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Fear is America’s top-selling consumer product

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Re: Fear is America’s top-selling consumer product

#341

Post by anigbrowl »

ethn wrote: post #285
anigbrowl wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true as far as it goes, but the emphasis on terrorism in the media is wildly disproportionate to the measurable risks. Compare the ubiquity and intensity of anxiety about climate change, whose existential impact is arguably far more widespread and vastly better quantified. Consider in the light of this discussion that rural voters appear (by inference) to be more concerned about terrorism than urban ones, desp…

The article doesn't believe that rural voters are irrational. The article claims that the information given to rural voters falsely portrays terrorism as an active threat to rural voters. You are not disagreeing with me.

That's why I added '(by inference)', and yes I am disagreeing with you.

Re: Fear is America’s top-selling consumer product

#342

Post by neillyons »

Simon321 wrote: post #335
neillyons wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a good book called "7 habits of highly effective people" and it talks about "circle of concern" and "circle of influence". It basically says be mindful of the time you spend concerning yourself with things you can't do anything about. Spend your brain cycles on things you can influence in the world. E.g. Trump. Reading about him is a waste of your brain cycles. What productive thing are you actually doing wi…

Informed democracy is a waste of brain cycles? You have the power to vote, you can participate in democracy. I don't think that's a waste of brain cycles. I do agree you shouldn't worry too much about things you have no control over. But the government of your country is not one of those things.

Informed democracy is not a waste of your brain cycles, but it doesn't require so much of your attention. Voting happens once every few years. You don't need to constantly inform yourself of what the government is doing regularly. When the time comes to vote, spend some time thinking about it and make a choice.

Re: Fear is America’s top-selling consumer product

#343

Post by pluma »

pyroinferno wrote: post #281
pluma wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW in Germany there has been a strong anti-nuclear sentiment in the public, at least since the reunification. The West German Greens merged with an alliance of progressive opposition groups from East Germany, resulting in the modern Greens, "Bündnis 90/Die Grünen". The Greens are generally socially progressive (though not by any means socialist) but their core messages are similar to those of NGOs like Greenpeace.…

I have bad news for Germans then. A majority of France's Nuclear Power Plants are right on the border, km away from the old German ones.

Yeah, and Germans are displeased with that. French and Belgian nuclear power plants also make headlines in Germany every now and then or at least get a mention in the news.

Personally I would rather see coal and gas power plants be shut down ASAP and new nuclear power plants to be built to bridge the gap but c'est la vie.

Re: Fear is America’s top-selling consumer product

#344

Post by Filligree »

banned1 wrote: post #339
Filligree wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You discover that "truth" is the wrong word to describe at least one of them.

There are two truths: 1) People need jobs today 2) Coal drives global warming Which one do you act on today? Those are the type of discussions people in decision making roles are wrestling with, which may be a different perspective than that of arm-chair decision making like the one we do here in this thread.

A truth being inconvenient in combination with a different truth... doesn't make it any less true.

You don't need to decide between them. They're both true, regardless of your policy choices.

Re: Fear is America’s top-selling consumer product

#345

Post by dragonwriter »

banned1 wrote: post #339
Filligree wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You discover that "truth" is the wrong word to describe at least one of them.

There are two truths: 1) People need jobs today 2) Coal drives global warming Which one do you act on today? Those are the type of discussions people in decision making roles are wrestling with, which may be a different perspective than that of arm-chair decision making like the one we do here in this thread.

> There are two truths: 1) People need jobs today 2) Coal drives global warming

> Which one do you act on today?

The two competing options seem to be:

(1) both, or (2) neither, using denial of the second as a empty gesture toward addressing the first.

Doesn't really seem to be a fundamental conflict between them.

Re: Fear is America’s top-selling consumer product

#346

Post by boona »

pnathan wrote: post #333
boona wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would suggest that you're only getting the facts that align their chosen narrative, and the facts are being presented through a lens that limits your understanding of the world. An example I like to use is minimum wage. The very term "minimum wage" on it's own pulls you towards a certain conclusions. Who the heck doesn't want minimum wage? But what if I asked you "Should it be against the law for low skilled worker…

I would suggest that the narrative I choose is "educated people not committed to right wing ideology". :-)

There are many points of view on any given topic from well educated people. If you choose to explore only a single point of view, that you're prerogative, but you are willfully choosing ignorance.
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