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I’m politically savvy because I...

Thingfish

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I’m amazed at the level of the members political savvy here, and am curious as to how you know so much.

I’m politically savvy because I...

a) have a master/Phd in political science

b) am a professor/teacher

c)it’s a hobby, I read a lot

4) nun ya, stay in your lane bro

e) other stuff

f) I failed poly sci and learned it on my own, cause **** em!
 

I listen to everything and everyone. Friends. TV. Talking heads. Politicians. Wannabe politicians. Voters. YOU. Everyone! I *believe* very little, but I listen to most of it.

EDIT: My responding to this thread doesn't mean I think I'm savvy. On the contrary, the smart people here are why I'm here.
 
Thingfish said:
I’m amazed at the level of the members political savvy here, and am curious as to how you know so much. ...
Click to expand...

Welcome to DP!

As a general rule, those with true political savvy probably do not post in DP. IMO, the political IQs in this forum range far and wide.

You might want to utilize one of the forum's political compass tests?

https://www.debatepolitics.com/gene...mpass-thread.html?highlight=Political+Compass

Feel some Love!
When you get a little more experienced with this forum, maybe set up a real poll!
 

I've read a lot of history, looked into a wide range of news sources, and have had a diverse exposure to different political ideas.

I think that just arguing politics online can end up making you really, really narrow-minded. You absolutely need to read a wide range of political thinkers and be open minded about people who disagree with you. I think that people get sucked into the online thunderdome, form cliques, and just constantly reinforce their own views and dismiss the opposition. They end up with this really toxic demeanor where they assume that their clique is right about anything and that there are no important questions to even discuss, just a bunch of dummies on the other side who aren't 'with it'. It's a bad swamp of self-reinforcing, reactionary social conditioning. This is largely why we have a rise of literal Nazis; the people who should be able to argue against these ideas are so far up their own ass that they think that mockery will suffice. I used to support Trump, so I've pulled my share of people out of that black hole. The people pulling them in aren't stupid, most of them are political and history junkies. They turn the disdain of the left into a recruitment tool, and so many people of the left and mainstream right oblige them because it plays into their flattering self-conception.
 
To Quote the Movie "Putney Swope" directed by Iron Man's father:

"No Sh*t!"
 
The US society runs on money. First, study and understand the Federal Reserve, next, the US Treasury, next the USA "fiat dollar,' next the Petrodollar, Debt, deficit, bonds (loans), and tie them together in International Banking (Central Banks) to do Capitalism/Corporatism. To quote Omar, "It's the Benjamins, Baby." In our current embodiment the infrastructure supporting this cabal is Corporate, not LOCAL. It's just a perspective, but it is what drives support for Political Parties. The political parties are about Benjamins. This is where you start because this is where the Big Money starts. As an example, I'm a conservative Green and I want Local Infrastructure, not Corporate infrastructure.
/
 
So where's the poll?
 

I'm a very stable genius.
 
The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with a low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds. Pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Wilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking. I suggest you try it.
 

And then there is legitimate no-nonsense dialogue from level-headed normal people . Quite a mix, I agree.
 
Those stop, drop, and roll drills prepared me :lol:
 
People either use critical thinking and are 'seekers of truth', or they aren't. It's as simple as that. When someone is interested enough in any topic whether it be Civil War, global warming or civil rights, they will go the extra mile and take the extra time to do the research in order to really understand the issues of any topic.
 
Being more serious, I try to follow news outlets with the best journalistic practices. WaPo and NYTimes are clearly the standard bearer, and I've dropped outlets altogether that got it wrong two or more times in a year (hello, Daily Beast). On Twitter, I follow journalists for those same outlets, as well as a host of current or former legal professionals, particularly those who aren't "breathless," i.e. overly excited about news that appears to validate their political beliefs. My favorite legal analysts are Benjamin Whittes of Lawfare, Renato Mariotti and Preet Bahrara, because those assholes never tell me what I want to hear.

On the less rigid side of politics, I follow the Pod Save America team because I find their breakdown of political stories more practical and less reactionary, and I like a lot of the interviews they conduct.
 
I'm not necessarily politically savvy but I think I'm pretty good at deducing behavior. If you can figure out a person's motivations then you can guess with pretty high accuracy what a person's words and behaviors allude to.
 
I am politically savvy because …

I have no illusions about human beings.

Everyone (regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, etc.) is to various degrees sanctimonious hypocrites.

And ALL politicians and ALL activists are even worse than (the) hoi polloi.
 
I wouldn’t call myself politically savvy. Hell, the older I get and the more I experience, the less sense it all makes to me. It is all so absurd.
 
Skeptic Bob said:
I wouldn’t call myself politically savvy. Hell, the older I get and the more I experience, the less sense it all makes to me. It is all so absurd.
Click to expand...

Well, we're only as "politically savvy" as our selected sources and our proximity to actual decision-making powers. If you're Joe Civilian, one's political savvy is obviously limited.
 

It sounds as though you're more of a cynic than you are an open minded critical thinker. "everyone is to various degrees sanctimonious hypocrites". Does it really make you 'savvy' to be distrusting of 'everyone'? Of course that can be said about many, but definitely not about everyone, that's too broad. Once you clump everyone into one big pile and say they are all the same, you are overlooking people that are sincere and have a genuine desire to do the right thing for this country. Would you say that Robert Mueller for instance, is a hypocrite? Would you say Jeff Flake or Bob Corker were sanctimonious hypocrites? They were pariahs to the GOP because they had some integrity and refused to support a president they felt wasn't capable of running this country.
 
One of my favorite sources for international new is Caspian Report. He's from Azerbaijan, so unless the news is coming out of the Caucasus there's no reason for him to be biased for nationalistic reasons, as Azerbaijan is a very neutral country. I find that he makes pretty accurate predictions and does great sum-ups of world happenings.

 

My gods tell me things
 
I watch some of the MSM on both the left and the right and then try to tease out the truth of the matter realizing most all reporting has a built in bias. Having been involved in quite a few news stories, I never read one about a story I knew well where the reporter got it all correct. Even mundane human interest stories get the spin and selected facts; only used those facts that support the spin. And that's how most news stories work; use the facts that support your position and ignore the ones that contradict your spin. The key to being "savvy" is to listen intently and then think for yourself.
 
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