MTZehvor said:
If this happened like, say, four years ago, I think the response would be much different. One of the more interesting recent turns in America's political divide is just how little each side trusts each other. The rise of fake news stories, various stories of corruption involving Trump and Clinton, and myriad of conspiracy theories have all played a role in this. In short, it's not that people discredit it because they vote Trump, it's that they don't believe it because of their political leanings. That is the truly scary part, in my opinion. And this goes both ways, too. Clinton supporters who were adament that election fraud could not possibly exist were willing to donate millions of dollars to a recount fund after their candidate lost. People's beliefs are changing at a rapid pace to simply suit what's convenient to them. If it's anything the other side says, it's a lie. If it's anything your side says, it's the truth. |
As a human being, it's embarrassing. The only criteria many people seem to care about is if something is good for their "side" or bad for the other "side". All you need to do is make something up, dress it up a little, post it online, and you'll have people quoting and upvoting you. They won't question it as long as it is favorable to their own preconceptions.
We've had viral email and talk radio pundits making up things for a long time, of course, but with the internet, we seem to have entered a new level of sheepdom. The newest bit of obvious manipulation seems to be people who understand that they can't take major news outlets at face value yet, at the same time, they're being absolute puppets to "alt news" organizations. I can't even wrap my head around that.
It's one of the reasons I loathe politics. People aren't just willing to believe fake news, they fall all over themselves in eagerness to spread it. Even on these forums, we have several members who don't seem to care at all if what they are posting is true or not, as long as it furthers their agenda.
Question everything--especially if you want to believe it.
