Thewillonline/reddit-v1-all · Datasets at Hugging Face

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Wooohoo! Feel the Bern!
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Reddit Comment: did my $20 plus a 10% tip to actblue, ~58k to go when I donated.
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Reddit Comment: Can we call him a lame duck already?
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Reddit Comment: This is a well intentioned post...I guess....but very, I think, out of touch and ignorant.

Where do you think the rich get their money? Does it just materialize out of thin air and then Bernie proposes to steal it because it's not fair they have more? Or do they acquire it at the expense and upon the backs of the people Bernie is wanting to return it to?

Wealth comes as a result of labor and productivity. The people producing and laboring absolutely deserve a cut of what they are creating. Don't be a dick.
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Reddit Comment: That's called a conservative argument, have you no respect for other opinions?!


(obviously kidding)
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Reddit Comment: Accusing people of being brainwashed, unless they're the victims of a cult, is a good sign that you don't understand their point of view. This article has a lot of exaggeration in it, and the author uses many of the same tactics she criticizes Fox for using. It's pretty ironic.

Over the last ten years, everyone I know has lost a friend or family member or mentor to Fox News.

Conservativism is literally death, okay.

Fox News is playing a zero-sum political game in which every major news story is an opportunity to use their viewers as pawns to advance the power and agenda of the most extremist ideology of the Republican Party.

This isn't true. There's an internal division in the Republican Party between the extreme crazies and the old guard conservatives. Fox tends to promote establishment candidates like Rubio more than extreme candidates like Trump. Fox tends to be biased, but they're not biased on literally every major story, and not always towards the most extreme ideology possible.

Consider Trayvon Martin. After he was murdered by George Zimmerman, multiple journalists pointed out that Fox News had been oddly silent on the subject. Until they had a firm grasp on how to mold the story to their benefit, they refused to report on it. Then, as Media Matters senior fellow Eric Boehlert explains: “Obama addressed it, and once Obama enters the conversation about race, you know, [Fox News] went from zero to a hundred … they decided that the story was partisan, and that supporting Trayvon Martin was the Democratic position, supporting the guy who killed an unarmed teen was the Republican conservative position, and so they set up the markers, and went for it.”

It sounds kind of like they're damned if they do and damned if they don't, doesn't it? Also, notice how the author jumps to the assumption Zimmerman was evil without even bothering to make a token argument for that position. That kind of framing, where issues are never ambiguous or debatable, and disagreeing or being uncertain or asking for evidence about them is a sign you're evil too, is a classic propaganda technique.

Study after study after study after study has shown that Fox News viewers are the most uninformed and misinformed people in America. One recent study even found that people who didn’t watch any news programs at all had a firmer grasp on the reality of current events than those who only watched Fox News.

No argument here, but it's worth pointing out that correlation is not causality and we should be careful in interpreting these results. Fox might attract people who are already dumb, rather than propagandize them into existence.

Rather than adhering to any kind of journalistic standard when reporting the news, or — as is the case with liberal-leaning MSNBC — reporting truthfully on the news and offering ideological commentary grounded in facts, Fox News starts with their end goal in mind and works backwards. How can a news story be used to damage their viewers’ perceptions of President Obama or the Democratic Party? How can a news story be used to bolster Republican politicians, or advance the causes of Republican-leaning policy influencers like the National Rifle Association or evangelical Christians? How can a news story be used to vilify causes championed by progressive Americans?

How do we know this? Did the author ever work for Fox, or did she maybe sneak into one of their planning sessions and eavesdrop on them? I doubt it.

“The liberal elite” is a concept created by Richard Nixon’s campaign during his bid for presidency in 1960. Feminists who were advocating for workplace equality; black people who were working to end racist violence, segregation, and laws against interracial marriage; and anti-war demonstrators who were weary of the war in Vietnam were making white men uneasy, so the Nixon campaign began branding those activists and their sympathizers as “the liberal elite.” Good old hardworking white men like Nixon were the real Americans, and the “liberal elite” were a threat to a traditional, God-approved, Founding Fathers-sanctioned way of life.

A citation for this historical claim would have been nice. Anyway, the liberal elite is a real thing. [Academia has a notorious lack of conservatives.](http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=217)

I don't think that black people or first wave feminists are usually considered to be part of the liberal elite, although maybe that was different historically.

Creating a false dichotomy is a propaganda technique used to oversimplify complicated issues and force people to believe they have an either/or choice. The group creating the false dichotomy knows many choices are available, but for their message to be successful, they must convince listeners that their choices are limited. Fox News and its talk radio counterparts don’t simply position themselves against MSNBC; they position themselves against literally every other source of information. You can choose the good guy, or you can choose the bad guy. You can get your news from Fox and Fox-approved talk radio hosts (true patriots who are trying to save the country) or you can get your news from the liberal media (deceitful or delusional people who are trying to destroy the country).

One of the main reasons Fox News is so effective at using cognitive dissonance to keep people away from other news sources is that Fox has strategically aligned itself with evangelical Christianity. So, if one of Fox News’ teachings is called into question, Fox itself is called into question; and if Fox is synonymous with God’s politics, God’s politics are called into question; and if God’s politics are called into question, God is called into question. Therefore, any challenge to Fox is framed as an attack on God himself.

Creating cognitive dissonance by framing oneself as God’s true ally and spokesperson is one of the most powerful propaganda techniques of all time. It has worked for fascists on a national scale and it has worked for cult leaders operating out of barns. It is especially compelling in the United States, where our belief that we are God’s chosen people has been methodically woven into our national identity since John Winthrop gave his “City on a Hill” speech in 1630, before ever setting foot on this continent.

This was the best part of the article in my opinion. However, it's left as a sloppy sketch of an interesting idea rather than a fully developed argument.

Create Enemy

“The days of [minorities] not having any power are over, and they are angry. And they want to use their power as a means of retribution.” – Rush Limbaugh, June 2009

“This is the new America; this ain’t your father’s America.” – Dick Morris, November 2012

What's so sinister about the second quote, exactly? Seems irrelevant.

In the case of Fox, this out-group, again, aligns with Nixon’s definition of the “liberal elite”: people who challenge the oppression of the established power structure.

As I mentioned earlier, the author doesn't seem to understand the conservative mindset. Fox conservatives believe that the liberal elite is the established power structure. Viewers aren't top hat wearing mustachioed villains who intentionally support flawed systems of systemic oppression, instead they're old people who don't trust the government.

+ On a November 2012 episode of The O’Reilly Factor, notorious bully Bill O’Reilly lambasted dishonest media culture and “vicious” people from the far-left, saying: “There are entire media operations that exist solely to promote ideology; it’s obviously a bad situation that is getting worse.” He is describing himself and Fox news with alarming clarity, but accusing the “liberal media” of his crimes instead.

Both can be true! All news media is pretty bad, in my opinion, although admittedly Fox is the worst.

+ After unarmed black teenager Michael Brown was shot multiple times by Officer Darren Wilson, Fox News hosts repeatedly asserted that Brown was a “bad guy,” a narrative that included the perpetual presentation of false information.

Is this really bias, though? Stealing stuff and then punching a police officer in the face are pretty bad, no matter what your opinion on Wilson was.

My goal with this article isn’t to ridicule people who watch Fox News; my goal is to to make plain this deliberate, manipulative cycle Fox traps its viewers inside, so we can use our knowledge to begin to set our friends and family free.

I actually believe her, that her intentions are good. But she's got biases of her own, and they poison this article. In my opinion, people should work hard to fix their own beliefs before they try to fix others'. Otherwise, discussing contentious issues with other people is going to make everyone's biases worse, not better.
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Reddit Comment: They're just voting for the people who will legalize pot.
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User:

Reddit Comment: No its because nearly half of Israelis are descended from European Jews. Are you saying that the fact that many of them being from the western world has nothing to do with how westernized they are?
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User:

Reddit Comment: If you don't look for something, you'll never find it.
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User:

Wooohoo! Feel the Bern!

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User:

Reddit Comment: did my $20 plus a 10% tip to actblue, ~58k to go when I donated.

<|endoftext|>

User:

Reddit Comment: Can we call him a lame duck already?

<|endoftext|>

User:

Reddit Comment: This is a well intentioned post...I guess....but very, I think, out of touch and ignorant.

Where do you think the rich get their money? Does it just materialize out of thin air and then Bernie proposes to *steal it* because it's not fair they have more? Or do they acquire it at the expense and upon the backs of the people Bernie is wanting to return it to?

Wealth comes as a result of labor and productivity. The people producing and laboring absolutely deserve a cut of what they are creating. Don't be a dick.

<|endoftext|>

User:

Reddit Comment: That's called a conservative argument, have you no respect for other opinions?!

(obviously kidding)

<|endoftext|>

User:

Reddit Comment: Accusing people of being brainwashed, unless they're the victims of a cult, is a good sign that you don't understand their point of view. This article has a lot of exaggeration in it, and the author uses many of the same tactics she criticizes Fox for using. It's pretty ironic.

Over the last ten years, everyone I know has lost a friend or family member or mentor to Fox News.

Conservativism is literally death, okay.

Fox News is playing a zero-sum political game in which every major news story is an opportunity to use their viewers as pawns to advance the power and agenda of the most extremist ideology of the Republican Party.

This isn't true. There's an internal division in the Republican Party between the extreme crazies and the old guard conservatives. Fox tends to promote establishment candidates like Rubio more than extreme candidates like Trump. Fox tends to be biased, but they're not biased on literally every major story, and not always towards the most extreme ideology possible.

Consider Trayvon Martin. After he was murdered by George Zimmerman, multiple journalists pointed out that Fox News had been oddly silent on the subject. Until they had a firm grasp on how to mold the story to their benefit, they refused to report on it. Then, as Media Matters senior fellow Eric Boehlert explains: “Obama addressed it, and once Obama enters the conversation about race, you know, [Fox News] went from zero to a hundred … they decided that the story was partisan, and that supporting Trayvon Martin was the Democratic position, supporting the guy who killed an unarmed teen was the Republican conservative position, and so they set up the markers, and went for it.”

It sounds kind of like they're damned if they do and damned if they don't, doesn't it? Also, notice how the author jumps to the assumption Zimmerman was evil without even bothering to make a token argument for that position. That kind of framing, where issues are never ambiguous or debatable, and disagreeing or being uncertain or asking for evidence about them is a sign you're evil too, is a classic propaganda technique.

Study after study after study after study has shown that Fox News viewers are the most uninformed and misinformed people in America. One recent study even found that people who didn’t watch any news programs at all had a firmer grasp on the reality of current events than those who only watched Fox News.

No argument here, but it's worth pointing out that correlation is not causality and we should be careful in interpreting these results. Fox might attract people who are already dumb, rather than propagandize them into existence.

Rather than adhering to any kind of journalistic standard when reporting the news, or — as is the case with liberal-leaning MSNBC — reporting truthfully on the news and offering ideological commentary grounded in facts, Fox News starts with their end goal in mind and works backwards. How can a news story be used to damage their viewers’ perceptions of President Obama or the Democratic Party? How can a news story be used to bolster Republican politicians, or advance the causes of Republican-leaning policy influencers like the National Rifle Association or evangelical Christians? How can a news story be used to vilify causes championed by progressive Americans?

How do we know this? Did the author ever work for Fox, or did she maybe sneak into one of their planning sessions and eavesdrop on them? I doubt it.

“The liberal elite” is a concept created by Richard Nixon’s campaign during his bid for presidency in 1960. Feminists who were advocating for workplace equality; black people who were working to end racist violence, segregation, and laws against interracial marriage; and anti-war demonstrators who were weary of the war in Vietnam were making white men uneasy, so the Nixon campaign began branding those activists and their sympathizers as “the liberal elite.” Good old hardworking white men like Nixon were the real Americans, and the “liberal elite” were a threat to a traditional, God-approved, Founding Fathers-sanctioned way of life.

A citation for this historical claim would have been nice. Anyway, the liberal elite is a real thing. [Academia has a notorious lack of conservatives.](http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=217)

I don't think that black people or first wave feminists are usually considered to be part of the liberal elite, although maybe that was different historically.

Creating a false dichotomy is a propaganda technique used to oversimplify complicated issues and force people to believe they have an either/or choice. The group creating the false dichotomy knows many choices are available, but for their message to be successful, they must convince listeners that their choices are limited. Fox News and its talk radio counterparts don’t simply position themselves against MSNBC; they position themselves against literally every other source of information. You can choose the good guy, or you can choose the bad guy. You can get your news from Fox and Fox-approved talk radio hosts (true patriots who are trying to save the country) or you can get your news from the liberal media (deceitful or delusional people who are trying to destroy the country).

One of the main reasons Fox News is so effective at using cognitive dissonance to keep people away from other news sources is that Fox has strategically aligned itself with evangelical Christianity. So, if one of Fox News’ teachings is called into question, Fox itself is called into question; and if Fox is synonymous with God’s politics, God’s politics are called into question; and if God’s politics are called into question, God is called into question. Therefore, any challenge to Fox is framed as an attack on God himself.

Creating cognitive dissonance by framing oneself as God’s true ally and spokesperson is one of the most powerful propaganda techniques of all time. It has worked for fascists on a national scale and it has worked for cult leaders operating out of barns. It is especially compelling in the United States, where our belief that we are God’s chosen people has been methodically woven into our national identity since John Winthrop gave his “City on a Hill” speech in 1630, before ever setting foot on this continent.

This was the best part of the article in my opinion. However, it's left as a sloppy sketch of an interesting idea rather than a fully developed argument.

Create Enemy

“The days of [minorities] not having any power are over, and they are angry. And they want to use their power as a means of retribution.” – Rush Limbaugh, June 2009

“This is the new America; this ain’t your father’s America.” – Dick Morris, November 2012

What's so sinister about the second quote, exactly? Seems irrelevant.

In the case of Fox, this out-group, again, aligns with Nixon’s definition of the “liberal elite”: people who challenge the oppression of the established power structure.

As I mentioned earlier, the author doesn't seem to understand the conservative mindset. Fox conservatives believe that the liberal elite *is* the established power structure. Viewers aren't top hat wearing mustachioed villains who intentionally support flawed systems of systemic oppression, instead they're old people who don't trust the government.

+ On a November 2012 episode of The O’Reilly Factor, notorious bully Bill O’Reilly lambasted dishonest media culture and “vicious” people from the far-left, saying: “There are entire media operations that exist solely to promote ideology; it’s obviously a bad situation that is getting worse.” He is describing himself and Fox news with alarming clarity, but accusing the “liberal media” of his crimes instead.

Both can be true! All news media is pretty bad, in my opinion, although admittedly Fox is the worst.

+ After unarmed black teenager Michael Brown was shot multiple times by Officer Darren Wilson, Fox News hosts repeatedly asserted that Brown was a “bad guy,” a narrative that included the perpetual presentation of false information.

Is this really bias, though? Stealing stuff and then punching a police officer in the face are pretty bad, no matter what your opinion on Wilson was.

My goal with this article isn’t to ridicule people who watch Fox News; my goal is to to make plain this deliberate, manipulative cycle Fox traps its viewers inside, so we can use our knowledge to begin to set our friends and family free.

I actually believe her, that her intentions are good. But she's got biases of her own, and they poison this article. In my opinion, people should work hard to fix their own beliefs before they try to fix others'. Otherwise, discussing contentious issues with other people is going to make everyone's biases worse, not better.

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User:

Reddit Comment: They're just voting for the people who will legalize pot.

<|endoftext|>

User:

Reddit Comment: No its because nearly half of Israelis are descended from European Jews. Are you saying that the fact that many of them being from the western world has nothing to do with how westernized they are?

<|endoftext|>

User:

Reddit Comment: If you don't look for something, you'll never find it.

<|endoftext|>

User: