I’m Running Out of Ways to Explain How Bad This Is | What’s happening in America today is something darker than a misinformation crisis. - eviltoast
  • BaroqueInMind@lemmy.one
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    64
    arrow-down
    9
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    The article mentions people are willing to suspend their belief in understandingthe truth in order to further their “team” or party objective, but I think this whole thing is simply foreign adversaries vying to destroy us from within by sowing contempt and spreading lies on social media and news outlets.

    Occam’s Razor.

    • floofloof@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      45
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      Occam’s Razor would suggest this is largely a domestic problem, perhaps exacerbated by foreign adversaries but far from being all their work.

    • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      29
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      Por que no los dos?

      A meek, terrified populace is ripe fruit for the picking for actors both internal & external.

    • foggy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      2 months ago

      I think it’s been foreign adversaries meddling with our politics. Our whole country knows we need to be spending a lot more on public education. It’s not a mystery. Ask anybody who’s been in a public school.

      And then with the grip that social media has on our masses, The ease with which social media silos us into a weird kind of social affirmation tunnel vision platform that essentially brainwashes us.

      If you’re a foreign adversary that’s already meddling in the United States politics, it’s a hop skip and a jump to start meddling in their private sector. In fact it’s quite a lot easier id imagine.

      • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        If you’re a foreign adversary that’s already meddling in the United States politics, it’s a hop skip and a jump to start meddling in their private sector.

        You don’t need any scary duplicitous foreigners for that, our own billionaires, are quite transparent about their desire and actions to “reform” education by channeling money from public schools to voucher schools. Bill Gates alone had put >10 billion into privatizing schools in America between ~2008 and ~2018., and haven’t stopped.

        Russia buying $40,000 worth of FB ads is an utter drop in the bucket next to the oceans of influence our own billionaires/corporations legally exercise.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        10
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        we need to be spending a lot more on public education.

        That probably won’t help much, until USA becomes more socially responsible overall.
        The evidence is VERY clear, your chances of doing well in education decline dramatically with greater social problems.

        • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 months ago

          your chances of doing well in education decline dramatically with greater social problems.

          And that’s because we don’t spend enough on education… If the schools could provide sufficient support for all their students, then it wouldn’t just be the ones with means who succeed.

          The suggestion that spending more on schools won’t fix a whole lot of problems, that’s just ridiculous. It’s pretty obvious, but it’s also demonstrably untrue. For instance, it’s well documented that smaller classrooms result in better outcomes for students. If schools could afford more teachers, they could have smaller classrooms. Similarly, better and newer materials result in better outcomes. And like in any field, paying higher salaries can attract a higher caliber of employee, so higher pay for teachers would also mean better teachers. As it is, public school teachers need a master’s degree and you can’t really expect teachers to spend more time in college racking up debt when they can only hope to pay it off after 30 years of teaching, you know unless they made more money.

    • hobovision@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      Isn’t occams razor the idea that it’s stupidity, not malice?

      You explain two types of “malice” - one which is primarily driven by a lack of critical thinking and another which is an intentionally planned attack.

      Occams razor would say the former is more likely. You may have well said “fuck occams razor I believe it’s Russian bots”