Aug. 23, 2010: Just another day in Disinformationland
Pop culture critic Neal Gabler, writing in Politico, notes that more and more Americans — including 31 percent of Republicans — believe incorrectly that President Obama is Muslim. The finding offers still more evidence that we live today in what Gabler rather clunkily — but accurately — labels “Disinformationland.”
“With more of us attending college, we might even be smarter. But higher education rates and easier access to information have been undermined by what amounts to a vast and insidious revolutionary force – a kind of anti-Enlightenment in which facts yield to rumor, reason to uninformed opinion and objectivity to proudly declared subjectivity. We swim in a limitless sea of misinformation, even disinformation, without much inclination to separate truth from fiction…. The idea that there is such a thing as verifiable truth – like Obama being a Christian – is increasingly seen as elitist. It’s as if truth were yet another scheme by the powerful to impose their will on everyone else.”
I can remember a time when American conservatives argued vehemently that there could only be one truth, THE truth. It was a foundation stone in the conservative philosophy. The counter notion that truth was instead a relative concept, that one person’s concept of truth could be as valid as the next person’s, was dismissed as soft-headed liberalism. Sadly, that is now ancient history.
In too many quarters, truth today is personal, a set of “facts” that allow a person to keep believing whatever he or she prefers to believe. And if we each inhabit our own alternate reality, there is in fact no reality, only fantasy. I’m not sure that democracy as we have known it can survive that transition.
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370 comments Add your comment
Normal
August 23rd, 2010
7:30 am
I still say I would rather the President be an agnostic…
Finn McCool
August 23rd, 2010
7:30 am
It’s not a personal alternate reality that the conservatives are living in; it’s a Fox News, Glenn Beck, Shawn Hannity alternate reality.
What a cult.
Normal
August 23rd, 2010
7:31 am
WHOA! First on JAY’S FIRST DAY BACK!!!
USinUK
August 23rd, 2010
7:43 am
(golf clap for Normal for firsties!)
“In too many quarters, truth today is personal, a set of “facts” that allow a person to keep believing whatever he or she prefers to believe”
it’s the echo chamber, Jay … people watch the news that echos their belief (hellooooooo FOX!), then seek out the blogs that echo their belief (helllooooooo Red State / Atlas Shrugged / LGF), so that they can justify their belief …
Paul
August 23rd, 2010
7:44 am
“higher education rates and easier access to information ”
Higher education without learning critical thinking.
Easier access to information to support our biases.
Unwillingness to change one’s opinion so as to not appear weak or be subject to ridicule.
An attitude of ‘defend my side and condemn the other side’ no matter what the facts show.
I agree, it’s a transition in need of a course correction.
Rush Limbaugh is a big fat liar
August 23rd, 2010
7:49 am
What more can one expect from Infotainment. The one who yells the loudest is always right Jay.
There is a good piece in the NYT that clearly tells about the whole silly “mosque” thing. Did you know that the same terrorists that are funding the non-mosque are supporting Rupert Murdock’s disinformation conglomerate to a tune of 3 billion a year? Look for it on the most emailed/viewed link.
It is the old “look over there” tactic they use when trying to bamboozle the stupid public, ie extending tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. If everyone is incensed about the non mosque they might not notice that the rich are getting their wishes while the middle class is screwed again.
jt
August 23rd, 2010
7:51 am
Here’s some truth. Cut and dry.
The corrupt federal government is choking our culture and stealing your wealth.
And porno-scanning your children at airports.
Karl Rove
August 23rd, 2010
7:51 am
But surely you must admit that if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.
For example: Ronald Reagan single-handedly brought down the Soviet Union;
or Cutting Taxes always increases government revenue;
or All liberals hate America;
or Democratic deficits are bad, bur GOP deficits are good.
See how easy that is?
AmVet
August 23rd, 2010
7:56 am
I can remember a time when American conservatives argued vehemently that there could only be one truth, THE truth.
Yet another arrow in the side of this supposed conservatism. As practiced by the vast majority of today’s Republicans, it is anything but. In fact, many times it is the very antithesis of American conservatism. Perhaps the horribly botched invasion of Iraq is the perfect metaphor.
All hat and no cattle.
“I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different from mine. He who denies another this right makes a slave of himself to this present opinion because he precludes himself the right of changing it.” ~Thomas Paine 1783
Good morning Paul, aka Blog Destroyer. Remind me to stay in your good graces…
Finn McCool
August 23rd, 2010
7:58 am
The corrupt federal government is choking our culture and stealing your wealth.
umm, the federal government didn’t walk out with 60% of my 401(k), that would be hedge fund managers and unscrupulous mortgage bankers.
USinUK
August 23rd, 2010
7:58 am
Karl – you forgot – Al Gore said he invented the internet and the CRA destroyed the economy
Paul
August 23rd, 2010
7:59 am
Good Morning, AmVet!
Did you know, if a Reaper (Predator follow-on) is cruising at 30,000 feet, you can’t even see it?
USinUK
August 23rd, 2010
8:00 am
“corrupt federal government is choking our culture ”
what does that MEAN???
ballerinas and playwrites are being garrotted in the street?
Bob
August 23rd, 2010
8:00 am
Karl, I agree, dems blame reagan for debt but dems passed their own budgets when he was in office, but they repeat it enough that most on this thread believe it. As far as Obo being muslim, he gave the doubters plenty of ammo. When he said we were not a christian nation but really a muslim nation, some took offense. Many don’t understand that he was just kissing muslim rearend when he made that statement.
Obo should just show some clips of him sitting in the pews of rev wrights church and listen to the inclusive christian sermons he loved so.
Finn McCool
August 23rd, 2010
8:00 am
Karl – you forgot – Al Gore said he invented the internet and the CRA destroyed the economy
along with poor people and homeless people getting mortgage loans they couldn’t repay. Hehe
Finn McCool
August 23rd, 2010
8:02 am
When he said we were not a christian nation but really a muslim nation
BINGO!
Bob
August 23rd, 2010
8:04 am
speaking of disinformed, did anyone catch the interview where Barney Frank says putting people in homes that they cannot afford was wrong and he would like to see Fannie and Freddie shut down within a year ? Whats he smokin, we only need to dump a few hundred billion more into these GSE’s and then everything will be fine.
AmVet
August 23rd, 2010
8:05 am
Too many italics, in my above post. I trust you can decipher.
One off topic story this morning.
Yesterday for the first time in seven plus years I went golfing. A nice track up in Canton. And even though it was blistering hot I was stoked just ob back playing again, especially with what happened on number five – a 136-yard par 3. I hit a perfect nine iron that came down three feet directly left of the pin and then stated tracking right for it! It came to rest two inches of being an ace. Only by the length of one of those little golf pencils did I miss getting my name on a plaque and being the come back kid of the year!
Good times and now I’m motivated to get back out there some more. AFTER it cools down some…
Jay
August 23rd, 2010
8:05 am
Bob, the total budget that Congress passed each year under Reagan contained almost exactly the amount of money that Reagan had requested from Congress as president. That is historical, documentable fact, as uneasy as it may make you.
You also write:
“As far as Obo being muslim, he gave the doubters plenty of ammo. When he said we were not a christian nation but really a muslim nation, some took offense.”
When did Obama say that? Quote please. Otherwise, some might conclude that you too were making up facts to justify your beliefs.
Southern Comfort
August 23rd, 2010
8:06 am
Jay
That all too often happens on both sides of the political spectrum. What else would you expect from a country that has the attention span of a gnat’s @ss? It’s the result of living in an ADHD, instant gratification, soundbite fueled pseudo-news society.
Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge – Horace Mann
Normal
August 23rd, 2010
8:07 am
I don’t know if this will work, but if it does, Scroll down to Kabuki Democracy…very interestung…
http://www.thenation.com/sites/default/files/nation20100830.pdf
USinUK
August 23rd, 2010
8:09 am
Finn – 8:02 … it’s too early in the week for me to start banging my head on my keyboard …
The Leg Lamp is a "major award" much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel.
August 23rd, 2010
8:10 am
How could people possibly think Obama’s a moozlum? Hmm, let’s look back at this NYT article from 2007:
“I was a little Jakarta street kid,” he said in a wide-ranging interview in his office (excerpts are on my blog, http://www.nytimes.com/ontheground). He once got in trouble for making faces during Koran study classes in his elementary school, but a president is less likely to stereotype Muslims as fanatics — and more likely to be aware of their nationalism — if he once studied the Koran with them.
Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”
Moreover, Mr. Obama’s own grandfather in Kenya was a Muslim. Mr. Obama never met his grandfather and says he isn’t sure if his grandfather’s two wives were simultaneous or consecutive, or even if he was Sunni or Shiite. (O.K., maybe Mr. Obama should just give up on Alabama.)
Southern Comfort
August 23rd, 2010
8:11 am
UnU
You forget, they feel the need to make up for the two weeks of not being able to post stuff like that. Get ready for the onslaught, and pad your keyboard, desk, or for that matter, the entire room.
Finn McCool
August 23rd, 2010
8:11 am
Barney Frank says putting people in homes that they cannot afford was wrong and he would like to see Fannie and Freddie shut down within a year ?
It takes a backbone to admit you might have been wrong – that’s what truly scares the conservatives. The right disagreed with Frank when he was supporting Fannie and Freddie but now they take offense when he says he was wrong.
Jay
August 23rd, 2010
8:12 am
SoCo, I’d disagree with you about the cause. I don’t think it’s an attention-span problem, I think it’s a willful decision by people to actively seek out only those things that confirm their belief system. Yes, technology has contributed by making it easier to create your own version of reality, but the initial instinct to do that comes from the individual.
The Leg Lamp is a "major award" much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel.
August 23rd, 2010
8:12 am
Try this.
“Whatever we once were, we’re no longer a Christian nation. At least not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers,” Obama said during a June 2007 speech available on YouTube.
The Leg Lamp is a "major award" much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel.
August 23rd, 2010
8:14 am
Let’s do a fact check. Let’s see how many fewer posters Cynthia gets now that Jay is back. Her numbers will drop faster than Obama’s.
I Report :-) You Whine :-( mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 23rd, 2010
8:14 am
Aahhh, the lib has come back from his rest all muddled and confused-
… he continues to openly praise Islam; he bows to Muslim leaders; he claims that the Muslim call to prayer is “the most beautiful sound in the world;” he regularly quotes from the Koran and cites it for directing his life; …
In the past year alone he made a big deal out of hosting a celebratory dinner to open the month of Ramadan — held in the state dining room; he refused to attend the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts (an avowed Christian organization), and, refused to attend the National Day of Prayer because he claimed to do so would be offensive to non-Christians.
Now, if one were to reasonably deduce the faith of another, also considering that the another “didn’t pay attention” in church for twenty years and hasn’t gone to a service since being elected, what in the hell is kookman talking about?????
Jay
August 23rd, 2010
8:15 am
Leg Lamp, surely you’d agree that the quote you cited is quite different from the quote as paraphrased by Bob.
stands for decibels
August 23rd, 2010
8:16 am
there could only be one truth, THE truth. It was a foundation stone in the conservative philosophy. The counter notion that truth was instead a relative concept, that one person’s concept of truth could be as valid as the next person’s, was dismissed as soft-headed liberalism.
Yep. Moral relativism. The root of all rot, the catch-all excuse for grotesque belief in political dogma and adherence to the articles of faith.
Union
August 23rd, 2010
8:17 am
its not so much disinformation as it is his actions. as much as obama has been an utter and complete failure.. people will never admit it.
stands for decibels
August 23rd, 2010
8:17 am
“Whatever we once were, we’re no longer a Christian nation. At least not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers,”
What kind of a douchebag has a problem with that?
Finn McCool
August 23rd, 2010
8:17 am
More on the point that conservatives fear a politician or a leader with a backbone:
– Ronald Reagan blaming big government as the problem and then raising taxes.
– George Bush 1 saying “read my lips, no new taxes”, and then raising taxes. (But they derided Dukakis for saying he would have to raise taxes.)
– Republican Congress 1994-2006 claiming to be the fiscal conservative party while expanding government the whole time.
Conservatives can’t handle the truth!
USinUK
August 23rd, 2010
8:17 am
Normal – for you … something to brighten your no-good-very-bad-Monday
http://www.wimp.com/babymoose
USinUK
August 23rd, 2010
8:18 am
dB – evidently, his name is Bob …
stands for decibels
August 23rd, 2010
8:19 am
About Bob’s post @ 8.00:
1) Reagan’s submitted budgets ran in the red.
2) The only “ammo” President Obama gave the racist PsOS who call him “muslim” was his apparently poor choice of parents
3) President Obama never said anything even remotely like “we’re not a Christian nation, but a Muslim one,” and to claim he did is to deliberately lie about the point he was making
4) One can be about 98% confident that anyone who continues to go to the “Rev. Wright” well knows nothing about the actual Rev. Wright, his “GD America” sermon, or the denomination to which Trinity United Church of Christ is a part.
The Leg Lamp is a "major award" much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel.
August 23rd, 2010
8:19 am
Good thing the left doesn’t have “extremists”, right?
Brad Pitt ‘willing to look at the death penalty’ against BP culprits…
If The Profit Fits
August 23rd, 2010
8:19 am
Just another day in disinformationland. Yep, I guess it is since Jay has new blog.
The Leg Lamp is a "major award" much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel.
August 23rd, 2010
8:19 am
Playing the game, playing the game……
Louisiana fishermen net more cash working for BP…
Southern Comfort
August 23rd, 2010
8:19 am
Jay
I think it is the attention span. Pay attention just long enough to hear something to confirm your beliefs, and then just shut everything else out. Not too many people take the time out to research things for themselves anymore. Part of the problem that led to that is the homogenization (if that’s a word) and distortion of news information.
For some, it may be a willful decision, but for many, I think it’s just laziness. That laziness is what the politicans feed on and fuel it with their soundbites. The media, both left and right, have sensationalized those soundbites for ratings which, in turn, led to the disappearing attention span. You could say it’s the dumbing down of America.
larry
August 23rd, 2010
8:20 am
Meanwhille , back in Iraq…………………
Nothing says democracy like good ole fashion porn………
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/in-porn-a-story-597305.html
USinUK
August 23rd, 2010
8:20 am
SoCo – 8:11 … see my post to Normal at 8:17 … I get the feeling I’ll be referring back to that video as a means of therapy over the course of the week if this kind of “truth” continues …
The Leg Lamp is a "major award" much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel.
August 23rd, 2010
8:21 am
stands for decibels
August 23rd, 2010
8:17 am
Very classy. You leftists always do seem to be above the name calling games.
The Leg Lamp is a "major award" much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel.
August 23rd, 2010
8:22 am
I really don’t think I need to add anything to this one. It’s self explanatory.
Justice Department Seeks Ebonics Experts…
stands for decibels
August 23rd, 2010
8:23 am
Conservatives can’t handle the truth!
I wouldn’t go that far. I just think, as currently configured, respectable conservatives have an astonishing tolerance for lies, and say nothing about those in their midst who routinely tell them.
Normal
August 23rd, 2010
8:23 am
Thanks, USinUK,
That put a smile on my face…
The Leg Lamp is a "major award" much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel.
August 23rd, 2010
8:23 am
More “disinformation”, right?
Forget Bush. Obama now blames poor job situation on Congress…
stands for decibels
August 23rd, 2010
8:23 am
Very classy.
You mean like posting under that screen name at Cynthia Tucker’s?
Union
August 23rd, 2010
8:24 am
if obama had not of said he was muslim… this would not be an issue..its not my fault obama doesnt know who he is..