From her book coming out in July, here's @anneapplebaum
on "the fire hose of falsehood," which doesn't try to persuade you
that up is down, but rather to give up on any hope of becoming an
informed citizen in a working democracy. https://theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/06/china-russia-republican-party-relations/678271/

https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/1789017327926661279

Text Pic:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GNPblmOWYAA20eW.png

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JAB <[email protected]d> writes:

From her book coming out in July, here's @anneapplebaum
on "the fire hose of falsehood," which doesn't try to persuade you
that up is down, but rather to give up on any hope of becoming an
informed citizen in a working democracy.

https://theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/06/china-russia-republican-party-relations/678271/

Authoritarianism doesn't really want to convince its supporters
that their fantasies are true, because truth claims are subject
to verification, and thus to the possible discrediting of
authority. Authoritarianism wants to convince its supporters
that nothing is true, that the whole machinery of truth is an
intolerable imposition on their psyches, and thus that they
might as well give free rein to their fantasies.

-- Brian Phillips

If everybody lies to you, if everybody always lies to you, the
consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that
nobody believes anything any longer...And a people that can no
longer believe anything, cannot make up its mind. It is
deprived, not only of its capacity to act, but also of its
capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people, you can
then do what you please.
-- Hannah Arendt

Lesley Stahl, of "60 Minutes", revealed that, in an interview
after the 2016 election, Donald Trump told her that the reason
he maligns the press is "to discredit you all and demean you
all so that when you write negative stories about me no one
will believe you". [attrib??]

https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/1789017327926661279

Text Pic:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GNPblmOWYAA20eW.png

--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada

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On 11 May 2024 01:54:01 -0300, Mike Spencer
<[email protected]e> wrote:

Authoritarianism doesn't really want to convince its supporters
that their fantasies are true, because truth claims are subject
to verification, and thus to the possible discrediting of
authority. Authoritarianism wants to convince its supporters
that nothing is true, that the whole machinery of truth is an
intolerable imposition on their psyches, and thus that they
might as well give free rein to their fantasies.

-- Brian Phillips

US's educational system has not focused on this Finland topic below.
Critical thinking is required, and students should be taught to
evaluate statements/etc.

In October 2023, 61.4 percent of 2023 high school graduates ages 16 to
24 were enrolled in colleges or universities... https://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nr0.htm

But, not all of them will graduate, and some who graduate do not have
critical thinking skills. So, a large number of US adults may not be
able to sort the chaff from the wheat. ===============================================

How Finland starts its fight against fake news in primary schools

Country on frontline of information war teaches everyone from school
pupils to politicians how to spot slippery information

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/28/fact-from-fiction-finlands-new-lessons-in-combating-fake-news

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JAB <[email protected]d> writes:

US's educational system has not focused on this Finland topic below.
Critical thinking is required, and students should be taught to
evaluate statements/etc.

In October 2023, 61.4 percent of 2023 high school graduates ages 16 to
24 were enrolled in colleges or universities...

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nr0.htm

But, not all of them will graduate, and some who graduate do not have critical thinking skills. So, a large number of US adults may not be
able to sort the chaff from the wheat.

The daughter of a long-time friend -- early thirties, partner in a PR consultancy in the SF Bay area that serves chiefly NGOs and public
utilities -- says that this is a worrying shortcoming in new hires.

There is this: that, increasingly as science and technology become
more and more complex and arcane, the wheat/chaff discrimination
requires more and more knowledge of facts and principles. AIUI, at
the same time, post-secondary education (in the US anyhow) is more and
more dropping requirements for serious technical/theoretical courses
and replacing them with (politically correct?) soft-core courses in
which critical acuity isn't an asset, may even be a liability.

===============================================

How Finland starts its fight against fake news in primary schools

Country on frontline of information war teaches everyone from school
pupils to politicians how to spot slippery information

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/28/fact-from-fiction-finlands-new-lessons-in-combating-fake-news

--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada

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On 11 May 2024 20:52:33 -0300, Mike Spencer
<[email protected]e> wrote:

the wheat/chaff discrimination requires more
and more knowledge of facts and principles.

I believe in the late fifties, curriculum was selected via teachers,
but these days, I believe politics (aka outside involvement) is
happening in various states. And of course, textbook companies have
bowed to purchasers' 'ideations'.

I believe one political party has quelled textbook's content in a
number of US states. Essentially, the party likes the master-servant relationship, and the suckers and losers are voting for more of it.

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On 11 May 2024 20:52:33 -0300, Mike Spencer
<[email protected]e> wrote:

worrying shortcoming in new hires.

If only a Broadway play, movie, and/or a Monty Python "sketch" could
delineate the games played by The Parties in a mocking/humorous way

For instances,

Trump at 2016 RNC: 'I alone can fix it'
Trump recently: I've been right about everything

Over the top humor there.....but his supporters can't sort the chaff
from the wheat.

Or maybe a weekly series like All in the Family, with someone like J.
R. Ewing exposing their dirty laundry and games. TPTB ("the powers
that be") would be extremely pissed.

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