A new cold war

It has occurred to me that there is lots of division amongst us on this forum in regards to various topics. Some of these threads can get carried away and become very testy. So what is at the root of all these divisions?

Currently the threads are focusing on the pandemic and politics. Division in politics is nothing new of course, but the rational for which some on here fight tooth and claw over is astonishing. There appears to, very much, be a line in the sand and you are either on one side or the other. Both sides think the other is crazy. Both sides claim THEIR resources of information to be true gospel.

So who is right and who is wrong?

I’m not convinced this can be answered easily. It has donned on me that the new weapon of choice for many people is information or mis-information depending on where you stand. Since almost every stat, report and even videos can be doctored, or misinterpreted, or skewed, it becomes increasingly difficult to trust any of it.

I’m convinced that foreign governments are weaponizing misinformation to create division in their adversaries population. This way they can weaken a nation from within. Like an apple with a rotten core. Once we are at each other’s throats than an enemy state can swoop in and finish the job.

Easy examples of this aren’t too far away. Just south of the border the political arena is drenched in information/misinformation. The country is aggressively and proudly divided into their own beliefs. I don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong. Only time will tell. But the longer it drags on, the harder it will be to trust your neighbour.

Some food for thought.

I agree with you wholeheartedly.
The sources of all this discord are most likely Russian and perhaps Chinese.
They are doing a bang-up job.

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Originally Posted by Birdbuff

I’m convinced that foreign governments are weaponizing misinformation to create division in their adversaries population. This way they can weaken a nation from within. Like an apple with a rotten core. Once we are at each other’s throats than an enemy state can swoop in and finish the job.

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Yes....

"Activists, experts and policy makers are speaking out on what they describe as an ever-growing “influence” of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Canadian business, academic and political circles.

There has been mounting scrutiny on the CCP’s increased flexing of its intelligence muscles since the ascension of President Xi Jinping in 2013.

Canada’s intelligence agencies have taken the rare step of naming China as a significant threat to the country’s sovereignty, with CSIS director David Vigneault publicly saying in a February 2021 speech that Canadians are being “aggressively” targeted by foreign interests – and Beijing was engaged in “activities that are a direct threat to our national security and sovereignty.”

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/activi...nada-1.5407770

Totally agree, but I think there are still many of us on here that might disagree on somethings but agree on many others.

It can be healthy for people to have opposing views.

I generally don't believe anything anyone says with regards to politics and religion regardless of where they land on the spectrum. I am much nicer to get along with if the topic remains fishing/hunting.

This would be a great camp fire chat topic.

I'm to the point where I haven't watched the news in over a year, if I hear of current events worth my interest, I need to read multiple articles from all fringes of the internet to even consider forming an opinion.

I don't have any form of typical social media, but I can see what it does to form people's opinion on so many subjects. Most don't scrutinize anything they hear to the extent that they should.


Propaganda is not a new tool.

It would be good camp fire discussion, actually the guy's I hang with outside of here we regularly discuss topics like those on here and we don't always agree with each other.

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Originally Posted by dean.f

This would be a great camp fire chat topic.

I'm to the point where I haven't watched the news in over a year, if I hear of current events worth my interest, I need to read multiple articles from all fringes of the internet to even consider forming an opinion.

I don't have any form of typical social media, but I can see what it does to form people's opinion on so many subjects. Most don't scrutinize anything they hear to the extent that they should.


Propaganda is not a new tool.

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It’s not so much not agreeing that I see as an issue. Having a different opinion is healthy and encourages more thought processing. But one must be careful how far down the rabbit hole they want to go with what they perceive to be true. It’s been said before, the truth lies somewhere in between one story to the next. We are living in challenging times with so much available information easily accessible, whenever! Information is great, but that’s no reason to let logic take a back seat.

And I agree with you as well on that thought.

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Originally Posted by Birdbuff

It’s not so much not agreeing that I see as an issue. Having a different opinion is healthy and encourages more thought processing. But one must be careful how far down the rabbit hole they want to go with what they perceive to be true. It’s been said before, the truth lies somewhere in between one story to the next. We are living in challenging times with so much available information easily accessible, whenever! Information is great, but that’s no reason to let logic take a back seat.

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Well I’m sure no one wants my opinion, but i do agree with the original post. My observation is there is a rush to vilify anyone who holds a different perspective. There is nothing wrong with holding conservative values, or liberal values. I suspect depending on the topic, most people would hold values that would fall across both camps. But as we have seen, it digresses rapidly into name calling, taunting, and general school yard shouting matches. Unfortunately I doubt it will change. A day, a week maybe, but it will be back in the mud before long.