I've been doing some serious TVing. I've been going back and forth from MSNBC and FOX. My first reaction is "JESUS CHRIST". How can people presented with the same facts have such disparate interpretations. Imagine how newly arrived immigrants are to make sense of this. Blown away! I'm simply blown away. Two countries, we have two countries.
you may like this 2011 article: [yesmagazine.org]
excerpts:
With little fanfare, the CRTC last month scrapped a proposal to revoke or relax a rule on “prohibited programming content” that includes “broadcasting false or misleading news.” The CRTC withdrew the plan when a legislative committee determined that the rule does not run afoul of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which like the U.S. Constitution, guarantees press freedoms.
...
Still, U.S. media pricked up their ears at the news, inviting Canadian legal experts to explain the issue, a rather foreign concept to the American mind. The very notion is almost shocking: You can ban lying in the news?!
The question was asked time and again: Could something like that happen here?
The short answer is, no.
The sad and bizarre thing, when you start breaking down issues there really is a lot of commonalities.
Most just want fewer gun deaths, a majority want legal abortion but not to be used as birth control (sorry, if you've had 4,5,6,7...abortions, you're doing something wrong. LOL now the haters will hate me) don't want skyrocketing debt....
I have a book of various polls showing we're just not as disparate as people seem to think. If anyone is interested, I'll try to find it
Don't believe the polls. Look what happened in '16. People believed the polls, stayed home & didn't vote. And we got HIM.
@Countrywoman Polls in 2016 were off, but if you really dig into some of them, they weren't that far off on what motivates people. People simply didn't like Hillary and Trump offered "change" for an economic recovery that wasn't working for most of us.
I can conceptualize a few ways Trump could get re-elected, but I'd say his chances are small UNLESS the DNC runs Warren, Sanders (who I supported in the primaries) or please goddess NOT Hillary again. I predict the Fed and Trump will largely keep the economy "booming" at >2.5% growth, although there will be some stock tumbles. Even then Trump's support is slowly dwindling, even among white males wt a 4yr degree.
I still think most of us aren't as divided as many think. I intentionally went to at least 2 rallies for the top 5 candidates, not to argue with anyone. I tried to blend in and get a feel for each candidate's supporters. Cruz people actually scare me more than Trumpers!
Anyway, like I said above most of us just want fewer gun deaths, abortion to be legal but rare (like Hillary said several years ago), and a stable economy. There is middle ground on all issues. Unfortunately I see many on the political "left" becoming nearly as rigid and dogmatic as some on the "right".
I watch MSNBC only. Used to watch Fox News-liked Shepherd Smith-he;s the only non-biased newscaster there, I do still watch Chris Wallace on Sundays. You are right-we do livei in two countries. Faux News is like a state TV station like Russia has solely devoted to trumpsters. I don't bother talking to trumpsters-I even have one in my house
MSNBC; there's a dumpsterfire in D.C. FOX: cats.
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Do you want an immigrant's view? America is now suffering from the effects of vastness, having a whole continent to deal with and instant communications, finding out what every other part of he country thinks about issues. In my vast experience with this country, I have found out that the individual person from Texas or Maine or California wants basically the same, but that media is creating images that are fake and divisive.
So, what to do? Well, break it up, of course. The American idea of 50 states under one government is quite ludicrous. It's like saying let's make a United Europe and have everybody be governed by one body in, let's say, Lichtenstein. These ideas only work if everybody can have a piece of that grand idea and is willing to let it supersede the local interest.
So, are we still in love with the idea of a united states of America?
Do we still believe that capitalism is the way?
So many tough questions to deal with, it is no wonder we are all in a tizzy.
I've always believed that those who do not accept science should not be allowed to use the benefits of science. This means no TV, thus, no Fox news. The problem would cure itself.
I would say that the US hasn't been this polarized since the American Civil War, friends say it was the same towards the end of the Vietnam War. Either way it does not bode well for the country.
I think it is structurally worse. Some similarities, a crook at the helm who tried to attack the DOJ, interefere with and threaten the media, go after political enemies with reckless abandon. But this is different.. Nixon was well educated, understood the constitution, could actually name the three branches of government and explain what the function of each one was. He could read. He did read. He had a very good grasp on history. He didn't fuck a lot of women and pay them off, as far as I know. He didn't commit fraud on a regular basis, or lie, lie, lie lie, lie, as much as Trump. Aside from the little break in problem( which seems so innocent now) Nixon had many admirable qualities. I despised him back in the day but I would welcome him back now. Nixon didn't debase the office with pure idiocy, debauchery, lies, lies, lies, lies lies, INTENTIONALLY try to tear the fabric of the nation apart purely and solely to save his own skin by throwing up diversions as if everyone can't see through it. Nixon didn't enrich himself and his family with his position, appoint his family members to the highest positions in the land, lie about EVERY LITTLE THING EVEN WHEN HE KNOWS THAT EVERYONE KNOWS HE'S LYING. Nixon genuinely loved the country. Trump loves the power, loves the ego boost, the pageantry and more than anything loves himself and pussy according to him. What a great lay he must be just picture it.. He is devoid of empathy, is a hollow shell, a shallow, little man who lies all the time. He's racist swine. He's an embarrassment internationally. Nixon was highly regarded in foreign affairs partially due to Kissinger. Despite what people thought (including myself) he actually was desperate to end the war. If there were a nuclear threat, Nixon would have us a clue how to handle it. The thought of this imbecile holding the football scares the living crap out of me. He'll do whatever Putin and Hannity tell him to do. He's a dangerous, dangerous man to entire globe and the most powerful. That out to make your teeth rattle.. Oh yeah, one more thing, he lies a lot! But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
oh, oops. I meant to respond to a different post. Sorry.
Facts? We don't need no stinking facts!
We need alternative facts. Without them the administration couldn't function.
They are functioning now?
@GeorgeRocheleau I have faith that they will once one is established and lasts longer than 12 hours.