Hillary Clinton Warned Audience about President Trump and Nuclear War

[Lexicus]

What does mainstream media even mean given the audience Fox, Breitbart and conservative talk radio have? It's such a stupid label to put on anything that really is just a shorthand for 'things conservatives don't like'.

In the mouths of many conservatives, I agree that 'mainstream media' sounds a bit silly. Since mindless reaction is pretty mainstream, as Sommer has pointed out.

The "mainstream media" narrative is part and parcel of the romantic underdog delusion. Everyone likes to see themselves as a romantic underdog because it means that they are heroic when they succeed, and excused when they fail, since the odds were against them. One of the ways this plays out with Conservatives is they like to imagine that "the media" is against them, making them romantic underdogs, struggling to get their voices heard against the mighty "liberal mainstream media"... By dubbing it "mainstream" they make the liberals a "Goliath" to their David.

This is true of basically most people who use the term (as quite a bit of 'the left' is also distrustful of the mainstream media but for different and I would argue generally more actually-existing than the reasons conservatives distrust what they call the "mainstream media"). "Mainstream media" is a concept that has validity outside this, though, at least in my view. It's when people use it as a sort of mindless condemnation that it gets silly.

 

[Sommerswerd]

This is true of basically most people who use the term (as quite a bit of 'the left' is also distrustful of the mainstream media but for different and I would argue generally more actually-existing than the reasons conservatives distrust what they call the "mainstream media"). "Mainstream media" is a concept that has validity outside this, though, at least in my view. It's when people use it as a sort of mindless condemnation that it gets silly.

Conservatives using "mainstream media" as a derogatory term, just mean "liberal media". But instead of just saying "liberal media", they replace the word "liberal" with "mainstream" precisely for the reasons I mentioned. "Mainstream" sounds more powerful and places liberals in an imagined position of overwhelming strength, making them (conservatives), the downtrodden, romantic underdogs.

 

[onejayhawk]

Conservatives using "mainstream media" as a derogatory term, just mean "liberal media". But instead of just saying "liberal media", they replace the word "liberal" with "mainstream" precisely for the reasons I mentioned. "Mainstream" sounds more powerful and places liberals in an imagined position of overwhelming strength, making them (conservatives), the downtrodden, romantic underdogs.

They say mainstream media, because it is bulk of the regular media, ie ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NYT, WP, and so on. They may or may not make exception for FOX or WSJ. In any event the term mainstream media is accurate as it stands. You are correct in saying that they believe that all the above are liberal, though it would be more accurate to say sharply skewed against conservative thinking. It would not be wrong to say they consider the NYT to be the PR wing of the Democratic party. some would reverse the relationship, making the Democrats the action wing of the media.

J

 

[Sommerswerd]

They say mainstream media, because it is bulk of the regular media, ie ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NYT, WP, and so on. They may or may not make exception for FOX or WSJ. In any event the term mainstream media is accurate as it stands. You are correct in saying that they believe that all the above are liberal, though it would be more accurate to say sharply skewed against conservative thinking. It would not be wrong to say they consider the NYT to be the PR wing of the Democratic party. some would reverse the relationship, making the Democrats the action wing of the media.

J

No. "They" say mainstream for the reasons I already outlined. FOX News is #1. If anyone is "mainstream" its FOX. More networks =/= mainstream and even if it was, Conservative talk radio has the most networks/channels anyway. Conservative opinion/ideology dominates political media. Conservatives are just in denial because it conflicts with their persecution/underdog narrative.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

No. "They" say mainstream for the reasons I already outlined. FOX News is #1. If anyone is "mainstream" its FOX. More networks =/= mainstream and even if it was, Conservative talk radio has the most networks/channels anyway. Conservative opinion/ideology dominates political media. Conservatives are just in denial because it conflicts with their persecution/underdog narrative.

It's the underdog mentality plus a massive helping of cognitive dissonance. I've read papers that show that in general, in this country, people who are right-leaning are far more prone to discounting information that conflicts with their personal narrative right out of the gate without any consideration compared to left-leaning individuals. Fragmentation of the media landscape has reinforced this trend as it is easier now than at any time in the past to cocoon yourself in a media bubble that never challenges your world view.

This isn't to say liberals do not fall into this trap, they just are less likely too. But I'm not providing links so everyone is free to discount this post without consideration. Especially if it confronts your own bias. ;-)

 

[timtofly]

It's the underdog mentality plus a massive helping of cognitive dissonance. I've read papers that show that in general, in this country, people who are right-leaning are far more prone to discounting information that conflicts with their personal narrative right out of the gate without any consideration compared to left-leaning individuals. Fragmentation of the media landscape has reinforced this trend as it is easier now than at any time in the past to cocoon yourself in a media bubble that never challenges your world view.

This isn't to say liberals do not fall into this trap, they just are less likely too. But I'm not providing links so everyone is free to discount this post without consideration. Especially if it confronts your own bias. ;-)

Is this based on the point that the right is closed minded, and the left is opened minded? One would think that having an open mind to everything is more suceptable to cognitive dissonance than a single minded person. Also the more dogmatic one is, the less open to other ideas one can be. The biggest gripe it seems to me, is the lack of intolerance that others may feel from single minded people, and the inability of single minded people to "practice what they preach ", as all are less than perfect of most standards.

 

[Light Cleric]

It's the underdog mentality plus a massive helping of cognitive dissonance. I've read papers that show that in general, in this country, people who are right-leaning are far more prone to discounting information that conflicts with their personal narrative right out of the gate without any consideration compared to left-leaning individuals. Fragmentation of the media landscape has reinforced this trend as it is easier now than at any time in the past to cocoon yourself in a media bubble that never challenges your world view.

This isn't to say liberals do not fall into this trap, they just are less likely too. But I'm not providing links so everyone is free to discount this post without consideration. Especially if it confronts your own bias. ;-)

See, I've heard this repeated a lot for years now but there's been studies recently that show there's not really much difference between the two sides in terms of confirmation bias.

My question is: so what if one side is more susceptible than the other? Can we actually do anything about it? Because if not, focusing on that leads to a dangerous mindset where "I'm less susceptible" very quickly becomes "I'm not susceptible" without us even realizing it, and that's why I worry about it. We saw that with the spread of the claim that Wikileaks documents were altered by Russia (saying they "were altered" is a very different claim than saying they "could be"). The sorry-not-sorry admission by the person who effed up really embodies this mentality.