Woke vs. anti-woke is a representation of...

Everything that is divisive as far as woke vs. anti-woke is a representation of and by the extremes?

Radical opinions, mostly from the fringe of politics, reacted too and removed from context, and fired like a shell towards the ideological foe. Terms like "leftist" used as characterisation, equal to other terms used to suggest the nature of the right. Ignorance of authoritarian or libertarian positions, except when to hijack these terms to suggest which side is good and which is ill. Scraping the barrel, finding the loony statement from an non-expert, suggesting trouble on your side is from radical elements aligned to the other side. Suggesting a woke person who isn't woke enough is anti-woke and an anti-woke not against the woke enough is on the wrong side. Quote-mining and personal attacks are commonplace, as are other tools employed to cause confusion. The result, many on the left see the centre-right as fascism-lite and many on the right see the centre-left as diet-communism. And much of this ideological warfare, the pathetic work of characterisation, is lead by social media polemics. Who are not without value, yet they crow about victories and ignore or delete their defeats. They're professional victims when the conditions are suitable and the abusers when the war cry sounds. Often, the reality when fleshed out with all of the facts are far less controversial, and if expressed as-is, very few arguments of note would take place. The mask slips the most when there is no major news of note, when the hacks and ranters are forced to stretch the facts more than usual. Making mountains out of mole hills, creating attention and often profit out of wild misunderstandings.

What do you think of the "alternative news media"? [rant]

Broadly, much of the alternative news media is news media minus journalist standards, and rejecting things that may rebuke their opinions, such as facts. It tends to do more harm than good in many cases, rarely breaks real news, often releases stories before the facts breaks, and so often they get the story first, they get the hits, but they also jump to conclusions and accept poor sources. The tabloid press are often reaching, but even they have a standard, a very low one. The alternative news media has no bar, so they make even the tabloid press and yellow journalism look like extremely good. While the serious news sources are are not very well balanced as they create a theory to explain the facts, but the facts are never balanced. Someone is going to be mistaken or just plain wrong.  Just my general thoughts. 

Don't Panic, It's Not Quite The News. [a random post]

Don't Panic, It's Not Quite The News.

Minor outbreaks of new viruses have been common in recent years. Almost all have been off the mainstream news, almost utterly unworthy of note. Recent new viruses in places like China, or new outbreaks of old viruses, seem to be nothing of a vast amount of note. The Coronavirus issue is the only important outbreak at this time. The news are covering minor numbers of 17 new COVID cases, a small number of plague cases, a pig virus, etc. In China. Largely, this isn't very newsworthy. Just as a few other minor virus news stories in America have been filler and fear that sells. Note that the areas involved are often vast and the human cost is minor and because viruses are viral(trending) news every news website tries to capitalise on a new angle or the latest scoop.

The Coronavirus is obviously the news worth subject. That said, young Jewish baby boys injured from traditional circumcision method related infections, herpes causing brain injury for example, in cities like New York, is a continuous cost in human suffering. Yet, that isn't a COVID related subject matter. Honour killing in Pakistan kill thousands of young women and girls every year, but that isn't worth stating right now?? Equally, concentration camps in China aren't as important as a few more coronavirus cases in the same nation?? Methinks that many of our great news providers are busy being whores for attention, which at least makes the BBC cover a story just because everyone else has published an article on the subject. Such as Trump-related news, it is often a matter of a slight blunder, a dumb point or question, then the reaction causes the news to linger and even flourish. Thus, the news story derived from the old causes the need for the mainstream to march over old ground.

News is news-worthy because news sources have stated a thing as the news, the New Story. A great amount of the olds seems to be sold as news, or a new angle on an old story. Meanwhile, we see next to nothing on many other stories. And those stories rarely trend on twitter or are seen on the news search headlines on google or bing. I do sometimes feel that the art of news reporting is past its prime and the common news method is steeped in mediocracy and repetition between news services. Leaving often very little room for intellectualism, as something very close to copy-and-paste in lieu of journalist ability. Yet, at least regarding the present crisis of Corona, we can understand com0pletely why we might see a great amount of repetition.

Fake News... How "Ben.S." does it.

While looking at the twitter of Ben, a conservative American of some note as a character, as a polemic.  I noticed a common enough trick or theme.  One need not rebuke the facts but claim them in principle.  In principle, we need not fear the facts even as we avoid then in practice.  Ben on his twitter and through other mediums selects easy targets, insists they're the mainstream, even if they're fringe or not linked to political influence and power and grumbles upon the nature of the liberalist insanity that hath unfurled before us.  And when insisting upon the falsity of the news reports in the main of the press, Ben insists that use of a stock image or video, or the same borrowed from elsewhere, is a primary piece of evidence that the mainstream news media are the producers of propaganda.  What Ben.S might call "Fake News."  And from this suggestion of fake news and the previously noted insanity of the fringe of the left, he paints a picture of a surreal world.  A world believed to be real by many, even if it is a manifestation of deception through the eyes of a very limited social media perspective.  Ben is a propagandist who picks targets and re-enforces conservative values in a way that leaves little room for introspection.  Which is, after all, the whole point.