January 09, 2017   |   0 comments

Jim Hoggan discusses his book I’m Right and You’re an Idiot – The Toxic State of Public Discourse and How to Clean it Up.

Today, we are ‘sick of politics’, weary of personal attacks taking the place of real debate, and numb to the lies of those in power because ‘everyone’s doing it’. From politics to so-called entertainment, everything seems to be about conflict and confrontation. We appear addicted to negativity. It is said that we are living in a ‘post-truth’ era where facts don’t matter and the line between real and fake news is steadily dissolving. Infantilization and political correctness stifle critical thought and even our fundamental ability to reason. The very meaning of words has become fluid and language limited in an Orwellian pincer movement. Cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias keep us trapped in bubbles of wishful thinking, unable to face or even acknowledge the converging crises facing the world in the early part of the 21^st Century. We suffer from information overload and yet millions are poorly informed. Worse still, this dumbing down looks deliberate. But if indeed it is being orchestrated, who – or what – is doing it, and why?

www.imrightandyoureanidiot.com

Bumper music: Cliff Martinez ‘Traffic OST’