We do all that stuff on our own, a fraction of discord from abroad does little. You don't think the Chinese are doing the same ... or we aren't interfering behind the scenes in Iran or even N. Korea. Yes, the internet makes overt operations more accessible, but every first world country dedicates vast resources (US intelligence agencies as an example) to doing far more in the dark. I seriously don't think we're losing. We just don't know what we're not supposed to know.
Who knows, maybe on a government level we are winning, but at social level I can't see how we could be.
We just don't know what we're not supposed to know.
Who can you even trust? Everybody has an angle. I just saw a headline from CNN that was to the effect of, "Florida denies AR15 ban as survivors look on". The news was that the ban didn't pass, but the spin is that the survivors of the tragedy are watching and disapprove. You have to filter everything you see and it's exhausting.
I want sources that filter the opinions and influence, but they don't seem to exist. AP and local news sources are the closest I've seen. Everything is emotionally charged and adds far too much supplement to fact. The signal-to-noise ratio makes almost everything literally incredible.
No question about that. And, of course, they've always done the same, push an agenda, but it's to the point where there is no real news, just propaganda from both sides. So we're left picking sides, but that's only half the story. As you said, it gets exhausting trying to read both and coming away with something close to the truth. Even then you're never sure. And the problems we have a societal in general ... our culture ... but everyone always just plugs a simple solution, pass this and all will be better, it never is. The culture itself is the fault and that's far too difficult to address overnight.
That's true, no doubt. The difference now is how easy it is to access normal people directly with social media. With Putin's/Russia's push to strengthen its military and influence in the world it appears they're pushing harder than ever to polarize the west and cause infighting to in turn discredit our political systems. Sure, there's been plenty done before, events surrounding Vietnam and Iran come to mind, but it's never been so successful as it is now.
The US is losing and I have a stake in that loss since I'm a citizen.