Media Savvy

I am sure we are all brainwashed to a certain degree over so many things - Brexit is a good example of people honestly not understanding the full story. I know someone who voted 'out' as she was fed up with being told cucumbers had to be straight etc.! Bless her - how many others like her voted 'yes' or 'no' because of one 'fact' like that.
Our elderly neighbour was in having a cuppa with us one afternoon recently when the 'Guide Dogs' advert came on the television. She looked at me and said "Gosh I'd forgotten to do that - that poor man still hasn't got his guide dog" Those were her actual words!
I am sure as a nation we are becoming easier to dupe. We did explain to her about the advert but, knowing her, we feel sure she will respond for 'that poor man'

I do not agree as you only have to take into consideration the fact how many elected to make our exit from the EU.
We are not a nation who take kindly to being dictated to hence the Great remains in Britain.

I can only agree with you, PECS.

We have a splendid example in the poster who thinks that the 'Great' in great Britain refers to our status when in fact it describes our geography; 'Great' (or Greater) describes our position in relation to Brittany, which was Lesser Britain (and I'm sure the Bretons would have a word or two to say about that if they thought it described their status)

And in regard to the EU, where the UK was, in fact, a dominant partner very much instrumental in the 'dominating'.

The advertisers and electioneers KNOW we don't like being dictated to in an obvious way.
That's why they use such underhand methods.....

I agree that we are more easily duped and I think its partly because we are so inundated with advertising of all kinds, including that which goes by the name of information, that it is impossible to discern and analyse the volume of it. I also think that whereas I was taught to question and inquire, that is no longer a required skill. I now take the position that nothing I see or hear is true unless I've confirmed it for myself and that does not seem unreasonable to me.

Couldn't agree more with you PECS. Sadly, we tend to believe what we read in the Press, and a lot of it is skewed, and usually given a negative slant. As a result, it tends to produce a negative "mindset" in Joe Public. It certainly has that effect on me. I find I'm in a better mood during the day if I've avoided the National Press and the News on TV. There must be so much good happening in the world, but it is rarely reported.

"take into consideration the fact how many elected to make our exit from the EU" and for very many the reason they voted to do so was because they didn't understand just what was actually our role in the EU, just as in the OP. They believed every bit of "fake news" about bent cucumbers and straight bananas and thought that we were victims. All for a few politicians to get a bit of kudos for tilting against the windmills of "EU dominance" and get themselves further up the Westminster ladder. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, but stepped back when it was time to do the hard work of making their "dream" into reality. Moral - Be careful what you wish for, it may come true.

Including the fact that EU citizens coming here to work can only stay 3 months if they do not find that work, and then have to go home.
The permanent domicile and benefits given are down to the Government of this country, not the EU.
So why are people blaming the EU for immigration?

What made me think this was the knee jerk and, in some cases, quite vitriolic response to a headline about a vote at a university student union. When I dug deeper it seems the headlines were not exactly telling the whole story ..but by now there are people out there believing and perpetuating something that is not completely true! It is the swallowing of whatever we are fed...often peddled by people with a mission...in this case it appeared to want to undermine disability equality.

I think it creates a very dangerous climate when information is deliberately manipulated and unchallenged. Sad that we ae becoming so easy to con.

Yes I too agree Pecs,, we don’t know the half of it.

What a lot of patronising tosh. I do not think we are anymore gullible than we ever were. Think about those poor old women burnt as witches because they were old and odd and someone's child died and somebody said she must have cast a spell so off to the stake with her.

Information has always been manipulated and distorted and people have lapped it up and invested money in useless shares, or useless gadgets or believed dreadful things like, during WW1, that the Germans killed babies and even ate them.

I suggest you read the following link on atrocity rumours.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocity_propaganda.

Every age finds its ways of propagating false information from the trivial to the serious and many people sup it up and believe it. They always have. They always will. We are no less - or more - gullible than before.

Thanks for the link M0nica though I have seen that before.

I was not intending to 'patronise' anyone. I was talking generally and not even excluding myself from my thinking. I am often surprised at how many people take news items at face value.
There is greater sophistication in approach to advertising/ propaganda/ spin etc. and it appears,in more outlets than before.
I try hardxto reflect and evaluate what I see/ read..happy to admit I can be wrong too!

The methods of manipulating opinion has changed but the public at large are no more gullible than they were in the past, there are plenty of examples in the last 200 yrs where campaigns have changed opinions.

Going back further in history the population was ruled by fear, speak out of turn and you get burned as a witch, or if you are not that outspoken, conscripted into the army. Where either you toed the line or got put in the front line where survival was not likely, so to have any kind of life you supported the establishment line.

Now there's a good example of what we should think critically about - Wikipedia. Students are told NOT to cite anything from that source and to critically assess all information from all sources.

Good point * Ginny*.

There have always been sloppy thinkers and non-thinkers. There always will be. Likewise, there have always been, and will always be, critical thinkers and creative thinkers. I suspect it's related to intelligence. Although... when you look at some of the tosh that's coming out of universities at the moment...

There has , equally, always been an element of off the wall ideas emanating from some elements in some universities & guess always will!
I also think it is not always correct to conflate intelligence and cleverness. Some folk are clever at retaining & regurgitating facts and information but limited in the ability to reflect , evaluate or apply them. Some are able to do both and some are very good at gathering info temporarily to use and apply. All can be good students but that depends on other qualities such as self discipline, perseverance etc etc.

It's sad but there are many people who can't or won't think for themselves. Consider how many wear the latest fashion, no matter how unflattering it is. 'Sheep' is the word for them. The worrying thing is that these people are able to vote, but their choice is very often influenced by how their favourite celeb is voting rather than their own opinion.

I resent being lied to by politicians. And obviously those lies being magnified by the press.

I think actually we are less 'brainwashed than we were years ago. Mainly because most of us are a bit more savvy and realise that we can't believe every word we hear or read. We are all aware there is much fake news, we can't believe all we see on Facebook and many politicians will twist the truth any way they can to win an argument.

I think you have to read around everything and then make your own mind up. Read one story in three different papers and you will get three different slants. Just reserve a healthy amount of cynicism!

I think there are people who believe everything they hear/read/see, and people who don’t. There always have been, and there always will be. In fact, there is considerably more information out there for all to see than at any time in history. My 90 year old mother regularly says that ‘these things’ have increased. ‘These things’ could be anything from an earthquake to crime. I point out to her that news is able to travel and be transmitted so quickly nowadays compared to her youth that it seems that ‘ these things’ happen more often. Of course with news items, people will choose to believe based on the available evidence, or not believe, choosing to think it’s all hyped up. Often news items are based on some truth, but not completely true it seems to me. Something must have started off the completely irrelevant story about cucumbers and bananas having to be a certain shape in the eu, but it’s probably been blown out of all proportion, and is a complete non story to me. Do we need to know that Jean Claude Junker is a drunkard, well yes I do, since he is occupying an important position.
What I do think is worrying is that it appears that many, most certainly not all, younger people are so tied up in their social media that they are turned off real news. But hey, what are we all on now, social media of course.

Have to agree with you PECS. It amazes me that people choose to ignore things that don’t fit in with their own expectations. When we know that politicians tell blatant lies, waste colossal amounts of public money, blame others for their own incompetence and yet they still get people to vote for them. Soul destroying.

We don't know what is going on if the truth be told, but unfortunately, we will never get to the truth either.