9 Comments

This discussion about "the media" deserves more clarity. We can appreciate good reporting the media does, and an intelligent reader capable of identifying ideology and "de-biasing" articles can learn a lot from the MSM. But this is different from the question of what effect media has on society. In addition to simply informing the public, the media plays some role as the information or propaganda arm of the state (and is thus responsive to state power, e.g. the military-industrial complex). The liberal media is also a consensus forming instrument that bridges ideas from politics, culture and academia in creating the evolving liberal consensus. In playing these roles, the media uses (correct) facts but reports them in a highly selective way to develop particular narratives. I would argue that these narratives, in the long run, are more important than factual reporting. Certain narratives have been quite destructive (anti-nuclear, COVID panic, root causes). I think the correct approach is not to attack the media per se as an institution but ban certain narratives, the "DeSantis strategy."

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Jan 23, 2023·edited Jan 23, 2023

James Miller is actually making a great point. I had forgotten how badly European media had mangled the Fukushima aftermath; most likely Merkel wouldn't have closed down nuclear plants if not for the media outrage (which, to her, has always been indistinguishable from the vox populi). German MSM is a net-negative actor for the world for this reason alone.

Has US media been better on this? I wasn't paying attention back then; by now the wind has turned and we're seeing fairly positive coverage of nuclear power.

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I appreciate Miller's point about nuclear power, but don't understand what he means about malaria. Can anyone enlighten me?

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I wouldn't underestimate the Public with the comment about the National Enquirer. They'll find good information if its honest and true. It's dealing with news from heavily regulated entities like TV and protected ones like newspapers that's confusing for the Public, particularly since the libel laws don't help.

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The medias job is to sell adverts and users’ personal information. To say they shouldn’t cover topics that help sell adverts or attract users is disingenuous.

The media is honestly good at selling adverts

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Miller presumably means "environmentalism." Being aware of negative externalities and wanting to do something about them does not ipso facto get you overregulation of nuclear power. In fact, I think the nuclear power story is not really environmental at all, just bureaucratic "safe side" ism combined with the contingency of putting promotion and safety in the same institution.

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Recently saw your twitter thread about Kennedy v. Louisiana. Quite on point. I'm not on Twitter, so I have to use this as a forum to respond to some of the replies, which bring up that pedophiles tend to be badly treated in prison. This is true, but irrelevant.

Why do we need criminals do our killing for us? This is something I've thought about for a long time (it's also of a piece with Rob Henderson's recent 'stack on ancient enforcement of norms, which often came down to murder conspiracies). Writing it down, right now, made me realize that that is actually about the most severe indictment of our civilization I can possibly make. It may be from Game of Thrones, but it's correct: the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.

Life without parole isn't a terrible substitute, as it at least spares the family from having to show up at parole hearings for the rest of their lives. But quite apart from any other concern, it just strikes me as the rankest cowardice. How shallow must your belief in civilization be to think that the civilized thing is lock someone in a dirty, diseased, torturous shithole for 40-70 years instead of just letting them fall through a trap door in an instant? We spare ourselves the moral burden of a moment's violence to let people suffer for decades.

Civilizations as recent as the 18th century avoided incarcerating anyone by just killing anyone who stepped out of line. I'm not saying we have to exactly go back, but we have to go back.

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