Day: July 26, 2023

Media Brainwashing

Fandango37 Comments

I read a letter to the editor in the newspaper this morning that caught my attention. The writer, a lifelong liberal, decided to conduct an experiment. For 60 days, he listened to nothing but conservative news, podcasts, YouTube videos, and read articles in conservative publications. What happened was quite disturbing. It turns out that…. Well, I’ll let him tell it in his own words.

We have a big problem. It’s not Donald Trump. It’s not President Biden. It’s not climate change, recession, inflation, racism or homophobia.

I have engaged in an experiment. An inveterate progressive for nearly half a century, I have, for the past 60 days, listened only to Joe Rogan’s podcast, watched only YouTube videos with Matt Walsh and those holding similar views, and only read articles on Breitbart and the Gateway Pundit. And fascinatingly, troublingly, my mind is changing.

I now find myself angrily gravitating toward the indignation of the conservative right. I am witnessing my own brainwashing. I am experiencing firsthand what tens of millions of Americans are experiencing — the toxic and catastrophic confluence of human neuroplasticity, social media, and the never-ending quest for power and dollars.

I, at least, have undertaken this experiment consciously. Most do not, and in the end, I fear it is going to tear us apart.

I had to Google “neuroplasticity,” which, according to Psychology Today, is “the brain’s capacity to continue growing and evolving in response to life experiences. Plasticity is the capacity to be shaped, molded, or altered; neuroplasticity, then, is the ability for the brain to adapt or change over time, by creating new neurons and building new networks.” Thus, continuous exposure to disinformation and misinformation can actually rewire the brain.

And what’s frightening about this is that it took just 60 days for the letter writer to start experiencing this rewiring of his brain. He was conscious of this attempt at brainwashing, about neural network rewiring. But for those who get their news exclusively through conservative news, sites, podcasts, etc., they are clueless that they have been brainwashed by the biased media they constantly consume.

And like the letter writer, I, too, fear it is going to tear us apart. Or that it already has.

Image credit: Melissa Joskow / Media Matters.

WDP — No Fly Zone

Fandango10 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What are your future travel plans?
View all responses

When I was still working before I retired at the end of 2016, I was a road warrior. Well, more accurately, a sky warrior. I used to fly from city to city, mostly domestic, but occasionally international, for my job. Over the years I earned the dubious distinction of having traveled more than two million air miles on my then preferred airline, American, plus close to another million on half a dozen other airlines.

It should come as no surprise, then, that I have not set foot in an airplane since I retired, and quite frankly, I have no desire to fly anywhere anymore. I’ve even let my passport expire, although when I renewed my California driver’s licence in April, I did get what is called a Real ID license, which will enable me to travel domestically by air without a passport starting in 2025…should I wish to.

My wife is pushing me to renew our passports (hers also expired) because she has visions of us traveling to exotic locations around the world in the future. I’ve suggest that she start watching the Travel Channel if that’s what she wants. Because I’m still recuperating from my broken hip and arm and can’t walk without a cane or pain, can’t sit in the car for more than an hour without an ache, and have no desire to hop in a plane for multiple hours to go to somewhere in the world where the highlight of the trip for me will be to find someplace to sit.

So for the foreseeable future, I have no travel plans. That may change once I’m fully recuperated and can ditch the cane and am pain-free. Until then, I’m remaining in a no fly zone.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #224

Fandango26 Comments
FPQ

Welcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

Back before the pandemic, I used to love to go to the movies in theaters. But once the pandemic hit, my wife and I, as did almost everyone else, stopped going out to theaters to see movies on the big screen. Since then, at least in my area, a number of multiplex movie houses have permanently closed. But some in my area have managed to keep operating.

For my birthday a few months back, my wife and I went to see our first movie at a movie theater since December 2019. It was nice to get out and go to the movies again, but we haven’t been back since then and have no real plans to do so! We are still relying on Max and Netflix and Prime and Hulu for the movies we watch, rather than going out to a theater.

And that brings me to this week’s provocative question.

When was the last time you actually went out to a movie theater? What movie did you see? Are you planning to go out to theaters for movies in the future, or will you most likely continue streaming them in the comfort of your own home?

If you choose to participate in Fandango’s Provocative Question, you may respond with a comment or write your own post in response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments. But remember to check to confirm that your pingback or your link shows up in the comments.

FOWC with Fandango — Prince

Fandango22 Comments
FOWC

Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “prince.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.