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News Gathering vs. Confirmation Bias
- Remember, if you do not have at least one source of news that you turn to regularly, with which you routinely disagree, then you are not practicing news gathering! You are practicing [confirmation bias].
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[S]cience is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.
The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.
— Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (New York: Ballantine Books, 1996) at p.32.
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[S]cience is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.
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Tag Archives: commentary
Who would have thought?
At the bike rally in Sturgis [South Dakota], there are a quarter of a million bike enthusiasts — motorcycle enthusiasts — who are gathering together… in one place… during a pandemic. Who would have thought motorcycle enthusiasts would not understand epidemiology? — Penn Jillette, Penn’s Sunday School podcast #629, 13 August 2020 @5:54.
Reason: How Cancel Culture Violates Intellectual Freedom
Criticism is expressing an argument or opinion with the idea of rationally influencing public opinion, through public persuasion, interpersonal persuasions. Canceling comes from the universe of propaganda, not critical discourse, and it’s about organizing or manipulating a social environment or a media environment with the goal or predictable effect of isolating, or deplatforming, or intimidating […]
Also tagged rational thought / critical thinking, social
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Bubba Wallace: You won’t see Confederate flag ban protesters tear gassed and shot with rubber bullets
AL.com (a part of the Alabama Media Group): Bubba Wallace, a vocal advocate in getting the banners banned, was unfazed by the demonstrations outside the racetrack. “It’s their right to peaceful protest my man, so it’s part of it,” Wallace said on FOX Sports. “But you won’t see them inside the racetrack where we’re having […]
Also tagged change, equality, freedom, freespeech, government, history, law enforcement, race/racism, society
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Naomi Osaka: It’s Insulting to Tell Athletes to ‘Just Stick to Sports’
The TIME100 Talks: Why Naomi Osaka Says It’s Insulting to Tell Athletes to ‘Just Stick to Sports’ Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka is challenging the “weird stigma” around athletes who speak about political issues, arguing that it is not faced by other professions. “Everyone has a vote and a say, I think it’s really weird […]
Also tagged change, equality, freedom, freespeech, freethought, history, race/racism, society
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Cato: A Shocking Dereliction of Duty
Jay Schweikert writing at The Cato Institute (cato.org): This morning, the Supreme Court denied all of the major cert petitions raising the question of whether qualified immunity should be reconsidered. This is, to put it bluntly, a shocking dereliction of duty. As Cato has argued for years, qualified immunity is an atextual, ahistorical judicial invention, […]
Also tagged bullshit, government, law enforcement, law/legal
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Dave Chappelle: Raw and Right on the Mark
Goddamn. Raw, honest, and righteous: very deeply moving commentary from America’s most important truth-teller. Dave Chappelle: 8:46.
Also tagged change, equality, freedom, government, history, race/racism, society
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Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Police
If police are trying to convince the public they’re not guilty of displaying excessive force, it’s probably not a good idea to repeated display excessive force on national television. — John Oliver, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, S7E14, 7 June 2020. Perhaps the most important episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver I’ve […]
Also tagged government, history, race/racism, society
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There is no such thing as rock bottom for Trump. Assume the worst is yet to come.
George F. Will, in his regular column1 at The Washington Post: Trump must be removed. So must his congressional enablers. I hate when people use the word “real” to bolster, or, far more often, to discredit, e.g., “She’s not a real Christian,” or “He’s not a real Conservative.” Well, in this day and age when […]
Also tagged conservatives/conservatism, government, politics, rational thought / critical thinking
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This is a Moment When Many People May Want Nothing More Than a Return to Normalcy
Tim Cook, in a memo to Apple employees in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on Thursday, 25 May 2020, which understandably sparked demonstrations, some of which turned violent, across the nation: Team, Right now, there is a pain deeply etched in the soul of our nation […]
Also tagged abuse, equality, government, history, law enforcement, rational thought / critical thinking, reason, society
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More than 70 Top Republican former National Security officials back Biden
A STATEMENT BY FORMER REPUBLICAN NATIONAL SECURITY OFFICIALS We are former national security officials who served during the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and/or Donald Trump, or as Republican Members of Congress. We are profoundly concerned about the course of our nation under the leadership of Donald Trump. Through […]
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