Can Our Democracy Survive This?

[_Mayan Elephant]

Gotchya. I wouldn't call that prophecy. I would call that selling news.

What you describe would make Hillary's failure more the fault of the NYT than Comey, correct? I don't blame Comey or the Times. They were just doing their jobs.

[_beastie]

Social media is "hot" media, to use McLuhan's term. Although some text is involved, it is attached to memes and graphics that serve to weaponize it for propaganda. Bypasses the cerebrum and goes straight to the reptile brain. Many folks are preconditioned by patriotic and religious rituals and popular culture, so all of those can be exploited in some form.

First, as this thread appears to be winding down, I want to thank everyone who shared really thought-provoking ideas. With the exception of a derailment at the end, it's been a thread with real dialogue.

I chose to quote Mak's post because it is a good summary of one of the issues that bothers and frightens me the most.

I do stand by my earlier assessment that part of the dissatisfaction has to do with the economic and cultural impact of globalization. In terms of the US, we still have a higher standard of living than the majority of people living on this planet, but when people start believing their children will not do better than they have, then they feel dissatisfied. Add to that the fact that the internet has given us more of a peephole into the lives of the wealthy, and the economic discontent grows. There is no obvious, quick, or easy solution. But the discontent, combined with the priming Mak mentions in this post, leaves us vulnerable to propaganda.

This left our society vulnerable for a charismatic authoritarian who stepped up and offered a seemingly easy solution (get rid of immigrants, trust me to fix it all, trust me to penalize bad actors in a trade war). The social media propaganda, helped along with a couple of decades of growing media mistrust, created a perfect storm. As for Trump's presidency, it's a big question mark at this point, but there are serious red flags that should concern us all, in my opinion.

But the larger picture is the future. Doc has suggested that the Democrats need to figure out how to utilize the propaganda weapon, as well. I do think they've been beaten for quite a while in the language game. (ie, death tax instead of estate tax) They've also been beaten as far as state control and gerrymandering. I think whether or not they'll get back in that game remains to be seen, and partly depends on the fallout of the Trump presidency.

I suspect that Democrats will start playing that game as well, at least to a certain extent. They're pretty much being forced to. But that doesn't solve the larger problem, and has the potential to aggravate the problem.

I do think education is part of the larger solution, if our educational system can remain intact enough to work together on this issue. We certainly need civic lessons again. But we also need to actively teach our young people how to differentiate between fake and real news. I've heard that's already going on in some places.

Facebook is working on flagging fake news, which may help, but with the underlying drumbeat of "don't trust any media source except for -----", that may not have much of an impact.

So, still no clear answers. I am more concerned about my country's future, and the future of the world in general, than I have been since my childhood when it seemed we might all be nuked by the Russians at any time.

[_Maxine Waters]

I do think education is part of the larger solution, if our educational system can remain intact enough to work together on this issue. We certainly need civic lessons again. But we also need to actively teach our young people how to differentiate between fake and real news. I've heard that's already going on in some places.

In California we've promoted conservative reeducation reform school camps/gulags for children born to registered Republicans as a part of the Maxine Waters global initiative. While we worship racial diversity we cannot tolerate diversity in thought or political opinion. President Obama is helping to silence all non liberal approved news sources through executive order similar to the way they did back in the USSR. They said the government couldn't do this, but I Maxine Waters say, "Yes we can!"

[_beastie]

stormfront nonsense

[_Mayan Elephant]

stormfront nonsense

You interpreted it better than I could.

[_beastie]

[Guest]

delete

[_The CCC]

Drumpf says he has Billions of dollars yet is struggling to pay the people he owes from his election.
SEE http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/kellyan ... tion-team/