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How I navigate our info ecosystem:
(1) Extreme skepticism toward anything reported by legacy media (NYT, W. Post, Fox News, CNN, etc) Likely cherry-picked, context-deprived & heavily spun for highly-partisan audience. Blue-check journos for large orgs presumptively untrustworthy
(1) Extreme skepticism toward anything reported by legacy media (NYT, W. Post, Fox News, CNN, etc) Likely cherry-picked, context-deprived & heavily spun for highly-partisan audience. Blue-check journos for large orgs presumptively untrustworthy
Potential exception for statements against interest, e.g., corporate media reporter saying something that might benefit Trump/cause them criticism & ridicule, or a right-wing reporter saying something positive about Obama. Still requires skepticism but less presumptively false
(2) Healthy skepticism toward independent journos, and more trust in those who have proven reliably over time, e.g., not loyal to core audience, but to truth.
(3) Realize we know nothing other than our first-hand observations, and that knowledge is often anecdotal. Still, small-sample observations over time > trusting second-hand conclusions from disinfo factories.
(4) Corporate news media mostly exists to frame events in the way its owners prefer you to see them. It does not exist to inform or to encourage you to draw your own conclusions. Ask: "Why are they showing this to me right now? What do they seem to want me to take away from it?"
(5) Don't train skepticism on dissenting views nearly as much as official ones. Many dissenting views are false, but Qanon has so little impact compared to NYT and its ilk (lied us into Iraq War $6T, 500K deaths.) Skepticism should be trained foremost toward authority.
(6) If Amazon, the corporate media and a major political party all agree on a thing, it's not "resistance" to support that thing. The people doing the real resisting like Julian Assange or Edward Snowden are imprisoned, exiled and hunted down.
(7) Disinformation, especially when shared by people who are revered by society, can influence even intelligent people who guard against it. It's easy to be persuaded to buy into a framing without knowing it. Therefore be judicious about what you allow into your attention field.
(8) I've muted most mainstream news organizations & commentators -- I'm steadfastly avoiding their product because like anyone else I'm susceptible to propaganda, i.e, my brain can also be hacked. I want benefits of this platform w/o the brainwashing. Encourage everyone to try it