Understanding the psychology that drives our politics
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“Mental Booster Shots” Strengthen Resistance to Fake News Source: Neuroscience News https://search.app/zFQy5
12.3.2025 23:49Fake news articleIn reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/25/firehose-falsehood-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-27161">CalicoJack</a>. I'm a bit baffled by it too, as I'm sure are many others. The for profit, advertising supported business model has always been a point of vulnerability for news media that try to appeal to a general audience. The usual exception has tended to be those with partisan and issue driven ones with crusading owner-editors, but they did not always tell the truth or tended to sensationalize (example: all of the Murdoch branches). They also have often relied more on subscriptions than advertising. Now, having owners who are both partisan and have huge conflicts of interest has only made it worse. For well meaning and honest reporters, the frustration of being edited into compliance in advance or into slanted propaganda must be intense. But they also must be reluctant to join the horde of armature "influencers" and ranters, and themselves seek to find or create honest fact based outlets that can support the kind of serious work they long to do.
2.3.2025 17:10Comment on The Firehose of Falsehood: Drowning Trust and Destroying the Foundation of Our Democracy, part 1 by bobcabkings<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Currently, and for a long time, I'm subscribed to my local (excellent) NPR station, WIRED, and not paying a cable service to bring me the TV networks (I do think of that as a form of subscription.). Beyond that, there is so much new happening that it is hard to even keep track. Like, what's a "substack" and where did that come from? So, the question of where best to spend a limited budget on news and opinion content is not easy and beset with moving targets.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->
2.3.2025 14:22Comment on Comment on This: In Our Fragmented Media Landscape, Who Deserves Your Subscription? by bobcabkings<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I subscribe to CNN and Washington Post-- for now ... but if they transition to right wing mouth pieces, I will not be with them for long....even though I do support some Conservatives Ideas when I think they make common sense which I believe they often do.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->
2.3.2025 12:23Comment on Comment on This: In Our Fragmented Media Landscape, Who Deserves Your Subscription? by JohnI subscribe to Alernet, Common Dreams and Counterpunch....but I still check out other sites to try and get the big picture......I stay away from social media it has become just a place for insults and conspiracies. Have a great Sunday chuq
2.3.2025 11:19Comment on Comment on This: In Our Fragmented Media Landscape, Who Deserves Your Subscription? by loboteroReading time: 2 minutes Who do you subscribe to? With more an more "independent" journalists producing content on a wide variety of platforms, who do you recommend supporting? Who really needs our support?
2.3.2025 08:39Comment on This: In Our Fragmented Media Landscape, Who Deserves Your Subscription?In reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/25/firehose-falsehood-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-27158">bobcabkings</a>. Howdy Bob! It's a Hell of their own making, though. They don't have to obey in advance. They know that. The reporters, editors, and publishers all know that. In fact they know they shouldn't. The biggest problem with independent news outlets is supporting them. I only got so much money for subscriptions and donations. I look at people like Joyce Vance and the #Sisters In Law podcast and think, those folks are set for life. They don't need my money. Outfits like Crooks and Liars and Wonkette need our money, but I don't think either one brings enough to the table to warrant it. Democracy Docket seems like one I'll subscribe to, though. Every time I turn around there's another must read substack from some fearless investigative journalist that I should support. I'm not sure how to navigate that thicket of deserving news reporters. Huzzah! Jack
2.3.2025 06:30Comment on The Firehose of Falsehood: Drowning Trust and Destroying the Foundation of Our Democracy, part 1 by CalicoJack[…] Jack goes on to explore psychological mechanisms that allow misinformation to flourish, particularly among MAGA supporters. […]
1.3.2025 13:21Comment on Firehose of Falsehood: How Consistently Departing from Reality Breaks Trust and Truth, part 2 by Week of Slashes Health Care, Veterans, Nat...[…] CalicoJack in The Psy of Life examines a propaganda technique, a firehose of lies used as a sledgehammer against our democratic foundation of trust in truth. […]
1.3.2025 05:15Comment on The Firehose of Falsehood: Drowning Trust and Destroying the Foundation of Our Democracy, part 1 by Week of Slashes Health Care, Veterans, ...In reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/25/firehose-falsehood-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-27154">CalicoJack</a>. Yes, that bind is real and been getting worse for a long time, The ownership of major outlets is part of the problem. If a media company is publicly traded, it is a t the mercy of the gamblers on Wall Street and activist share holders from all sides. And if it is privately held, then the conflicts of interest and/or ideology of the owner, be they a Murdoch or a Bezos.
27.2.2025 13:50Comment on The Firehose of Falsehood: Drowning Trust and Destroying the Foundation of Our Democracy, part 1 by bobcabkingsIn reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/25/firehose-falsehood-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-27155">CalicoJack</a>. And those times frightened those who hanker back to very different times.
27.2.2025 13:40Comment on Firehose of Falsehood: How Consistently Departing from Reality Breaks Trust and Truth, part 2 by bobcabkingsIn reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/25/firehose-falsehood-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-27153">CalicoJack</a>. His spirit is smiling. chuq
27.2.2025 10:51Comment on The Firehose of Falsehood: Drowning Trust and Destroying the Foundation of Our Democracy, part 1 by loboteroIn reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/25/firehose-falsehood-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-27152">bobcabkings</a>. The problem is that we have had some halcyon days of yore to harken back to, the Clinton, Obama, and Biden administrations.
27.2.2025 05:38Comment on Firehose of Falsehood: How Consistently Departing from Reality Breaks Trust and Truth, part 2 by CalicoJackIn reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/25/firehose-falsehood-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-27151">bobcabkings</a>. It puts most reporters in a no-win situation. Most of them cannot leave their jobs and step into a profitable substack like Jim Acosta did. They're stuck trying to appease their ownership and editors and do their jobs, which they think is reporting the news without bias. With their news has a liberal bias line of attack -- now updated to social media is suppressing their free speech -- they've put the average reporter and newsroom in a bind, either report the ridiculous claims of the right as being on par with what the left is doing or suffer accusations of bias, find some minuscule scrap of semblance between the gross normative, ethical, and legal violations the right perpetrates on an hourly basis and something a liberal did sometime somewhere, or suffer accusations of bias. Unless or until they are willing to stand those accusations down, we're stuck with a biased press that is useful idiot at best or collaborator at worst. Jack
27.2.2025 05:37Comment on The Firehose of Falsehood: Drowning Trust and Destroying the Foundation of Our Democracy, part 1 by CalicoJackIn reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/25/firehose-falsehood-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-27150">lobotero</a>. If Goebbels' soul exists anywhere in this universe, they are extremely happy with the turn of events. Jack
27.2.2025 05:31Comment on The Firehose of Falsehood: Drowning Trust and Destroying the Foundation of Our Democracy, part 1 by CalicoJackIn reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/25/firehose-falsehood-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-27147">CalicoJack</a>. Yes, and nostalgia for imaginary better times.
26.2.2025 14:16Comment on Firehose of Falsehood: How Consistently Departing from Reality Breaks Trust and Truth, part 2 by bobcabkingsIn reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/25/firehose-falsehood-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-27148">CalicoJack</a>. They are, and always have been complete suckers for trying to just keep up with the flood and getting lost in the details to the point of missing the context. Add to that the conflicts of interest of their owners and trying to appear "unbiased" and you get what we have.
26.2.2025 14:15Comment on The Firehose of Falsehood: Drowning Trust and Destroying the Foundation of Our Democracy, part 1 by bobcabkingsIn reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/25/firehose-falsehood-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-27149">CalicoJack</a>. He could have made Goebbels a happy person. chuq
26.2.2025 10:59Comment on The Firehose of Falsehood: Drowning Trust and Destroying the Foundation of Our Democracy, part 1 by loboteroIn reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/25/firehose-falsehood-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-27135">lobotero</a>. It is actually the one thing he's good at. He's the perfect FoF machine. He can spew more misinformation, disinformation, chaos, and crap than any man can. Jack
26.2.2025 02:53Comment on The Firehose of Falsehood: Drowning Trust and Destroying the Foundation of Our Democracy, part 1 by CalicoJackIn reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/25/firehose-falsehood-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-27141">bobcabkings</a>. The for-profit press is a willing and knowing useful idiot in Firehose of Falsehood scheme. Seems to me that they have been for a long time. Jack
26.2.2025 02:52Comment on The Firehose of Falsehood: Drowning Trust and Destroying the Foundation of Our Democracy, part 1 by CalicoJackIn reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/25/firehose-falsehood-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-27142">bobcabkings</a>. And those prejudices are often wrapped in religion and ideological rhetoric, i.e. land of the free, home of the brave kind of stuff.
26.2.2025 02:51Comment on Firehose of Falsehood: How Consistently Departing from Reality Breaks Trust and Truth, part 2 by CalicoJackIn reply to <a href="https://thepsyoflifeblog.com/2025/02/20/comment-shipwreck-of-state/comment-page-1/#comment-27143">bobcabkings</a>. Howdy Bob! Apparently, Trump Firehose of Falsehooded Putin when he announced that not only had he discussed European peacekeepers being used in Ukraine, but that Putin approved of it! Sometimes you gotta watch out for what you wish for incase you get it. I guess it doesn't matter because the FoF says that contradiction and departure from reality don't matter as much as just keep pumping out information as fast as you can. Perhaps that's what Musk is using the what I did last week emails to train his AI for, AI generated BS for the useful idiots to read. They've just passed the House budget, which pretty much means it will be signed into law. The Senate will make some noise about it, but in the end, they fold. We're guaranteed a cratered economy and recession. Given the destruction already done to the government -- we need those government functions to keep the country running smoothly, including the economy -- it guarantees a depression. The courts are having a decidedly split decision with Musk and his chainsaw. Some of what he's done has been left standing, some has been blocked pending further hearing. I don't know that we can piss off enough people fast enough to actually avoid the major disaster that Trump is steering us towards. We might could mitigate some of the worst outcomes, but we are in for a very bad time in the mid-range future. Putin knows exactly how to play Trump. It is why there never needed to be any collusion or kompromat. Putin recognized Trump as the perfect engine for his destruction of the US from the first moment he came across him. Blog On, Sibling! Jack
26.2.2025 02:50Comment on Comment on This: What Can Be Done To Turn This Shipwreck of State Around? by CalicoJackReading time: 3 minutes This concludes the two part series on how Trump, the Republicans, and their useful idiots have used the Firehose of Falsehood to wreck our country by sowing distrust and undermining our shared sense of truth.
25.2.2025 10:34Firehose of Falsehood: How Consistently Departing from Reality Breaks Trust and Truth, part 2Reading time: 5 minutes We seem to be drowning in a flood of lies and weird mishegas coming out of Trump, his cabinet, and the Republican Party. The only way to understand it is to understand the Firehose of Falsehoods.
25.2.2025 09:43The Firehose of Falsehood: Drowning Trust and Destroying the Foundation of Our Democracy, part 1Reading time: 4 minutes We hear all the time about stopping Trump and Musk from destroying our democracy and government, but no one suggests anything specific. Well, I do. Here's a list and invitation to add to it! We the People are going to stop Trump.
20.2.2025 13:17Comment on This: What Can Be Done To Turn This Shipwreck of State Around?Reading time: 3 minutes Trump's loss of Election 2020 was such a narcissistic wound that it caused narcissistic collapse. Now we are witnessing the destruction of our government, democracy, and country as he tries to avenge the loss.
12.2.2025 13:07Trump’s Narcissistic Collapse: The Destruction of Our Country and the World’s EconomyReading time: less than 1 minute The key to opposing the fascists is to keep them from working as they like. One thing we can all do is flood the WH with demands to FOLLOW THE LAW! Here's how.
11.2.2025 11:17Flood the White House Switchboard Demanding Trump Follow the Rule of LawReading time: 2 minutes My only idea on how to stop Trump's burgeoning dictatorship is to provoke a massacre by federal forces or the national guard or to have them refuse orders to do so. I'd love for someone to talk me out of this.
5.2.2025 12:42Comment on This: The Only Way Forward is to Force Trump to Over ReactReading time: 1 minute Elon Musk is gathering vital sensitive government information about citizens and programs. He must be stopped! We must express our anger and concern to our representatives in Congress. Call your member of Congress NOW! Keep calling!
3.2.2025 00:04Call Your Congress Member: Put An End to Musk and His Aides Running Rampant in Gov’t AgenciesReading time: 5 minutes I'm finding it difficult to figure out how to oppose Trump and everything he's doing. I find public moaning about it helpful. Maybe you will, too. Maybe together we can come up with some concrete plans.
1.2.2025 08:56Recovering from the Disillusionment of Trump’s Election and His Daily Explosive Diarrhea of Lies, Propaganda, and Other BullshitReading time: 2 minutes As the TWO recent airplane accidents demonstrates, maintaining the integrity of our federal agencies is important. Opposing these four is absolutely the four that should not pass.
1.2.2025 02:40Call Your MoC: Oppose RFK, Jr. Pam Bondi, Tulsi Gabbard, and Kash PatelReading time: 3 minutes Just as we're all desperate for concrete things to do to defend our democracy, Marc Elias rides in to save the day again. Here are 10 things YOU can do TODAY to save our democracy.
26.1.2025 04:1010 Things We Can All Do to Protect Democracy — Democracy DocketReading time: 2 minutes Stop the Oligarchy, oppose the SAVE Act. Call your MoC and express your opposition to the SAVE Act. I give you a script and contact information. Everything you need to help save our democracy.
11.1.2025 04:03Call Your MoC: The SAVE Act Won’t Save Democracy, It Will Destroy It.Reading time: 4 minutes An article in The Atlantic suggests that the real effect that the Internet has had on human cognition is to super-charge our confirmation bias feeding our cognitive dissonance and motivating our reasoning. This is how the Insurrection faded to insignificance in 2024.
8.1.2025 07:35Reblogged: The Internet Is Worse Than a Brainwashing Machine [It’s a Confirmation Bias Machine] — The AtlanticReading Time: 3 minutes It is vital that we return to a foundation of truth in our country. We have to make MAGA Republicans tell the truth. One of the few tools we have is shame! Flood their offices with this shaming notice.
7.1.2025 06:38Shaming the Truth Out of MAGA Republicans by Sending Them the Simple TruthReading time: 8 minutes A thorough guide to contacting your government representatives and being an effective participant in our democracy. If we're going to stop the fascists, we're going to have to actually do some things. This is the least of it.
3.1.2025 08:44Influencing Your Member of Congress and Other Government Office Holders: A Guide to Surviving 2025 and BeyondReading time: 2 minutes Are calls for Democrats to LISTEN to voters and move towards the centers really just calls to become Trump-lite and appeal to the racists and misogynists among us?
1.1.2025 10:26Comment on This: Are the Democratic Party Autopsies Calling for More Centrist Policies Just Racist-Misogynist Dog Whistling?Reading time: 5 minutes One might think that Trump is a pragmatic politician leaving his policy choices to whichever way the political winds blow. When contrasted with the master pragmatist, Otto von Bismarck, Trump is exposed for the corrupt self-dealing person he is pursuing revenge over policy.
27.12.2024 09:52Trump and Musk are doing It Wrong: Politics is the Art of the Possible, Not the Art of Grievance, Revenge, and Self-EnrichmentReading time: 4 minutes Trump really is using Hitler's propaganda to manipulate MAGA, the media, and the rest of us. To protect our democracy, we need to marshal our resources and pick our battles. Distinguishing between distraction and corruption is going to be absolutely necessary.
21.12.2024 11:50Hitler’s Propaganda Playbook: A Guide to the Orange Caricature’s AdministrationReading Time: 3 minutes Brush up on your Festivus lore just in time for the Holidays! Impress your friends, family, and strangers you're hitting on with the true origin story of the holiday or just annoy people like I usually end up doing. At any rate Festivus is a holiday for the rest of us, and everyone is welcome to celebrate at Ye Olde Blogge this year!
17.12.2024 09:59Festivus 2020: This Year was made for FESTIVUS! Come Celebrate with Ye Olde Blogge