But I REFUSE to be stuck in the middle of them.
There is almost no real news anymore. Almost all that purports to be so is Hivemind propaganda. It’s to the point that such sites as The Onion, Duffleblog, and The Babylon Bee are as reliable (or seemingly more so *sigh*) than “accredited” media sources.
And the so-called “right” end of the spectrum is little more reliable than the so-called “left” end of the media spectrum. While the opinion columnists at Townhall are generally more truthful than front page “news” at the New York Slimes, so-called “news” sites/organs such as Worldnet Daily, Breitbart, The Blaze,and ZeroHedge are all, to varying degrees, propaganda for the putative “right.”
Frankly, I don’t ascribe to Zero Hedge, for example, any more credibility than any other Hivemind “reporting.” Sure, like ABCNBCCBSMSNBCFOX, etc., it is propaganda, but every lie at least has a truthful counter. Zero Hedge can serve as a source of “idiot bait” research. In that, it can also be a “serious” source of info. . . of sorts (about as much as with any other Hivemind organ, give or take), if one really digs. 😉 Also, just like other aspects of the Hivemind (reflecting the biases of every point on Pournelle’s Political Axes), it can serve as a way of checking on what the Hivemind (at least its portion) is trying to obscure, twist, or otherwise outright lie about. Pulling the threads for amusement, if nothing else, can provide a few moments of entertainment, at least, and occasionally, as with other Hivemind elements, the facts it twists can be verified and lead to real and useful information when placed in their original context.
I laugh at the times I took Walter Cronkite seriously (as anything but an effective propagandist).
I’ve long had issues with the left’s propaganda arm. For some time though I’ve had similar problems with the right’s outlets as well. One of the worst on the right used to send me daily “briefings” full of stories including “supporting” links. Sadly when I chased the links they often had no relationship with the “title” given, and oftentimes didn’t actually support the point made in the story.
I guess they wanted people to assume that if they provided a lot of links people should simply believe the story without digging deeper. After all it’s “hard” checking up on assertions you’re expected to already believe.
I have had similar experiences with sites/”news” sources that try to push my “confirmation bias button,” Perri. Unfortunately for such sites (*sigh* almost ALL sites/”news” sources, frankly), I have long attempted to be aware of my own biases and am very suspicious of anyone trying to thump on ’em. Of course, trying to keep awareness of my own biases up front is only part of the news/information filter process, and I am not always successful in keeping that awareness on tap when panning for information gold. But, as you implied, verifying (or falsifying) information is more often than not possible, and itis my (our) duty as information consumers to assure, as much as possible, that we are not consuming tainted product.
You’re too hard on ZeroHedge. It’s a decent place to go for stories on what roils the investing and business world. It doesn’t purport to be Mecca in that regard. It’s just a useful place for a non-economist/investor like me to go. If I don’t go to ZH for that I’ll try The Burning Platform, Straightline Logic, or Of Two Minds, but that’s rare and about as far as I care to go.
The thing is with the internet, it’s all grist for the mill. I read lefty stuff and Caitlin “The Socialist” Johnstone is very good. Prof. Cohen over at The Nation is the single most sensible man out there on Russia. So I think you make the web into something it isn’t. What it is is a giant alternative to the legacy media and otherwise it’s up to the reader to sift and analyze. It’s not like I’ll read an article on ZH about the Middle East and it’s the only one I’ve read about the M.E. in my entire life. Multiple sites plus the comments plus your own notes and you’re good.
What is interesting is to see the propaganda themes ripple through the MSM. The Gazans getting shot down like rabid dogs soon changed to the Gazans’ threat to the border which changed into “the brought it on themselves.” “Assad did it” is in this category. Some supposed chemical attack takes place and, voila, Assad the Butcher strikes again.
Anyway, the comments on ZH are excellent and propaganda pretty quickly gets dissected. One learns which commenters are trolls too.
So it’s the wild west all over but thank God. As you note, we were in a bad way when all we had was Comrade Cronkite.
I do like Glenn Beck who can be counted on to publish some pretty insightful stuff. He’s all in on the “Russia is Our Mortal Enemy” garbage which is a disappointment, as are Diana West and Tevor Loudon.
Anyway, who says any one source has to be pure, pure, pure so that one can drink from its crystal waters and put aside one’s own critical faculties?
ZeroHedge uses facts just like the “lefthand” side of the Hivemind does, simply as lures for the unwary and as bricks in a edifice of deception. As I said, it is useful (as frankly are the more rad “leftist” propaganda organs) in some ways; it’s just not in any way, shape, fashion, or form dependable as a news source. As a source of research points (for verification/falsification) it can be useful, but sites like Investors Business Daily, while still biased of course, are much richer sources of verifiable information. ZeroHedge is way down the list of sites offering useful information.
But go back to my primary thesis in the post, which is that–paraphrased and analogized–news sources are like milk tainted with feces. How much feces does one find acceptable before one needs to do some serious filtering and sanitizing? (I’d say “ANY”). And how much feces in the milk is necessary before one simply throws it out entirely? Hmmm? 😉
While the center of gravity for propaganda is heavily weighted toward the putative “left,” that is only because the biggest, longest-established purveyors of propaganda are found there. As other propaganda sources grow in influence, the center of gravity is shifting–a little–but no matter where on the Pournelle Political Axes the “news source’s” bias is, fact checking is the responsibility of the consumer.