Edit: I apologize I forgot to disclaimer because you people obviously don’t understand context. My statement below is not an endorsement or support for either Trump, Putin or any business arrangements that they have. I do not currently support the current American administration and consider Vladimir Putin to be a vile genocidal war criminal that should be prosecuted.
This is a perfect example of how propaganda works.
Take a handful of statements, remove all the context, string them together into a narrative that supports your existing biases, and let people do the rest.
The United States banned Russian oil imports in 2022. America produces more crude oil than any other country on Earth, and Canada is its largest foreign supplier.
But apparently, we’re supposed to believe that because Russia supports Iran, and America supposedly buys oil from Russia, America is somehow funding a war against itself.
The problem isn’t just the disinformation. It’s the people who read this, nod their heads, and upvote it without spending five minutes looking into whether any of it is actually true.
People don’t want to investigate information anymore. They want confirmation that what they already believe is correct. If something supports their existing worldview, they accept it without question. If it contradicts their worldview, suddenly they need sources, citations, and a peer-reviewed study.
It’s intellectually lazy, and it’s exactly how propaganda works.
You don’t get to complain about misinformation while enthusiastically spreading it simply because it confirms your own biases.
Edit: Not sure why the downvotes, since the statement in the meme is factually and demonstrably incorrect. However, perhaps some of you are confusing the deal Donald just made with Vlad for diesel fuel.
Diesel is a product of oil refining, but it is not crude oil. They are two completely different products with very different implications.
That said, the fact that this country is doing business with Russia in any way, shape, or form under these circumstances is an absolute betrayal of the American people. Literally anyone else would have been arrested and locked up for decades for this kind of behavior.
It is obvious that Donald Trump is not only a traitor to this country but also to the people of Ukraine.
You and I are having a talk right now that doesn’t mean that I’m purchasing your house.
I’d argue that if you said you wanted to buy my house, and I was negotiating with you about the finer points, saying you were buying my house would be accurate.
Also any kind of trade negotiations with the Russians and active treason by this current administration.
I think part of the issue is finding credible sources. Who is to say what is credible and what is not credible anymore. The problem is deeper than people being lazy. Two people can research the same thing using sources they believe to be credible and get completely different answers.
Do we go off peer reviewed journals for credibility? Now you can be lazy just based off that. Who funded it, how big was the sample size, were there things in the study that could skew the results such as a lack of control group?
Google, AI social media all have their own agendas they use to skew public opinion. Are books at the library credible? Yeah? How are you so sure. Who published them, what political donations and biased have they had?
The president says things aren’t credible while at the same time saying you can’t trust the government. Everything contradicts itself if you look enough. So then do we go through a bunch of conflicting data while trying to maintain an unbiased opinion and then at the end decide what is real and what isn’t? Are you supposed to trust news agencies in other countries? Now you have to research about those companies to see their history. Have they gotten new leadership anytime soon? All I wanted to know is if the United States is funding a war against itself by buying oil from Russia and it’s turned into a rabbit hole with little definitive answers.
I guess I should have worded my last sentence better because I don’t actually care about the answer to that meme. That sentence was such a small part of my comment I almost didn’t include it before I posted it. It’s purpose was to show an example of how difficult it can be to research things that should be easy to find answers to.
I didn’t ask you to provide a bibliography. I’m not your school professor and I wouldn’t trust your bibliography even if you were capable of stringing a bibliography together without having a website/AI do it for you.
If you understood the context of my entire previous comment instead of just sharp shooting the last sentence, you would already understand where my distrust comes from.
Using distrust of a source to dismiss an argument is the foundation of conspiracy theories.
We have access to information, and our responsibility is to evaluate that information and determine its credibility based on the evidence presented.
If I read a scientific paper written by qualified experts, supported by objective data, I will give it credibility. If Fox News tells me drag queens are dangerous, I will dismiss that nonsense outright.
The source matters only insofar as it helps us evaluate the evidence. Dismissing an argument solely because of who presented it is not critical thinking. It is intellectual laziness, and your entire argument is ultimately useless.
I can explain my point to you but I cant make you understand it. We aren’t going to see things eye to eye here. I agree with a lot of what you said I still don’t feel like I’ve been fully understood but that doesn’t matter. Your overall point is something I agree with.
The entire platform has a habit of going down on anything that perceived to be slightly moderating on the current narrative, even when it’s not. But ya, neither does the US buy oil from Russia nor does Russia support Iran in any meaningful sense, for now.
Edit: I apologize I forgot to disclaimer because you people obviously don’t understand context. My statement below is not an endorsement or support for either Trump, Putin or any business arrangements that they have. I do not currently support the current American administration and consider Vladimir Putin to be a vile genocidal war criminal that should be prosecuted.
This is a perfect example of how propaganda works.
Take a handful of statements, remove all the context, string them together into a narrative that supports your existing biases, and let people do the rest.
The United States banned Russian oil imports in 2022. America produces more crude oil than any other country on Earth, and Canada is its largest foreign supplier.
But apparently, we’re supposed to believe that because Russia supports Iran, and America supposedly buys oil from Russia, America is somehow funding a war against itself.
The problem isn’t just the disinformation. It’s the people who read this, nod their heads, and upvote it without spending five minutes looking into whether any of it is actually true.
People don’t want to investigate information anymore. They want confirmation that what they already believe is correct. If something supports their existing worldview, they accept it without question. If it contradicts their worldview, suddenly they need sources, citations, and a peer-reviewed study.
It’s intellectually lazy, and it’s exactly how propaganda works.
You don’t get to complain about misinformation while enthusiastically spreading it simply because it confirms your own biases.
Edit: Not sure why the downvotes, since the statement in the meme is factually and demonstrably incorrect. However, perhaps some of you are confusing the deal Donald just made with Vlad for diesel fuel.
Diesel is a product of oil refining, but it is not crude oil. They are two completely different products with very different implications.
That said, the fact that this country is doing business with Russia in any way, shape, or form under these circumstances is an absolute betrayal of the American people. Literally anyone else would have been arrested and locked up for decades for this kind of behavior.
It is obvious that Donald Trump is not only a traitor to this country but also to the people of Ukraine.
So what is the missing context? Why is the statement wrong?
Because we don’t buy our oil from Russia at all.
And when we did it was relatively small amounts.
So the statement is correct, just not impactful
No. We still don’t buy our oil from Russia.
Well they are talking about buying oil fields from russia. What would you call that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States–Russia_oil_deal?wprov=sfla1
I would say that the Americans and Russians are engaged in talks for trade of energy materials.
Which is not the same as buying oil.
You and I are having a talk right now that doesn’t mean that I’m purchasing your house.
Also any kind of trade negotiations with the Russians is active treason by this current administration.
I’d argue that if you said you wanted to buy my house, and I was negotiating with you about the finer points, saying you were buying my house would be accurate.
Yes
I think part of the issue is finding credible sources. Who is to say what is credible and what is not credible anymore. The problem is deeper than people being lazy. Two people can research the same thing using sources they believe to be credible and get completely different answers.
Do we go off peer reviewed journals for credibility? Now you can be lazy just based off that. Who funded it, how big was the sample size, were there things in the study that could skew the results such as a lack of control group?
Google, AI social media all have their own agendas they use to skew public opinion. Are books at the library credible? Yeah? How are you so sure. Who published them, what political donations and biased have they had?
The president says things aren’t credible while at the same time saying you can’t trust the government. Everything contradicts itself if you look enough. So then do we go through a bunch of conflicting data while trying to maintain an unbiased opinion and then at the end decide what is real and what isn’t? Are you supposed to trust news agencies in other countries? Now you have to research about those companies to see their history. Have they gotten new leadership anytime soon? All I wanted to know is if the United States is funding a war against itself by buying oil from Russia and it’s turned into a rabbit hole with little definitive answers.
I’m not going to provide a bibliography with my Lemmy comment.
Feel free to verify the sources on your own they’re literally one simple search away.
I guess I should have worded my last sentence better because I don’t actually care about the answer to that meme. That sentence was such a small part of my comment I almost didn’t include it before I posted it. It’s purpose was to show an example of how difficult it can be to research things that should be easy to find answers to.
I didn’t ask you to provide a bibliography. I’m not your school professor and I wouldn’t trust your bibliography even if you were capable of stringing a bibliography together without having a website/AI do it for you.
If you understood the context of my entire previous comment instead of just sharp shooting the last sentence, you would already understand where my distrust comes from.
Using distrust of a source to dismiss an argument is the foundation of conspiracy theories.
We have access to information, and our responsibility is to evaluate that information and determine its credibility based on the evidence presented.
If I read a scientific paper written by qualified experts, supported by objective data, I will give it credibility. If Fox News tells me drag queens are dangerous, I will dismiss that nonsense outright.
The source matters only insofar as it helps us evaluate the evidence. Dismissing an argument solely because of who presented it is not critical thinking. It is intellectual laziness, and your entire argument is ultimately useless.
I can explain my point to you but I cant make you understand it. We aren’t going to see things eye to eye here. I agree with a lot of what you said I still don’t feel like I’ve been fully understood but that doesn’t matter. Your overall point is something I agree with.
The entire platform has a habit of going down on anything that perceived to be slightly moderating on the current narrative, even when it’s not. But ya, neither does the US buy oil from Russia nor does Russia support Iran in any meaningful sense, for now.