Is your information assimilation filter Left Wing or Right Wing?

[Stinky The Clown]

Let me explain ....... when we read or hear something, we always filter it. Some of us filter without being aware that we do. Some of us have various filters that we consciously apply, depending on the source. This can be a fact of life or a valuable tool.

For example, I try (but am not always successful) to filter incoming information with a Right Wing perspective. I want to know not how *I* see the new information, but how *they* see it. Then, if the process is clicking really well, I cogitate, extrapolate, translate, dice and slice, reassemble, and send the information out the way I want it to be seen or heard.

In short, I try to hear it as the other side does and repeat it to suit my own purposes.

Take a few minutes and describe your filtering machinery.

[wtmusic]

1. Well...

it would be nice if we could throw out all except the "truth" and "justice" filters.

[SharonAnn]

2. I often use my "left-wing" filter because much of what I hear is created

by the "right-wing".

I use the "left-wing" filter to try to determine what's in the story that they're not telling me, what hidden agenda there might be for them, what effect they're trying to achieve by disguising it as something else.

You know, things like "ownership society", Social Security "privatization", the Prescription Drug Plan, etc.

[patrice]

3. I think I'm filtering filters . . .

This is one of the reasons I might be A.D.D.

Seriously, I'm *very* sensitive to Bias, probably because I see it as proof of Hypocrisy.

[skids]

4. Same here but...

...instead of a "Right Wing" filter I apply a "total freekin moron asswipe" filter.

[drduffy]

7. you forgot 'dipwad'

[liberalmike27]

5. Most People

Even people here seem to filter from the right. We are trained to do so. Words like Communism, Socialism, Liberalism, and Progressive have been demonized by the media already.

I read a post a few moments ago discussing extremes. He called republicans passionate, and democrats vehement. I honestly don't think he knew he was being biased. I suspect he's a democrat (never sure really). It's like when you hear the phrase on the media "Are democrats just playing politics?" Have you ever, ever heard them say "Are Republicans just playing politics?" I haven't. Yet it is just one casual little phrase that pushes us all to the right. My filter is definitely from the left, if you've not noticed. But I doubt most would even spot the examples I've given above, as the are from the far more subtle way that the media deceives us. It is more subconscious to most people.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. I hear those same phrases and sense those same biases .....

.... and they seem clearer in my RW filter than my LW filter.

For me, my LW filter tends to look for facts. In the absence of facts, it tends to assume them so as to sort of 'connect the dots'. (I am always aware of which are known facts and which are assumed facts for the sake of trying to construct a whole picture.)

My RW filter hears the sloganeering and jingosims and 'feel good' crap that passes as political debate these days.

The louder my RW filter alarms go off, the stronger my LW filter kicks in ..... and my LW filter is directly connected to my critical thinking skills.

[nuxvomica]

8. I usually employ a standard BS filter myself

I look for logical fallacies in what's being said and whether the rhetoric could be driven by ignorance, zeal or a genuine desire to misinform. This is regardless of which side of the fence it's coming from. The most important rhetorical device to watch out for is the straw man which is usually created by conflation: against the Iraq occupation means against American security; criticism of the president is anti-americanism or even just "bush-hating". There is a constant attempt in Right Wing rhetoric to avoid the real issue and that is very telling.

[alvarezadams]

9. Luckily

I live abroad - and the different segments of the press are pretty clearly defined along ideological lines:

- El Pais - Socialist
- El Mundo - Center-right
- ABC - Conservative
- El Periodico - left/regional
- La Vanguardia - Center-right/regional
- La Razón - Center-right/Catholic

I read El Pais/El Mundo daily, sometimes any one of the others as a "check". I'll catch the IHT on a blue moon. Besides this, I regularly watch the BBC, Euronews, any one of the Spanish stations, rarely TV5 (France) and when my stomach is strong, CNN.

Compared to ALL of the above, CNN comes across as extremely conservative, full of rw thinktank input and, dare I say it, direction. The European edition is slightly better than the American programming that is offered - which I can no longer take because it reminds me too much of Franco-era government broadcasts.

It's funny how CNN has changed over the years, added tons of commentary and "shows" (almost all of it worthy of AEI). I couldn't even imagine watching Faux - which is similar to El Alcazar (a falangist daily over here).

[Totally Committed]

10. Left Wing...

I stopped giving a rat's a** how they see things a long time ago. They don't think rationally or feel for anything but their own POV, so it's easier now.

TC