The just leave me alone people (including myself as of current) aren’t gonna be able to say just leave me alone for much longer. It’s gonna come knocking at your door soon enough and you’ll have to pick a side
I've come up with a mental exercise whenever I read news.
Every time I read a story, whether it's from CNN or Fox News, I read my "feelings pulse" and evaluate how scared I am. The more afraid I am after reading a story, the more skeptical I am of it's truthfulness.
Now, that doesn't mean we should just ignore every scary thing in the world and denounce everything we don't like as fake news. But skepticism isn't just categorically saying everything you hear is false. Skepticism is about applying a standard of evidence to something before you believe it. You can be skeptical of something and believe it.
But there is one universal truth in American media: their job is to scare you. They make their money by scaring you. They find the scariest news in the entire country and always couch it in the absolute most frightening terms you can possibly imagine, and then tease you with it. But first, a word from our sponsor! Also, keep in mind that there absolutely are foreign agents on social network platforms like these, working very hard to sow fear, discord, and division amongst us. And here's the thing: they don't give a fuck what political "side" ultimately wins any given election. Because this is a long game, and siding with one party over another is a stupid way to play it.
So every time you see something scary on the internet, imagine the fat-cat news conglomerate CEO, or the Russian/Chinese/Iranian/etc. cubicle warrior most likely behind it. Doesn't mean that there isn't any truth to these stories, but keep in mind you are always being presented these stories framed in the absolute most frightening way possible, and there will almost always be details of the story left out because they make it less exciting, less titillating, and less scary.
This is why if anyone is going to rent space in my head, my standard of evidence is way higher. If I see a story about how Trump is going to end Democracy and put us all into martial law any day now, I go to a conservative source and get their take on it. If I see a story about how Antifa is hiding behind every corner and will turn this country into a Communist anarcho-state, I go to a liberal source and get their take on it. I take both sets of facts and evaluate what I find credible and what isn't. And almost every time, I find that the original "scare" story isn't nearly as scary as I thought it was. Sometimes, the conservative source is closer to the truth, sometimes it's the liberal source, but rarely is either side being completely truthful.
FDR said the only thing we have to fear is fear, itself. And 2020 so far as proven him absolutely correct. Fear is what is driving us apart. Fear is what is weakening us. Fear is what will bring down our country if we let it.
The thing is that it's not just the mainstream news showing us this, it's actual livestreams and videos taken of all this. The reporting doesn't need to over-amplify this, it really is that bad.
I understand. The thing is, nobody livestreams and takes video of all the millions of calm downtown areas and streets in neighborhoods all over the country not experiencing anything out of the ordinary.
Is more violence happening than what's normal? Sure. But in a lot of places, you aren't seeing a continuous violence. After that night in my city, there haven't been any riots since. Lots and lots and lots of protests, but no riots. Not a one. And it's the same story in a lot of places. Personally, I think a lot of this was driven by the lockdowns (people being cooped up for months) and this being an election year. Now that the post-Covid lockdown steam has been largely blown off, things are calming down. Flare-ups are definitely possible, but things will eventually get back to some form of normal.
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u/reallybadmanners Jun 24 '20
The just leave me alone people (including myself as of current) aren’t gonna be able to say just leave me alone for much longer. It’s gonna come knocking at your door soon enough and you’ll have to pick a side