Do you ever watch the television news and get the distinct impression that someone or a group of people are carefully controlling what you watch to further broader ideological goals?

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• What country are you talking about? In the U.S., expose's of government are the bread-and-butter of the press... They're in the paper every single day in a variety of forms, and most adults question at least part of what they hear from politicians and bureaucrats.

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  by Stableboy on March 20th, 2007

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• It's all relative. Perhaps they get paid off by politically-minded rich people.

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  by Halskiisaklink on March 20th, 2007

• Well... if that's your position, it would be a good idea to have some evidence -- as you know the 'bag is a mighty stormy place about such things! :-)

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  by Stableboy on March 20th, 2007

• I suppose, I guess I don't have any evidence. Just paranoia. And a disdain for the rich.

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  by Halskiisaklink on March 20th, 2007

• Well... a little paranoia never killed anyone. And since I'm not rich I can't be offended. But I do regularly argue against prejudice, and prejudice against the press or the rich isn't different in principle than racial prejudice or other forms -- it's clinging to preconceived ideas instead of *observing* life just as it is.

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  by Stableboy on March 20th, 2007

• Perhaps, but to assume that everyone is equal in nature and hence what I'm expressing is prejudice when people are clearly not equal depending on the terms in which you're talking is a little mean. If money=power in society, and power corrupts, doesn't that mean that money (can) corrupt(s)? When powerful people are corrupted, then I suffer.

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  by Halskiisaklink on March 20th, 2007

• Well I'm not out to be mean, but you're making quite a few leaps in your statement there. We haven't established that money = power, nor that power corrupts. These are all abstractions -- mental constructions -- they are NOT observations. It is indeed a form of prejudice, because you're not approaching each situation in life with an open mind, you're arriving on the scene with a fixed idea of how life works, and then (as we all do) seeing things which reinforce your existing view. That's how prejudice works... the continual reinforcement of what we already believe, because we're looking at the situation through a filter which is always locked-and-loaded on our eyes.

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  by Stableboy on March 20th, 2007

• If you say so. But that 'filter' is part of my social environment, and I'm reminded of it every day.

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  by Halskiisaklink on March 20th, 2007

• Yes, of course... the challenge I would issue is to develop the ability to see clearly despite the presence of these filters. None of us can escape our own conditioning -- from the past, from our culture, from our own preconceptions. But we can still develop the ability to see clearly if we work at it -- that starts with being aware of our own prejudices, rather than denying or justifying them.

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  by Stableboy on March 20th, 2007

• But we should also be aware of the economic and social inequalities in society.

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  by Halskiisaklink on March 20th, 2007

• Yes, but only AFTER we have a good handle on our own inequalities... otherwise the internal distortions will seriously mess with our external perceptions.

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  by Stableboy on March 20th, 2007

• Agreed.

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  by Halskiisaklink on March 20th, 2007

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