Things That Make You Go Hmmm…

 

I wonder if there are any Democrat voters out there today wondering to themselves, “Hmmm…  I read The New York Times and watch CNN every day.  To stay informed.  But as it turned out, I was misinformed about the Duke Lacrosse players, the Russian collusion thing, the Covington kids, the Kavanaugh accusations, Jussie Smollett, and a bunch of other stuff.  I even went to some protests and carried some signs before later finding out that I had gotten bad information.  From those that I seek information from.  I wonder if, just perhaps, I’m being misinformed about this Rittenhouse thing?  If so, I wonder if I should reconsider where I get my information?  Hmmm…”

For some reason, I suspect that very few Democrats are contemplating the foundation of their worldview, despite repeated and obvious evidence that perhaps they are making decisions based on flawed information.

Perhaps I’m wrong.  Perhaps something will happen that will open their eyes to their own deception.  Perhaps this Rittenhouse trial will be that something.  It could be, I suppose.  Right?

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  1. Doug Kimball Thatcher
    Doug Kimball
    @DougKimball

    “Stop confusing me.  I’m a good person (even if I am privileged) and I get my news from the nice outlets, not the mean outlets.  You’re mean.  I feel threatened.  Go away.  Someone make them go away!”

     

    • #1
  2. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Dr. Bastiat: I wonder if there any Democrat voters out there today wondering to themselves, “Hmmm…  I read The New York Times and watch CNN every day.  To stay informed.  But as it turned out, I was mis-informed about the Duke Lacrosse players, the Russian collusion thing, the Covington kids, the Kavanaugh accusations, Jussie Smollett, and a bunch of other stuff.  I even went to some protests and carried some signs before later finding out that I had gotten bad information.  From those that I seek information from.  I wonder if, just perhaps, I’m being mis-informed about this Rittenhouse thing?  If so, I wonder if I should reconsider where I get my information?  Hmmm…”

    I’m guessing that if they do exist, their numbers are low. Statistically zero.

    We even have so-called “conservatives” who believed all of that. And some of them still do.

    • #2
  3. MWD B612 "Dawg" Member
    MWD B612 "Dawg"
    @danok1

    Dr. Bastiat: Perhaps I’m wrong.  Perhaps something will happen that will open their eyes to their own deception.  Perhaps this Rittenhouse trial will be that something.  It could be, I suppose.  Right?

    Eh, maybe. But I wouldn’t bet the mortgage money on it. Hell, I wouldn’t bet my pocket change on it.

    • #3
  4. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    I expect that many of them remain unaware that they were misinformed. They still believe the Duke lacrosse players raped a woman, Donald Trump collided with the Russian government, kids from Covington bullied an old man, Kavanaugh abused girls and young women, Smollett was attacked by white supremacists, etc. Their news sources have buried the actual facts,, and so the readers/viewers have no reason to go, “Hmmm . . . .” 

    I had an extended discussion with a friend who is pretty well read on the news, but as I found out knows nothing about Covi other than what the CDC says.

    • #4
  5. Blondie Thatcher
    Blondie
    @Blondie

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    I expect that many of them remain unaware that they were misinformed. They still believe the Duke lacrosse players raped a woman, Donald Trump collided with the Russian government, kids from Covington bullied an old man, Kavanaugh abused girls and young women, Smollett was attacked by white supremacists, etc.

    And that’s just the people who used to call themselves Republicans…

    Doug Kimball (View Comment):

    “Stop confusing me. I’m a good person (even if I am privileged) and I get my news from the nice outlets, not the mean outlets. You’re mean. I feel threatened. Go away. Someone make them go away!”

     

    I have had these very words said to me by the few friends I have that consider themselves Democrats. I’m sure I’m not alone. 

    • #5
  6. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    I had an extended discussion with a friend who is pretty well read on the news, but as I found out knows nothing about Covi other than what the CDC says.

    Yep. I talked with a co-worker a couple months ago who had never even heard of the theory that the pandemic was the result of a lab leak in Wuhan. He had no idea.

    • #6
  7. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    I expect that many of them remain unaware that they were misinformed. They still believe the Duke lacrosse players raped a woman, Donald Trump collided with the Russian government, kids from Covington bullied an old man, Kavanaugh abused girls and young women, Smollett was attacked by white supremacists, etc. Their news sources have buried the actual facts,, and so the readers/viewers have no reason to go, “Hmmm . . . .”

    I had an extended discussion with a friend who is pretty well read on the news, but as I found out knows nothing about Covi other than what the CDC says.

    That is my take of it.  The know the original story and maybe the follow up but very little about the ending.  Most get their info from the headlines and maybe the first paragraph of something.  They seldom do follow up, once the narrative is set they get “opinions” and that is it.  Anybody’s disagreement is just proof of how informed they are and how stupid the other side is.

    • #7
  8. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    I expect that many of them remain unaware that they were misinformed. They still believe the Duke lacrosse players raped a woman, Donald Trump collided with the Russian government, kids from Covington bullied an old man, Kavanaugh abused girls and young women, Smollett was attacked by white supremacists, etc. Their news sources have buried the actual facts,, and so the readers/viewers have no reason to go, “Hmmm . . . .”

    I had an extended discussion with a friend who is pretty well read on the news, but as I found out knows nothing about Covi other than what the CDC says.

    That is my take of it. The know the original story and maybe the follow up but very little about the ending. Most get their info from the headlines and maybe the first paragraph of something. They seldom do follow up, once the narrative is set they get “opinions” and that is it. Anybody’s disagreement is just proof of how informed they are and how stupid the other side is.

    I never watch the TeeVee news, but I was visiting my mother on Sunday, and she had ABC news on, and . . . it was just a firehose of COVID fear. I was shocked. So I’m not surprised that we have people in our congregation who are still afraid to come back to church.

    • #8
  9. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Bari Weiss, Tim Pool and Joe Rogan are examples of more and more people seeking information from independent media. 

    • #9
  10. Franco Member
    Franco
    @Franco

    It’s what people want to believe. 

    Tell me a bedtime story daddy ( or mommy)

    Lets go to the movies and watch Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts meet, fall in love, break up then find each other again and live happily ever after.

    They want to believe these things, and you telling them it’s fiction spoils all their fun.

    But for another take on this I suggest people watch my recent post featuring Joe Rohan, Tim Pool, Michael Malice, and yes, Alex Jones along with the guy Fernandez who witnessed the Kenosha riots and reported on them and testified at the Rittenhouse trial. Collectively these guys have more people watching them than CNN MSNBC, and Fox combined. They are at the very center of all of this stuff.

    • #10
  11. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    I expect that many of them remain unaware that they were misinformed. They still believe the Duke lacrosse players raped a woman, Donald Trump collided with the Russian government, kids from Covington bullied an old man, Kavanaugh abused girls and young women, Smollett was attacked by white supremacists, etc. Their news sources have buried the actual facts,, and so the readers/viewers have no reason to go, “Hmmm . . . .”

    I had an extended discussion with a friend who is pretty well read on the news, but as I found out knows nothing about Covi other than what the CDC says.

    That is my take of it. The know the original story and maybe the follow up but very little about the ending. Most get their info from the headlines and maybe the first paragraph of something. They seldom do follow up, once the narrative is set they get “opinions” and that is it. Anybody’s disagreement is just proof of how informed they are and how stupid the other side is.

    I never watch the TeeVee news, but I was visiting my mother on Sunday, and she had ABC news on, and . . . it was just a firehose of COVID fear. I was shocked. So I’m not surprised that we have people in our congregation who are still afraid to come back to church.

    Yes, I had to take regular TV away from MOM and remove her news apps.  She was so twisted up with the news BS.  Left her streaming and epaper but she has to go to it to read it and it is not constantly shoved into her eyes.  She is much happier.  

    • #11
  12. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Check out this quip from our own Ricochetti. 

    • #12
  13. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    I should learn how to read better. When I first saw the OP headline I thought it said, “Thinks that make you go human.” 

    • #13
  14. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    I should learn how to read better. When I first saw the OP headline I thought it said, “Thinks that make you go human.”

    Once you go human, you never go back.

    • #14
  15. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    The media is not a good source for the truth, and this includes the so-called fact check’s from the media:

    “Modern man is staggering and losing his balance because he is being pelted with little pieces of alleged fact . . . which are native to the newspapers; and, if they turn out not to be facts, that is still more native to the newspapers.” – GK Chesterton

    As Kierkegaard wrote:
    “The lowest depth to which people can sink before God is defined by the word “Journalist”. If I were a father and had a daughter who was seduced, I should not despair over her; I would hope for her salvation. But if I had a son who became a journalist and continued to be one for five years, I would give him up.”

    An old problem indeed.

    • #15
  16. Columbo Inactive
    Columbo
    @Columbo

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    I had an extended discussion with a friend who is pretty well read on the news, but as I found out knows nothing about Covi other than what the CDC says.

    Yep. I talked with a co-worker a couple months ago who had never even heard of the theory that the pandemic was the result of a lab leak in Wuhan. He had no idea.

    CNN viewers …

    • #16
  17. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Columbo (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    I had an extended discussion with a friend who is pretty well read on the news, but as I found out knows nothing about Covi other than what the CDC says.

    Yep. I talked with a co-worker a couple months ago who had never even heard of the theory that the pandemic was the result of a lab leak in Wuhan. He had no idea.

    CNN viewers …

    CNN isn’t a news source. It is a news sink.

    • #17
  18. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    I should learn how to read better. When I first saw the OP headline I thought it said, “Thinks that make you go human.”

    Once you go human, you never go back.

    That is my most fundamental disagreement with the Ricochetti. Our humanity is something we should transcend. 

    • #18
  19. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    That is my most fundamental disagreement with the Ricochetti. Our humanity is something we should transcend.

    Yabbut look at all the trouble the Ancients caused when they transcended and left all their Stargates behind.

    • #19
  20. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Who needs facts when you have the warm embrace of The Narrative? Thinking is hard and lonely.  

    • #20
  21. Jim McConnell Member
    Jim McConnell
    @JimMcConnell

    Percival (View Comment):

    Columbo (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    I had an extended discussion with a friend who is pretty well read on the news, but as I found out knows nothing about Covi other than what the CDC says.

    Yep. I talked with a co-worker a couple months ago who had never even heard of the theory that the pandemic was the result of a lab leak in Wuhan. He had no idea.

    CNN viewers …

    CNN isn’t a news source. It is a news sink.

    I like that. Maybe a new motto for CNN: Where the news goes to die.(?)

    • #21
  22. Henry Racette Member
    Henry Racette
    @HenryRacette

    The appeal to authority fallacy is seductive; there’s a great deal of security in it, as Old Bathos suggests in #20.

    Choosing to get your news from one of the left-approved news sources (CNN, NYT, NPR) while rejecting conservative alternatives as “misinformation” is a kind of appeal to authority. My suspicion is that these folks will read the tepid corrections, when and if they arrive, and accept the non-apology apologies as evidence of honesty and integrity, and thus redouble their faith in the approved organs of legitimate narrative.

    • #22
  23. Doug Kimball Thatcher
    Doug Kimball
    @DougKimball

    These people are presented as the wisest of the wise, virtual Alex Trebecs, but without the cards.  We know that they are reading a teleprompter, but they present things so sincerely and so easily, even they believe that these are their thoughts, that what they say represents their knowledge and ideas.  Of course so much is said over and over, much of what they say becomes what they believe.  But the actual copy comes from a cadre of Liberal operatives, who take their cues from swamp connected sources who provide the context and when needed, the spin.  When someone comes up with something pithy or frothy, that appropriately places Trump (or W, HW, RR, Ford, Nixon) in a poor light or that supports a current pro-Liberal narrative, then they all pick it up and regurgitate it like a momma Tern feeding her fledglings.  That’s why they all seem to use the same metaphors and phrasing (it might be clever once, but not 20 times on competing networks) over and over.  

    Let’s face it, they are legends in their own minds.  Any member of Ricochet could destroy them in a debate in under 30 seconds.  The news is the news, echoing across the networks; even Tucker, Sean and Laura largely cover the same topics.  But at least the Fox line-up is willing to fess up when they err, retract and apologize.  The others?  They just let the news cycle drown out their mistakes.  They embrace the narrative as long as it suits, even when it is proven false.  So Trump is still a Russian asset, Hunter is a genius, Brandon accumulated all his wealth by investing in the Senate 403B plan, Jill is a doctor and Obama will always be the smartest man in every room he occupies. 

    • #23
  24. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Pew has a thing showing which media is considered mainstream and which isn’t.  Does it align with Ricochet’s view?

    • #24
  25. Franco Member
    Franco
    @Franco

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Pew has a thing showing which media is considered mainstream and which isn’t. Does it align with Ricochet’s view?

    The large number of people unaware of some outlets is an answer in itself.

    Why no CBS, NBC, or PBS? Hmmm…

    • #25
  26. Roderic Coolidge
    Roderic
    @rhfabian

    Dr. Bastiat: I wonder if there are any Democrat voters out there today wondering to themselves, “Hmmm…  I read The New York Times and watch CNN every day.  To stay informed.  But as it turned out, I was misinformed about the Duke Lacrosse players, the Russian collusion thing, the Covington kids, the Kavanaugh accusations, Jussie Smollett, and a bunch of other stuff.  I even went to some protests and carried some signs before later finding out that I had gotten bad information.  From those that I seek information from.  I wonder if, just perhaps, I’m being misinformed about this Rittenhouse thing?  If so, I wonder if I should reconsider where I get my information?  Hmmm…”

    Most of these folks never see the information that contradicts their favorite narratives, so I’m sure they remain unaware of the inconsistencies and falsehoods.

    The degree to which different tribes remain in different information silos cannot be overestimated.

    • #26
  27. jonb60173 Member
    jonb60173
    @jonb60173

    I know them and I know they are directed to their next emergency before they can recall the previous one.

    • #27
  28. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Doug Kimball (View Comment):

    “Stop confusing me. I’m a good person (even if I am privileged) and I get my news from the nice outlets, not the mean outlets. You’re mean. I feel threatened. Go away. Someone make them go away!”

    Exactly. They believe ‘our’ networks never tell the truth, and besides that, if someone finds out that they ever listened to such networks, they will lose social standing – something much more terrifying than mere lies. 

    • #28
  29. Dotorimuk Coolidge
    Dotorimuk
    @Dotorimuk

    Rittenhouse isn’t off the hook yet.

    • #29
  30. Ray Gunner Coolidge
    Ray Gunner
    @RayGunner

    Dr. Bastiat: For some reason, I suspect that very few Democrats are contemplating the foundation of their worldview, despite repeated and obvious evidence that perhaps they are making decisions based on flawed information.

    Well said, Doc.

    You got me thinking.  There are Pentecostal ministers in Appalachia with missing fingers who will still be handling snakes at services this Sunday.  There are Democrats in my life who still think the Rosenbergs were framed; that LBJ had JFK killed to perpetuate the war; that 9/11 was an inside job.  No one arrives at these conclusions through informed reason.  These are religious convictions.  It seems to me fingerless Pentecostals and NYT Democrats have this religious characteristic in common: They believe taking their respective sources of information literally–the Gospel of Mark and the New York Times–proves their inner decency to the rest of us.

    • #30
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