tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352258244647772022.post5061448058517657325..comments2023-04-27T02:16:01.047-07:00Comments on Words Incorporated: Oppressed, Coerced, BarbaricStephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02187854108656107958noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352258244647772022.post-30084564159886536052013-08-30T20:56:02.859-07:002013-08-30T20:56:02.859-07:00As far as how people get their news there. Well, m...As far as how people get their news there. Well, my parents still read the newspaper every day, but I suspect that the younger generations must get their news mostly online. My dad also watches the world news on cable tv from a German station (in Spanish). They summarize world news in three minutes every night. Unfortunately the local news have become very sensationalist so they're not very good sources of information.Lorenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17848249911635132594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352258244647772022.post-77958752883951327192013-08-30T20:41:56.233-07:002013-08-30T20:41:56.233-07:00Politics there are also frustrating but in a diffe...Politics there are also frustrating but in a different way. Picture this, at some point there were 17 political parties (I don't know how many there are now). Politicians leave their parties to make their own and then fight with their previous colleagues, there's a lot of shameless corruption, the constitution gets changed at whim, the Executive power sometimes rules over the other powers, the media nowadays is under scrutiny and they have to be careful of what they say or they get sued by the president, etc. So it's not better, it's just different. People don't have such definite positions. For example, a person who is a socialist may also be religious or a Catholic could be in favor of gay marriage or abortion, etc. <br /><br />As far as the media, the new shows are shorter (like the local news here). There are no news channels that talk all day about the same thing and dissect a situation obsessively, which I like because too much negativity/bad news fuel a lot of anger, bitterness and division, IMO.<br />Lorenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17848249911635132594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352258244647772022.post-84668328426911901692013-08-27T08:01:56.690-07:002013-08-27T08:01:56.690-07:00I agree, Susan — it is disheartening. I wish I cou...I agree, Susan — it is disheartening. I wish I could say I saw a way out, but I don't. Except to be aware of the polarizing influences and learn to mitigate our own reactions to them. But I think we can see from Washington that there's very little hope of cooperation between our elected leaders on the left and right: voters demand ideological purity, and they get it.Stephaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02187854108656107958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352258244647772022.post-67084387577338558892013-08-27T07:59:00.453-07:002013-08-27T07:59:00.453-07:00"people have ideas that are a lot more blurry..."people have ideas that are a lot more blurry, it seems." Ah, that sounds so refreshing! Makes me want to move to Ecuador. :) Out of curiosity, what is the media situation there? How do people get their news?<br /><br />"if I expected that all my friends would think like me in every aspect, I wouldn't have a single friend left." I agree. Life in the echo chamber would be awfully lonely.Stephaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02187854108656107958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352258244647772022.post-77392613736957178632013-08-27T07:57:08.585-07:002013-08-27T07:57:08.585-07:00You have hit the nail on the head, AS! Back in the...You have hit the nail on the head, AS! Back in the day we had some unity of opinion because we were literally all hearing the same narrative: only 3 primary news sources and they all said basically the same thing.Stephaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02187854108656107958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352258244647772022.post-24111878315214517302013-08-26T13:41:09.439-07:002013-08-26T13:41:09.439-07:00What a thought-provoking post... and the comments,...What a thought-provoking post... and the comments, too. The idea that reactions to a given situation can be predicted based on political affiliation is a little surprising, and even a bit disheartening. Politics has become stridently partisan and even hate-filled, and if reactions and opinions are predicated by political affiliation, doesn't that kinda stomp on hopes of reconciliation and cooperation between the parties? I sure hope not. Having differing points of view is fine, but this Them vs. Us mind-set is horrifying.<br /><br />Susan Flett Swiderskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09425315552148200073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352258244647772022.post-66076175420451606802013-08-26T12:04:57.821-07:002013-08-26T12:04:57.821-07:00"Once you understand the three axes, and you ..."Once you understand the three axes, and you know a person's political affiliation almost guarantees a certain reaction to political events. We are as predictable as the sun."<br /><br />This was one of the biggest surprises for me when I moved to this country: the clear-cut division of ideologies. In my country people have ideas that are a lot more blurry, it seems. And people also seem to have an overall pessimistic view of politicians ("They're all the same!") This is why, for me, it's impossible to belong to a political party here. I don't generally have a definite position on every situation (like the ones mentioned above) and I have a cocktail of opinions rather than a definite/rigid perspective in alignment to those who I consider to be like me. In fact if I expected that all my friends would think like me in every aspect, I wouldn't have a single friend left.Lorenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17848249911635132594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352258244647772022.post-89499542976021145492013-08-25T06:42:58.594-07:002013-08-25T06:42:58.594-07:00The neutrality of the press is disappearing, too. ...The neutrality of the press is disappearing, too. That's not to say that news organizations don't make the effort to remain neutral because I at least want to believe that most journalists have the best intentions to do so. The problem is that there are so many outlets for the spectral extremes that people can quite comfortably limit the news they receive to the viewpoints that jive most closely with their own. Impatience with the other side is all the more difficult when everyone is getting their info from opposite biases.The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352258244647772022.post-28233104854058293982013-08-24T17:21:10.215-07:002013-08-24T17:21:10.215-07:00Dang, Laoch! And I thought I was having a bad day....Dang, Laoch! And I thought I was having a bad day. :/<br /><br />As depressed as I feel working through this story, and the aftermath (and I'm pretty depressed), I am overall optimistic. Optimism is my natural inclination, but it's helped along by thinkers like Steven Pinker, who reminds us that humans are getting better overall — not worse. You just have to take a long view. A long, data-driven view.Stephaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02187854108656107958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352258244647772022.post-91839784653504724352013-08-24T12:09:01.957-07:002013-08-24T12:09:01.957-07:00I like Russ Roberts podcast although he is much fu...I like Russ Roberts podcast although he is much further to the right than I (to be fair, almost everyone is further to the right than I). I do think that he is reasonably fair and allows people to express their views in a civil way which really is a recipe for success in regard to have ultimate civility.<br /><br />I think equality, freedom and egalitarian principles are worth fighting for, although it seems like those beliefs may ultimately lead to my being put in a concentration camp, if things keep progressing as they have been.Sultanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06506141014376919585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352258244647772022.post-12277153830717674812013-08-24T12:08:15.642-07:002013-08-24T12:08:15.642-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Sultanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06506141014376919585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352258244647772022.post-32235775601388656082013-08-24T08:46:25.198-07:002013-08-24T08:46:25.198-07:00I agree. Movements (and their accompanying ideolog...I agree. Movements (and their accompanying ideologies) provide the energy and passion needed to break out the status quo and make societal changes. Would we have civil rights without the Civil Rights movement? Women's rights, ditto. And so on. But movements have a habit of picking up so much momentum they drive some subset of their adherents right off a cliff.<br /><br />I'd like to think I learned to separate the particular from the general, but I do the same thing my friend does—just from the progressive perspective. She refers to the horrific crime that happened in Oklahoma earlier this week, where a few teens shot to death a jogger from Australia. This fit into my general narrative that our American gun culture has run amok. For her, it was evidence that black teens have run amok. But we both have A Big Picture we tend to sort all stories into — the best I can do is try to pull my head out of the sand occasionally and acknowledge that my narrative is not the only one.Stephaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02187854108656107958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352258244647772022.post-88057841669542218532013-08-23T22:46:32.475-07:002013-08-23T22:46:32.475-07:00Thought-provoking post. Political polarity engende...Thought-provoking post. Political polarity engenders movements and all movements go too far. The decision to treat isolated crimes as something separate from government by discussion is an individual adjustment. You have made that adjustment, as your husband has. Whether from lack of learning or misguided longing for factional community, far too many have not. Geo.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16221314320558128986noreply@blogger.com