One of the things that often puts me off about the numerous "Talking Heads" of traditional media, on YouTube and other places online is that no matter what their political or religious persuasion might be, they all seem to have this smarmy edge of smugness about them.
It is as if they are completely incapable of simply reporting the facts — or even just their opinions — without coming across like they are just revealing the Holy Grail of news breaks even though what they are doing is a little more than regurgitating something that's already been said a hundred times.
But there's this "I'm SO much better than other people for saying this" undertone in their delivery, as if to convey that if you can't see their "brilliance" you're clearly an idiot. As a journalistic technique, it's very combative and confrontational.
Beyond that, the extent to which everybody seems to live in a perpetual echo chamber is almost mind-numbing. Almost nobody is engaged in simple analysis and dissemination. One group is perpetually engaged in pointing out that conservatives are idiots and another group is engaged in constantly pointing out that liberals are idiots and pretty much everything that's being offered up amounts to little more than providing (ostensible) "evidence" to support an already established viewpoint.
Where the hell is the "new" in reporting, anymore?
Lately, I have been reading up on some of the core elements of propaganda and how manipulations are used to sway people.
It often amazes me how little people are aware of when they are being manipulated, and just how suggestible many folks are. Above all, I feel somewhat alarmed by the level of fear that seems to permeate every corner of society, whether it's outright xenophobia or some other version of "fear of the unknown" that hasn't — objectively speaking — been relevant to our existence and survival since likely) neolithic days.
Sure, the world is a difficult place, and perhaps that contributes to people becoming so exhausted they don't have the energy or inclination to truly stop and think about the eternal "word soup" they are being subjected to, every day.
Meanwhile, the "repetition fallacy" runs rampant... that is, if you keep repeating a falsehood over and over, people eventually start confusing familiarity with truth.
When I first came to the USA — from Denmark, as my username suggests — over 40 years ago, one of the first things I noticed was how extremely binary the culture seemed, compared to what I was used to.
Meaning... that everything seemed very either-or with very little room for nuances in between.
Which is not to suggest that the whole "righteously smug" thing is a US issue. I see it elsewhere, as well, from Australia to the UK and many places in between.
Sadly, I think it's another contributing factor — or symptom(?) — of this increasingly divided world where so much noise is made by the extremes of every viewpoint.
Of course, I try to stay aware of my own cognitive biases, as well. I have disliked smugness pretty much since grade school, so I'm hyperaware of it, when it shows up.
Self-awareness is a lot of work!
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2026.07.11 00:23 PDT
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