Pass the Corona ese... Novel Corona aka COVID-19

[Mercer]

Maryland's governor is Republican, but still had to have the national guard guarding their PPE, and tests.

 

Funny watching people be shocked by this information, but the fact is the government just takes whatever it wants.

[ndv]

watching random stuff and came across this, as I have not heard anything about 5G and COVID-19 conspiracies.

 

 

[ndv]

Take for what you will.  Could be on or not.

 

 

[Schnitzel]

I wish I could share the video but i cant so see if you can see it.

 

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/gold-coast-influencer-cries-as-coronavirus-affects-her-income-from-onlyfans/news-story/7ae4dfe61da442210cf307eaf0bae569

 

[Kults]

1 minute ago, Schnitzel said:

I wish I could share the video but i cant so see if you can see it.

 

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/gold-coast-influencer-cries-as-coronavirus-affects-her-income-from-onlyfans/news-story/7ae4dfe61da442210cf307eaf0bae569

 

Quote

A Gold Coast influencer has broken down in tears saying the pandemic has caused her to lose her source of income and she “can’t do anything else”

 

[Schnitzel]

https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2020/05/05/2769419748827024740/1024x576_MP4_2769419748827024740.mp4

 dammit

Edited May 6, 2020 by Schnitzel

[ndv]

^^  Huh?  😳😳  so thats what "Onlyfans" is?  That explains s lot. 

[Hua Guofang]

3 hours ago, ndv said:

Take for what you will.  Could be on or not.

 

 

Be as critical as you can of anything that comes from this organisation. Whilst I share their dislike of the CCP, their goal is not to seek truth but to seek the downfall of the CCP, and that may lead them to disinform to achieve that goal.

[Hua Guofang]

2 hours ago, Schnitzel said:

I wish I could share the video but i cant so see if you can see it.

 

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/gold-coast-influencer-cries-as-coronavirus-affects-her-income-from-onlyfans/news-story/7ae4dfe61da442210cf307eaf0bae569

 

Whilst I don't want to see her sili-tits or hear her say another goddamned word, I still feel for her. Unemployment is unemployment.

[ndv]

@Hua Guofang  By all means I wasn't posting the COVID doc (if you could call it that), as this is what I believe.  I just happened to come across it and decided to watch it and posted it here.   However, I was hoping you may watch or at least respond, because there's a lot of disinformation massively released my media and no one knows what to believe be cause we simply can't due to geopolitical captivation, and quite frankly I honestly do not know anyone (which i guess is sad) in my social life i call friends/family that knows anyone who knows a Chinese National.  If I remember correctly, you have family in Wuhan?    
 

Docs are tough to follow these days and probably always have been, because it's really all an opinion of speculation with a little bit of 'we are going to tell you what we want you to know' .    You know?

 

[misteraven]

Disinformation largely affects the people that rely on it.

 

If you switch point of views and categorize MSM as simply another form of entertainment, which is all it really is at best, as well as stop worrying about the world and focus your efforts on your circle of control, you begin to see how most of this is a distraction. No doubt, there's a ripple effect that extends to touch most everyone, but when you're just doing you and putting that investment of time, energy and effort into yourself and building up independence and resiliency, you begin to see how those ripples remain ripples to you, while being crashing waves for all the assholes out there that spend the majority of their waking day trying to engage in battles that are so far outside their control as to be laughable.

 

I very much hope that me beating this dead horse starts to sink in with as many people as possible. Learn from this shit show and use your brains... Set yourself up so that the next time (and yes there will absolutely be a next time and many next times after that), you'll be able to float through with minimal interruption.

 

 

[Schnitzel]

18 hours ago, Hua Guofang said:

Whilst I don't want to see her sili-tits or hear her say another goddamned word, I still feel for her. Unemployment is unemployment.

 

damn you for being a conscience while I was throwing her to the wolves...

[Hua Guofang]

9 hours ago, ndv said:

@Hua Guofang  By all means I wasn't posting the COVID doc (if you could call it that), as this is what I believe.  I just happened to come across it and decided to watch it and posted it here.   However, I was hoping you may watch or at least respond, because there's a lot of disinformation massively released my media and no one knows what to believe be cause we simply can't due to geopolitical captivation, and quite frankly I honestly do not know anyone (which i guess is sad) in my social life i call friends/family that knows anyone who knows a Chinese National.  If I remember correctly, you have family in Wuhan?    
 

Docs are tough to follow these days and probably always have been, because it's really all an opinion of speculation with a little bit of 'we are going to tell you what we want you to know' .    You know?

 

Yeah, half my fam are in Wuhan. They're in the outskirts of the capital city, in an area that urbanised over the last 10 years. Some of the cousins are in the inner urban area.

 

Don't mean to be a dick but I'd rather not spend my time watching that. I'd prefer to put that effort into reading more reliable sources (all sources should be viewed critically, from MSM to experts as we all have our biases and we are all human) and posting them up here. Happy to try and address any specific questions you have, just don't want to sit through that 'investigation'!

[Hua Guofang]

8 hours ago, misteraven said:

Disinformation largely affects the people that rely on it.

 

If you switch point of views and categorize MSM as simply another form of entertainment, which is all it really is at best,

This is an over-reaction.

 

The mainstream media is not at all monolithic and you have a very American-centric view of the world but are pushing these ideas out onto an international platform. Cable news in the US is not a great place to get your news, but other elements of MSM are nowhere near as bad as Fox/MSNBC/CNN/Murdoch press/etc. There is still a lot of valuable journalism done in rags like WaPo, NYT, LAT, CT, FT, Economist, even some Murdoch press does good investigative journalism and has valuable opeds (even as that seems to be receding these days). IT sits beside a lot of BS, no doubt, but you tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater by treating such a large and complex reality as a single, simple absolute.

 

A much more mature approach is to educate yourself, read widely and view every source critically. Sometimes, even just knowing what approach the more biased news sources are taking are important.

[Hua Guofang]

A perfect example of how you can find serious and valuable content within MSM media. This rag is one of Australia's broadsheets and it owned by one of the largest media companies in the country:

 

 

 

The word that explains why the US is pushing a discredited Wuhan lab conspiracy theory

Chris Zappone

Digital Foreign Editor

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/the-word-that-explains-why-the-us-is-pushing-discredited-wuhan-lab-conspiracy-theory-20200505-p54psu.html

 

 

For all the challenges social media poses for democracy, one term in particular stands out: vbrosy.

The Russian word means essentially "throwing in" or "introduction" or "placement" and is used for information “thrown into” a discussion to stymie or confuse it.

 

This explains the recent exchange between Mike Pompeo and a US journalist over the origins of the coronavirus:

Reporter: Do you believe it was man-made or genetically modified?

 

Pompeo: The best experts so far seem to think it was man-made. I have no reason to disbelieve that at this point. In an interview, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo agrees fully with two contradictory statements about whether or not the coronavirus was man-made or has occurred naturally. Footage: ABC America.

Reporter: Your office of the [director of national intelligence] says the scientific consensus was not "man-made" or genetically modified.

 

Pompeo: That's right. I agree with that. Yeah. I've seen their analysis. I've seen the summary that you saw that was released publicly. I have no reason to doubt that this is accurate at this point.

 

In the exchange it's clear that Pompeo is not so much informing the public, but seeding the global discussion with an untruth that puts pressure on China.

 

 

It comes as the Republicans make no secret of plans to convert American dismay for a coronavirus death toll that may well reach past 100,000 into a distilled loathing for an enemy abroad: China.

 

Yet even taking issue with a conspiracy theory around Wuhan absorbs attention and importantly, precious coverage in a chaotic media environment.

In the age of social media, multiple realities can be served up for multiple audiences.

 

The purpose of vbrosy isn't to convince the public but amplify sensationalist counter-claims, to distract an audience and put a targeted figure or institution on the defensive.

 

 

But spreading disinformation in this way brings us no closer to holding the CCP accountable. Rather it embraces the party's disregard for honesty.

 

Notice, too, that leaders don't need to command armies of bots or trolls committed to disinformation to deploy vbrosy, either. They just need to be able to cut through the noise online, and often the regular news cycle does the rest of the work.

 

The mere structure of social media, optimised for outrage, ensures that the most sensational content gets shared most widely.

 

"Did the Chinese create the disease in a lab and unleash it on the world?" ... Now, discuss.

 

In the process, vbrosy clogs up space that could be used in democratic discussion.

 

The concept of vbrosy comes to mind watching the tactical nonsense US President Donald Trump and his administration has verbalised to shift attention for years.

Four years ago, nearly to this day, Trump “celebrated” the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo with a plate of nachos. Clearly, this trivialisation of Mexican culture was meant to offend – and of course, to go viral and crowd out a fact-based discussion.

 

At the time, Trump was running for office on the sensational lie that Mexican immigrants were "rapists and murderers".

 

Before the 2016 election, Trump insisted, for years and without evidence, that President Barack Obama was not born in the US.

The need for deflection is a central part of the Trump media strategy.

 

Whether by accident or by plan, Trump has helped introduce Russian-style methods of political manipulation, what’s called “political technology”, into American politics.

“Political technology” came from Russia in the 1990s as a sort of euphemism for a style of political culture in which dirty tricks are central tools for achieving and maintaining power.

 

It creates a hollow "democracy" in which a ruler maintains power even as the window dressing of leaders, parties and issues changes. Just have a look at the reign of Vladimir Putin.

 

But political technology need not produce an autocrat to corrode a country's politics.

 

The rules of political technology are shaped by the law of the jungle adapted to our new communications environment.

 

The ability to manipulate and co-opt public opinion are paramount in its use.

 

A question more pressing than vbrosy’s history is its use today. In a US election year with the coronavirus pandemic spreading, are reporters, disinformation experts, and the public itself aware of this deceptive use of information?

 

In 2017, University College London professor Andrew Wilson wrote: "The overall effect of Russian political technology is to strangle democracy."

Even as coronavirus challenges economies and forces draconian government lockdowns, the rise of such wilful disinformation represents a challenge to the integrity of democracy everywhere.

 

By hitting “share” on these obviously curated outrages, good people may be helping to suffocate their own democracy, even as they feed the beast of social media engagement.

 

Are people aware of how their reaction online can amplify the very disinformation that weakens the system?

 

In a crippled democracy, truths aren't shared but perpetually divided, and sub-divided again, pitting all against all.

 

Yet in a vital democracy, the belief that truth is discoverable is fundamental and necessary.

 

A new communication reality calls for novel strategies to protect democratic rule. That begins with protecting sensible democratic discussion.

 

To do so, there is a need for tactics to counter vbrosy.

Chris Zappone is digital foreign editor for The Age.

[Fist 666]

Worth the read. 

[misteraven]

58 minutes ago, Hua Guofang said:

This is an over-reaction.

 

The mainstream media is not at all monolithic and you have a very American-centric view of the world but are pushing these ideas out onto an international platform. Cable news in the US is not a great place to get your news, but other elements of MSM are nowhere near as bad as Fox/MSNBC/CNN/Murdoch press/etc. There is still a lot of valuable journalism done in rags like WaPo, NYT, LAT, CT, FT, Economist, even some Murdoch press does good investigative journalism and has valuable opeds (even as that seems to be receding these days). IT sits beside a lot of BS, no doubt, but you tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater by treating such a large and complex reality as a single, simple absolute.

 

A much more mature approach is to educate yourself, read widely and view every source critically. Sometimes, even just knowing what approach the more biased news sources are taking are important.

You lost me at WaPo. That media source has steadily ranked since Bezos bought it. They’re almost as bad as MSNBC when it comes to biased reporting. 
 

Anyhow, we don’t see eye to eye on MSM, so not worth getting into the weeds on it. And indeed, I do have a very American-centric POV. I don’t follow much what’s happening in other countries because I really don’t see it as relevant to me. Though I recognize we all live on the same planet, I’ve evolved to take the position to focus energy on what effects me directly, with specific emphasis on things I have at least a semblance of control or influence on. Too much drama out there with people somehow thinking that it’s their duty to meddle in the lives of people living far outside their reality, sadly at the expense of having their own shit together. Wouldn’t say I’m a Nationalist, just don’t see the point in spinning my wheels working about things I cannot affect and don’t have the arrogance to believe I can truly understand the realities that I don’t have personal experience with. 

[Hua Guofang]

1 minute ago, misteraven said:

You lost me at WaPo. That media source has steadily ranked since Bezos bought it. They’re almost as bad as MSNBC when it comes to biased reporting. 
 

Anyhow, we don’t see eye to eye on MSM, so not worth getting into the weeds on it. And indeed, I do have a very American-centric POV. I don’t follow much what’s happening in other countries because I really don’t see it as relevant to me. Though I recognize we all live on the same planet, I’ve evolved to take the position to focus energy on what effects me directly, with specific emphasis on things I have at least a semblance of control or influence on. Too much drama out there with people somehow thinking that it’s their duty to meddle in the lives of people living far outside their reality, sadly at the expense of having their own shit together. Wouldn’t say I’m a Nationalist, just don’t see the point in spinning my wheels working about things I cannot affect and don’t have the arrogance to believe I can truly understand the realities that I don’t have personal experience with. 

REgards WaPo, as I said, there is still value in there, alongside the shit and the educated and informed reader should easily be able to spot that, rather than falsely believing all content is equal.

 

Regards your position on what you can influence, it has a lot of merit but it, again, is very simplistic. Major issues that are brewing on the other side of the world can impact you directly. Knowing what they are and how to understand them at the earliest interval allows you to best prepare for them. Hiding out in the wilderness and being largely self-sufficient gives you a good buffer from a lot of what occurs in the world, but by no means all. MAjor shortages, big price spikes and changes to articles and the economies you rely on will have serious impact on your life that you want to be prepared for. Secondly, the level of awareness for some one like yourself and some one who lives in an urban or city environment is hugely different. 

 

There are many things in this world that you cannot influence that can influence you. Ignoring the world is a great way to be caught out, not to mention, just being insular and narrow.

[Kults]

21 hours ago, Hua Guofang said:

Whilst I don't want to see her sili-tits or hear her say another goddamned word, I still feel for her. Unemployment is unemployment.

worlds tiniest violin playing just for her 

[Mercer]

I understand this is part of your career and it's different for you. For us though, especially here in America, most of us just mind our own business. I don't tune in to to much news and current events myself, mainly for mental health reasons, and because I don't agree with the perspectives of any MSM obviously. It's a bit disheartening knowing how media works, having briefly worked in advertising. Once you understand that grind, there's a realization they're 100% in the entertainment business, and MSM's mission is not to keep the public informed, it's ratings. I don't think this is anything new, or unique to our time. I bet it's always been more about the profits and guaranteeing you've got your editing job moving forward because of sensational articles, and favorable ratings/sales.

 

From traveling overseas, I've noticed MSM is really bad here in America. I like to tune into local news channels when traveling here domestically, and there are a few really good local news channels that I can remember (Shout Out To Buffalo NY) but the overwhelming majority of them are just trash, I can't decide if I want to smash the TV, or the weather girl more most of the time. I can't lie, I'll brows the internet looking for the latest news, or occasionally check out Bloomberg or something looking for specific info, but that's about it. 

 

Let's say you use MSM to stay informed then what? What do you do with this information? Vote? (lol) Reality is, we all do better collectively when we mind our business, and focus on our own individual spheres of control more. I see a revolution coming in fin-tech, and invest, I see a pandemic coming, I leave NYC. That's really about the best you can hope for as far as improving your family's well being by adjusting your actions to suit external influences. It doesn't take a constant onslaught of mass media (or any really) to figure that type of important shit out, it's actually detrimental to the thought process if you're tuned into a thousand signals. Quite frankly, I don't see people that are dialed into MSM putting their families in better positions than your boy Raven up there does, or most other people that are not on that dumb shit, and tuned into the right shit. Maybe it helps the average person if they're in some sort of sales position and need to chat it up about current events to feel people out or something, IDK.

 

The fact is, there has never once been a single moment in world history where the populous, or politicians had it all figured out. The more advanced we become, the more we realize just how retarded we still are. I mean look at us, a fucking hot mess (I'm sure most are in denial about that) . Looking back, it's always been the free thinkers, and people not dragged into the popular, and endless arguments over dumb shit like trans people and where we should collectively force them to take shits, a little celebrity gossip. Most news broadcasts here lead up to straight up paid commercials these journalists present as news, they're usually the most important segments of the news and you can spot them because they have alway have the highest production value. So transparent. I really start to question peoples intelligence the moment they start signalling that they're dedicated to a popular main stream media perspective (left or right), especially if they flex they're up on the most recent vomit they hear politicians, or pundits spewing.

 

TLDR, main stream media is just entertainment.

[Hua Guofang]

3 hours ago, Mercer said:

#1 -  Once you understand that grind, there's a realization they're 100% in the entertainment business, and MSM's mission is not to keep the public informed, it's ratings.

 

#2 -  I'll brows the internet looking for the latest news, or occasionally check out Bloomberg or something looking for specific info, but that's about it. 

 

#3 - Let's say you use MSM to stay informed then what?

 

#4 - I see a revolution coming in fin-tech, and invest, I see a pandemic coming, I leave NYC. That's really about the best you can hope for as far as improving your family's well being by adjusting your actions to suit external influences.

 

#5 - It doesn't take a constant onslaught of mass media (or any really) to figure that type of important shit out, it's actually detrimental to the thought process if you're tuned into a thousand signals.

#1 - Ratings and selling advertising is part of it but not all of it. You don't think that Murdoch, Turner, Briedbart, et al have/had ideological and political goals in what goes to edit and what slant is taken with reporting? You also don't think that one of the way to gaining ad revenue is by breaking important stories, access to quality information, etc? I find your perspective here to be a little too superficial. Yes, ad revenue is part of it, not all of it and selling bullshit isn't the only way to revenue.

 

I also think that people on this forum that carry on about MSM all the time have a very limited view of what MSM is. There is a lot of quality journalism out there - I just posted some up the page - that comes from MSM. If you cats don't ever look at MSM then you don't actually know what's there.

 

#2 - that's part of what I'm saying - select your news sources based on the reporting, now who the owner of the channel/news site is. Also, read more than one article on it to see where people are getting their news from - if they're all citing the same source or using the same sentences, you can assume there's likely a circle jerk going. If they are citing different sources saying the same thing and the journo in questions doesn't have a shit reputation, then you can assume a likelihood of corroboration.

 

#3 - I'm not arguing that one uses it to stay informed, that would be a failure. I'm saying don't discount it off hand and don't have a narrow view as to what makes up the MSM. I say read widely.

 

#4 - Yeah, well, that's not a bad start. Quite often it's the largest news orgs that have the most stringers and that get a lot of the news first (which doesnt mean they get it right, and that goes back to varying your sources and reading deep/wide). And I'm not really advocating for a hell of a lot more than that. However, for some, it's also useful to know what the general public are being fed, that's not useless information and I would have expected that folk like @misteravenwould appreciate the situational awareness in terms of his business and his desire for security

 

#5 - No one is advocating to subject yourself to an onslaught, only to not dismiss MSM off hand as entirely useless and to not have such as narrow view of what makes up the MSM. I understand the work you're referring to about having multiple signals but I don't think that refers to having a systematic and educated approach to understanding news sources and how to read with a critical approach.

 

 

I just feel the biases here against MSM lead y'all to have a narrow view of what MSM is, to have a very American approach (you live in a country that is the lead of a global empire, please don't tell me about Americans minding their own business as a standard!) to what MSM is - as in there is MSM outside of American cable and broadsheet news. And I think your collective tendency to dismiss it in its entirety is throwing the baby out with the bathwater and reduces your ability to have adequate situational awareness in a globalised and heavily interdependent world.

 

I Also understand that I have biases because of my career and it leads me to place an over-emphasis on awareness of what's happening in the world. As usual, the sweet spot here is probably somewhere in the middle.

[misteraven]

There's nothing particularly critical that I wont find out about as fast as anyone else, despite an aversion to waste time following MSM. If something important happens, people let me know. If I'm curious or care, maybe I'll look around... Skim a few articles, but more often, reach out to people that are in a chain of command to have inside information. I've found daily reports from @abrasivesaintand a slew of people I know around the country in medical and first responder positions to be, collectively, vastly more informative than anything in MSM. Though I don't follow MSM, unusual events, this thread and the links dropped had me looking at articles and for the most part, its been a mess of conflicting information that pretty much shows me they don't know shit but will communicate whatever they can to appear to be in the know, most often with a sensationalist slant clearly intended to keep people tuned in and hanging on every word.

 

There's few things I believe I can gain from a steady focus on MSM, despite you saying otherwise. MSM is a needle in a haystack when you're looking to filter fact from editorial, which seems to be closer to fiction than anything else. Its great that you seem to have built a career on that, but for most of us, its a very poor return on investment that seems to be diminishing as time goes on.

 

I've found that putting my time, energy and focus into the things I can directly affect gives me a far better return, not to mention keeps me focused and my head straight. Not a lot out. Can't see how watching the news in any ways better protects my position.

 

 

[T4M*]

So, now we have to sign a petition by putting in our info to hopefully see a second stimulus check?

[Hua Guofang]

Figure some of you might get a corona-chub for this section of an article on Indonesia's response to CV19:

 

https://www.newmandala.org/from-the-field-covid-19-responses-in-central-java/

 

On a final note, while commentators from afar highlight the slow and weak response by the Central Indonesian government, this is in stark contrast to the expectations of many Indonesian people. Their lack of expectations, let alone reliance on, central government to provide effective strategies to respond to the COVID-19 crisis is not surprising. Indonesia has several ongoing chronic and acute health crises: for example, where tuberculosis and dengue fever are endemic. Mitigation and eradication of these diseases are achievable goals, as tuberculosis is curable and dengue can be significantly reduced through public health campaigns. Yet 67,000 people die of tuberculosis every year in Indonesia. For many Indonesian citizens, their expectations of elected officials extend only as far as village, municipal or district government while for many, they have no expectations that even local government will act in their interests. Rather, they rely on self-organised local groups to provide moral, physical and sometimes financial support. There are many unknown variables as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds but we can be sure that social solidarity at local and regional levels have and will continue to play a big part in the ability of communities to keep themselves healthy and secure.

[abrasivesaint]

Had to step away from the world and the news for a few days. This whole thing and people are driving me fucking nuts. I blocked so many people on my social media. Cant fucking do it anymore. I may be Raven’s neighbor soon if i don’t find a way to live in this modern world and not get constantly bombarded with fucking nonsense, ha.

 

Anyway.. 

 

Saw we passed 10% of the population filing for unemployment, so that’s fun. 

Edited May 8, 2020 by abrasivesaint

[Schnitzel]

[Hua Guofang]

 

Except asphyxiation isn't contagious.

[Fist 666]

Smh. 

 

 

"An armed society is a polite society." 

[Hua Guofang]

There is something so out of balance with these people.

 

No problem owning that shit if you like going and blasting. (actually, I'd prefer nobody in the world to have to own that crap, better to not exist at all. But if your'e going to have it, just let it be because you love banging shit up out in a field somewhere) But to use them on the street as a tool of intimidation within your own society? There's just something so fucking wrong.

 

 

Oh, "armed society is a polite society": Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistani tribal belt, Chicago, Central African Republic, Former Yugoslavia.....etc. etc. Yeah, so peaceful and polite for the last couple of decades!

[Fist 666]

AT4 is obviously a trainer, but I'm curious about the M2.  Anyone who has had to carry just the body, let alone complete assembly, for any distance knows what a fucking pain it is. Assuming prop? But still, what would the point be? Intimidation of an ignorant public? 

 

I'm sympathetic to the 2A crowd, but these dudes (member of Blue Igloo....) are just begging to be put on federal lists to ensure they get hit first by the Feds if/when their wet dream civil war comes to fruition... morons.