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Post-fact world

P.O.U.S.theWonderCat

By P.O.U.S.theWonderCat
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DulwichFox

DulwichFox

Posted
Posted

Ha Ha Ha Ha.... Ha Ha Ha Ha..


They all laughed at Christopher Columbus

When he said the world was round

They all laughed when Edison recorded sound..


Thank God we have people willing to take a stand whilst those around them mock..

Without them nothing would ever be acheived.


DulwichFox

BrandNewGuy

BrandNewGuy

Posted
Posted
In the past, I suspect those who were ignorant of something kept quiet, even if they harboured irrational ideas about whatever it was. Now everyone is their own publicist and mouthpiece, with an opinion about everything, even in areas they're utterly ignorant of. I don't think people are more stupid or irrational than they used to be, they're just more audible. Which is really b****y annoying.
Loz

Loz

Posted
Posted

P.O.U.S.theWonderCat Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Where there always so many people prepared to make random sh&t

> up and assert it as fact?


I think that, if we have learnt anything from the Brexit vote, the US election plus just about every lobby and pressure group ever, the answer is... "because it works".

P.O.U.S.theWonderCat

P.O.U.S.theWonderCat

Posted
  • Author
Posted

DulwichFox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Ha Ha Ha Ha.... Ha Ha Ha Ha..

>

> They all laughed at Christopher Columbus

> When he said the world was round

> They all laughed when Edison recorded sound..

>

> Thank God we have people willing to take a stand

> whilst those around them mock..

> Without them nothing would ever be acheived.

>

> DulwichFox



You are missing the point Foxy. Those people all didn't rely on supposition but supported their views with evidence. As opposed to making crap up because it fits your world view.

DulwichFox

DulwichFox

Posted
Posted

P.O.U.S.theWonderCat Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> DulwichFox Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Ha Ha Ha Ha.... Ha Ha Ha Ha..

> >

> > They all laughed at Christopher Columbus

> > When he said the world was round

> > They all laughed when Edison recorded sound..

> >

> > Thank God we have people willing to take a

> stand

> > whilst those around them mock..

> > Without them nothing would ever be acheived.

> >

> > DulwichFox

>

>

> You are missing the point Foxy. Those people all

> didn't rely on supposition but supported their

> views with evidence. As opposed to making crap up

> because it fits your world view.


So what crap have I made up. ?


I believe you may be refering to a previous thread. Where I refered to a time when the UK was 'Great'

The Ship building.. Coal.. Steel.. Industries. A time before we joined the E.U. A time when WE made up the rules.


Is it not true we have lost all these industries.. My grandfather in South Wales worked in the mines..

My uncle in S. Wales was a Ship Builder. I'm talking facts..


These industries have gone forever. We do not need the E.U. to tell us to run our new industies and Technologies.

We do not need The E.U. to hold our hands..


D.F

rendelharris

rendelharris

Posted
Posted

DulwichFox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Ha Ha Ha Ha.... Ha Ha Ha Ha..

>

> They all laughed at Christopher Columbus

> When he said the world was round

> They all laughed when Edison recorded sound..

>

> Thank God we have people willing to take a stand

> whilst those around them mock..

> Without them nothing would ever be acheived.

>

> DulwichFox


Just as a side note, nobody laughed at Columbus because he said the world was round - the fact had been generally accepted for 2,000 odd years - and he wasn't trying to prove it was: he was mocked for saying he could reach India by sailing west, as his calculations of the earth's circumference were way out (a fact he tried to cover up by naming the land he did bump into the Indies...).


Just shows, even songs can be part of the post-fact world!

Loz

Loz

Posted
Posted

DulwichFox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------


> They all laughed at Christopher Columbus

> When he said the world was round

> They all laughed when Edison recorded sound..


Or, as Bob Monkhouse once said, "People laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Well, they're not laughing now".

rendelharris

rendelharris

Posted
Posted

Loz Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> DulwichFox Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

>

> > They all laughed at Christopher Columbus

> > When he said the world was round

> > They all laughed when Edison recorded sound..

>

> Or, as Bob Monkhouse once said, "People laughed at

> me when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Well,

> they're not laughing now".


His best line - indeed one of the best ever!

DulwichFox

DulwichFox

Posted
Posted

Salsaboy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> What do you mean, 'the earth is round'?

>

> DulwichFox Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Ha Ha Ha Ha.... Ha Ha Ha Ha..

> >

> > They all laughed at Christopher Columbus

> > When he said the world was round


I have never said the World is round. The World (Earth) is an Oblate spheroid..


1-2-3-4-5.. waits for comments from usual suspects..


Foxy.

Henry_17

Henry_17

Posted
Posted

POUS,

I suspect there weren't always so many people willing to do that, since now a far greater proportion of people will recieve news via social media rather than traditional media, which has been shown to be potentially highly unreliable as a source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/10/12/facebook-has-repeatedly-trended-fake-news-since-firing-its-human-editors/

jaywalker

jaywalker

Posted
Posted

I think this is quite complex.


Belief in facts as presented to self-evidence was dubious enough with first philosophy. The usual clich? but its good: the bent stick in the water. By the early C19th it was no longer even a possibility if you were at least semi-educated.


What for example was mesmerism (I'm reading Winter's excellent book)? So for a long time claims were made to a 'magnetic power' - the magnetism transferring from the hands of the mesmerist to the subject. A lot of money in it from the gullible. But people, in rejecting this, did not see the auto-suggestion that we can see (i.e. hypnotism is a later category of understanding).


Or psychoanalysis - #its a fraud#. Yet people certainly have hysterical symptoms (speaking personally, you understand).


I think that it got far more problematic in the C20th - the quotidian is false. Our everyday sense of time, space, substance are all errors or misrecognitions even according to A-level physics. Where then would one find 'a fact'? In a children's book or unsophisticated religious text perhaps: nowhere serious.

Jenny1

Jenny1

Posted
Posted

I agree with those who say that social media has a lot to do with it. I don't think that's just because people's sources of information have become limited and self-reinforcing, but because social media is an environment which tends to exaggerate the value of the emotional, personal and particular over the intellectual and general. So feelings matter more than facts.


I also think that we're living through a 'populist' age which seeks simple answers to complex questions. I'd maintain that has a lot to do with the fall-out from 2008. Many people in the US and UK have been left wondering if 'the powers that be' are willing, or even able, to protect them from insecurity and instability. 'Radical', easy, non-factual solutions become more attractive under those circumstances.

JohnL

JohnL

Posted
Posted

DulwichFox Wrote:


> Is it not true we have lost all these industries..

> My grandfather in South Wales worked in the

> mines..

> My uncle in S. Wales was a Ship Builder. I'm

> talking facts..

>

> These industries have gone forever. We do not need

> the E.U. to tell us to run our new industies and

> Technologies.

> We do not need The E.U. to hold our hands..

>

> D.F


Port Talbot steelworks is still there, just.


I couldn't imagine going over that hill (Pyle?) on the M4 and not seeing it.

JohnL

JohnL

Posted
Posted

rendelharris Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Loz Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > DulwichFox Wrote:

> >

> --------------------------------------------------

>

> > -----

> >

> > > They all laughed at Christopher Columbus

> > > When he said the world was round

> > > They all laughed when Edison recorded

> sound..

> >

> > Or, as Bob Monkhouse once said, "People laughed

> at

> > me when I said I wanted to be a comedian.

> Well,

> > they're not laughing now".

>

> His best line - indeed one of the best ever!


Very good :)


Took me 5 seconds

TheCat

TheCat

Posted
Posted

BrandNewGuy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> In the past, I suspect those who were ignorant of

> something kept quiet, even if they harboured

> irrational ideas about whatever it was. Now

> everyone is their own publicist and mouthpiece,

> with an opinion about everything, even in areas

> they're utterly ignorant of. I don't think people

> are more stupid or irrational than they used to

> be, they're just more audible. Which is really

> b****y annoying.


This. times 1000. Great comment.


Social media gives people a mouthpiece, and somehow people think their views have more credibility when they 'speak' on these platforms.


We truly live in a high opinion, low information age.

JohnL

JohnL

Posted
Posted

TheCat Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> This. times 1000. Great comment.

>

> Social media gives people a mouthpiece, and

> somehow people think their views have more

> credibility when they 'speak' on these platforms.

>

> We truly live in a high opinion, low information

> age.



So the trick is to cut out/block the cr*p

Otta

Otta

Posted
Posted

Good example of this recently.


I'd taken my kids to a birthday party, and a couple of mums were chatting about Donald Trump. One of them said she'd seen a quote of his from the 90s where he said something like "if I ever ran for president it would be for the republicans because their supporters are stupid and easily manipulated".


I'd seen the same thing, but I looked it up on snoops and sure enough there is no prof he ever said that. He certainly never said it in the magazine that it was claimed he'd said it in.


Now don't get me wrong, I am all for anything that harms Trump (vile man), but I did find it interesting that this made up quote was now being discussed by two intelligent women, and was basically now accepted as fact.


I am sure I've swallowed a few "facts" in my time too.


I think the trick is to just ignore anything that you see on a meme on social media.


Sorry if I'm repeating what has already been said, haven't had time to read all the posts.

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