There has always been conspiracy theories. Bigfoot, Area 51, JFK, etc. But in the pre-internet days, you really had to want to be a conspiracy person to get sucked in. You had to subscribe to magazines, you had to find books at the store or library. You really had to be dedicated to that conspiracy. Most considered them urban legends, only a few took the deep dive. It also helped that 99% of the news was centralized. You watched a certain channel because you liked the person doing the reporting , not the news itself. If there was spin, it was mostly all spun in the same direction.
Then came the Internet. Now we have BBS and chat rooms where these conspiracy people can virtually meet. Still not an issue because a majority of the population is still getting their news from a centralized place. CNN at this point was still main stream and in inline with the networks.
Then AOL comes along and everyone starts getting on the Internet. Things start getting a little worst. Remember Bonsai Kitten. Hey, its on the Internet so it is true. Forums start popping up, some people start building their own websites, e-mail is becoming more popular. It's dial up, still takes a lot of work to get involved with the conspiracy guys. But now you have a bit easier access to the rabbit hole. Most news is still consumed via TV and Newspapers. Most events are still reported accurately.
Then dedicated always on Internet shows up along with social media. This begins the downward spiral. No more dial up. You can create any type of bat shit crazy FB group/page. You can post any type of video on youtube. Now that rabbit hole is getting easier to navigate. You can start blogging or vlogging. You can setup websites via godaddy in a few clicks. More people are starting to get their news via the Internet. The news organizations start seeing this and begin their presence online. News is starting to get a bit more blurry as some of these virtual news organizations start competing with the old timers.
Then we get smart phones, snapchat, instagram, etc. Now we have access to that rabbit hole wherever we are. There is almost zero effort needed to make a post to social media. Anyone with a selfie stick and a smart phone is now a reporter. Virtual "news" channels streamed from someones basement are now on ROKU or FireStick. There is no more centralize news. Everything is an opinion story. Old school news outlets have to stop being independent and start leaning one way or another to survive in the new age. All that matters now is followers, eyeballs and ad revenue. Keep your eyeballs worked up as much as possible, so they come back or go deeper into the rabbit hole.
As I said of all people, we on this list should not be surprised where we are as a country. We watched this develop over the last 20+ years. Unfortunately, I really don't see how it gets better. There was always some fringe groups out there, but now there is no such thing as fringe.
Everyone has now been divided into tribes. Red tribe, Blue tribe, LGQBT tribe, BLM tribe, Proud Boys tribe, Christian tribe, etc. With social media we are now free to associated with only the people that agree with us. We surround ourselves with yes men. We rarely hear "The Rest of the Story". Our believes are confirmed and reinforced each and every day until we are willing to die for them. Chris Rock in the movie Dogma had a great quote "I just think it's better to have an idea. You can change an idea; changing a belief is trickier. People die for it, people kill for it."
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Best regards,
Mark mailto:[email protected]
Myakka Technologies, Inc.
www.Myakka.com
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Thursday, January 7, 2021, 2:37:53 PM, you wrote:
| It seems like it should be pretty obvious to everyone at this point that no matter what is said on either side of these political issues that nothing is going to change the opinions and beliefs of people on the other side. No matter how much “proof” either side has to show that they are right, no one is going to change their opinion. I suppose there are always some people who straddle the fence (just watch out if you slip and it’s a picket or razor blade fence you’re straddling!) and might be swayed by something they see, but the reality is that nothing is gained by anyone by these conversations on a list like this. In fact, much is lost…….. hopefully those that unsubscribed will come back. Personally, as long as political discussions don’t get so vicious as they’ve been at times, I find many of them entertaining. Overall though they seem to have caused more damage to this group than any benefit they’ve ever given. From: AF <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Chuck McCown via AF Sent: Thursday, January 7, 2021 1:24 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> Cc: Chuck McCown <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: FB I could argue number of people involved, number of days in protest, number or people hurt, number of cops hurt, $ of damage done etc etc and compare the two by the numbers. Pretty sure I am right. Just crunch the numbers. There is no “side” to simple counting of participants times time. But to you my comment “one sided inflammatory BS” . Sorry I offered ANY opinion or commentary. My comment came very late in the day, the political argument started far earlier. From: Carl Peterson Sent: Thursday, January 7, 2021 12:14 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: FB Chuck, I know it is your list and your rules, but you can't say crap like "The DC crap today does not hold a candle in magnitude to the Portland and Seattle crap largely done by the other side. Give and take." and not expect it to start a political argument. I think you are abundantly and dangerously wrong about that but I'm (mostly) holding my tongue. We can't have a list where one sided inflammatory BS like that is allowed but countering it is not. We either allow political discussions, which I'm fine with, or we make a no politics rule. The latter seems to be the best option as there are too many brilliant minds who we will lose if we keep it up. On Wed, Jan 6, 2021 at 4:37 PM Chuck McCown via AF <[email protected]> wrote:
-- Carl Peterson -- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
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-- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
