Facts, bears and groupthink

[BrightShinyGirl]

I will just leave this....

https://justthenews.com/videos/coli...pthink-activist-institutions-britains-decline

Not good enough. Instead of just dropping a link to a rage-bait article and running away, you need to add to the discussion.

 

[Iluv17]

 

[Iluv17]

TRUTH

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

Now @Iluv17 has retreated into the safe space of borrrowed memes. Use your words, dude! Actually think for yourself.

 

[JohnEngelman]

The elites are going batshit as they lose their elite status. Instead of acknowledging their follies and greed, they wage war against Trump, who is only the tip of the sword cutting them down. Their media outlets of note are losing their notes. A new class of elites is starting to rise, as it always does in these periods of national crisis and transformation, happening slightly more than once a century.

We saw how the world worked, and now we see how it doesn't work. The global systems of control and interdependence are breaking down.

Trump is one of the elites. His tax cuts for the rich benefit the elites.

The only thing that is not elite about Trump is his vulgar, low class personality.

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

I keep coming to the Politics Board because I enjoy calmly stating facts. It gives me a feeling of stability in a chaotic world. It’s a different sort of pleasure than the thrill I get from writing smut.

I’m also kind of a bitch and if I’m bitchy here it keeps me from acting out on Blue Sky or Twitter.

Being calm is a kind of super power. It's essential.

This place is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel to be honest.

 

[Chernosoth]

If you read an article in a journal that was world-famous for the level of its fact-checking and that article went into scrupulous detail about all the ways Trump and his family have enriched themselves through the Presidency, do you think it would change your mind?

Link it if you have it, but most Americans have learned to be skeptical as so many certified facts have turned out to be absolute BS. I recall litsters here crowing about Trump having difficulty paying bond to appeal the civil lawsuit penalties.

 

[Iluv17]

Link it if you have it, but most Americans have learned to be skeptical as so many certified facts have turned out to be absolute BS. I recall litsters here crowing about Trump having difficulty paying bond to appeal the civil lawsuit penalties.

When in reality, they know NOTHING about Trump, nothing about Melania or nothing about Barron or the.rest of the Trumps. They'd all shit their pants if they knew the TRUTH but they are all afraid.of TRUTH! Funny, the 2 things these clowns are afraid of is TRUTH and dying! Thats 100%TRUTH

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

Link it if you have it, but most Americans have learned to be skeptical as so many certified facts have turned out to be absolute BS. I recall litsters here crowing about Trump having difficulty paying bond to appeal the civil lawsuit penalties.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/08/18/the-number

It's 7 months old but, at the time of writing, they could account for $3.4 billion.

 

[BoredDirtyCommie]

When in reality, they know NOTHING about Trump, nothing about Melania or nothing about Barron or the.rest of the Trumps. They'd all shit their pants if they knew the TRUTH but they are all afraid.of TRUTH! Funny, the 2 things these clowns are afraid of is TRUTH and dying! Thats 100%TRUTH

So what's the truth, then?

 

[Lazaran]

Link it if you have it, but most Americans have learned to be skeptical as so many certified facts have turned out to be absolute BS. I recall litsters here crowing about Trump having difficulty paying bond to appeal the civil lawsuit penalties.

Sternosot continues to be the dumbest / most uninformed MAGAt on the PB.

DonOld was most certainly struggling to pony up funds after his fraud judgement(s), etc.

Of course, that ^ may not be a problem anymore in the wake of the BILLIONS of dollars of graft DonOld and his family have engaged in since his re-election.



WE. TOLD. THEM. SO.

 

[BoredDirtyCommie]

Link it if you have it, but most Americans have learned to be skeptical as so many certified facts have turned out to be absolute BS. I recall litsters here crowing about Trump having difficulty paying bond to appeal the civil lawsuit penalties.

That's just a roundabout way of saying that you won't accept facts that make Republicans look bad. That's not critical thinking. That's being in a cult.

Partisan politics rots brains. Got representatives from two parties on thus website telling people that they both actively hate them yet want them to take their side. And y'all don't realize that you're just doing the work of depressing the vote.

 

[latecomer91364]

Using facts to counter groupthink can and does do the exact opposite: it increases groupthink.

A factually accurate statement from someone you distrust emotionally will simply be overridden by that emotional distrust.

It's tempting to call this tribalism but that's not how tribes actually work. Tribes in reality thrive by being open-minded (to changes and opportunities), by bridge-building with other tribes (for trade and security), and by consensus-seeking (sifting out poor ideas in favor of better ones). To be 'tribal' is actually to be open-minded, to build bridges and to seek consensus.

So, what's up with the groupthink and the resistance to facts, especially if human success has always depended on the opposite?

It's because, above all else, humans want to be calm. Yeah, calm. And they achieve this calm by creating worlds where there's no tension.

Do you want tension in your life? 'Course not. Who wants that? And so it's perfectly normal that people actively want to be cut off. Alternatives provide conflicting messages and uncertainty. And if there's one thing that freaks us out more than anything else it's uncertainty.

(Curiously, artists who are generally considered geniuses - Shakespeare and the like - have a particular love of uncertainty).

Anyway, this world we create gives us the best way to satisfy our deepest cravings: it's where we connect with other humans, earn status, and find some kind of goal or meaning. Confront me with an alternative and you're threatening to take away my status, my meaning.

So why the hell do people come here everyday to be confronted by alternatives? After all, studies have shown that, when people are confronted with irrefutable facts that contradict their political beliefs, their brains light up in the same way as if they've just encountered a bear.

It's because we all get a little shot of neural pleasure in having resisted the alternative. The truth and what's correct is utterly irrelevant. All that is relevant is that our world remains intact. Hence the groupthink increasing, not reducing.

Anyway, why the fuck have I bothered to write this out? I'm bored and I had a spare 10 mins mainly. But also, I just wanted to congratulate everyone for fighting off the bears everyday.

But - and if you've got this far then well done, you must be as bored as me - here's a question to end on: what tricks can be used to overcome the emotional distrust?

Edit: Don't know how I could forget this, given this is an erotica website: the other main reason for bridge-building is of course...for sex.

Why don't you ask your leftfuck friends?

 

[DeluxAuto]

Perfect example of groupthink

Howard Lutnick to Trump: “You are fixing everything with your policies. You have changed America and created the golden age”

These meetings will be studied for years.

Grown men turned into pets by Trump, and their own greed and cowardliness.

It's almost impossible to believe that humans can degrade themselves this much. When I see this, assuming I'm done throwing up, I'm ashamed to be a human.

 

[Lazaran]

Partisan politics rots brains. Got representatives from two parties on thus website telling people that they both actively hate them yet want them to take their side. And y'all don't realize that you're just doing the work of depressing the vote.

Nah.

What we have on this site is decent, intelligent Democrats, MAGAts, AND… “persuadables”.

So three “parties”:

• The decent, intelligent Democrats’ voting habits are fine.

• The MAGAts are NEVER going to alter their viewpoint / opinion / voting habits in elections (because they’re brainwashed cultists).

• The “persuadables” are where some progress can and needs to be made.

Between the decent, intelligent Democrats making the case that they were right all along / told everyone so (what was going to happen if DonOld & the MAGAt republicans took power, the MAGAts continuing to be MAGAts, and the “persuadables” being persuaded by the decent, intelligent Democrats AND the MAGAts continuing to be MAGAts, the right voting turnout / results can be achieved (It happened as recently as 2020).

Enthusiasm on the Democratic side is spiking, while DonOld & the MAGAt republicans are floundering.

The 2026 midterms should be a blue tsunami.

The 2028 presidential election should be a blue mandate.





We. Told. Them. So.

 

[Chernosoth]

That's just a roundabout way of saying that you won't accept facts that make Republicans look bad. That's not critical thinking. That's being in a cult.

Facts would be fine if I could personally verify them or check them at a credible site. What the mainstream media labels credible means shit to me, since the mainstream media has proven itself untrustworthy. It's corporate propaganda.

Republicans don't need help making themselves look bad. They have a majority in both houses and still can't or won't pass an election integrity bill that would probably lead to more Republican seats.

 

[Lazaran]

Facts would be fine if I could personally verify them or check them at a credible site. What the mainstream media labels credible means shit to me, since the mainstream media has proven itself untrustworthy. It's corporate propaganda.

Republicans don't need help making themselves look bad. They have a majority in both houses and still can't or won't pass an election integrity bill that would probably lead to more Republican seats.

Yeah, an "election integrity bill" (when voter fraud is practically non-existent- except for some examples of REPUBLICANS COMMITTING ELECTION VIOLATIONS) is the priority that congress should be addressing right now…



Sternosot



We. Told. Them. So.

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

Facts would be fine if I could personally verify them or check them at a credible site. What the mainstream media labels credible means shit to me, since the mainstream media has proven itself untrustworthy. It's corporate propaganda.

Republicans don't need help making themselves look bad. They have a majority in both houses and still can't or won't pass an election integrity bill that would probably lead to more Republican seats.

Honestly, you want to be reading books far more than the internet. Generally speaking, books don’t get published until they’ve been thoroughly fact-checked. They also benefit from the passing of time and decent research - they’re not chasing clicks in real time to earn advertising dollars.

If you want something more factual when it comes to news, you can always read the Financial Times, which is not based in any one country and so isn’t part of any country’s culture wars or political fights. It’s international in outlook and, being a paper aimed at people who actually run companies, is largely empirical. It’s more neutral than most. Try just the weekend edition - you don’t need the daily weekday version. The weekend section is full of non-business news and arts and books.

 

[Chernosoth]

Honestly, you want to be reading books far more than the internet. Generally speaking, books don’t get published until they’ve been thoroughly fact-checked. They also benefit from the passing of time and decent research - they’re not chasing clicks in real time to earn advertising dollars.

If you want something more factual when it comes to news, you can always read the Financial Times, which is not based in any one country and so isn’t part of any country’s culture wars or political fights. It’s international in outlook and, being a paper aimed at people who actually run companies, is largely empirical. It’s more neutral than most. Try just the weekend edition - you don’t need the daily weekday version. The weekend section is full of non-business news and arts and books.

You suggest I spend money to read propaganda. You may forget most of the nation is poor.

I expect print media will revive and return as the internet becomes more expensive and less informative. What books are published, then as now, still depends on the publisher seeing a potential for profit. Fact checking costs money, so publishers must decide how much accuracy they will buy.

 

[BoredDirtyCommie]

You suggest I spend money to read propaganda. You may forget most of the nation is poor.

I expect print media will revive and return as the internet becomes more expensive and less informative. What books are published, then as now, still depends on the publisher seeing a potential for profit. Fact checking costs money, so publishers must decide how much accuracy they will buy.

How are you going to say with your whole chest that you hate reading and expect to be taken seriously by anyone?

 

[LLCox]

Oh you poor, pathetic idiots, our tears flow for you! NOTView attachment 2607428

The only thing worse is a trumptard. Exhibit #A ^

 

[Wilson23]

BTW, groupthink works among bears, but only when they've had a lot of cocaine.

 

[Chernosoth]

How are you going to say with your whole chest that you hate reading and expect to be taken seriously by anyone?

Do you hate reading comprehension?

Reading is an investment of time, for both information and entertainment. If I don't see a return on investment, I move on to the next source. Paying for a source is a financial and time investment. Paying for corporate propaganda is a dead loss.

 

[Wilson23]

Do you hate reading comprehension?

Reading is an investment of time, for both information and entertainment. If I don't see a return on investment, I move on to the next source. Paying for a source is a financial and time investment. Paying for corporate propaganda is a dead loss.

Paying for sex, OTOH, is a worthwhile investment, I hope all good Litsters can agree.

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

How are you going to say with your whole chest that you hate reading and expect to be taken seriously by anyone?

Honestly, it's very weird.

Books are propaganda? What, all books? Socrates is corporate propaganda, is he? Virginia Woolf? Thomas Piketty?

Books are indeed expensive - until you discover the existence of libraries, and second hand book stores, and online stores like abebooks.

You make a totally normal point, totally uncontroversial, and people just cannot bring themselves to accept it. If someone can't accept that reading books is a good way to be better informed then, you're right, that person's other thoughts aren't likely to be worth paying attention to.