Centroids: I'm not really sure about the conclusions of the following essay although it certainly is thought-provoking. It seems to me that something is missing although what this may be is uncertain. However, it is just as clear that the author has hit upon an important truth. The essay also dovetails with on-air remarks I heard recently about the effectiveness of Donald Trump on the campaign trail. His secret? Very simple and very media savvy: Make every point concrete, that is, make every point into something visual. Want to discuss immigration? Talk about "the wall." Do this and the message sticks. Want to talk about Islam? Discuss some specific type of atrocity committed by Al Qaeda or the Islamic State that anyone can relate to, like beheading. Want to make a powerful point about the problems of people in the Rust Belt as the economies of the Great Lakes states decline? Talk about the closure of a steel plant in Youngstown or the loss of an auto factory in Michigan to Mexico. What makes for bad writing, especially among academics but also among many political scriveners? Recitations of statistics and almost nothing but statistics. A few choice numbers may be effective; a laundry list of computations puts people to sleep. But what most engages attention are thoughtfully chosen vivid (visual) examples that are easy to remember. As someone who is very media hip, Trump seems to do this instinctively. He may do this unconsciously, he may be unable to string together lengthy sequences of events or sequences of meaningful facts and figures, but as a political campaigner he has proven himself to be effective and, for political purposes, that is what counts the most. Now he has made something visual and dramatic -hence attention getting- that all previous presidents-elect have chosen to carry out in private with no public attention, the process of selecting a cabinet. And by so doing he has increased public interest in his policies. As I told a friend the other day, I was ecstatic at the defeat of Hillary but despondent at the victory of Donald Trump. My opinion of the outcome has not changed. However, in terms of how he does what he does, maybe some belated respect is due to Mr. Trump. It pains me to concede even this much, but it is necessary to do so for the sake of honesty. Billy ---------------------------------------------------------- Real Clear Politics The Real Reason You Shouldn't Trust the Media
By _Ross Pomeroy_ (http://www.realclearscience.com/authors/ross_pomeroy/) November 21, 2016 The mainstream media is absolutely biased, but not in the manner you might be thinking. Ideology sways reporting at some news organizations, but far more pernicious and pervasive is the modern media's penchant for reporting anecdotes. These one-off stories are amazing, attention-grabbing, and extraordinary, newsworthy precisely because of their rarity. But seeing and reading about them each and every day with little to no context systematically warps our perception of everyday life. Nobel prize-winning psychologist _Daniel Kahneman_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman) recognized as much after decades of studying human cognitive biases. "The world in our heads is not a precise replica of reality; our expectations about the frequency of events are distorted by the prevalence and emotional intensity of the messages to which we are exposed," he wrote in his best-selling book_Thinking, Fast and Slow_ (https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555) . With that in mind, let's take a look at cable news. Whether it's MSNBC, CNN, or Fox News, you'll watch everything from dueling pundits spouting conspiracies to terrorism, crime sprees, weight loss miracles, and shark attacks, always shark attacks... Assaulted with these fabulous events on a regular basis, we unconsciously keep them at the front of our minds. "People tend to assess the relative importance of issues by the ease with which they are retrieved from memory–and this is largely determined by the extent of coverage in the media. Frequently mentioned topics populate the mind even as others slip away from awareness," Kahneman wrote. What are the effects of the media's systematic misleading? Here are a few examples: The public thinks that college campuses are rife with trigger warnings and political correctness, when in fact, they are not. A _survey_ (http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/12/are-trigger-warnings-actually-widespread-a t-all.html) conducted last year showed that a mere 15 percent of professors had students request trigger warnings. The vast majority of Americans _believe_ (http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/05/07/gun-homicide-rate-down-49-since-1993-peak-public-unaware/#what-is-behind-the-crime-decline) that crime has gone up or stayed the same since the 1990s. In reality, it has _plummeted_ (http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-09-26/us-crime-rate-rises-slightly-remains-near-20-year-low) to all-time lows. Sharks _prompt widespread fear_ (http://www.livescience.com/51579-fear-of-sharks-psychology.html) , while deer, which _kill more than_ (http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2014/04/the_science_of_deer_in_the_headlights.html) 200 Americans annually and cause approximately 10,000 injuries, do not. And what about politics? By and large, the electorate _considers_ (http://www.gallup.com/poll/185759/widespread-government-corruption.aspx) politicians to be corrupt, unscrupulous, and even criminal. But _data_ (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/us/politics/it-only-seems-that-political-corruption-is- rampant.html?_r=1®ister=facebook) collected through 2007 shows that fewer than one percent of the 12,000 people to have served in Congress had been expelled, indicted, or tried for crimes. Moreover, analysts_insist_ (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/us/politics/it-only-seems-that-political-corrup tion-is-rampant.html?_r=1®ister=facebook) that corruption was far more common in the past than it is today. Veteran reporter Garrett Graff has spent a good chunk of the last ten years trying to root out political malfeasance. But as _he told This American Life's Sean Cole_ (https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/601/master-of-her-domain-name?act=1) , he hasn't turned up much of the sinister behavior he originally suspected was rampant. "Whenever you hear a government conspiracy theory, the almost universal truth is that the explanation is more likely either bureaucratic bungling or outright incompetence," he said. No malevolence, just everyday human stupidity. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
