There's also CBC's podcast, The Flamethrowers with Justin Ling on CBC Listen https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1026-the-flamethrowers

g121 wrote:

Also a good view is .. 

"The Brainwashing of My Dad"  - After her dad shifts his politics from left to right, his daughter tries to understand what happened.
 
It's on Youtube .. 


 

https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1488575096671244293?s=20&t=eFCZiM_S5SORAPc1Nn1-gw

Here's where it's going.

The Weed wrote:

Here's where it's going.

Interesting article. These opportunists seize on critiques and issues well worth consideration and investigation, and indeed use them (as opportunists are wont to do) to further their own ends. It's been that way with railing against elites, and with the various measures taken around Covid, and now with the Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And by no means limited to these issues and events, or our particular period in time (though fueled by social media).

What gives a lie the veneer of credibility is the grain of truth. I've found myself in discomforting agreement with some *stated* positions and remarks coming from these above-noted elements. We can't deny the existence and prominence of elites, their stark wealth, and the massively disproportionate power, control and influence they exert. Public discussion of Covid has been severely oversimplified, turning the need to probe the complexities of science and politics into a two-sided absurdity. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is more complex than the act of invasion itself; it is massively wrong yet has some completely understandable underpinnings demanding examination.

My point isn't to open political discussion on these or other issues. Rather, it's to point out that we're losing the ability for meaningful discussion of political and social issues where there can be acknowledgement and exploration of nuance, and also the ability to listen to multiple perspectives (all of which would make us smarter).

But here's the kicker - the so-called far right isn't exclusively at fault here; nor can all people who at least appear right-wing be classified as opportunists. People who might think of themselves as politically or socially liberal or left have also played this game. And - on BOTH sides, mixed in with opportunists are political simpletons and the smugly self-righteous (sometimes coming as a 'two-in-one' package). Social networks such as Facebook are simply loaded with cheap shots from BOTH ends - something particularly noticeable in regards to Covid.

Somehow, we have to weed out the fiction. Certainly, there's Comet Pizza, birtherism, and other clearly tall tales. But we also need to examine everyday terminology such as democracy, communist, freedom, far-right, fascist, free world, free market, conspiracy theory, and - yes - even left / right.