here.Because it seems you've been arguing the opposite in the past, though I may have misinterpreted. — Isaac
Who's 'we' here? — Isaac
This is the [...] — Isaac
I can't access this site — Isaac
evidence and concluding that, for you, masks are the best bet — Isaac
like the truth of the matter for example :gasp: — jorndoe
it's downright irresponsible when there's a public health emergency that needs a serious clear-headed response. — Isaac
something like: masks can help (when used right). — jorndoe
I also don't find an obvious disagreement here. — ssu
We is euphemistically anyone operating bona fides. Aren't you? (Like concern for each other?) — jorndoe
Not sure why anyone would call that pathetic — jorndoe
It's a social thing. I'm not aware of many masking up when on their own. You honestly think you live in a different world, however it works doesn't apply to you? — jorndoe
(Maybe go back to covering the scandals?) — jorndoe
Why do you complain about the self-evident truth, and insist that it's somehow "wrong"? What qualifies as a "crime" is what the government dictates is a crime. Isn't that self-evident to you? And that dictation must be allowed to change with an evolving society. Or do you think that the original laws, those of Draco or something like that, should persist unchanged, forever and ever, dictated to never be allowed to change?
I think you have things backward. To make a "charter" which forces the government to adhere in a fixed way, to some dictate which would cripple its capacity to "invent crimes" is what is tyrannical. In reality, the government needs to be able to "invent crimes" faster than the criminals can act them out. But as you correctly indicate, giving a government the power which it needs, to properly govern an evolving society, is fraught with disagreement, therefore very problematic. And it's a problem which obviously has not been solved.
Unfortunately, Canada’s charter of rights and freedoms has served only as a small hurdle to its tyranny. Rather than outright prohibit people from freedom of movement, it forces the airlines to enforce rigid restrictions, and travellers to undergo harsh quarantine measures at their own expense. Rather than enforce its discriminatory policies against those who refuse Pfizer vaccines, it forces the private citizen to do it. Rather than freeze and steal the contents of someone’s bank account, it forces the banks to do it. It gets around violating its own charter by forcing those who are not beholden to it to do it for them. — NOS4A2
something like: masks can help (when used right).
On the other hand, dissidents crippling moving forward is irresponsible, especially in public health, especially with a situation on our hands. (Some dissidents stop listening to others, while insisting that others must hear them.) — jorndoe
Had some careless anti-masker infected my aging parents, then I'd be rather unhappy. — jorndoe
How on earth would you know? — Isaac
Had some careless anti-masker infected my aging parents, then I'd be rather unhappy. Wouldn't you be? — jorndoe
Since when did public health policy become - "we'll mandate something and if anyone happens to turn up some data that it's harmful we'll stop". what on earth happened to 'Do No Harm'? — Isaac
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