Misinformation VS Rifts Reality

[Dog_O_War]

How many of you think that the Coalition States tell people what its leaders want them to know as opposed to what the reality of the world is?

The best way to keep a population under control is to keep them in the dark.

How would the average CS Citizen know the truth about the world around them; The CS is Mother, The CS is Father. They keep me safe and fed.

It depends are where they are born; if they've lived inside the mega-city all their life with a silver spoon in their mouthes, then yes they live a surreal life.

But the harsh reality of the outside world is that of millions of applicants waiting ouside of mega-cities, in the 'burbs with the monsters and the Dee-Bees and the non-security those MDC walls provide citizens. Those that are accepted often know all too well (and with a biased point of view) what the outside world is like. They want pacification, indoctrination; they want to become the machine's batteries (re: the Matrix) as the world they live in is too horrible to see a future with.

The CS doesn't need to keep their people in the dark; there are two perfect examples of why this is.
One is a line from a movie (that struck me as a very dark truth; it was from Bullet-Proof Monk); [a woman in a picture is on her knees before a gunman; a terrorist.] A woman asks another who is looking at the picture, "who would you rather be; the one about to be shot, or the one doing the shooting?" (or something to that effect). The CS is doing the shooting nowadays.

The other is simple human nature; being with your own species always makes a person feel more secure, accepted, and safe. When we see a room full of monsters we are afraid. The CS appears as human, and offers strength to fight those very monsters. Unfortunately for Dee-Bees and such, the CS is the monster, and that monster is humanity. It is a vicious cycle that both Dee-Bees and humans have fallen into; both see each other as monsters, something to fear and lash out at. You cannot say that this does not happen because it does. It is one of the reasons people have become situationally human supremacists.

The CS will always promote the misunderstanding between humanity and Dee-Bees because they fear, loathe, and hate them. While they are justified in feeling the way they do in some regards, we as humans in a real world of racism and war know that genocide is an evil that is never justified.

[Shadyslug]

Just look out your door in the real world.

How many people actually know something beyond the town they grew up in?

[Library Ogre]

I think that, in many cases, the Coalition is careful to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.

However, they may not tell the whole truth, and they may not tell nothing but the truth all the time. The occasional omitted piece of information, or well-placed speculation-presented-as-fact, especially when everything else is verifiable facts with multiple sources, makes their position that much stronger.

People can swallow any size lie if you let them wash it down with plenty of truth.

[Dead Boy]

Generally I'm in agreement with Mark Hall here.

It is my opinion that the Coalition's leadership takes the old Obi-Wan Kenobi stance when it comes to disseminating the "truth" to the people of the CS. Everything they say is absolutely true... from a certain point of view, in order to guide them down the right path and take the CS to greatness. Let's face it; the CS does do a lot of good out there in keeping the monsters and demons at bay, allowing human civilization to flourish. They don't need to embellish all that much to spin the facts to their point of view, (kind of like Fox News). And when it comes to those that are different from them, like the people of Lazlo and it's supporters, a solid case can be made that they do flirt and play with the same kind of fire that the most vile of beings use to conduct their misdeeds of unadulterated evil; that being magic and the alien to this world.

So overall, no, I don't think they lie to the CS public at all because, frankly, they don't need to. They just apply "spin" in the appropriate amounts (depending on the story being covered) to maintain a consistent image of the world beyond the Coalition's boarders.

[Library Ogre]

So overall, no, I don't think they lie to the CS public at all because, frankly, they don't need to.

C'mon people how can you say that? Did you forget the CS banned books? Why did they do that you think?

And not telling the whole thruth is quasi the same as lying.

Almost, but not quite. So, what the CS does is control information; it feeds people truthful information that can be corroborated (by third parties and by returning soldiers), but with its own point of view. If they report a crushing defeat as an outstanding victory, returning soldiers will tell the populace what a lie it is. However, if a D-bee village is reported as being a training ground for sorcerers, and it was defended by sorcerers... who's going to tell if it was a lie? Speculation-presented-as-fact becomes fact.

[Dog_O_War]

So overall, no, I don't think they lie to the CS public at all because, frankly, they don't need to.

C'mon people how can you say that? Did you forget the CS banned books? Why did they do that you think?

And not telling the whole thruth is quasi the same as lying.

There is a deference between keeping the population in the dark and keeping the population dumb.

The first bunch will wonder why there are no lights, while the second bunch will never wonder, or think for themselves. Hard to argue with someone smarter than yourself so all you can do is take that person at their word.

[Lenwen]

How many of you think that the Coalition States tell people what its leaders want them to know as opposed to what the reality of the world is?

The best way to keep a population under control is to keep them in the dark.

How would the average CS Citizen know the truth about the world around them; The CS is Mother, The CS is Father. They keep me safe and fed.

In a situation where your fed clothed an informed all by the same company ..

Chances are they can tell you anything an it would be truth ...

After all one thing in war is truth beyond a shadow of a doubt ..

The Winner ALWAYS writes history in a way that makes the winner seem to be the good guy ...ALWAYS ..

[Dog_O_War]

I took a trip to LA last winter and had a talkative taxi driver ask where I was from; Chicago. What I was in town for? What was the weather like when I left; 10* F.

What totally floored me was that he didn't understand that the sun still shines in areas where there is 2 ft of snow on the ground!?! He thought that once it started to get cold, the sun was stuck behind clouds for 6 months.

And that's 21st Century USA!!!

If he lived in the USofA his whole life and was totally ignorant about his own country, what would the CS be like?

I don't blame him; after all you guys still use Fahrenheit to measure how cold it is on the mainland Just ribbing you.

2ft of snow and a bright, sunny day were my favorite as a kid; I could make a giant snow-fort without a jacket on all day, and ice it over at night. /offtopic

The people of the CS are still aware of what goes on in the outside world; not everyone is stuck in an arcology. News and information (as well as Dee-Bee "villiany" reports) have to come from somewhere, and the CS does use citizens as soldiers who clearly are not in a bubble, so they have to be aware of some stuff.