Q: Why are Americans so easily swayed by mass media outlets?
Submitted By: drob, 279 days, 9 hours, 50 minutes ago
The liberal media has managed to entirely sway the masses into believing the Bush Amdministration is inept. Obviously this is entirely fiction.
Please try not to post duplicate answers... if you see an answer that you want to post, just add a vote to it and you can add a note as well. Thank You
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I'm not particularly a fan myself...
Submitted By: johnnicely ( 279 days, 7 hours, 8 minutes ago )
But I think it's probably because there are more liberal news outlets than conservative ones. Me? I just don't watch TV because I don't trust anybody who labels themself by either term.
News by word of mouth = woot.
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Liberal Media? What Liberal Media?
Submitted By: wil9000 ( 278 days, 22 hours, 35 minutes ago )
So, the masses have been "swayed" into believing that the Bush administration is inept by the "liberal media". Let's see here. The neocons control the President, the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, as well as most of the Circuit Courts and many State Governorships. And they persist in playing the persecuted minority. They control an entire network (FoxNews) and have dozens of neocon clones to put out their message. But the masses are smarter than they think, and can see that their illusory world view is the thing that is really Obviously Entirely Fiction. There is no Liberal Media. It is a boogeyman they keep trotting out to scare their gullible base into keeping them in power.
Submitted By: GageBlack
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Sensationalism
Submitted By: GraysAnswer ( 278 days, 20 hours, 42 minutes ago )
Poor reporting that contains more propaganda and sensationalism than facts are the leading cause of mass delusion in America.
If you think I am wrong, listen to the news. Listen to how many times they ask a leading question without answering it. Listen for items like "Is it possible that the ... has done ...?".
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Troublesome thing
Submitted By: piznut ( 279 days, 9 hours, 40 minutes ago )
Its not the liberal, conservative or any other political motivated speech that makes bush appear incompetent. It's the facts. The only way that you could alter the delivery of the facts that illuminate his ineptitude is to exclude them entirely. Thats what Fox News is for.
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Intelligence and Culture
The simple reason why most people around the world (Americans, in fact, are a poor example of a people who are easily swayed by mass media try looking at the effect of local media on the Muslim world) are so strongly affected by the media is not only because they are rarely educated or curious enough to question the validity of what they see from a reputable news source, but also because they have been raised to trust it.
For instance, what reason would a person have to question a report about a new wonder drug if they know little about history (yellow journalism, bias), biology (potential side-effects), or math (lying with statistics). Distrust of an authority without reason is actually a very rare quality in humans (for reference, look up the Milgram Experiment on Wikipedia).
Culture or upbringing may also have a large impact. If a person was never taught that the information they receive might not always be valid or unbiased, or was taught that but never how to find those occasions, or if they were specifically taught that their source of information is to be trusted (religious leaders often double as sources of information in the Middle East, for example), then they would probably never think that they might be being misled.
Concerning your actual purpose for this question however, liberal media would most likely affect many people specifically because all-liberal news would be inherently biased. However, there is also the possibility that you yourself have lost the ability to distinguish between media that can be trusted and media that cannot considering the fact that, by discounting any possibility of the validity of opposing views ("Obviously this is entirely fiction"), you have shown that you are automatically looking for media that suits your personal beliefs while assuming that anything else is liberal and is swaying America's perception of events (which is, by the way, a claim that cannot possibly be supported).
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no they haven't
Submitted By: element[0] ( 278 days, 9 hours, 3 minutes ago )
i'm sick of right wing conservatives critiscing the "liberal media", i don't like it that much but i'd take it any day over the bull **** you see on right wing media. stop playing this stupid "neo conservatives are the oppressed majority" ****. There is much more clearly right wing biased media outlets than left wing ones so get over your self. try watching independent media like the BBC, ABC(the australian one, not the american one) and SBS and you might actually get a balanced condsidered report on something without political bias. the assertion that the perceived ineptness is fiction is just plain wrong. The bush administration must be one of the most diplomatically inept governments i have ever seen. Aside from the lying about wmd's and the iraq war if you take a look at the diplomatic actions, policies and decisions they have made since bush gained power(pre september 11) you must admit that they are fairly inept and out of touch with the world. The policies towards china and europe to the outside observer seem unbeleivably arrogant and ignorant(not to mention the way they deal with the WTO on trade policy and other international tribunals).
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because americans as a group are gullable
Submitted By: GJComputer ( 279 days, 9 hours and 43 minutes ago )
people believe what they feel the mass believes... i myself will not voice my opinion on the govt just because i dont want to stir up trouble... but i question everything i see on tv, people should do the same.
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They aren't as easily swayed as you think
Submitted By: tuxmelvin ( 279 days, 9 hours, 37 minutes ago )
The rhetoric from the media and from the left is no different than it was in the 2004 election. Bush lied. Bush is stupid. Bush is unpopular and in trouble. No blood for oil.
Bush still won anyway. Even in a very liberal area like Seattle the anti
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They've been around a long time
Submitted By: rodball ( 279 days, 1 hour, 35 minutes ago )
I do think the conventional nightly news model is broken, and dying, but by inertia alone we can expect their influence to continue for some time.
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Liberal%20Media%3F%20What%20Liberal%20
Submitted By: wil9000 ( 279 days, , 9 minutes ago )
Ok, so the Republicans only control the Presidency, The Congress, The House of Representatives, The Supreme Court, and most of the District Courts, as well as many Governorships, and they continue to portray themselves as well as christianity, as a persecuted minority, kept down by the mean old Liberal Media. The conservatives even have their own network (FoxNews) whose sole stated objective is to be the administration's mouthpiece. Get over your persecution complex. The reason the Bush Administration is portrayed as inept is that they ARE inept. "Obviously this is entirely fiction."? What have you been smoking?
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It is simply easier
Submitted By: Stormer ( 278 days, 14 hours, 53 minutes ago )
Americans have become complacent and no longer choose to think beyond what the media gives us to digest on a daily basis. Some could say it is information overload, others would suggest that this is due the dumbing down of our culture.
Frankly when we are motivate we do react. The problem is we no longer have the stomach to go into anything for the long haul. If we cannot solve it quickly, we would rather push it aside and go on to the next problem, whatever that may be.
Instant gratification society.