Let me explain the question:
If fox news and religious propaganda are exactly that, propaganda, then they are victims.
If, however, every person is free to listen to what they want and then rant against liberals, migrants, Muslims, Arabs, trans, gays, atheists, you name it, then they are just gullible.
I’d have more patience for a victim than a gullible person.
Everybody is free to believe what they want to believe. What I don’t get is why they have to stir things up and why they believe they are the only ones getting it and everyone else is dumb, woke, a communist or is going to hell. Why can’t they keep their opinions to themselves?
Seriously, blaming entertainment (actual entertainment, not “news” that weasels in court calling itself entertainment) has been a thing since the stone ages. It wasn’t true about rock and roll, it wasn’t true about dime novels, it’s not true now about superhero stuff.
Are we really that sure that tv did not actually “rot people’s brains” to varying degrees? I would be interested in a more rigorous study of this before we dismiss all entertainment influences as simple culture war bullshit due to the genuinely overwhelming overuse of culture war arguments.
I’ve looked into this before for arguments with my mother trying to get her to stop saying there’s a gay agenda. Her argument was because I enjoy the videogames and sci-fi I wasn’t smart enough to understand the truth. The science has actually been done (though I’m sure more still needs to be done).
Research by a scientist named Schwartz in 2016 showed that those predisposed to anti-social behaviour are also naturally pre-disposed to watch more TV. When accounting for genetic traits, previous research into negative affects of TV didn’t hold up amongst children and young adults (mentally, physically yes, but we already knew sedentary lifestyle has negative impacts).
A (I Believe Johns Hopkins but I’m going from memory) 20 year data evaluation released in 2021 showed that excessive TV can contribute to cognitive decline over time (they measured a 0.5% reduction amongst the adults they tested). The main scientist I remember saying they didn’t account for type of media and did think educational content like documentaries would have a smaller impact though he couldn’t guess by how much. His worry wasn’t about the average adult making decisions but rather preserving as much mental capacity long term so as to help reduce impacts of dementia.
A 2023 UK study backed up the 2021 and 2016 study. Excess causes increased health risks and a long term small measurable cognitive decline.
Everything I’ve seen points to, for the most part, the amount being the problem as with everything. Moderation is key and living a diverse life that stimulates you mentally overall is important. Manga or Marvel movies when you want to relax is not going to rot your brain. Only consuming them will, same as with any type of media or genre.
Thank you for writing that out.