A Land Far Away

Some people will ignore factual corrections if they don't correspond to preconceived beliefs. Are you one of those?

Shenkar Vedantam, The Power of Political Misinformation, Washington Post Sept. 15 2008 wrote:As the presidential campaign heats up, intense efforts are underway to debunk rumors and misinformation. Nearly all these efforts rest on the assumption that good information is the antidote to misinformation.

But a series of new experiments show that misinformation can exercise a ghostly influence on people's minds after it has been debunked -- even among people who recognize it as misinformation. In some cases, correcting misinformation serves to increase the power of bad information.

It at least explains why Republican candidates are more likely make shit up.

There have been a lot of rather frightening studies on this. It's a real blow to our concept of Democracy.

Actually, it's a real blow to our concepts of "common sense" and "average intelligence."

not really that shocking

Precisely why you should ignore politics in the media and the sound bite wars they perpetuate. Go make up your own mind. 2 candidates. 3 debates. 1 president. The people decide.

Sometimes, progress just isn't a good thing.

I agree with WW.

If we weren't so collectively dumb and scared like cattle the misinformation wouldn't work...

Of course we could make some laws that say ...

"Creating misinformation knowingly is treason, and the minimum sentence is life in prison."

"Creating misinformation unknowingly is a gross neglect of the position you are entrusted with, and the minimum sentence is 20 years in prison."

"Aiding the distribution of information you cannot personally confirm is accurate is indifferent neglect, and the minimum sentence is 10 years in prison."

Then we can have a gestapo go around and accuse people of trying to create anarchy by telling lies.

"this is how democracy dies, with thunderous applause" - some chick that had a thing for younger men.

So its hopeless you can't do anything but whine. Your vote doesn't matter. Who so ever is elected is not subject to the will of the people, they will become a puppet of those corporations/interest groups that paid for their campaign.

The only thing that matters is the Golden Rule.

He who has the gold makes the rules.

-signed,

apathetic bitter disenfranchised patriot

Punish the wrong-doers? Watch out. You sound like a conservative.

ç i p h é r wrote:Punish the wrong-doers? Watch out. You sound like a conservative.

I thought conservatism was about punishing those who can't strike back .

You obviously dont remember about 9-11 then. or Yemen...

I didn't even have a chance to post in your goodbye thread yet....

So...

People are strange and ignorant?

I think we knew that, like several centuries back.

Veilan wrote: I thought conservatism was about punishing those who can't strike back .

no no no, conservativism is about not punishing anyone, and instead using public momentum to act on personal agendas with the guise of punishing those who can't strike back.

Point / Counterpoint - Governor Palin!

Was there an "I quit" thread I missed? If so, good riddance.

Cassiel wrote:Point / Counterpoint - Governor Palin!

Was there an "I quit" thread I missed? If so, good riddance.

Here. Oh wait, no. Here.

Cassiel wrote:Point / Counterpoint - Governor Palin!

So you've descended to that level. Bravo to your intellectual superiority. You managed to pick on a retarded child.

You are the perfect caricature of the modern liberal.