In a democracy, large corporations selling harmful products are faced with a problem. The political parties that run the public relations campaigns for these large corporations have a similar challenge. How to get people to buy products that harm them? How to get people to vote against their own interests? People usually need to be persuaded to buy products that harm them, … [Read more...] about False equivalence; one of the true reasons why Musk bought Twitter
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The ‘it’s incompetence, not a conspiracy’ argument
In which I get irked by the tone of an Ian Dunt tweet, then try and explain why. On Twitter, Ian Dunt did a version of the adult-in-the-room / realistic / common sense (delete as applicable) argument that too many of us subscribe to conspiracy theories, when the actual cause is incompetence. His tweet has attracted many approving comments about Hanlon's razor etc. I can … [Read more...] about The ‘it’s incompetence, not a conspiracy’ argument
The conditions that were needed for an alternative political story to reach voters
Seven years ago, in 2015, I watched Jeremy Corbyn on BBC1 TV, talk about political policies that would benefit the majority of British people, rather than enriching a privileged few. He said things that are considered economic "common sense" in 2022, such as:Austerity “lowers income, lowers wages, lowers income tax, increases demand on welfare because of the levels of poverty … [Read more...] about The conditions that were needed for an alternative political story to reach voters
Why the ‘media is left-wing’ is one of the Conservatives’ most important lies
I'm writing this a few days after Queen Elizabeth II's death. Her image is on the front of every UK newspaper, on many electronic billboards and she's the subject of numerous TV and radio programmes. It's enough to make one seek out the Wikipedia page for cultural hegemony. On Twitter, the usual arguments are still raging. Then Twitter user Paul Gray chips in with a Tweet … [Read more...] about Why the ‘media is left-wing’ is one of the Conservatives’ most important lies
Fundamental attribution error in political media
Fundamental attribution error - what is it? In social psychology, fundamental attribution error is the tendency for people to over-emphasise personality-based explanations for an individual's behaviour, and under-emphasise situational and environmental explanations. “Psychologists refer to the inappropriate use of dispositional explanation as the fundamental attribution … [Read more...] about Fundamental attribution error in political media