Shahter wrote:
unnamednewbie13 wrote:
Shahter wrote:
@zeek:
i'm pretty sure i never said i was looking for wisdom in first-person opinions of the likes of war man. and yes, i'm capable of finding out for myself whatever it is that gets pushed by the western propaganda mashine media. it's all the same now in the opinion columns out there and more often than not after reading a couple of opening statements i can easily tell what's to follow. it's kinda dissapointing, actually.
what's interesting for me is what actually sticks. that's why i'm interested in opinions of real people who don't have editors looking over their shoulder.
I think what's bugging me is your notion that a "first hand opinion" as you put it is somehow more valid because it isn't being paid for
"valid" is not the word i'd use. it's more
useful for one who views the system from outside and wishes to understand its inner workings.
while at the same time admitting that these first hand opinions are influenced by the "system." How do you manage to reconcile this conundrum?
as i said above, i'm capable of reading news myself, what i don't have is war man's level of immersion in events which happen on the other side of the globe from where i am, in society and culture so vastly different from that i live in. social media doesn't help either, because it's fast becoming just another information manipulation tool. it's not enough to simply soak in the propaganda to get educated on matters like politics, one needs to ground that stuff in somekinda real life experience, and this fossil of a forum, interestingly, is better place for me to find actual opinions of actual people of whom i can be reasonably sure i know things, than, basically, anywhere else, because these people have been here exchanging opinions for so long.
Who should we trust more, a professional political analyst or some random angry meathead being spoonfed their opinions, devoid of critical thought, by a faux debate talk radio show hosted by someone basically playing a character? The first is paid for, and the second you can get whenever you look like someone who will offer an ear to disgruntled griping.
well, first, you definitely shouldn't trust
anything pushed through your fucking media atm, imo. all the principals of honest and professional journalism have long been abandoned by them (that is if there were any to begin with).
and, second, as i said, i'm not simply looking for info, not really. imagine you are examining a mad house - would you actually be interested to know which napolen bonaparte in there has journalism degree?