I had an awkward talk with my father earlier. I rarely talk to him, between COVID-19 and also the fact politically we are like oil and water, and he's been blathering on more and more about politics lately, instead of more pleasant subjects.
But tonight he called and suggested I need to go out and update my passport because my old one was out of date (I have 4 years to renew it, though... so I'm baffled why it has to be done now, even though both me and my S.O. consider ourselves at higher risk from COVID). And then he started talking about how "You know, masks have been giving people strep infections and they really don't work... blah blah blah". And I just sort of rolled my eyes and wasn't willing to argue with him. But it's awkward because I don't want to have to confront my own dad and argue with him, but he's flat out wrong.
Just who is dealing in this kind of crazy disinformation? Where does it come from? Is there something in the drinking water that suddenly makes people gullible fools (if so, I'm glad mine is filtered)? Every time I talk to him, it's some new crazy thing he says. And it's getting old real fast- I'm just not one to want to argue with my own father, and my mother believes this stuff, too.
There's no major media outlets that just tell facts anymore....they cater to political narratives. It doesn't matter if we're talking about Fox News, CNN, NYT, or whatever.
The transition to "tell them what they want to hear" has been steadily increasing for the past 10 years and the best explanation I've found for this is....the internet and social media.
Major news outlets have steadily lost business to small "news" commentators and social media that cater specifically to political views. Major outlets have realized that they can't compete by just presenting a reasonable balanced view of the facts.
You can still find unbiased sources in small market local news media....major cities are almost a lost cause too though. If you really want to figure out what is going on....you need to examine everything from multiple opposing sources and critically analyze it. Nobody really does this though....
I can remember back in the early 2000s...liberals were able to recognize this creeping bias in right wing media like Fox pretty easily. They saw it, they made fun of it, they figured conservatives were dumb for believing it.
Then in the late 2000s and early 2010s...liberal bias started pushing into CNN, NYT, and WaPo....and they ate it up just as easily as conservatives.
In short, the problem is that we have as a society stopped placing a high value on facts and instead started to value opinions. I blame social media, which deliberately advocates less than intelligent people sharing their opinions and then promotes those opinions based on popularity (via "likes" or "upvotes" etc) . This has created an environment where people are encouraged to say whatever they think is popular....and the truth isn't always popular. In fact, I'd say it's frequently unpopular.
The result is that more polarizing opinions...which appeal to the fringes...can become normalized over time if they're worded popularly enough.
People on both sides have adopted some highly contradictory and ridiculous views. For example, many on the right were both highly critical of Obama's drone attacks on Muslim terrorists and fully supported a half dozen investigations into Clinton's actions regarding Benghazi....yet they had no problem with shooting a missile at an Iranian general who coordinated terrorism and argued against 1 investigation into Trump's Russian ties.
There's a bizarre number of liberals who somehow believe that this is a "white supremacist nation" that has been designed from the ground up to oppress people of color.....and yet also believe that millions of people of color are trying their hardest to cross over our borders, illegally, to find a better life....despite leaving a nation where they were the majority racial demographic.
If there were consistent principles behind these beliefs....they would have to change. It's either wrong to shoot missiles at terrorists and investigate potentially corrupt public officials...or it isn't. Similarly, either this is an oppressive nation that holds down people of color by design....or we provide one of the highest standards of living and the most opportunities for advancement for people of color than even the nations where they are the majority demographic in power.