this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2023
464 points (94.1% liked)

politics

19224 readers
3086 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

It's not the average American you have to worry about .... it's the corporate controlled media companies that are pushing this narrative.

If you opened up the stage for people to speak up, they wouldn't want any of the people that are in place right now.

The media and the establishment are the ones who drive the narratives because they are the ones with all the money and control.

So average people aren't deciding on wanting someone like Trump ... it's corporate heads and wealthy backers who are promoting, advertising and pushing this narrative because that's what they want.

[–] billiam0202 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

If these stories didn't sell, the media wouldn't run them. Yes, they should be objective and stop being culpable in this ongoing assault on American democracy... but they're serving a market.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

They're not serving a market ... they're serving a master.

The general media is not an independent entity that does things to make a bit of money ... they are a tool that is used by corporations and the wealthy elite to corral people into a certain mindset and beliefs ... that eventually lead everyone into electing only those people that are marketed to them.

"It’s never gonna get any better. Don’t look for it. Be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners now, the real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls." - George Carlin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Zqbg6QThg

[–] Ottomateeverything 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

People wanting to read crazy, unhinged, insane, chaotic garbage about how the world is falling apart doesn't mean that they want it to keep happening or that they approve or that they think these are the right people to have in charge.

[–] billiam0202 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Their motives don't matter because the result is the same.

Edit: The algorithm is driven by engagement. One's particular reason for engaging with media content is wholly irrelevant- to the algorithm, watching Alex Jones because he's a flaming racist homophobic paranoid schizophrenic and watching Alex Jones because one is a flaming racist homophobic paranoid schizophrenic are equivalent. The algorithm doesn't care why the content was engaged with, only that it was.

[–] anarchy79 2 points 1 year ago

And the algorithm serves the capital. Who needs truth and accountability when there's PROFIT!

I think the whole "let people decide what they want to see" line of argument is bogus, just like the lie about the relation ship between supply and demand. There's a big difference between "Hey I will tell you the truth for a penny", and "Hey I will tell you whatever you want to hear for a penny".

Motive always matters.

[–] anarchy79 1 points 1 year ago

So you're blaming capitalism? I'm very much with you on that one. Except that the job of media is not to make money, but to report objective fact, and have people pay for that. You seem to have it backwards, otherwise there'd be no news, only sports, gossip, and porn.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

And that’s why, even though finally Biden opened his mouth to tell corporations to stop price-gouging, prices are still high.

[–] anarchy79 1 points 1 year ago

The propaganda machinery is total. They dictate to us what we can even talk and think about just like those 24/7 radios from 1984 installed in everyone's homes (which was a real thing in the Soviet client states, by the way)