America has stopped working for 50% of the population, and they know it. The "toxicity" results from media and government telling these people to shut the fuck up and get back to work and stop trying to look behind the curtain.
Well the American people aren't falling for the myriad bullshit any longer.
The toxicity will go away when ultra-progressive politics aren't shoved down people's throats, when people can actually get a job working 40 hours a week that'll allow them to own a home and raise a family with the partner, and when members of the government stop lying not only to us, but even to Congress.
That's how you "fix" these problems... or it's at least a good start.
I think you are largely right, America is no longer a place where a white family can own a house and raise a family on a single blue collar income. We've returned to productivity levels on par with the rest of the world. Does that mean the government has stopped working? No, it means the the rest of the world caught up. The sooner rust belt types accept that they're no longer on top of the world the sooner we can start trying to solve problems that are actually solvable.
This is also a lazy take, in that it just assumes the marginalization constitutes a justification for lining up behind disinformation.
The problems you reference are real, and are indeed driving discontent. But echo chambers of red herrings and big lies do nothing to actually address the source of those problems - it's just another system of control, driven by a different wing of the same political class. And so if we care about discussing the real issues, rather than just cheering on societal destruction out of spite, we're right back to viewing disinformation promoters as a problem.
Tell me, have you been following the drastic divergence between the media reporting on the rittenhouse trial and the actual courtroom testimony that has been livestreamed from day one?
I bring this up in particular because it is an especially egregious display what is otherwise typical partisanship - and effectively these outlets have spread misinformation, with sophistry and by lying through omission, such that relying on their collusive reporting on the matter would completely obfuscate the fact that even ignoring the original videos of the incident (conveniently scrubbed from the polite corners of the internet), the prosecution had absolutely no case - not to mention their star witness was shown to have lied repeatedly in his testimony to police, withheld evidence, etc.
Point being that the word "disinformation" at this point is a manufactured buzzword designed to dishonestly suppress dissent - and if your views on any politically charged topic, including the "safe and effective" vaccines, align at all with the consent that these blatantly partisan outlets have been manufacturing, I would urge you to at least consider that you are the one who has been lining up so virtuously behind disinformation. At the very least you are participating in just as severe of an echo chamber as that which you perceive your opposition to be taking part in.
No, I haven't. The Rittenhouse trial is solidly in the political entertainment category, which I try to avoid. I would be surprised if there weren't massive distortions going on, since the core of the disinformation machinery is the political machine manufacturing wedges to drive engagement.
> being that the word "disinformation" at this point is a manufactured buzzword designed to dishonestly suppress dissent
Except that the term really does capture the dynamic. Based on your description of the Rittenhouse trial, would you not describe that reporting as disinformation? From what you've said, it sounds like people will be better informed if they don't tune into such reporting. Hence "disinformation".
I'm a libertarian who generally views both political machines as hostile entities. But what really destroyed my symmetrical view (suspension of disbelief of bad faith) is seeing the anti-mask disinformation bubble play out. Here is a topic that is directly applicable to everyone, easily understandable, and quite objective [0]. Yet the establishment party raised a political banner that directly contradicts common sense while harming its followers. And yet supporting that political movement is seemingly more important than self preservation (memes are a hell of a drug). That's objectively straight up "disinformation" - anybody spreading anti-mask nonsense is actively undermining our society in a very clear way.
Now of course this "disinformation" label can't help but be used with a bias, to further drive disinformation bubbles in either team's forums. On the original topic I do think hiding downvotes is a poor change (I'd love richer semantic criticism that doesn't just collapse a person's opinion into for/against). But my comment was addressing the self-righteous responses pigeonholing the entire dynamic as a political play by one team, ignoring the real objective reality being overridden.
[0] The only argument of substance I've seen against masks is that ersatz cloth masks don't do anything. Which would be a worthy critique to support wearing proper equipment instead. But instead it's being used to indict the entire concept of respiratory protection.
CNN, MSNBC, FOX, and friends produce tons of misinformation.
Part of this hiding of dislikes boils down to attempts to establish these and other sources as authoritative, and qualified to judge what is misinformation and what is not.
A lot of perfectly valid, informative dissent is being lumped in as disinformation, and it's not easy to differentiate. Said dissent often focuses on basic issues impacting many ordinary Americans, or more generally labor.
The authoritative sources, as defined by other authorities, all of whom are economically elite, simply do not produce information from the labor point of view. That same point of view has almost no meaningful representation in Congress due to how money in politics works right now too.
I do agree with you on calling out a different wing being unproductive.
America has stopped working for 50% of the population, and they know it. The "toxicity" results from media and government telling these people to shut the fuck up and get back to work and stop trying to look behind the curtain.
Well the American people aren't falling for the myriad bullshit any longer.
The toxicity will go away when ultra-progressive politics aren't shoved down people's throats, when people can actually get a job working 40 hours a week that'll allow them to own a home and raise a family with the partner, and when members of the government stop lying not only to us, but even to Congress.
That's how you "fix" these problems... or it's at least a good start.