The Wow I Can't Believe That News Story Thread

[Lisnaholic]

In America's new post-truth political climate, I think it's useful to be aware of this process:-



From what I've seen, this is exactly what's happened on these topics:-
Birtherism
Inaugural crowd-size
Phone tapping by Obama
Wall construction and Trump's claim that "we have no border"
etc, etc.
Spygate

Feel free to add any that I've missed.

[Frownland]

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

^ I suspect that Chula's referring to Trump's career as a draft dodger.

An honourable move.

[DwnWthVwls]

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

In America's new post-truth political climate, I think it's useful to be aware of this process:-

Feel free to add any that I've missed.

So basically, a lot of Americans can't think for themselves, so they accept ad populum and verecundiam fallacies. This isn't a Trump phenomena.

[Ol’ Qwerty Bastard]

Originally Posted by [MERIT]

What about other sports leagues like the MLB and NHL that have teams from Canada. Are U.S. players allowed to show concern about Canada's social injustices by kneeling during the playing of Canada's national anthem at games?

in general canadians are way less idiotic about things like our stupid flag song, so kneel if they want but i doubt anyone here would care.

the nut jobs did come out of the woodwork when they changed the words to it recently though

it went from “in all thy sons command” to “in all of us command”

idk why anyone cares about the song, it don’t even bump in the whip

[DwnWthVwls]

is the "sons command" some reference to jesus that got removed?

[Ol’ Qwerty Bastard]

nah it wasn’t “gender neutral”

i don’t necessarily see why it matters enough for them to change it but in the same breath i’m not going to lose sleep over a song.

[Anteater]

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

In America's new post-truth political climate, I think it's useful to be aware of this process:-



From what I've seen, this is exactly what's happened on these topics:-
Birtherism
Inaugural crowd-size
Phone tapping by Obama
Wall construction and Trump's claim that "we have no border"
etc, etc.
Spygate

Feel free to add any that I've missed.

I dunno why people are dismissing "Obamagate" and "Spygate" when we know that the previous administration likely was surveilling Trump's people in different ways under a pretext based on the FISA warrant. Someone would have to be Pizzagate-level dumb to think Stefan Halper was the only guy sent in with a fishing pole. Or maybe just dumb enough to believe everything Clapper said after all that fallout with Edward Snowden, lol.

The problem that I've seen out there isn't whether or not Trump's lies can be disproven. Depending on what he's talking about (such as climate change), they easily can be refruted. But when the media take him out of context (like his "animals" comment) or try to dismiss / suppress other things he says that actually have a basis in truth (such as his observations about Sweden and Germany's inability to integrate refugee populations effectively), then you have a problem where you know Trump's opponents in the media are willing to lie or obfuscate when its convenient as much as he does. That's where the real divide is taking place.

[Lisnaholic]

Originally Posted by DwnWthVwls

So basically, a lot of Americans can't think for themselves, so they accept ad populum and verecundiam fallacies. This isn't a Trump phenomena.

^ I'm a bit lost with your vocabulary, but if you're talking about the average guy's take on complex political and news stories, I'd say yes, across the globe it's difficult for people to reach an informed opinion on plenty of issues.

What's unusual about Trump is that the stories so often start out with a blatant lie.

[Lisnaholic]

Originally Posted by Anteater

I dunno why people are dismissing "Obamagate" and "Spygate" when we know that the previous administration likely was surveilling Trump's people in different ways under a pretext based on the FISA warrant. Someone would have to be Pizzagate-level dumb to think Stefan Halper was the only guy sent in with a fishing pole. Or maybe just dumb enough to believe everything Clapper said after all that fallout with Edward Snowden, lol.

^ My understanding is that for the phone-tapping and Spygate accusations, there was never any evidence to begin with: I think that's what the phone-tapping investigation concluded. Jury still out on Spygate of course, but I've not heard of any detail yet that suggests the confidential informant was a spy.
I have no idea about Pizzagate or Snowdon because they predate my interest in American politics, I'm afraid.

The problem that I've seen out there isn't whether or not Trump's lies can be disproven. Depending on what he's talking about (such as climate change), they easily can be refruted. But when the media take him out of context (like his "animals" comment) or try to dismiss / suppress other things he says that actually have a basis in truth (such as his observations about Sweden and Germany's inability to integrate refugee populations effectively), then you have a problem where you know Trump's opponents in the media are willing to lie or obfuscate when its convenient as much as he does. That's where the real divide is taking place.

^ Yes, I agree about the unfair mileage that was made about the "animals" comment when it was used without reffing MS-13.

About Sweden's and Germany's problems, didn't Trump start talking about a non-existant terrorist attack? I can't quite remember, and that's indicative of the problem at the moment: complex story lines that people can't quite remember, so that when it comes to election time people start thinking, "Yeah, wasn't there something about Dems phone-tapping Trump...?", which serves as a propaganda win for Trump.

I'm sure it works both ways to some extent, that no party or biased media is innocent, but this statistic has been widely quoted, and afaik not seriously refuted:-

https://www.esquire.com/uk/latest-ne...e-of-his-best/

[grindy]

Originally Posted by DwnWthVwls

So basically, a lot of Americans can't think for themselves, so they accept ad populum and verecundiam fallacies. This isn't a Trump phenomena.

*phenomenon
Dumbass.