Fighting for “Consensual Reality”

 

Now there’s talk of de-platforming conservative cable news programs. Is anyone surprised? Former Facebook executive Alex Stamos spoke on CNN on Sunday, and is “fighting for the people” in protesting the right-wing programs:

And then we have to figure out the OANN and Newsmax problem that these companies have freedom of speech, but I’m not sure we need Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, and such to be bringing them into tens of millions of homes. This is allowing people to seek out information if they really want to, but not pushing it into their faces I think is really where we’re going to have to go here.

I’m sorry to share a quotation that is slightly incoherent, but I think the gist of his comment is that he wants to respect freedom of speech, except he doesn’t. And he appears to want people to find information they are interested in, except that companies like Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast shouldn’t be providing it.

Okay.

The bottom line is that the Left will probably be trying to go after conservative TV programs, although they may go after the cable providers to do so. Do they have the power to take that step? Probably not, but when has violating legal protections ever stopped the Left?

Stamos referred to the conservative news programs as a “sealed ecosystem,” although I think he has some projection going on. He also spoke about OANN and Newsmax challenging Fox News:

They can do that both on cable. They can do it online, and that becomes a huge challenge in figuring out how do you bring people back into the mainstream of fact-based reporting and try to get us back into the same consensual reality.

(Italics mine)

I think all of us would greatly appreciate fact-based reporting, but not the kind of consensual reality that Mr. Stamos is talking about.

What do you think?

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There are 49 comments.

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  1. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Right.  The left claims we conservatives are out to get them, to suppress them, to spy on them and the media – yet that’s exactly what they do to us (and in some cases, even their own).

    • #1
  2. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    The challenge with facts is that they have to be “ordered. “. This is where the problem with censoring facts comes in. If you don’t like the way someone is ordering the facts, you censor the facts themselves?! 

    • #2
  3. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Stad (View Comment):

    Right. The left claims we conservatives are out to get them, to suppress them, to spy on them and the media – yet that’s exactly what they do to us (and in some cases, even their own).

    You can be sure they will be especially spying on their own, Stad. Now that they have the power, they don’t want to waste it or have anyone getting in their way. Their lack of self-reflection is mind-blowing.

    • #3
  4. Joker Member
    Joker
    @Joker

    If conservative news is all misinformation, they’d be refuting it. That’s actually a lot easier than censoring it. 

    You’re right, that guy needs a mirror. 

     

    • #4
  5. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    Does it matter?
    The media is much like the election machinery – once 42% of all media platforms are relentlessly Left wing oriented, most Americans will not do a single thing other than surrender. They want to fit in, to be seen as conventional.

    Most Americans want to observe the rule that once a matter is labelled as being a “Conspiracy Theory,” well then the matter is finalized as being off limits as far as further discussion.

    So now we are a nation in which we are going to see a war enacted against the populace.

    Where we conservatives had Trump acting as a fire shield between us and the totality of the Cra Cra of the Left, there will be a void.

    Hold tight – it is not going to be a fun ride.

    • #5
  6. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    I think that only tyrants object to free speech.

    If Mr. Stamos doesn’t know that, at least he intuits it, and it hurts his feelings.

    • #6
  7. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Rodin (View Comment):

    The challenge with facts is that they have to be “ordered. “. This is where the problem with censoring facts comes in. If you don’t like the way someone is ordering the facts, you censor the facts themselves?!

    Of course not, silly fellow. Facts are facts, they will tell you. <sarc. off>

    • #7
  8. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Joker (View Comment):

    If conservative news is all misinformation, they’d be refuting it. That’s actually a lot easier than censoring it.

    You’re right, that guy needs a mirror.

     

    That is an excellent point, @joker! Where are their refutations? Oh, but then they’d prefer to just attack us. So much less work.

    • #8
  9. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):
    Most Americans want to observe the rule that once a matter is labelled as being a “Conspiracy Theory,” well then the matter is finalized as being off limits as far as further discussion.

    You’re right, @caroljoy. Just label it a conspiracy and they can just move on. According them, we sure are a creative bunch in making this stuff up, aren’t we?

    • #9
  10. KCVolunteer Lincoln
    KCVolunteer
    @KCVolunteer

    Does Mr. Stamos project much?

    There is plenty my cable provider offers that I’m only vaguely aware of, because I have no interest in it. Is that what he means by pushing it in my face? Maybe it’s that I have to pay for it even though I don’t watch it. That applies to CNN too. More so in places such as airports, where CNN is on everywhere, and I have to go out of my way to avoid it, or suffer.

    Is he advocating to fix all these problems? If he’s consistent he is.

    • #10
  11. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    KCVolunteer (View Comment):
    Is he advocating to fix all these problems? If he’s consistent he is.

    I would especially love for him to take CNN out of airports! Otherwise, I expect he’s not going to help us out much. He has bigger fish to fry. Thanks, KCVolunteer. 

    • #11
  12. Mim526 Inactive
    Mim526
    @Mim526

    Clip from same appearance:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/DailyCaller/status/1350867883753091076

    CNN banner says “How To Cover Extremism Without Amplifying It”.  It used to be extreme in the United States to want to silence opposing opinions. We were free to speak our minds and expect even fellow Americans who disagreed with us to defend our right to do so.

    I plan to continue reminding my fellow Americans of our freedoms.

    • #12
  13. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Susan Quinn: Stamos referred to the conservative news programs as a “sealed ecosystem,” although I think he has some projection going on.

    Yep.

    • #13
  14. David Foster Member
    David Foster
    @DavidFoster

    One of the largest cable providers in the US is Comcast, which owns NBC/MSNBC.  They might like to get rid of a significant competitors for both business and political reasons.

    Similarly with AT&T (which provides cable services in some areas) and its ownership of CNN.

    • #14
  15. Samuel Block Support
    Samuel Block
    @SamuelBlock

    Another brilliant idea from the people who brought us the beloved We Have To Do Something! series. 

    And I do think this election has made a lot of us on the Right a little kookier than normal, but OH MY! What a horrible idea. I can’t think of a better way to make a bad situation worse. There’s a reason I stopped watching after We Have To Do Something 4 – Revenge of The College Kids. It started getting stale, plus at the time, profoundly fortunate young people lecturing the less fortunate seemed like a bit of a stretch…  Now the series looks like it’s collapsing into self-satire. 

    And while I’m still on my bloated cinematic franchise analogy, I wonder if America’s desire to redo the 70s means we’ll get another motion picture Renaissance. 

    • #15
  16. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    The first step is to consent to reality. Respond to facts and logic and not merely to the culturally dominant narrative.

    Which brings us back to Kipling.

    Of course, the left would sooner die than consent to any reality not under the control of human will.

    And, in some cases, will sooner die.

    Which brings us back, again, to Kipling.

    https://ricochet.com/871766/youre-a-better-man-than-i-am-gunga-din/#

    • #16
  17. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    The first step is to consent to reality. Respond to facts and logic and not merely to the culturally dominant narrative.

    Which brings us back to Kipling.

    Of course, the left would sooner die than consent to any reality not under the control of human will.

    And, in some cases, will sooner die.

    Which brings us back, again, to Kipling.

    https://ricochet.com/871766/youre-a-better-man-than-i-am-gunga-din/#

    Isn’t that fascinating how my post and @she’s complement each other, St. A? Well, great minds . . . referring to Kipling, of course.

    • #17
  18. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Isn’t that fascinating how my post and @she’s complement each other, St. A? Well, great minds . . . referring to Kipling, of course.

    Which is quite enough. Who has time for original thoughts?  I want good thoughts, not original thoughts.

    • #18
  19. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    The first step is to consent to reality. Respond to facts and logic and not merely to the culturally dominant narrative.

    Which brings us back to Kipling.

    Of course, the left would sooner die than consent to any reality not under the control of human will.

    Of course, not all reality is independent of human will.  (William James is a great explainer of these matters.)

    • #19
  20. carcat74 Member
    carcat74
    @carcat74

    Question:  who or what is Ricochet’s platform? Are we in danger of being ‘de-voiced’? I have noticed my site for multiple conservative sites (New Revere Top 100 sites for 2020-not updated yet) has been unavailable for at least 2 days—“unable to connect”.  Makes me go hmmmmmm……

    • #20
  21. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    carcat74 (View Comment):

    Question: who or what is Ricochet’s platform? Are we in danger of being ‘de-voiced’? I have noticed my site for multiple conservative sites (New Revere Top 100 sites for 2020-not updated yet) has been unavailable for at least 2 days—“unable to connect”. Makes me go hmmmmmm……

    https://ricochet.com/868307/big-tech-0-ricochet-1/

    • #21
  22. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    “Differences of opinion should be tolerated but not when they’re too different. . . “

    • #22
  23. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    I think the more shocking part of the interview, is at the start where he compares republican congressmen to ISIS.

    With a world view that is so completely warped, he’d never understand why or how anyone who disagrees with him.

    • #23
  24. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):
    With a world view that is so completely warped, he’d never understand why or how anyone who disagrees with him.

    I agree. I don’t know how it’s possible, either, but the rhetoric is getting nastier and more hyperbolic every day. And it appears that it’s not just about Trump or the “Right” but every one of us who is a conservative. I’m very concerned.

    • #24
  25. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):
    With a world view that is so completely warped, he’d never understand why or how anyone who disagrees with him.

    I agree. I don’t know how it’s possible, either, but the rhetoric is getting nastier and more hyperbolic every day. And it appears that it’s not just about Trump or the “Right” but every one of us who is a conservative. I’m very concerned.

    I thought 2016 was nasty. The 2020 election was kind of a relief in a way – that it was so quiet. I guess Joe Biden is already breaking his promise. There is no going back to normal.

    • #25
  26. Steve C. Member
    Steve C.
    @user_531302

    Susan Quinn:

    Stamos referred to the conservative news programs as a “sealed ecosystem,” although I think he has some projection going on. He also spoke about OANN and Newsmax challenging Fox News:

    They can do that both on cable. They can do it online, and that becomes a huge challenge in figuring out how do you bring people back into the mainstream of fact-based reporting and try to get us back into the same consensual reality.

    (Italics mine)

    I think all of us would greatly appreciate fact-based reporting, but not the kind of consensual reality that Mr. Stamos is talking about.

    What do you think?

    It was better in the original German.

    • #26
  27. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    It seems like from the 60s to present day, each time Conservatives pushed back on Leftist dogma, all that we heard were screams of McCarthyism!  

    It appears that we’re not in Kansas anymore…

    • #27
  28. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):
    Which brings us back, again, to Kipling.

    I don’t know about Gunga Din, an eminently worthwhile poem. But The Gods of the Copybook Headings more aptly describe our times.

    For your pleasure. Pay close attention to stanzas 5, 6, and 7,

    The Gods of the Copybook Headings

    AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,
    I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
    Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
    And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

    We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
    That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
    But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
    So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

    We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
    Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
    But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
    That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

    With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
    They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
    They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
    So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

    When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
    They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
    But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
    And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.”

    On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
    (Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
    Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
    And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “The Wages of Sin is Death.”

    In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
    By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
    But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
    And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”

    Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
    And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
    That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
    And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

    As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
    There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
    That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
    And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

    And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
    When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
    As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
    The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

    • #28
  29. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Instugator (View Comment):

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):
    Which brings us back, again, to Kipling.

    I don’t know about Gunga Din, an eminently worthwhile poem. But The Gods of the Copybook Headings more aptly describe our times.

    Indeed. That was the very poem I was getting at. In the link there, however, it didn’t come up until somewhere in the comments.

    For your pleasure. Pay close attention to stanzas 5, 6, and 7,

    The Gods of the Copybook Headings

    . . .

    Yep.

    • #29
  30. David March Coolidge
    David March
    @ToryWarWriter

    I dont like to comment on the ravings of clearly a deranged lunatic, who should be driven from polite society.

    • #30
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