Political Theatre category archive
Mulling Mueller 0
Shawn Mullen goes Barr-hopping.
The Dearth of Expertise 0
Paul Krugman explains why “Republican expert” is an oxymoron.
Rationalizing the Irrational 0
Mike muses on the blind devotion of Donald Trump’s dupes, symps, and fellow-travelers.
The Misinformation Highway 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Ira Hyman wonders whether we will be able to save ourselves from drowning in falsehoods. A nugget:
I’m optimistic because people in various disciplines see and understand the problems of misinformation in social media and the news.
(snip)
But I also remain pessimistic.
Follow the link to learn why his emotions are mixed.
Giving America the Business 0
The flaw in the foolish notion that “government should be run like a business” is that government is not a business. The purpose of government is manage the affairs to the state and the polity, not to make and sell a product.
Llewellyn King suggests that Donald Trump is the logical outcome of said notion.
Clearly, Trump thought that was what he would do when he took over the United States. His attempts to govern by fiat illustrate that frustration.
One Nation, Divisible 0
Greg Kesich examines how Russian interests promote American divisiveness. A snippet:
In Translation 0
Susan Estrich parses what she considers the key passage in the Mueller Report. A nugget:
Meaning, “We aren’t going to apply the law to him. You can.”
Follow the link for her reasoning.
Psyops 0
Eric Hazeltine theorizes that Russian interference in American politics (and, no doubt, others’ politics) benefited from a deep understanding of psychology and tribalism. Here’s a snippet:
Specifically, I believe the Russians took advantage of what evolutionary psychologists call “Darwinian scripts” operating deep in the brains of the American public, especially “scripts” encouraging tribal conflict.
Follow the link for his reasoning.
Just the Vaxx, Ma’am 0
The North Jersey Record takes a long, in-depth look at how vaccinations became controversial. I commend the article to your attention. Here’s a bit:
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, also chided Amazon for accepting paid advertising from anti-vaccine groups.
Russian Internet trolls and bots (one used the hashtag #VaccinateUS) have also “weaponized” public health messages to sow discord among the American public, using vaccines as a wedge issue, researchers found.
By issuing both anti- and pro-vaccine tweets and memes they attempt to make it seem vaccine safety and efficacy are open to debate and create mistrust of public health institutions and experts.
I can remember pictures of rows of children suffering from polio ensconced in iron lungs. And today we have some who would willingly bring those days back.
We are a society of stupid.
“The Filter Bubble” 0
David and his guest, Tom Rosenstiel, discuss the impact and the pros and cons of Fox News, online news reportage, and “social” media.