Cnsl1 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 13, 2021 12:14 am
Here's why *I* think I'm smarter than you...
Thank you for being so bold as to admit it.
I watched what happened with my own eyes. I listened to what Trump said with my own ears. I reviewed what transpired and used my critical thinking brain to determine that our president appears more concerned about his image than his country. I did not rely on someone else and fringe websites to tell me the "real" story.
I respect differences of opinion. I less respect when someone says they'll never change their opinion no matter what.
I honestly tried to like the man. I looked at the information some of my friends say supports his contention of being a stable genius. I critically reviewed data from both sides. I did not have an answer before I asked the questions. I did not say I would never change my mind, as you did. People who cannot change their opinion in the face of disconfirming info are not, in my opinion, especially smart. Faithful, believing, dedicated, loyal? Perhaps.
Hopefully, our country will rebound from this. Hopefully there will not be any more ridiculous acts from rabid Trumpers. Hopefully there will not be any similarly ridiculous retaliatory acts from those who hate the Trumpers. Hopefully cooler heads prevail and four years from now we can have some more discussions about who should lead the country.
A long time ago I thought this country would probably do well to swing back and forth from left to right every few years, which might keep us somewhere around the middle of the road. It wouldn't please everyone, but it might just make it best for everyone. I still think that's probably not a terrible idea. I fear, however, that we have not seen our last "Trump", or our last charismatic power hungry idol able to foment a large number of followers with victim complexes using a mass of misinformation. I predict "Trump" will become a word for this type of person. His effect has been huge. Global. Like an epidemic.
Tell me... Do you think OJ was innocent? I've heard a lot of people do.
I was torn with OJ. It seemed like he did it. But I accepted the ruling of the courts because I did not know. I didn't lose sleep over it. I didn't argue about it. Later he admitted it in a book and more or less I didn't care at that point.
I don't remember the exact details. I think the case failed because Mark Fuhrman tampered with evidence.
Back to why you think "you" are smarter than me.
You look at "evidence" that authority gives to you. You come to the conclusion that they want you to come to. You process that information so well that you come to the exact same conclusion as all of your colleagues. My wife and I often talk about these things. And believe it or not, quite often at the end of the discussion we look at each other and say, I don't know what to think. We really don't know what is going on in many cases. That isn't because we didn't listen to the official report, we just didn't believe it.
The facts are not so important as the Observer. Sort of like Aunt Sally observing the facts vs Dr. Sherlock Holmes. I am no Sherlock Holmes, but I definitely look at things from different perspectives.
I'm not a smart man. But I have had the "authorities" rule against me, or accuse me enough that looking for other possibilities is almost second nature. I think many "Patriots" are used to getting screwed by the authorities. So they are used to seeing things differently.
My point is, the truth isn't a single sided idea. For example, the slaveowners of the 1860s. They were convinced that God had endowed them with the right to own other humans. When they fought for their "rights" it was their God given right to take the resources and produce from a "dumber" people. And when those slave owners gave the facts to the other non-slaveowners, it made sense to them. Even if they didn't have slaves it was still their right. Anyone that didn't understand that was stupid and a threat to their freedom.
Now the Republicans at the time thought slavery was wrong. No matter how the South worded it, owning other humans was wrong.
There is no way I can convince you that I am smarter because, well, I'm not. But something to consider.
Do you ever notice how hardcore Trumpers are usually also conspiracy theorists? It's not that they are smart and wise, it's because they look into all sorts of information. They will read about the latest corporate merger and then switch over to watch whistleblowers on the Satanic rituals where the elite sacrifice children to compromise/obligate people wanting to have seats of power. Is it true? Could people really be that sick? Why does this sound like history both ancient and recent? Then we switch over to a Constitution zealot like Carl Tucker or Mark Levine. We will stumble over Robert Colbert for a second remembering the old days before the bile comes back up in our throat.
Then we switch over to a place like,
www.godlikeproduction.com where 10s of thousands of news and doom junkie share stories from all over the world. Stories are presented and instantly counter stories are connected. Half of it is crap but you learn to spot the difference.
My point is, when I hear a story I get analysis from a dozens of different sources. After awhile you actually begin to resent news stations. Like maybe there is a Trump video that the media is ripping it to shreds. Some news junkie has compiled three or four links to news articles or YouTube videos that give it more context. Or maybe they are accusing Trump of inciting a riot then someone might compile 20 or 30 clips where Democrat senators and Congress women are inciting crowds to violence.
It's not a pro Trump site by any means. In fact there are a fair amount of Trump haters there. Oddly enough however, news junkies tend to support Trump.
Bottom line is, I don't restrict my opinions to mainstream media. I have been accused of trusting internet videos as a valid news source. I cannot always tell, but faking a video can be trickier than it seems. For example, I have watched dozens of internet videos that captured CNN staging a disaster scene. Literally, the blood and gore on their nightly news was a stage setup. When they were done filming the victims got up and walked away. You don't see that on mainstream news. And small time amateurs cannot afford to pay 30 or 40 actors with expensive equipment to play out a scene.
There are places where people gather these types of videos from ordinary people and put them on the internet in the centralized location. This doesn't make me smart. It makes me very skeptical.
Of course I have seen the mainstream news reports that said there was no fraud. I have seen videos taken by poll watchers at the scene showing where they were locked out of the building. I have seen dozens of videos of people right in the counting rooms expressing frustration and anger as they counted Trump ballots throwing every third one into the trash in a fit of rage. I have seen video clips of Democrat Congresswoman counting votes, possibly in her own district. I have seen videoes of concerned citizens (campaign workers) confronting men illegally taking ballots from dropboxes.
I don't know where it happened. But it seemed to happen somewhere. So when campaign workers and other witnesses came forward with stories of fraud, there actually was a lot of evidence. But what we saw was oftentimes just the evidence disconnected from the details. But it was enough evidence that should have amounted to a major crime wherever it happened.
Bottom line, the facts that you get from mainstream media are not even close to all of the facts. They are the facts that have been sanitized for your consumption. They are the facts that when you read them they know what you will think.
You don't believe me? Look at what a massive effort they have made to silence people. I was reading tonight that my new platform, Parler, May never come back online. They did nothing wrong. But they have been hit so hard by Big Tech They may never recover. If your team has the truth why is it so desperate to silence us? They impeached the president for a second time 7 days before the end of his term. Are they really trying to save the country or trying to cover their ass?
If you get away from the mainstream news, then you know that the FBI and capital police knew that attack was pre-planned. Trump was going to walk with his supporters, but the attack happened during his speech. It wasn't like he said some wrong word and everybody went insane and attacked the Capitol building.
Congress knows it was a pre-planned attack. They said so ride in the debate of the impeachment. But the Democrats are trying to downplay this fact. They know it wasn't the president who incited the attack. But whoever was behind the attack got a hold of Nancy pelosi's laptop among was several other Congress people. The guy that was in Nancy Pelosi's office conveniently drew both other rioters and police into her office. They got her laptop and perhaps a few documents on her desk.
They act like they are trying to save us from the president. But many other sources think she is trying to save her own ass. Someone mentioned that the VP elect was sworn in again as a senator. They are not sure of anything. But they will continue to blast us because their power comes from you guys thinking I'm evil.
