• somas
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    fedilink
    610 months ago

    @flossdaily

    Were you alive during Nixon? I was a baby but I interacted with people Trump’s age when I was a child. I don’t know if it’s the lead in the air back then or what but more than half of all adults seemed terminally stupid. I was a child and I thought they were stupid.

    We’ve clearly got a lot of people who think Trump’s smart today but Trump’s brand of gibberish was just considered “common sense” in the 80s. Social media hasn’t made us dumber, it’s just allowed the dumbest people to find each other more easily.

    Regarding us all sharing the same facts when Nixon was president, that’s just not true. People lived in a very divided America then as well. Social media and the refinement of propaganda techniques does make things seem more hopeless today but the same Roger Stone who’s fucking things up today was around back then. He was doing exactly what he’s doing today back then.

    • @flossdaily
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      110 months ago

      The fact that the public, in the end, turned on Nixon is the REASON we have Fox News today. It’s creators were anticipating the landscape today where a conservative media bubble would isolate Republicans from the facts. It works perfectly.

      • somas
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        210 months ago

        @flossdaily

        Yes, I’m aware of that. This is why I brought up Roger Stone. My point is people aren’t stupider or more insular today; they are actually slightly less so.

        The machinery of propaganda is much more refined today.

        • @flossdaily
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          010 months ago

          Stupider? No.

          More insular? Are you kidding me? Of course they are. It’s not even close.