Posted on Jan 15, 2017
Secret WWI telegram holds lessons for today, historians say
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It seems as if the subtle propaganda war has begun. This article is from the AP. Is the Associated Press trying to tell us that the information in the PI report from Orbis BI is factual and we should accept that?
Note the following paragraph: ""If you have an environment where the truth becomes optional, like we're kind of facing today, once you're in that environment it becomes difficult to break out of it," he said. "People refuse to believe the truth because they can't tell the difference.""
Note the following paragraph: ""If you have an environment where the truth becomes optional, like we're kind of facing today, once you're in that environment it becomes difficult to break out of it," he said. "People refuse to believe the truth because they can't tell the difference.""
Secret WWI telegram holds lessons for today, historians say
Posted from msn.com
Election 2016
Fraud
Intelligence
Propaganda
Posted 8 y ago
Responses: 1
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The article raises a number of important questions, the Russian hacking and attempted manipulation of public opinion is only the least of it. One of the more telling quotes is this, "People refuse to believe the truth because they can't tell the difference." That is the huge problem of our day.
None of this would have worked on us thirty to fifty years ago, but since then we have become a nation that is weak in the mind. Too willing to believe any comfortable story as long as it allows us to avoid facing hard truths. It wasn't too long ago that we revered science, revered intellectualism, it in many ways was our golden age, though still imperfect.
Now we've replaced it with populism, anti-education and anti-intellectualism because that's how you can manipulate people if you happen to be at the top of the heap. Every man for himself and a world where people think that greed is good. The rich get richer, mobility between the classes stops and the wealthy elite freeze in their status as being rich and powerful for themselves and their children at the expense of the majority of the populace. But hey, at least we don't have to face anything that is uncomfortable to what we want to believe.
None of this would have worked on us thirty to fifty years ago, but since then we have become a nation that is weak in the mind. Too willing to believe any comfortable story as long as it allows us to avoid facing hard truths. It wasn't too long ago that we revered science, revered intellectualism, it in many ways was our golden age, though still imperfect.
Now we've replaced it with populism, anti-education and anti-intellectualism because that's how you can manipulate people if you happen to be at the top of the heap. Every man for himself and a world where people think that greed is good. The rich get richer, mobility between the classes stops and the wealthy elite freeze in their status as being rich and powerful for themselves and their children at the expense of the majority of the populace. But hey, at least we don't have to face anything that is uncomfortable to what we want to believe.
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SSG Robert Webster
SPC Kevin Ford - Really sad that you can not see and wish for someone to point them out:
1. Misdirection - Inserting Climate Change into the discussion.
2. Your first paragraph started with hacking and ended with the quote, so what is the truth behind the hacking?
3. For you as a trained intel analyst you know what misdirection is, a bit disingenuous also. And that is a logical argument.
4. Your last paragraph except for the last sentence is all communist/socialist dogma. I left out fascist, sorry about that. The current argument surrounding the "Rich get richer" thesis is based on "the Law of Increasing Poverty" by Karl Marx among others. And it is quite interesting that Populism, anti-education, and anti-intellectualism are hallmarks of both the extreme left and the extreme right. What it boils down to is statism - a system in which the state (or church) has substantial centralized control over social and economic affairs. Sounds like modern communism/socialism/fascism or modern Christianity to me. Seems like I have enemies all the way around.
1. Misdirection - Inserting Climate Change into the discussion.
2. Your first paragraph started with hacking and ended with the quote, so what is the truth behind the hacking?
3. For you as a trained intel analyst you know what misdirection is, a bit disingenuous also. And that is a logical argument.
4. Your last paragraph except for the last sentence is all communist/socialist dogma. I left out fascist, sorry about that. The current argument surrounding the "Rich get richer" thesis is based on "the Law of Increasing Poverty" by Karl Marx among others. And it is quite interesting that Populism, anti-education, and anti-intellectualism are hallmarks of both the extreme left and the extreme right. What it boils down to is statism - a system in which the state (or church) has substantial centralized control over social and economic affairs. Sounds like modern communism/socialism/fascism or modern Christianity to me. Seems like I have enemies all the way around.
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MSgt James Mullis
We have replaced a thoughtful educated population with an indoctrinated population. An indoctrinated person hears or reads something from an "expert" and assumes it is correct. An educated person takes what he heard or read than researches the subject and makes a knowledge based conclusion rather than parroting what they heard.
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SPC Kevin Ford
SSG Robert Webster - I started with "The article raises a number of important questions, the Russian hacking and attempted manipulation of public opinion is only the least of it. " I then went on to start talking about the important point I thought the article brought up, which obviously wasn't hacking, it is about inability to tell fact from fiction. That's what "least of" means, in my view hacking was the least important question the article brought up. The most important question the article brought up is how people analyze information and determine what is true, that's the quote. Global warming and its source is the most common and obvious example of that I can think of for that phenomenon. You can argue with me about what I meant but since I wrote it I'm pretty sure I know what I meant. I've been making that point in different threads here at Rally Point for weeks at least..
The increase of income inequality has been all over the news for quite some time now, As are the statistics on the gathering of wealth to the top 1% and the shrinking middle class. That's real, it's a real problem we need to face. It is not some socialist/communist boogey man. I also don't have to go too far to find complaints about the overeducated "liberal elites" or attacks on science so I feel I'm on solid ground with the idea that there is anti intellectualism and an anti education sentiment.
As far as enemies all around, we're having a friendly political discussion on a board for fellow vets. We may not agree but I don't think there are any enimies here.
The increase of income inequality has been all over the news for quite some time now, As are the statistics on the gathering of wealth to the top 1% and the shrinking middle class. That's real, it's a real problem we need to face. It is not some socialist/communist boogey man. I also don't have to go too far to find complaints about the overeducated "liberal elites" or attacks on science so I feel I'm on solid ground with the idea that there is anti intellectualism and an anti education sentiment.
As far as enemies all around, we're having a friendly political discussion on a board for fellow vets. We may not agree but I don't think there are any enimies here.
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SPC Kevin Ford
MSgt James Mullis - That's certainly true but there is another side of that coin too. We also have to be cognizant that as mankind's understanding of the world gets more complex, our personal ability to evaluate certain things without years of careful study may be illusory.
For example, when I used to commute I listened to books on tape. One I remember listening to was Stephen Hawkings "A Brief History of Time". While I found it fascinating I didn't have the years background study in astro physics to really evaluate it. There are lifetimes worth of study to really understand all the scientific fields and then when you get into enginneering fields there are lifetimes more of study.
What I'm trying to say is, I agree we should go to source information and make judgements and there are a lot of areas depending on our backgrounds where we can credibly do that. But we also have to be careful when disagreeing with "experts" that we have enough background to evaluate it in a meaningful way, particularly when we get into some fields like science and engineering. If a hardware engineer starts discussing computer chip design theory with me, I'm probably going to have to bow out of that one. :)
For example, when I used to commute I listened to books on tape. One I remember listening to was Stephen Hawkings "A Brief History of Time". While I found it fascinating I didn't have the years background study in astro physics to really evaluate it. There are lifetimes worth of study to really understand all the scientific fields and then when you get into enginneering fields there are lifetimes more of study.
What I'm trying to say is, I agree we should go to source information and make judgements and there are a lot of areas depending on our backgrounds where we can credibly do that. But we also have to be careful when disagreeing with "experts" that we have enough background to evaluate it in a meaningful way, particularly when we get into some fields like science and engineering. If a hardware engineer starts discussing computer chip design theory with me, I'm probably going to have to bow out of that one. :)
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