Shutting Down Discussion

Blocking Information To Make You Stupid

Update: I am aware Dave Nabity of KFAB does podcast his interviews such as this one with Todd Watson of the NEGOP https://player.fm/series/weekend-shows-1981180/dave-nabity-talks-with-negops-todd-watson However, it does not offer a comment section.

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To this essay, a free society must have a free-wheeling discussion of government policies. Unfortunately, Americans are subject to many distractions. The responsibility of respectable media is to at least serve the purpose of providing the public with information about government action and its critics.

The Nebraska Examiner is interesting but still has numerous problems to overcome. The Reader, while their physical paper is largely malware, their email newsletter is very informative. You can subscribe at https://thereader.com/newsletter/ However, their website does appear to provide no means to comment just like the Nebraska Examiner. Perhaps both publications outsourced it to Facebook (Meta) as so many do.

I do not care for the Omaha World Herald or the Lincoln Journal Star but I recommend their digital publications as you can comment on articles online. This is still a crucial function of a free society. Discussion is where information is exchanged and where different viewpoints are revealed. At the same time, they do cover local issues. 

Ian Swanson of KFAB tires me quickly for his soft thinking segments of his show, but his interviews are highly informative. Interviewing is one of his strengths. Also, he maintains a podcast on Spreaker.com which allows you to comment on a segment. Of course, many may prefer to email his show, but I thoroughly enjoy being able to go back and check what interviews he has done. Here are three recent podcasts of interest. Also, while comments are allowed, comments rarely appear, unfortunately.

https://www.spreaker.com/user/9808558/lou-ann-linehan-2

https://www.spreaker.com/user/9808558/jim-pillen_5

https://www.spreaker.com/user/9808558/adrian-smith_1

However, for decades people have been conditioned to accept public monologues whether the source be newspapers, television or radio. But change has been continuous. Radio moved to talk-radio format. Cable television and streaming servi ces expanded. The internet expanded the ability to share information widely. The use of smartphones accelerated the trend. Now, the options are many. Unfortunately, blatant falsehoods spread faster than the actual facts.  Discussion is what helps correct this problem but if the monologues outnumber the discussions, the falsehoods spread.

Recently, there has been a public spat between Stephen Crowder and the people at the Daily Wire over some proposal Crowder was offered. Both sides came out a bit muddled by the situation but their stances were admirable. But they failed to
understand the broader context of the problem. Crowder has a deeper perspective. Treating conservative ideas or any ideas as merely a business invites trouble. Please keep in mind, the reason anyone knows about the Torah, the Bible or Quaran is because of force and conflict and passion for an idea. Treating ideas as merely commodities invites trouble. Discussion is a necessary function for a peaceful and free humanity.

Perhaps musicians have a better sense of what is taking place with the media. Musicians such as the Grateful Dead  (which gave out free tapes of their music and played at free concerts) to Tom McDonald (who runs a truly independent operation of his music) understood the challenges. Right now, streaming services try bundling content as Daily Wire does, as if they were franchising a product but the reality is they can stifle independent thinking. Did you really like your cable bundle ever? There is a reason Alex Jones and Gavin McInnis were purged from main areas of the internet. And there is a reason streaming services are so easy to join, so easy to cancel.

Discussions can be brutally ineffective if people bash and name call each other or drop out altogether. At the most anarchist stages of the internet, there was a chat room called the “insult room”. The advantage was, no racial slur or name calling would prosper because it was rightly seen as pointless, useless information. Discussion can be very difficult and challenge your intellect in a way nothing else can challenge you. Eventually, a grand insult wins. Such as: “ You were so ugly as a child, pictures of you were used to scare pedophiles straight.” A truly cruel, mean-spirited, but intellectually created insult worthy of laughter. That is where discussions need to go. Passion needs to disciplined to intellect and right now, we really need such intellect but it only is going to emerge after much and many vigorous discussions.

Stand-up comics do the best at torching the Golden calves but true comics are becoming rare. Perhaps we have lost a sense of poking fun at ourselves as well as greatly exaggerating the situation. A discussion sparked between two people on abortion. I decided to crash the conversation. In jest, I said , “I am pro-abortion. All pregnancies should end in abortion. Women should not be infected with a useless blob of tissue which does nothing to benefit them. Furthermore, the products of the conception could be used to feed starving people. You do realize there are recipes for products of conception, right?”. And when they challenged me on recipes, I sent them the link to this: https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a19894847/placenta-recipes/

Yes, discussions matter, no matter how wild they become.