*** THREAD ***

The Problem with Ideology: Conflating Political Views with Analysis

If you've followed me for awhile, then you know how disgusted I get with party politics.

Having spent the past few years intentionally divorcing myself from partisan views in order to improve my analytical skills, I have experienced, firsthand, the clarity one has when one

is no longer encumber with bias.

There was once a time I was willing to argue about, for example, the right to bear arms.

Now?

I refuse to involve myself in such a debate.

Abortion?

Same thing.

Healthcare? Immigration? Arguing a position on any of these issues does little

to improve my ability to analyze information.

In fact, it clouds it.

So why am I doing this thread?

Because of the almost universal polarization I'm currently seeing.

I counter information warfare.

I don't want to hear "Republicans hate women/ women's rights because they have x view".

Likewise, "Democrats are Commies because they have y view".

Don't come at me with that BS. That's partisan crap.

So here's the depressing reality:

There are few actual analysts out there whose analysis isn't affected by bias.

This is more often the case than not.

And, of course, people gravitate towards those analysts who share their own biases.

In a polarized environment, such as

the environment we currently find ourselves in, there's no net gain to listening to only one side of the equation...you're not going to get the clear picture.

Somehow, we have reached a point where we have forgotten the point of information warfare, which is not to favor a side, either Republican or Democratic, but instead to polarize us.

The goal is to create chaos, to create distrust and prevent anyone from agreeing on anything.

Judging by the latest numbers, we may be alright (still unknown) with regard to the elections. But I think it will be closer than people realize and it didn't have to be that way.

I have a bone to pick with both sides.

Neither side wants to hear the truth, only what fits the narrative.

And here lies the point of my thread...

Because we have very few unbiased documenters of history, because we choose a tribe and stick with it, we have to become analysts ourselves, if we want to know the truth.

If you want to know the truth, you have to process the information flowing from both tribes.

We need to balance what MSNBC says with what Fox News says, what the Wall Street journal says vs. what the New York Times says, because the whole truth is usually somewhere in the middle, and rarely does anyone have a monopoly on truth.