I am trying suuuuuuper hard to give The Donald a chance as a far left progressive, but when you fill the swamp instead of draining it (appointments), lie directly to your country (Alternate Facts), and institute executive orders that violate the spirit of your country's foundation while being illegal (restricting the return of legal residents to US soil), you have quickly burned up whatever legitimacy folks were willing to extend you.
Facts are not negotiable, any more than gravity is. At least try to govern like world leader.
Once again, "alternate facts" wasn't meant as the boogeyman you were told it was. They were alternate (as in, the other side of the story) that the MSM wasn't telling you. I know this has been detonated in the comedysphere but they only mocked their own ignorance.
> They were alternate (as in, the other side of the story) that the MSM wasn't telling you.
This is called an opinion. Supply photo 1. Supply photo 2. Compare. Result = fact.
You also didn't address the issues that are far worse: prohibiting legal residents from returning to US soil, and filling cabinet appointments with people who want to dismantle the very institutions they are charged with leading.
I really, really want to meet in the middle with the right. Otherwise, we're going to just have to have a concerted effort to drive them into the ocean.
This started because the Sean Spicer claimed the president had the largest inauguration attendance ever. This was proven false by multiple sources. There is no such thing as an alternate fact. It's either an exaggeration or a lie.
None of us have very good insight into the administration's actions. We do know that the most provocative thing it has done so far was also called for by Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama. If you suddenly feel it's a huge deal now but you didn't then, it's probably because effective persuasion techniques have altered your world-view.
Personally I hate having my reality manipulated like that and I go full contrarian, but everyone has to make their own decision about the reality tunnel they want to inhabit. PG's essay http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html is a good eye opener. From there, read Robert Cialdini's books. While persuasion works on everyone, even if they know the techniques and even if they know they are being applied, being aware that it's being done is still better than not.
The most effective (while assuredly strictly incorrect) approach I know of is to assume that everything you hear is true. All of it, good, bad, indifferent, from all sides. And then weight all of that in the context of your own values and make the decision you think is right. While this requires holding contradictory beliefs, that's clearly something we as humans are more than capable of so why not use it?
> We do know that the most provocative thing it has done so far was also called for by Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama.
No, it wasn't. And I'm not even sure which of the many provocative things he's done you think is the most provocative, but it's not true of any of them, so...
This kind of cognitive dissonance is a reliable indicator that persuasion techniques have been applied. Interestingly, presenting contrary facts is well-established to have virtually no persuasive power.
If you really want to expand your mind try the technique in the post you're replying to. If you're comfortable inhabiting a reality where a crazy oompa loompa is going to drop nukes any day now, carry on then.
Facts are not negotiable, any more than gravity is. At least try to govern like world leader.