Infowars are so powerful, and we're so ill-prepared to meet them.
Yesterday, I was struck by how much media illiteracy reigns. How gullible we still are in every news cycle.
Is it genuine?
Or do people know full well what they're weaponizing?
That's the kind of despair infowars breed.
One no longer knows if one's neighbours are being honestly manipulated or eager participants in their own manipulation.
All one knows is that propaganda reigns, and has made the world unsafer yet again.
Anyway, good morning, and good Tuesday to all of you. ☕
We have *so* much psychological damage to address in the coming years.
But we're not going to heal overnight (if at all). And no coronal mass ejection is going to save us from problems online, alas.
All we can do is try not to be angry with ourselves and others for living through such stupid, cruel, and stressed-out times.
We're all doing the best we can. 🫂💛
Morning, Pendrag! 🤗
@MLClark We do, indeed. The sad thing, IMHO, is that we won't get time to address it because the replacements are coming at such a frenetic pace.
In 25 years the US has gone from concern to outrage to concern to numbness over school shootings. We have to absorb the insanity to be ready for the next absurdity.
Sigh
The part that makes me laugh-cry is the refrain, "I don't trust the news", usually uttered by people who haven't actually sharpened their media literacy--who aren't analysing the data they're receiving in any more systematic way, but are simply credulously believing whatever an alt-source says instead. And yet they'll be the first to roll their eyes at the Fox News crowd for being knee-jerk anti-consumers of media.
We're *all* susceptible to info silos.
And can't afford to forget that.
@MLClark Right! Humans love to have their ideas, beliefs, and biases reinforced. When the news, or the truth, challenge them, it's easy to dismiss it as bunk
This is also why studies unfortunately show that the solution for mending a lot of fences starts with *not* consuming media for a while. We're just not mature enough to handle the current info deluge - and only more prepared to remember our shared humanity without it in our lives at all.
Unfortunately, not being informed at all also lets bad actors in politics get what they want. So we're screwed either way. :/
...
But good morning, Graci! 🤗
Happy new day in our 🦇 💩 world.
@MLClark @Graci Once people are truly in an "alt-reality", there is no recovery without disconnecting that alt-reality.
In the 2015 documentary "The Brainwashing of My Dad" all the steps of progression are noted.
Spoiler: At the end, her mother manages to hide the channels with a TV or cable box change. His festering anger starts to subside, effectively getting deprogrammed.
Usually, there isn't a mole like the mother to assist.
@S_r_stone @MLClark Definitely
@MLClark I've been learning a lot lately about the nature of impermanence and the "Eight Worldly Winds" Pleasure, Pain, Gain, Loss, Praise, Blame, Fame, Disrepute. They are opposite pairs. They form an eight spoke wheel, ever in motion.
The infowars, cling to parts of this cycle and cause pain, but that is where the impermanence comes in. For every night there is a dawn, and for every dawn there is a night. A brighter day of peace with our neighbors will come again...
@MLClark First we must endure the night, to see the light breaking on the horizon, but the night is not us, nor is the dawn or the day. We are all shaped by these things, and the choices we make. We are all connected. The pain we feel, can inspire us towards compassion. The frustration we feel, can drive us towards understanding.
With equanimity, we can find ways to compost the bad, and turn it into good soil, to grow beautiful flowers in the world, no matter our time.
You are not alone. ^_^
@MLClark also, good morning to you.
@MLClark Good Tuesday Morning🌻☕️ Thank you for fighting against illiteracy in its many forms.
@MLClark
Good Morning 🌞