Why Do You Keep Believing

From the early days of the Iraq invasion in which Saddam must have had WMD’s because the politicians said so, wasn’t that a warning sign that politicians lie? Is “yes well, he might have had” really an excuse for continuing to believe them?

And onto the hysterical shrieking of, “the Russians are killing civilians and old ladies”, despite Amnesty International confirming the Ukrainians have been using civilians in urban areas as human shields to fight behind. Have the estimated six to seven million who have fled Ukraine done so because of Russia, or know that their own side are killing them?

And in between, the attacks in the Middle East as the various ‘monsters’ from oil producing countries who abandoned the petrodollar were toppled. Or the green energy myth that will replace fossil fuels, or the vaccines said to cure a deadly plague which turned out to be flu, or Russians electing US Presidents …

What’s going to be next belief? A climate change lockdown? How long will it take for politicians to convince gullible populations of that one?

In conclusion and if we’re honest, which might be a good starting point:

· Ukraine is not winning a war its losing and its military “evacuees who have fulfilled their combat mission” are actually POW’s being “evacuated” to detention centers.

· Ukrainian Nazi militias were being reported by western media as far back as 2014.

· Men dressed in women’s clothes are not women and can’t get pregnant.

· The Chinese economy will not collapse unless they allow Wall Street to plunder it.

· Personal beliefs and opinions are not necessarily facts and are often far removed from reality.

 

We knew politicians lied well before this example. For the life of me I don't know why there are people who will believe anything certain politicians/presidents say.

 

I just find it surprising that a minority still believe what they read in the media is true and present what they read as something they’ve discovered, which is actually what someone else said. I'd dearly like to read something someone thinks in their own words.

 

I've asked people in real life whether they believe the media and gotten statements that they don't believe anything they read in the paper.

I then asked why they read the newspaper and the reply was 'to keep up on what's going on in the world'.

 

Looking at your OP and this post, I find it ironic that you, apparently, don't see the irony.

 

There are quite a few unbiased, or mostly unbiased, news sources out there, they just don't make the evening news feeds. Here's a list:

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/center/

It's a lot, I know. Personally, I like AP, Reuters, Politico, and a few others. Some find this rating website biased itself, but so far, I've found their assessments to be spot on.

 

There were WMDs in Iraq and the only people who lied were the Iraqi exiles who wanted their country liberated. And climate change is real.

 

Why ironic? The op quote is from Amnesty International, not a media editorial which I’m trying to present as fact.

 

Yes, there’s a few good sites about, but I meant here, on the forum.

 

A lot of what we read in the media can be dispelled using good old fashioned common sense. If I don’t have the Covid virus, a vaccination isn’t going to stop me passing on something I haven’t got and infecting others. If the Ukraine army is losing every battle it fights, does that mean its winning? Well yes, if you believe and repeat what you read in the mass media, or twitter. But that’s beginning to slowly fade as we now move onto China and Taiwan, the new bogeyman kid on the block. Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, it just goes round in never ending circles.

Yesterday afternoon, instead of playing ping pong with the believers, I spent a couple of hours writing a long form essay on the reasons for American decline. It’s something I occasionally do if I’m in the mood. No links, no video’s and original content for a site that won’t accept repeated media nonsense as original thought and demands the author writes for a minimum degree level readership that can actually think for themselves. In turn, I read the articles of others and although obviously not always agreeing, I often see their points as they develop and structure their arguments.

The single line comment and a link to the person who said it is either intellectual laziness or more usually, a lack of knowledge. Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but that’s just me.
P.S. Just got an email informing me that the article is scheduled to be published on Thursday.

 

This thread and others indicate to me that you clearly have an ax to grind. And that though you like to position yourself "above" the fray, but are not above manipulating facts to make your point. Ironic.

 

If Russia is not a threat, why do Finland and Sweden want to join NATO?

 

Fear and probably behind the scenes probably a little persuasion. No one knows whether the Swedes or Finns themselves want to join, but their leadership does. I'm British and no one asked me whether I'd like to join NATO. I suspect no one asked you either.

 

I don’t have an agenda which is why I get stick from both the left and right. I don’t have to manipulate facts, I just state them. Sometimes you’ll agree and sometimes you won’t.

 

Believing nothing the government says isn't any better than believing everything the government says.

Anyone who falls into either of those groups is a fool.

 

Right.

 

True. Having an agenda often appears in people's signatures. Having read yours I already know what side of the fence you're sitting on.

 

Is that the side of the US?

 

I don't have a signature, so i assume i was quoted by mistake.

 

I was replying to Noone.

 

America's.

 

Do you think the Swedes and Finns are stupid?

They voted by more than 70% to join NATO because Russia is aggressing its neighbors without reason.

In your parallel reality, is Putin liberating Ukraine from the Nazis?

 

The US has approved Sweden and Finnish membership. I'm afriad the population didn't get a say in it.

I support Russia in what’s going on now because trying to station foreign missile bases on the borders of a nuclear power is crazy. I’d like to see Russia get its buffer zone against NATO and keep this confined to within Ukraine and not escalate into a nuclear exchange.

I’m pro-choice in vaccinations, regardless of what the government or media tell me.

Some will agree, others will say I’m a right wing left leaning socialist Nazi. Depends what their agenda is.

 

Well, that's where we differ. I'm cheering for the majority outside world.

 

I'm American, first last and always. But to your point, These United States, since War 2, have provided the, generally, most peaceful time of world wide fair trade in history. No they haven't been "perfect" times but imagine what the world would have been like without our overseeing protection; if humans would have been here at all by now.