Anyone else watching the Kyle Rittenhouse trial?

JonathanT said:

Was it the Spartans that would bonk the fucked up babies and throw em in the water? They had it right.

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watsongreenthumb said:

Heres my Kyle Rittenhouse example, When I first saw some of the coverage back when the shooting actually happened I was like wtf what kind of lunatic shoots 3 people during a BLM rally, That he might not be guilty or that it could have possibly been legit self defense didnt even seem like a possibility. I heard some coverage between now and then both painting him as a deranged murderer, and also some saying he had every right to do what he did and was being unfairly persucuted by the state Then I saw the trial, watched a LOT of it, like live and uncut, not the news highlights, and my opinion started to change and become more complete, As I saw the crazy amount of like down to the second video footage of the shooting, almost like an nfl replay where you could see each second where hes laying down on the street and various people are charging at him, he shot the two guys, didnt shoot the guys who backed up etc. And I could see it was a really complicated issue that came down to the way the various laws were written as far as a conviction, and lots of blame on everybody involved as far as right and wrong etc. Not as simple as it seemed...

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JonathanT said:

Was it the Spartans that would bonk the fucked up babies and throw em in the water? They had it right.

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watsongreenthumb said:

when I said better, What I really meant was like more complete, not like improve your opinion/ think better of someone, or lets just love everybody or something like that.

Im an opinionated/outspoken person, or at least have been in the past, and over time and life experience many of my opinions have changed or at least become less firm/ absolute as I learned more/ had different experiences that allowed me to see additional sides to issues, people, or whatever. So I guess I have been trying to understand other people and their motivations, or all the different sides to issues, Like why other people might think whatever it is that they think, or do what they do, and have found that since then I have become less black and white on my opinions, or just changed my thinking/opinions on certain issues to reflect that there may be more sides to it than what I initially believed and didnt have such a strong opinion anymore. That allowed me to get a lot less upset about various issues where I used to think people with opposing beliefs must just be wrong or retarded ha. I think if it seems to be working for me it might work for other people, and If lots of other people didnt get so upset over the issues of the day either, that we all might be better off.

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watsongreenthumb said:

Jeez I hoped folks on here would be open minded enough to realize NO politicians/ political parties are looking out for your interests. It hurts me to see that even HERE people can be so easily co-oped into pushing the agendas of political parties, and buy into the spin pushed by cable news. Whether its FOX or CNN it doesn't matter they are just telling one side of a story in a certain way to get an emotional response out of you (fear, anger, self righteousness etc) to keep you watching, the same as any TV show would. I get that it can be entertaining to watch but you need to realize that they are just operating the same as any regular tv show, playing to your emotions to keep you watching, sell advertising etc, although there is the added element that they are able to exert pressure on politicians with the way they spin these storys. Ever notice how similar cable news political segments are to ESPN, a panel of folks arguing back and forth for your entertainment? The guy that now runs CNN (Jeff Zucker) used to do Fear Factor and The Apprentice and was one of the first to institute this sports style coverage.
The over partisanship of America is going to be our downfall as a nation, it has at us at each others throats at a time we need to be working together if we have even a glimmer of hope of remaining on top. I love this country dearly but we need to be clear eyed about what is really going on, and think long and hard before we allow ourselves to be swept up in the personal agendas of the political class. Just to be clear, I am not a democrat or republican, I have some ideas and beliefs that are held by one party or the other, but I realize that neither party's vision for America if they were to have their way completely is a good thing. Please folks try to view the political landscape with an open mind and don't let yourself be swept up in ANYONES quest for power.

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watsongreenthumb said:

I understand they troll, I wonlt act like I am above arguing with people on the internet over ideas and such either, I guess my allegiance is just more towards specific ideas or instances, not towards any party in itself, and I try to be aware of the fact that even if they are currently working on an issue thats important to me, they are doing it to further their own agenda, for their own reasons, just like I am interested in that issue because of MY goals agenda etc. sorry if thats confusing I couldn't think of a great way to word it, basically I try not to confuse a politician working on an issue I care about, with a politician caring about ME. To be clear, I am not against people seeking power, wealth etc- anything like that..

As far as an actual SOLUTION to this crazy partisanship we are seeing right now, everything tearing the country apart etc, thats a really tough one. I dont think there is an easy answer to that, and just like it didnt happen overnight, its not going to be worked out overnight either. I dont think its the kind of thing the government itself can solve, BUT I can offer a few first steps we could all take individually, that would benefit us individually and well as a whole. The first and biggest is trying to understand other people, issues, and situations better before forming an opinion. Really dig into all sides of something, or someone, try to understand their motives or the issues at play in the situation for yourself instead of just believing what you hear or see on TV. Almost NOTHING is black and white and almost NOONE is inherently good or ? Evil I guess? Once you start to see that these situations are pretty complex and that especially in politics there are no "Good Guys", I think people will become much more choosy in who they support and on what issues, and with less of a die hard "Base" politicians and political parties will become less extreme as well. They act this way in the first place because they think it will stir up their base and help them win elections, and winning elections is the main goal or purpose of any person or group in politics.

The other big thing we can do is stop spending any of our time, or money, on anything that is part of the problem. Cable news and radio pundits/personalities act the way they do because it furthers their interests (makes them money) to do so. They get you all upset or scared or nodding in agreement because it keeps you listening, Rush Limbaugh is no different than Howard Stern, He just uses a different format, gimmick, whatever you want to call it to keep people listening and therefore sell his advertising. There's nothing wrong with that, thats just how the game is played, but its not anything you want to base your own ideas and values off of, Those should be our OWN, not something we heard on tv or the radio. I think thats honestly part of the problem today, Is that its just plain easier to repeat the opinion of someone else than to take the time to really form one of our own. Thats a huge problem today because while most of the media or politicians know when they say something or give their "Radio Opinion" or "TV Opinion" that there is alot more to the story. Obviously they are only going to give the information or point of view that most benefits them, in a nice clean package, and not tell you the full deal. The problem is people who dont know any better swallow this up whole, so then you have people going around thinking and believing things that even the person who said it knows to be less than the complete truth or whole story

. So In conclusion I would say the biggest thing we can do to change this is to start with ourselves, really think about things from different perspectives and form our own opinions, try not to get caught up or sucked into anyone elses, or what they claim them to be. Unfortunately its much harder to change ourselves then it is to tell others to change and then label them as the problem if they dont, so I dont have a ton of confidence things Will change, all I can do is keep an open mind.

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hanimmal said:

Just because the right wing propaganda spam calls CNN a tool of the 'left' doesn't make it true. Unlike Fox and Sinclair broadcasting who actually work with the Republicans to sell their agenda on TV. The Democrats don't actually have their own media empires pushing fake spun up narratives to help snowball their voters, that is the nuance I think you are missing.


Here I would point out that Howard Stern is not pushing the Democratic narrative the same way that Rush Limbaugh is for Trump and the insurrectionist Republicans.

Stick to AP news if you are having a hard time understanding this IMO. They still will have some bullshit titles here and there, but mostly there is no real bias in their stories as they are straight up verifiable fact based reporting.

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watsongreenthumb said:

Oh I realize there are differing degrees of bias between the various media outlets, and that cable news is more the hosts opinion on the news than just the news itself. I would also agree the AP is generally a pretty good source of information, mostly just the facts allowing you to draw your own conclusion and form your own opinion. Its also where cable news hosts get a lot of their stories for them to give opinions on.
I do think Fox has really taken things a step further than other outlets, by actually campaigning with republicans though.

As far as Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh, I wasnt trying to say Howard Stern was pushing a democratic agenda, what I meant was that they are both shock jocks, almost trolls of the radio, trying to elicit an emotional response and keep you listening, and that neither should be viewed as a credible source of information.

One thing I see a lot of is people who assume that If I am against one thing, I must be for another, Like If I am not a fan of trump, I must be a fan of Biden or democrats in general, or vise versa. But at least in my instance that is not the case, I am not a big supporter of politicians in general. Those that I do support are mostly at the local level and based on issues, not party affiliation. I also believe that local and state politicians generally have more actual impact on our lives than the federal govt in general.

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JonathanT said:

That would be the answer.

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