How they made us doubt everything

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jimbob
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How they made us doubt everything

Post by jimbob » Mon Aug 03, 2020 9:26 pm

Dad's just told me this is an interesting (if depressing) radio series... So I thought I'd share:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000l7 ... des/player
Have you considered stupidity as an explanation

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Woodchopper
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Re: How they made us doubt everything

Post by Woodchopper » Mon Aug 03, 2020 10:16 pm

jimbob wrote:
Mon Aug 03, 2020 9:26 pm
Dad's just told me this is an interesting (if depressing) radio series... So I thought I'd share:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000l7 ... des/player
I listened to the first episode. Its good.

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warumich
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Re: How they made us doubt everything

Post by warumich » Tue Aug 04, 2020 8:32 am

Yes it's good, and quite faithful to Oreskes' and Conway's book, thanks for posting this.

Mind you I got a bit irritated that Oreskes only appears by episode two, and I'm still waiting for Conway. Or most of the other social scientists and historians who had worked on this, but I may have missed some. A little bit more acknowledgment would have been nice, rather than the implication that its journalistic endeavours that brought this all up, esp since journalists as a whole haven't exactly covered themselves in glory in all this.

My gripe goes a little deeper though, by portraying the doubt industry as particularly evil they're kind of letting the rest of us - including journalists- off the hook. The reason as to why the doubt industry succeeds so well is a more complex interplay between them, politics, journalists, and a whole host of other groups, including ordinary people. Maybe it gets more nuanced after episode 2
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individualmember
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Re: How they made us doubt everything

Post by individualmember » Tue Aug 04, 2020 4:37 pm

I don’t know anything about Peter Pomerantsev, but he seems to have spent most of the last decade reporting about Russia.

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Woodchopper
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Re: How they made us doubt everything

Post by Woodchopper » Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:31 pm

individualmember wrote:
Tue Aug 04, 2020 4:37 pm
I don’t know anything about Peter Pomerantsev, but he seems to have spent most of the last decade reporting about Russia.
He made his name by writing this insider account of Russian media: https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-True-Eve ... 1610396006

Given Russian TV’s very tenuous relationship to the truth and use as a tool by the rich and powerful, he was a good choice.

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