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Month: September 2017

Is #socialmedia "perpetual outrage" a sign of mental health issues? #Anxiety #MentalHealth

Is #socialmedia "perpetual outrage" a sign of mental health issues? #Anxiety #MentalHealth

Today I saw a tweet from an apparently famous person (I have not heard of her) saying that the current political environment (specifically the election of Trump) caused her so much anxiety that she is on medication and she is going to need better medication. This was preceded by and then followed by more  Tweets expressing her outrage. It struck me that her attempt to overcome anxiety by being publicly outraged, continuously, day after day, is probably not an effective…

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Why and how does EBay share searches with Facebook?

Why and how does EBay share searches with Facebook?

I am using the Epic Privacy Browser which blocks trackers and deletes history and cookie type information at exit. Yesterday, I looked on EBay (not logged in to EBay) to check prices on a used camera. I am pretty sure I was not logged into Facebook either. I may have to experiment to see what they are doing. Today, I log into Facebook and Facebook shows me an ad – “Inspired? Take another look!” with a link to the used…

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Disaster Propaganda

Disaster Propaganda

This might be the first of more than one post. I have been collecting, when possible, social media propaganda items regarding recent natural and unnatural disasters (such as local arson caused wildland fires). First, many people use unusual events as a platform for propaganda messaging to persuade others of their own agenda. Second, much of this propaganda messaging takes the form of asserting claims that when examined in context of historical data, are not true or are weakly partially true…

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Using a "false dilemma" poll to influence the public #OccupyPropaganda #propaganda

Using a "false dilemma" poll to influence the public #OccupyPropaganda #propaganda

I spotted this sign at a political party booth at a county fair. This poster is designed to frame the discussion and limit it to 3 items: ObamaCare, TrumpCare or Universal Health Care. I removed any indications as to which political party used this poster as it does not matter and truthfully, more than one party could have posed this set of questions. The “false dilemma” method implies you have a set of specific choices – and leaves out other…

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We have lost our ability to think?

We have lost our ability to think?

The Seattle Times publishes an opinion column advocating Medicare for All. The column gives quotes of insurance prices with and without Medicare (the author of the column is now on Medicare) and says, see, Medicare costs so much less why can’t we do this for everyone? Incredibly she left out that she has spent her entire working life subsidizing Medicare by paying Medicare payroll taxes.  She fails to recognize the accumulated Medicare fund is subsidizing those lower prices (a fund…

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