| >Well, there are the indictments against 13 Russian nationals by the DOJ, and all the materials necessary for that. >https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/grand-jury-indicts-thirteen-r... These indictments contain assertions, not evidence. Indeed, when it came time to go to trial, the government dropped the charges rather than present the "evidence" they claimed they had. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/16/russia-election-jus... >And there are reports from the intelligence services which are very clear as well, for example: >https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf >The only question is why you haven't found any of this evidence, haven't believed any of it There is an endless number of reports, findings, Senate Committee conclusions, all of which are filled with evidence-free assertions. You may choose to believe the government and their evidence-free assertions, I do not. No doubt you put great credence into the letter signed by 51 top intelligence officials, including 5 former heads of the CIA that the Hunter Biden laptop was "Russian disinformation" - many people continue to believe this despite the fact that the letter has been proven to be entirely false, and the laptop was introduced as evidence at trial by the DOJ this week, with its authenticity sworn to by the FBI. >It's almost as if you heard an opinion once or multiple times, perhaps from people or political figures you trusted. Then you internalized that opinion and it took on the attributes of 'belief' and haven't ever questioned it since it was formed. This belief became bound up with other things you believe, and now the defense mechanisms your brain uses to support 'belief' are also supporting this opinion in contradiction to facts that have been proven over the past years. Trust and faith are for children and priests. I don't trust the government, the DOJ, Russia, any politicians, or anyone else. I trust my ability to very carefully scrutinize and interpret information. When a claim is made, I look at the evidence offered to support that claim, no matter who makes it, or what the claim is. I suggest you read the above paragraph (the one that you wrote) and try to understand how it exactly describes your own beliefs. >Propaganda is insidious, and particularly treacherous in the way that it convinces people to argue on its behalf, and that the act of doing so reinforces the hold the propaganda has on the person. I could not agree more, and your post is a perfect example. |
I've made you defensive, and that wasn't my intent. At least you didn't go straight to irrational anger.
That said, I really don't see anything in your reply to change my assessment.
You're not engaging on the linked content other than to state disbelief, you seem to have applied some kind of category label to me as a believer in some kind of letter campaign(?), you have affirmed the extremely high level of certainty you have in your ability to assess information, and you've hyperbolized the level of rigor you use to assess all information claims you ingest from any source.
We're not going to take this discussion anywhere useful from here.
And that's okay. I tried, and now remember why most people don't. I don't hold any ill will towards you.