Propaganda

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 MikeEnRegalia wrote:

^ I would say that the big narratives are mostly about ideologies. All of them include facts, fake facts, correct assumptions and wrong assumptions, which makes it really hard to figure them out. Congratulations if you managed to do it, in which case I would wonder how you can be certain of it. I have put a lot of effort in the attempt, and I would say that I know a lot more about many of them than the typical person does, yet I am in no way certain that I have figured them out. 

How can you be certain?  You can't be 100% certain. However, you can manage a certainty level above 90% in many instances. Dive deep into a logic/critical thinking/statistics/ scientific method education.  Dry test your skills against hundreds of examples of empirical data.  Observe where your skills falter.  Adapt/Adjust.

Make sure your critical thinking skills consistently agree with empirical data. For example: I'm a biologist and RN. Biologists know that bacterial and viral diseases tend to mutate into LESS virulent forms. In 2020/2021, the media scared people into thinking COVID-19 would mutate into something even worse. Immediately I remembered mounds of bacterial/viral mutation empirical data. I thought, " Are decades worth of disease mutation data false, or is the media lying?"  

  Constantly double-check your critical thinking skills.  Does your logic alert you to lies, faulty data, and inconsistent logic? Put alternative explanations through your critical thinking grinder.  Discard faulty explanations/hypotheses.  Often, more than one explanation passes through your critical thinking shredder, relatively unscathed.  Ask yourself, " Can both explanations be simultaneously true?"  Sure...happens all the time.  On the other hand, if the explanations are contradictory, you'll need more data to decipher the truth.  

As you refine your critical thinking skills, you will easily spot patterns that confused you in your younger daze.  Also, you'll realize instances when you do not have enough information to decode the propaganda.  You'll think, " I'm missing something."  Wait for it.  Usually, an obvious solution will reveal itself.  You just need to wait for a few more cards to be played.

 If you studied the scientific method and stats, you can make predictions and apply statistical tests to measure the correlations.  Empirical data suggests a correlation.  Cause and effect are more difficult to prove, but you can at least rise above the noise and confusion and carry on like a wayward son. 

 Don't be afraid to be wrong.  It's OK to be wrong...just don't stay wrong.  Treasure times when you're wrong.  These are the most valuable.  Why? Because you just improved your critical thinking skills by discarding faulty data for more reliable data.  

Edited by omphaloskepsis - October 22 2023 at 09:35

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