I watched one PragerU YouTube video, just to see what all of the fuss was about. I have no idea if this is typical of most of their videos, but the one I watched was like this:
It features a group of teenagers, and one video covered one topic. The topic they covered was a controversial one where there is no clear right or wrong answer, but conservatives typically lean one way, while normal people lean the other way. I don’t think it was about gun control, but I’ll make it about gun control as an example.
Group of kids talking: “Did you hear about the school shooting?” “Yeah. My parents think the government should have stricter gun control.” “Oh, my parents think the problem is that there’s not enough security at the schools. But could guns themselves really be the problem?”
Scene changes to girl, talking authoritatively directly to camera: “No. Guns are not the problem. No school with metal detectors and armed guards has ever had a school shooting.”
(I just made up whatever sounded like something that they’d say. I assume the fact I made up is wrong.)
And then, it’s just like that, over and over. Kids bring up complicated issues, and some other kid just tells them the “right” answer, every time, giving the flimsiest explanation as if it’s the gospel truth.
I would characterize showing these videos to actual children as a form of child abuse. Poisoning their minds and inhibiting children’s ability to think for themselves.
Ok. You got me to to have a look at some of their videos. Holy shit.
Gems like ‘“According to experts” is a red flag | fireside chat’ presented by Dennis Prager himself is some of the dumbest shit I have watched in a while.
That is PragerU’s typical approach to spreading their message - present something that is subject to interpretation as an immutable fact and then build an argument from there.
I think the idea is that if they can get the audience to accept that the foundation of their argument, even if it isn’t true, it becomes much harder to debunk the weaker points that support or reinforce it. The message will subtly sneak into their consciousness even if they would have disagreed with the overall premise initially, because they will walk away thinking that the people who made the video did their due diligence and researched the facts of the issue and wouldn’t lie about something so fundamental. It sows seeds of doubt, makes them question if the left-wing sources of news are reliable arbiters of truth or facts. Repeat it enough times, and it becomes full-on indoctrination.
It’s not far from a few conservative commentators methods: start with a flawed premise then extrapolate further and further into absurdity based on this flawed premise to argue for policies that can’t be reasonably defended
I don’t doubt that you captured the likeness of their content, but why would you make something up when there is plenty of content they host that is ready to be pulled apart?
I watched one PragerU YouTube video, just to see what all of the fuss was about. I have no idea if this is typical of most of their videos, but the one I watched was like this:
It features a group of teenagers, and one video covered one topic. The topic they covered was a controversial one where there is no clear right or wrong answer, but conservatives typically lean one way, while normal people lean the other way. I don’t think it was about gun control, but I’ll make it about gun control as an example.
Group of kids talking: “Did you hear about the school shooting?” “Yeah. My parents think the government should have stricter gun control.” “Oh, my parents think the problem is that there’s not enough security at the schools. But could guns themselves really be the problem?”
Scene changes to girl, talking authoritatively directly to camera: “No. Guns are not the problem. No school with metal detectors and armed guards has ever had a school shooting.”
(I just made up whatever sounded like something that they’d say. I assume the fact I made up is wrong.)
And then, it’s just like that, over and over. Kids bring up complicated issues, and some other kid just tells them the “right” answer, every time, giving the flimsiest explanation as if it’s the gospel truth.
I would characterize showing these videos to actual children as a form of child abuse. Poisoning their minds and inhibiting children’s ability to think for themselves.
Ok. You got me to to have a look at some of their videos. Holy shit.
Gems like ‘“According to experts” is a red flag | fireside chat’ presented by Dennis Prager himself is some of the dumbest shit I have watched in a while.
*Fartside shat
That is PragerU’s typical approach to spreading their message - present something that is subject to interpretation as an immutable fact and then build an argument from there.
I think the idea is that if they can get the audience to accept that the foundation of their argument, even if it isn’t true, it becomes much harder to debunk the weaker points that support or reinforce it. The message will subtly sneak into their consciousness even if they would have disagreed with the overall premise initially, because they will walk away thinking that the people who made the video did their due diligence and researched the facts of the issue and wouldn’t lie about something so fundamental. It sows seeds of doubt, makes them question if the left-wing sources of news are reliable arbiters of truth or facts. Repeat it enough times, and it becomes full-on indoctrination.
It’s not far from a few conservative commentators methods: start with a flawed premise then extrapolate further and further into absurdity based on this flawed premise to argue for policies that can’t be reasonably defended
I don’t doubt that you captured the likeness of their content, but why would you make something up when there is plenty of content they host that is ready to be pulled apart?
Username does not check out.
Because it’s sanity-draining to go back there to copy out a very specific example.
Nothing you’ve said has anything to do with whether my comment was logical.
“logic bomb” is not the same as “truth bomb”