Politics

[St. Elmo's Fire]

Western media is even MORE propagandistic than RT.com, to be honest.

I watched a lot of RT when I was trying to learn about the Syria crisis. It was TRULY staggering how the stories that Western media used in an "Assad BAD! Putin BAD!" sort of way, suddenly looked a whole lot different when the entire actual story, with all important points included (as told by RT and not Western media) was told. Really showed the carefully considered "framing of facts" used by our own media outlets to further their agenda, all whilst having the cheek to act like they are any better!

Also, since the state pays for RT.com, you kind of expect them to go with a Russian perspective. What excuse do our own media outlets have for sticking the the govt's agenda so hard? I mean, they will have stories on "mistakes" by the government or politicians, which you won't get Russian politicians doing on RT, but they go all-in when it comes to the REALLY big lies (usually related to wars or revolutions somewhere) and absolutely refuse to do anything less than whitewash things to make us entitled Westerners look "angelic".

It doesn't even need Russia or RT to show how poisonous our medias are, I was suspicious long before RT appeared. For a very basic example, look at how much scare-mongering there is. Soon as it gets to winter; "MASSIVE SNOW STORMS AHEAD, MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE!". Then it gets to summer; "HOTTEST TEMPERATURES EVER RECORDED EXPERTS ARE PREDICTING! DROUGHTS AND HEATSTROKE, MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE!". They do BOTH of these, EVERY year!
And at Christmas, listening to the radio in the car, it's all nice and Christmas-y, then the announcer has to go and say in a depressing tone; "....and after the break. We'll be bringing you the story of Amanda and how her husband and child were killed by a drunk driver last year". Absolute bollocks, nobody WANTS to hear that shit. And it's not gonna make a drunk driver stop his behaviour either, these people KNOW what they do is wrong and dangerous, but they make the decision to do it anyway. A sap on the radio will make no difference!
You have to wonder why a small percentage of people are now fans of RT. Did people suddenly become Russia fans for some inexplicable reason? Or were they also dubious of their media and ready for a different viewpoint? RT is also a bit more upbeat and less depressing than the stuff we're used to, which probably also attracts viewers.

Long and short of it? If the media doesn't want to be told to fuck off and doesn't want us to look elsewhere, then tell us some WORTHY stuff, not just shite that we can either see through (or Google check quite easily) or simply don't want to hear (scaremongering about every thing). They, like politicians, are meant to serve US, not control or attempt to brainwash us.
Whichever Western media conglomerate started the current "Fake news!" soundbite, which we were all meant to ONLY use when talking about Russia (then later on, Trump), certainly got their just desserts when millions of pissed off Western citizens used the "fake news" soundbite AGAINST those who were pushing hardest to make it a "thing"!

[shredingskin]

Western media is even MORE propagandistic than RT.com, to be honest.
It was TRULY staggering how the stories that Western media used in an "Assad BAD! Putin BAD!" sort of way, suddenly looked a whole lot different when the entire actual story, with all important points included (as told by RT and not Western media) was told. Really showed the carefully considered "framing of facts" used by our own media outlets to further their agenda, all whilst having the cheek to act like they are any better!

You have to wonder why a small percentage of people are now fans of RT. Did people suddenly become Russia fans for some inexplicable reason? Or were they also dubious of their media and ready for a different viewpoint? RT is also a bit more upbeat and less depressing than the stuff we're used to, which probably also attracts viewers.

- It's the fucking same, just the other bell. I'm far more scared about states lying than private corporations (unless it's google or amazon). Specially coming from a "democratic dictatorship" or a "oil based theocracy".

- People watch what suits them, that's what makes it scary. People living their own realities, not even caring about truth, media at this point don't care about bias, and actually scared of the bursting bubble (and fear can turn into violence very easy, it's normal animal behaviour).

It's kinda personal for me since my country last 5 years had a pretty much all out war against media, goverment directly lying to the people, buying smaller media (giving their friends money to buy them, or invent new "private" ones full of state ads), and in the big media it was all a shit show 24/7 blaming (and even insulting) the president.
At the end of the day we only have a more divided nation, and nothing really good came from it. With people just repeating propaganda for both sides (and it's fairly easy to polarize anyone, it's dialectic).

It's the way it's gonna go no matter what, and it's even good business (you know your market, ads know it, you can target it better).

EDIT: So Trump's actions to be in "campaign mode" are for his benefit, or are benefits to keep doing his business ?
Like every chime I hear is fucking different.

But I guess keep calling him homophobe let's people rile up more.

[InsanityIsCrazy]

Mass shooting in a quebec mosque, 6 dead and multiple wounded
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38793071

What's odd is that media outlets are already trying to portray this as a hate crime against muslims although we have little information and the little we do would suggest it's islamic sectarian violence at cause

“One started shooting. As soon as he opened fire he shouted, ‘Allahu akbar!’ (God is great!) The bullets reached people who were praying. People who prayed lost their lives. As for myself, the bullet passed over my head,” the witness said, adding the attackers “seemed to have a very good Québec accent.”

https://www.rt.com/news/375554-quebec-c ... -shooting/

That being said the testimony is from an anonymous source so we will have to wait and see until the police release further information however the amount of people jumping to conclusions that this is somehow a trump inspired right wing attack on Muslims with so little to go by is ridiculous.

I rely on The Intercept for non-panicky news (except for anything by Sam Biddle, fuck that dude) and even they went the "He's a White Nationalist!" route, despite railing against it in their damn article:

The actual shooting suspect is 27-year-old Alexandre Bissonnette, a white French Canadian who is, by all appearances, a rabid anti-immigrant nationalist. A leader of a local immigration rights group, François Deschamps, told a local paper he recognized his photo as an anti-immigrant far-right “troll” who has been hostile to the group online.

And until the investigation is complete, one cannot know for certain what the motives here were. One should be careful about trying to infer too much from a hodgepodge of Facebook “likes” and, this early, even anecdotal claims about Bissonnette’s political views.

Nice going, Glenn.

[St. Elmo's Fire]

- It's the fucking same, just the other bell. I'm far more scared about states lying than private corporations (unless it's google or amazon). Specially coming from a "democratic dictatorship" or a "oil based theocracy".

- People watch what suits them, that's what makes it scary. People living their own realities, not even caring about truth, media at this point don't care about bias, and actually scared of the bursting bubble (and fear can turn into violence very easy, it's normal animal behaviour).

You mean RT is mainstream media now? I kind of agree, though they don't have anything like the same number of viewers as other broadcasters. Why fear a state broadcaster's lies over a corporation's lies though, when the corporations are telling the state's lies for them? That was my whole point in that post, we expect RT to be Russia-biased, but the corporations have no excuse.

Apart from maybe the BBC, since they are so blatantly part of the "state" (up to and including sending goons to your house if you don't pay the BBC's TV licence) that it's hard to really call them "private" these days. They certainly don't deserve to be paid money from the citizens, to lie to the citizens, at any rate.
I bet RT doesn't have a seedy history of paedo-harbouring like the BBC did either, along with their hilarious "investigation", which basically went along the lines of;
"Senior BBC execs who worked here (at the times the paedo stuff was happening) but are now dead almost certainly knew about it. BBC workers who were at the BBC (at the times the paedo stuff was happening) but are now themselves senior BBC execs definitely did not know though, OH NO, absolutely not!".

That's not even that big an exaggeration, sadly...

I think at the end of the day, in this internet age, it's very easy to check from multiple sources what a certain news agency says. If the arrival of RT.com has made so many people go on the internet and check things out for themselves, then that is definitely a good thing in my view! They must be doing something right also since the Russiaphobia and anti-RT stance from certain governments has very much increased these past few years!

[Axm]

Looking on the likes of Twitter and Facebook and just speaking to people at work, I'd say that the media has done a very good job of manipulating and planting ideas or opinions into the sheep's heads. Call me a crazy conspiracy nut or whatever, I don't give a fuck, people just want fucking echo chambers and like to have their opinions validated and the media is taking advantage of that.

[UnHoly Bible]

Been a few years since I came here, and yet there's still nothing noteworthy to say that isn't obvious. But whatever gets us through the day i guess

Fine time to be a nihilist if you don't have the power to change the world. Feels good man

[Sonikku]

That's another case of "sneaky" editorializing, starting with the title.

I guess some people think they should fight fire with fire, but would be very shocked when they find that a lot of people are tired of bullshit.

That article is about his executive order about regulations and just sprinkled Dodd-Frank in as wild speculation. I wouldn't be surprised if he, or congress repeals it, though. The republicans were never fans of that act.

Just wild speculation?? "Sneaky" editorializing? My god man. It's like we live in different worlds.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-finan ... ive-order/

[Sonikku]

Never forget!

[shredingskin]

That's another case of "sneaky" editorializing, starting with the title.

Just wild speculation?? "Sneaky" editorializing? My god man. It's like we live in different worlds.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-finan ... ive-order/

Yes it's "sneaky", since the title it's grammatically correct (since it's a word that Trump literally used), but used to pass a judgement of value on the piece in a colloquial reading (the same way you and me used the quotation marks).

Sorry if it was too "sneaky" for you. Happens (and that's why they do it).

[Jeff]

I'm proud to say that I worked on the Trump campaign in his building early in the campaign. Apart of the early rag tag team that was told it couldn't be done. You're welcome!

[Himuro]

Curious why those of Shenmue Dojo who support Trump. Whether you voted for him or you're not American and still support his policies, I'm curious why you support him. Are you worried about anything in particular regarding his administration? What are you looking forward to? How would you rate their first few weeks in office?

Not a judgement at all but curious to know and hoping we can come to some kind of understanding.

[St. Elmo's Fire]

For me, from the UK, it was purely self-serving. I'd heard enough of Hilary's WW3-ish sort of talking (which is pretty baffling for someone meant to be "liberal" TBH) to be pretty scared by it. Her boss Obama was quite keen on the whole "Let's get Russia!" thing too. Since The Donald was friends with Putin beforehand, I figured that WW3 was less likely under him. WW3 is something bad enough to affect the whole world, so obviously I wanted it to be avoided...

[south carmain]

I wouldn't consider myself a trump supporter since there are so many policies of his that I disagree with but I think he has a better stance on the wars in the middle east than Hillary and friends.

[Himuro]

I never thought Obama was actually pushing for WWIII with Russia. I mean, Russia pretty much started the shit themselves and are very much heading westward towards Europe it seems. Does that not bother you? If America and Russia are friends where does this leave Europe? If you're a European, I'm not sure how you benefit from it and furthermore, I'm confused by what you mean WWIII talk by Clinton. At this point I'm not sure if WWIII is even possible. It's been a boogey man for so long and people keep spouting it, but if WWIII is a concern, Donald seems to be about as equally a threat for starting WWIII than Hillary given his lack of temperament. The man was and continues to remain ignorant towards foreign policy and wasn't even aware of Taiwan's relationship with the US and China. Speaking of China, I'm not sure how you're fine with his stance on Russia while ignoring his stance on China. Donald's own military advisors have said "war with China is inevitable" and they seem to be talking about a ground war, and not a proxy war. Obama and Clinton's war with Russia seemed to be based on proxy and not actual troops. Donald's stance on war with China seems to be actual feet on the ground. So you might still get WWIII as China becomes the leading power.

As an American, I'm sick of wars. The Iraq war partly caused the the creation of ISIS. How is going back to the Middle East to fight them good? I'm absolutely fine with isolationism so long as it's about not meddling in the business of other countries. But if it means not allowing immigrants in I find it completely un-American being that everyone here is not native to this land unless you speak Cherokee or something similar.

So I voted for Hillary despite that. Globally I see Trump as a bigger threat to the world than Clinton. Ideally I would have preferred Bernie as president, who I voted for in the primary. Gary Johnson didn't even know what Aleppo even was! Clinton seemed like the only realistic option that election as much as I hate her.

[south carmain]

As an American, I'm sick of wars. The Iraq war partly caused the the creation of ISIS. How is going back to the Middle East to fight them good? I'm absolutely fine with isolationism so long as it's about not meddling in the business of other countries. But if it means not allowing immigrants in I find it completely un-American being that everyone here is not native to this land unless you speak Cherokee or something similar.

I'm referring to this

Pursue aggressive joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS, international cooperation to cutoff their funding, expand intelligence sharing, and cyberwarfare to disrupt and disable their propaganda and recruiting.

Instead of focusing on regime change he intends to cooperate with local authorities and allies to rid the region of them and other terrorist groups which is a far cry from Obama and Hillary supporting rebel groups pretending they're moderate and want democracy which was just throwing more oil on the fire. It's not my position to decide who should or shouldnt be allowed in to the US as I'm not an American to decide on that however his position on the Syrian civil war and situation in Iraq has a better chance at working than the policy Obama had been pursuing and that Hillary wanted to continue with.

As fro Russia "moving in to Europe" it's not as simple as that, they have no intention to invade any further than they already have since those areas are heavily Russian and pro-Russia. Russia isn't as big of a threat to Europe as people try to make it out to be, outside of some border areas it's more of a propaganda war that they're fighting but they won't be having tanks rolling out in to Europe any time soon that's for sure.