Firstly, I'd prefer moving forwards (and if we are going to actually engage in proper discussion / debate) if we could establish some boundaries?
So Please stop putting words into my mouth and trying to tell me (or others what they think). You have consistently sought to twist what I have actually said and I'm struggling to understand what your objective is, in doing so... Maybe you might explain? As I said previously, I am more than happy to clarify any misunderstanding.
Moving on... (excuse the headings, but it's a long post and they are there to make it easier to read)
Fair enough, if you don't wish to talk about CoVID... It was, however you who raised the subject of Covid and as I've said above, there's a wider issue, which relates to the accusations you have levelled at the BBC, but which you seem unwilling to substantiate. in my opinion, that's pretty poor form and makes your argument much less persuasive.
The Media
I'm not sure whether we differ on the media or not as my opinion and perspective on the media is pretty fluid. By and large I'm not overly concerned with having an 'opinion', so much as furthering my understanding and informing myself. To that extent, I'm interested to hear what people have to say, to challenge them to back it up and to hopefully develop my own understanding based on the credibility of what is put forward.
Trust in Mainstream Media
In terms of the 'Trust Rating' of so called Mainstream Media, I think there has been a concerted effort to undermine Western Media and I think that may have come from a variety of sources. In particular I think that both the Russian and Chinese states have targeted Social Media outlets with a view to providing an 'alternative reality'. In addition, I think that many individuals have a tendency to pick the world view that suits their own preferred perspective, as opposed to simply accepting 'News' for what it is. There's also a kind of 'cultish' 'cool kid on the block' type of thing that has developed and in many ways an attitude that the smaller and more unique, cool and individual a particular source of news or media is, then the better and sexier it must be. So yep, I can see why the 'establishment' would rate pretty low on many people's ratings and there was a time when I felt myself attracted to that way of thinking. However, the more I actually looked, the more attention I paid, I found myself coming back to the same things.... From what I have seen (and as I say my opinion is fluid) I view the BBC as setting the very highest standards in broadcasting anywhere in the world. They are somewhat of a victim of their own very high standards, IMHO. Of course, we are very fortunate to have some other excellent broadcasters here in the UK.
Censorship
I'm not sure, what this is all about?
I have an opinion on what I believe is Newsworthy or not Newsworthy, but that is only an opinion. I'm not sure how that could ever be viewed as censorship (in your opinion
)... Are you trying to censor what my opinions should be?
Just to be clear, I'm not sure I necessarily have any strong Political Beliefs (I'm Politically Fluid too, to coin a relevant phrase). So I'm open to any story / topic or whatever and if I have an opinion or I'm interested to learn more, I'll get involved in a discussion.
Echo Chamber? - No Thanks
The last thing I would want to do is live in an echo chamber. I wouldn't seek out discussion or spend so much time trying to engage with yours and other people's opinions, challenging them and trying to understand them in great detail, if I wasn't genuinely interested.... Please don't mistake strong push backs as me trying to force my opinion or silence that of others... But also don't expect me to be moved by your 'opinion' or persuaded to your way of thinking, if your only retort to a challenge or question is to attack me on a personal level, misquote what I said or adopt some kind of internet based battle stations where your objective is to beat me, rather than enlighten me.... Winning is not the objective here surely?! If we end up in some kind of tit for tat nonsense, then there is no winner... If I walk away from a discussion more-informed than I entered it (even if that means I had to change my mind ... In fact, preferably because I did change my mind) then as I see it I'm the winner.... because I entered the discussion more ignorant than I exited ... Fantastic
On a personal level, your opinions (or the way you see things) really interest me... They interest me mostly, because they are different to mine in a lot of cases. I'm not sure why that is and it concerns me that it might be because I am ignorant and I inevitably will be, in many cases.
Disappointed
I'm a little disappointed in your description of my
'behaviour over the last few days'. I'm not really sure you are being entirely fair there, however I wonder if it's because you have misunderstood or perhaps I haven't been totally clear. Again though for clarity, I'm not bemoaning the standard of posting, so much as the standard of debate and the polarised nature of it. It disappoints me that people are more concerned about proving themselves and their point to a point where that makes them angry with another person, but most importantly it disappoints me that people come at debate from a perspective of such absolute and unequivocal confidence that they have all of the answers and an unwillingness to consider that they may just be ignorant. To that extent, it would be great if we could find a way to exchange our 'opinions' and challenge each other's beliefs / understanding fiercely, but without fear of having our perspective altered. On the off chance that I have offended or upset you in some way, I apologise for that, it wasn't my intention, and in starting this thread, I genuinely wanted to explore and challenge an experience that differed massively from mine.
Finally
Your last paragraph feels a bit like you are trying to censor yourself or maybe me and that you are allowing a preconception to colour your own judgement. I'll reiterate, that I don't have a politcial 'line' or bias at all (certainly not along party lines), I just have my own thoughts and questions, which are subject to change at all times. I'd like to hope that you too might welcome someone who is willing to strongly (if necessary) oppose your stated opinions and challenge the way you currently think.... Or maybe you might prefer to lock yourself in that Echo Chamber you assigned to me....?
More than happy to continue the discussion (should you wish) along Media Lines.... I'm interested to understand what you feel the issue is with Mainstream Media and also what 'Standards' you believe that the lesser know Media Platforms need to live up to in order for us to consider them credible.... My concern with many of these broadcasters and particularly in the 'Post Truth' world that we seem to live in, is that there seems to be very little 'responsibility' and fairly limited respect for genuine 'Truth'... It worries me massively that the younger generation in particular do not have the same sense of grounding in reality that many of us did.... And that we now have a world where essentially people are free to 'Pick their own Truth' from a range of alternative options.
as you were guys.
