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Originally Posted by
MadMojoMonkey
This isn't really about the fact that American news agencies are in the entertainment business, not the education business.
Actually, that's exactly what it is about.
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It's about 1 puff piece that you took seriously.
Just one? Go through the links I've posted in just, say, the last two weeks. How many of these do there need to be before they stop being "puff pieces" and start becoming mainstream ideas. The most alarming thing about this piece is how 'ordinary' it is.
I'll admit though, the one where the NY times said "New Hampshire is too white" has me still heavily tilted more than a week later.
Check out Vox today. they're SO deranged over Trump's immigration policies that they actually produced a video saying that Trump gave us all the wrong idea about MS-13. They're not a violent drug cartel....they're kids with part time jobs who ride bikes! I'm not kidding. It's on Vox.com right fucking now.
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All I'm saying is maybe lay off the coffee, 'cause this is not going to amount to anything.
Honestly man...how much weed do you have to smoke to be this chill? How do you not see the increasing violence and tribalism in this country. It's a powder keg ready to burst. Now I live in a place that the NY times calls "too white", so chances are I won't be caught at ground-zero when the idealogues finally start a legit civil war. But you.....you live in St. Fucking Louis.
Unless you have several guns, a few thousand rounds of ammo, and six months of food and water stocked in your basement....you're stupid.
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There's tons of corruption in this world. I do not have the social faculties to do anything about that.
Wrong
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I'm simply terrible at trying to navigate large groups of people. I lack any ability to see into a deep social morass and find anything to latch onto which could help direct people toward being less fucking led by the nose. I'm not the one to help, here.
You're ignoring the line between setting a simple example and blending into the background noise. You don't have to be a vocal leader or activist for change. Just stay on the right side of that line.
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I'll let other people whom are good at [fighting corruption] do what they're good at.
That's supposed to be CNN!
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Just because I lack the skills to combat corruption doesn't mean I want people to be fucked over by the corrupt. All I can do, personally, is to try to keep myself aware of corruption and bias and to be vigilant against being manipulated
You're not giving yourself enough credit here. All banter aside, everyone in this forum (except maybe Jack) has an IQ that is well above average. Well above. Most people CAN'T "be vigilant against being manipulated". Most people are barely smart enough to read.
I know you guys like to rail on me for being stubborn, but this is one area I can honestly say my worldview has matured. For me, life hasn't been particularly hard. School was easy, so I got into college, that was easy too. I got a job in my field. I showed up on time. I did what I was asked to do. And life turned out pretty good. So for 30+ years, I just figured "Well look where I am, and it was easy. It's not difficult to be me. So fuck anyone who's struggling more than I am"
But the reality is there is a HUUUUUUGE chunk of society that is downright stupid. . They can't think critically. They can't articulate their ideas well enough to form coherent thoughts. They literally lack the cognitive ability to follow a fucking recipe. And something has to be done to protect these people from those that would take advantage of their naivete.
It's fine for you and I to expect each other to filter out the noise. But we're WAAAAAAAAY smarter than the average person. You're asking far too much from people if you expect them sort out fact from fiction themselves.
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As for me as an educator: I don't ever make an appeal to authority,
Who are you trying to convince here? Me? or you? Your whole job is an appeal to authority. Do you stand at the front of the class? Do your students call you "Mr./Prof. Monkey"? Do the students know that it will be YOU evaluating their performance and determining their level of success in class?
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I give them observations and I tell them what the current understanding in physics has to say about predicting the outcome of an experiment.
And what if you happen to misrepresent the current understanding in physics? What's the accountability there?