Rumors in the age of unreason

[dubman]

Sorry...isn't what the same kind of binary...etc?

this:

So I feel like global society is at a tipping point, where if we tip one way we race headlong into the downfall of the human race, tip the other and we'll actually survive to evolve into a far more advanced and stable future. I honestly feel like it's a 50/50 crap-shoot at this point.

Until people start looking at issues like the economy, health care, climate change, education, international relations, etc as things that need to be solved rather than as arguments to be won, I fear that we'll just keep sinking deeper and deeper into this vicious cycle of animosity and self-serving manipulation.

i agree, but i think we're too used to being a part of A Party that knows what's right. try to strip that away and the differences in opinion on how those should be done will still be lines drawn in the sand and made ideological. people understand that in order to get things done it has to be marketed to as many people as possible, meaning someone has to "lose", meaning co-operation is a facade at best.

There have always been "Joe the Plumbers" out there, but before the age of 24 hour, instant news coverage, he was never afforded the kind of incredible soap-box he ended up getting.

we havent waxed enough on how everything's gotten smaller by now? exposure's only limited by reach. if we can reach everyone, it's still the same neighborhood mentality, with the rise and fascination and backlash and mockery. just because the size of these reactions has gotten bigger (advertising deals and job offers doesnt say much for real import, just how the chatter processes) doesnt mean a bold new age has come.

So the crazies who used to just rock back and forth alone in their basement now rock back and forth in their basement with a potential audience of millions.

this i agree with. whats funny is that currently, people are enjoying this widespread fairness (relatively) of exposure. that's new. the problem is that people are idiots. you have 'artists' on deviantart re-tracing the same image with little in the way of technical ability getting thousands of hits from other hubs of mediocrity, yet demanding respect for their 'style'. these people trade back and forth and convince themselves that they're brilliant and ready. you have a staggering glut of crap on youtube which goes without saying, but is still exciting enough people trying to figure out how to make millions off of it. running a blog is simultaneously a necessity as well as a liability. "user-generated content" is an eye-roll for the cynic and still exciting for the naive, but the saturation of this idea is going to get hit hard by backlash, because people just react to whatever is happening for the sake of new. what i cant tell will happen is what's going to come out of it.

Can't say I disagree with much of what you said. Its just not enough to convince me that reading a lot of news sources of differing levels of quality and bents isn't a good idea and something to recommend everyone else do as well. If the reasons I gave above aren't enough I can provide more.

look, it's not that i dont agree, it's just that it's exhausting, because even on the slim chance that the material is good and well-covered, people come up talking about it in a hideously stupid manner, and since news networks place a premium on what people want to see, thats the dialogue that gets follow-up, and That Which Didn't Have Much of a Chance just drowns outright.
there was a time that i bought that cherry picking your sources and getting all sides before forming an opinion was the way to go, but when you start to realize that everyone is willing to lie or color because it's really just a game to win that they have to be practical about, it's very disheartening and, as said before, exhausting.

i'm cynical about myself, so realizing that the cherry-picking attitude is really just reacting against the assumption that people are self-serving would let me dismiss it as my delusion that i'm supposedly above all that. but when i see it in others i could either accept that as paranoia, or realize that peole use news, as colored as it is, as a measure of character, or as a game to be ahead of curve in. it really makes me question whether any of this is real information after people process it so self-consciously or if it's just external distractions that need to be relevant because there's not anything else.

How do you expect any diversity of opinions to sprout up otherwise?

i'm saying that caring about them is overrated.

formulate every possible counter argument and weakness, then decide I "agree"

dont know about the "liking" or "turning off" but this is the basic process for me (if im educated enough about the topic to do it well). then i get to actually read people presenting weaknesses in printed form and it doesnt address anything decent. when i hate even listening to people i agree with on a topic, it cant help but feel like it's time to peace out.