AND: Here's Scott Adams discussing what's up with Donald Trump and the Sweden comments (and using some software I'm interested in getting and using something like this):
ADDED: There's a problem with the media, granted. I am looking at that. But there's also a problem with Trump that I see in "you look at what's happening last night in Sweden." I understand the explanation. He meant that if you looked at TV the previous night, you could have seen a segment on Tucker Carlson that was about Sweden. That eliminates the confusion caused by his slightly screwy language that had lots of people wondering about something that supposedly had just happened in Sweden. But it does show a problem with Trump that's worse than his somewhat word-salad-y approach to speaking. It shows how TV-oriented he is.
Trump did not instinctively, easily notice that he needed to say I saw a TV show about something last night. He comes across as having the delusion that when you look at the TV, you're looking through a window onto the world. I'm not saying he actually has that delusion, but he naturally falls into figurative speech and would say — un-self-consciously — I'm seeing X when he's only watching X on TV. And I am worried that he's not keeping reality securely separate from what is seen on TV. (Remember when Trump said that he "watched... thousands and thousands of people... cheering" in Jersey City as the WTC fell?)
Trump criticizes the media as fake and distorting, but then he seems to be the guy staring at the screen to see what's going on in the world. Notice how often he uses phrases like "you look at what's happening." I can't look at what's happening outside of my immediate surroundings. I have to watch TV, which I wish were more precise and fact-based. But I maintain my awareness that I'm getting these words and pictures through a filter. Does Trump not maintain his awareness? Is he just choosing the filter he likes and staring inanely through Tucker Carlson's window?!
BUT: What if Trump's TV is some freaky Twilight-Zone thing and he can see the future?
Just two days after President Trump provoked widespread consternation by seeming to imply, incorrectly, that immigrants had perpetrated a recent spate of violence in Sweden, riots broke out in a predominantly immigrant neighborhood in the northern suburbs of Sweden's capital, Stockholm....
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«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 202 of 202More likely than anything supernatural, it seems like Trump has access to some sort of world-wide information gathering network, perhaps some sort of intelligence apparatus with global reach that has been tasked with gathering important geopolitical information and giving him a heads up about things outside the normal MSM channels.
That's just a guess.
I have to watch TV, which I wish were more precise and fact-based. But I maintain my awareness that I'm getting these words and pictures through a filter.
And Trump is not aware that he is seeing the news on TV through the filters applied by those same news organizations? This man who made millions on TV with a hit reality show which he produced and starred in? Who has been interviewed many, many times by many different news organizations? This billionaire real estate tycoon? This political figure who, despite never having run for office before, handily won the highest office in America despite being vilified and lied about by 95% of the mainstream media and opposed after his nomination by the so-called “leaders” of the GOP? As for “fact-based,” it IS a fact that Sweden has problems caused by Muslims, so Trump certainly got his facts right on THAT.
Another thing: Pray tell me what source of information is NOT filtered? Books? Magazines? Newspapers? Radio? Have I missed a potential source? Because all that I’ve listed come with filters. Maybe the trick is to pick your filters. Myself, I prefer Tucker Carlson’s filter to the NYT’s filter, which I understand is one of your favorite sources. To each their own, eh?
To sum up, my dear hostess, I respectfully suggest you may be wrong on this particular point. Trump occasionally commits real mistakes but I think he probably possesses a very good awareness of news filters.
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