Media: The Begging the Question Fallacy
Jezebiel publishes column urging witch’s curses on Charlie Kirk 2 days before his assassination – and then says this “is not who we are”.
Follow up: Newsweek “We are all socialists now”
Newsweek: We are all Socialists Now.
Does “disinformation” have much influence?
Are “disinformation” posts as widely seen, read and believed, as is asserted by “disinformation” and pro-censorship specialists?
“Crafting your scientist brand” – the rise of the celebrity expert
Scientists work with PR offices to establish a personal brand as a celebrity expert.
Climate: How not to do climate communications
After the attempted assassination of Trump, leading climate enthusiasts say Trump and Republicans are Nazis. Not an effective climate message.
Apparently Americans hate America – why?
Everyone hates America, and apparently most of those doing the hating, are privileged Americans. It makes no sense.
Rent: Every year the media falls for this
Every year, an activist/lobbying group issues a report saying people earning minimum wage cannot afford to rent an apartment anywhere in the country. They play a sleight-of-hand trick by obfuscating (and not revealing) that they are saying such individuals cannot rent an apartment priced at the 40th percentile. Stated another way, this report finds – every year – that people earning minimum wage can not rent apartments priced in the top 60 percent of the market – yet obviously, lower earners likely rent at the bottom of the market, not the top. Every year, the media morons run the same story, never understanding what this report says.
Rule by technocratic experts
The inventors of “public relations” (the name given to the field after “propaganda” grew out of favor) argued for rule by technocratic elite, thinking that important decisions should be left to “experts” and not democracies.
The asymmetry of “Freedom of speech”
Academics have long maintained they have a “freedom of speech” to pursue whatever they want to pursue in terms of research; this freedom extends to political opinions. In my state, all public sector workers have protection on their off-the-job speech. Private sector workers have no such protections and may be fired or receive negative performance reviews for their off-work speech. Which means when it comes to speech, some have more freedom than others, and that means, for example, that viewpoints of academics and public sector workers could be more influential because others may not be able to counter their comments.
Twitter Blue Checks
I had never investigated the Blue Check program until moments ago. It is used to further our neo-feudalism of elite versus the plebians, ensuring that we know our place. Only the truly elite are supposed to get Blue Check marks. Blue Checks are a mark of techno-nobility.