it seems to not only be a question of whether something is bullshit or not, but which of the many flavors, colors, odors and textures of shit is it? if the basic list of logical fallacies is applied to almost any news item, with near invariability we find appeal to authority, appeal to popularity, false dilemma, oh, there are so many from which to choose. please Aristotle, stop me.
who can be a legitimate arbiter of what is truth? who is devoid of personal agenda?
i say let anyone and everyone report whatever they will. let the individual arm their own self with grammar, logic and rhetoric, and find the truth individually.
those who are successful, let them succeed.
when we assign an authority over truth, we have set ourselves up for failure.
You said: " let the individual arm their own self with grammar, logic and rhetoric", which means "let's bring good education to everyone" . With no education, no grammar, no logic, neither rhetoric are possible....
thanks for the reply.
grammar (structure), logic (assembly) and rhetoric (use) of language, and how it relates to our understanding of, and our action in the world, is the composition of a good education. Without these, no understanding is possible, without these, there is no ability to make use of facts, or observations, except to flail about blindly, hoping what we have in our hand is a hammer as we try to hit the nail that we cannot see and only hope we understood the rules of the game. some superstitions may accidentally acquire accuracy in predicting cause and effect, but without method of reproducibility, it is understanding that is reduced in it's usefulness, and it's error may lead quickly to less than desirable outcomes.
Agree. Which is why I think your plan is pretty ambitious: if you expect everybody to use structure, assembly and language (and which language: I speak 4 , and when I am not using my native one is very hard) you expect everybody to have a good education, where "good education" means "higher education". To bring the whole population to the higher education is not an easy task.....
this used to be only the first part in a basic education, the Trivium Method. then, there is the Quadrivium, which is the math part, which is also a language. it used to be that a high education could not be had without this basis. there are vanishingly small number schools that teach these now. i would be ecstatic if ten percent of the population could be brought to the level of basic reason. i do not expect to teach everyone myself, so i'm not really all that ambitious. i have come to the understanding that, i can inform those who are curious, and let the rest find their own way.
i do think most of this can be adapted to almost any language, but only being a speaker of English, math, and a very rusty Latin, i cannot be sure.
i live in America, and do not expect that anyone has a good education. mine, i've had to acquire myself, and am still learning. i have always had a desire for knowledge, and do not know how to encourage it or instill it in others, so, i search for other like minded people, and interact with them. steemit has made this easier. most of the people i meet in my immediate "meat space" world are less curious, or capable of deciding which news is fake, than a brain damaged monkey, and likely to remain so.
it seems to me that the benefits of knowledge should be incentive enough to desire learning. i have been searching for a way to further incentivise this , but have not found much. manipulation may serve, but i'd rather not use this, for it seems dishonest. if you have ideas about this, please do share them.
i have the Lobo comic from which your picture comes. it is one of my favorite comic series. there is also "Lobo's paramilitary Christmas special", a one issue, darkly comedic, very entertaining.