I felt like Facebook was too trashy a space to waste thoughtful writing, so, I'm posting a response I wrote on Facebook because I feel like it should be in a blog. Or something.
Here's what I was responding to: please look into a trusted news like newsmax to get the stuff u are not getting so u can know the truth
Note: there were a bunch of other nasty comments from Trump Loyalists, but you've seen those before, so I don't need to repeat them here. The original poster, however, is someone I respect, and she remained civil, which is why I decided to respond. If I can help undo what the conservative media has done to ONE mind, maybe I'll find a way to help others, too.
Here is my response:
So, there's a lot of comment threads at this point, so I'm going to say one final thing before I take a social media break (which I recommend doing at least once a year, it's like a luxury vacation).
Lori, I am very familiar with NewsMax. Its main competitors are FoxNews, BlazeTV, and OAN. These three other right-wing networks, together with NewsMax, each use their own sophisticated workflows to embed pro-trump propaganda and anti-democrat disparagement into both news and opinion shows.
(for more details on media bias, don't just take NewsMax's word for it. Check out http://mediabiasfactcheck.com/ - I think you'll find that they lay out the truth plain as day and are equally as critical of CNN/Huffpost types as they are of NewsMax/FoxNews types - this should help you evaluate your news source and hopefully inspire you to either move toward a network with less bias, more facts, or both)
NewsMax is owned and managed by a man named Christopher Ruddy. Please look him up. You'll discover that Chris Ruddy is a *very* good friend and confidant of Donald Trump. In fact, Ruddy is such a good friend that even if a seemingly negative fact is proven about Trump, Ruddy uses NewsMax to either convince its viewers that it's "no big deal," or to ignore evidence of facts and pretend it's not true.
Not only does NewsMax use selective reporting to keep you away from real news, NewsMax actively reports false "facts" and misrepresents/misinterprets real facts to feed its viewers confirmation biases and emotions.
The techniques are clever and subtle, so most viewers don't even realize that their opinions are being built by subtextual provocation of emotion.
The end result for viewers who are loyal to these four networks is the same. They become one of four things:
1. Ardent Trump supporters who refuse to listen to or believe anything that paints the president in a negative light and are absolutely convinced that all the other news outlets (except for the pro-trump news outlets) are part of an intricate conspiracy cabal trying to "sell out" our country
2. Zealots who insist Trump is the second coming of Christ and there is literally nothing Trump can do wrong,
3. Unhinged and vengeful militia men & women, with weapons, who are ready to cause violence and destruction upon Trump's call to arms, and
4. Conservative internet trolls who use allcaps but no evidence in their arguments and who threaten conservative news media hosts AND other republicans when said hosts or republicans dare to cross the president. See Meghyn Kelly from 2016. Republican woman who, four years later, STILL gets death threats because she asked Trump a question that he decided was "unfair." Also Mitt Romney, who voted his conscience at the impeachment hearings and has been vilified by Trump and the four types of extremely loyal, line toeing, lock-step obedient viewers these false news outlets have cultivated.
So, until you choose to consume news that is 1. Mostly Factual and 2. Less Biased, there will be no opportunity to undo the scramble of disdain for democrats and the pile of admiration for Trump that's been painstakingly engraved into your spirit.
Thus, I ask you, no, rather, I *beg* you, to please, please find a less biased source of information. You and I will very likely continue to annoy each other (and clearly some other followers to this thread have had their fill of me), but that's a thing that happens when 2 GOOD women are each trying to do the right thing by convincing the other to see things from a different perspective.
How about a challenge? I'm willing to consume NewsMax for a *full week* starting tonight if you'd be willing to consume The Atlantic for a full week and then we can discuss and argue our observations. I think that would be fun. We could turn it into a drinking game. Game on?
We can also do this via DM instead of on this thread because it looks like I'm getting under the skin of some of your friends, and I don't want to cause them any more angst than this election is likely already causing them. No matter your politics, we could all use a break from politics.
