(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . "Teens struggle to id misinfo " - may help partly explain polling results [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-12-20 Today is, as we all know, December 20. On December 12, eight days ago, President Biden harshly criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel for their indiscriminate bombing of Gaza. From the beginning, early on in President Biden's speeches , President Biden warned Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel . . But I caution this: While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. And while we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes. I’m the first U.S. president to visit Israel in time of war. I’ve made wartime decisions. I know the choices are never clear or easy for the leadership. There’s always costs. But it requires being deliberate. It requires asking very hard questions. It requires clarity about the objectives and an honest assessment about whether the path you are on will achieve those objectives. .The vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas. Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. Hamas uses innocents — innocent families in Gaza as human shields, putting their command centers, their weapons, their communications tunnels in residential areas. The Palestinian people are suffering greatly as well. We mourn the loss of innocent Palestinian lives. Like the entire world, I was outraged and saddened by the enormous loss of life yesterday in the hospital in Gaza. Based on the information we’ve seen to date, it appears the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza. The United States unequivocally stands for the protection of civilian life during conflict, and I grieve — I truly grieve for the families who were killed or wounded by this tragedy. The people of Gaza need food, water, medicine, shelter. Today, I asked the Israeli cabinet — who I met with for some time this morning — to agree to the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza. Based on the understanding that there will be inspections and that the aid should go to civilians, not to Hamas, Israel agreed that humanitarian assistance can begin to move from Egypt to Gaza. . . . . On October 15th, President Biden spoke with CNN about the Hamas terrorist attack and the Israeli response to it . CNN — President Joe Biden warned Israel against occupying Gaza in one of his most notable public calls for restraint as the Israelis respond to this month’s terror attacks by Hamas. In an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday, Biden said it would be a “big mistake” for Israel to occupy Gaza. Israel has been signaling it is preparing for a ground invasion of Gaza, even as a humanitarian crisis grows inside the coastal Palestinian enclave. Biden has called for the protection of civilians, and the United States has been working to alleviate shortages of food, water and gas. “What happened in Gaza, in my view, is Hamas and the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people,” Biden told interviewer Scott Pelley. On November 30, CNN wrote an article entitled 'Biden administration makes a significant move attempting to reshape Israel's war on Hamas' . US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, November 30, 2023. Saul Loeb/AP CNN — Hours before Israel said it had resumed combat operations against Hamas, the United States pressured its ally to shield Palestinian civilians in one of the most significant diplomatic moves yet in the more than 50-day conflict. “I underscored the imperative of the United States that the massive loss of civilian life and displacement of the scale that we saw in Northern Gaza not be repeated in the South,” Blinken said in a televised press conference in Tel Aviv. His comments came hours before the lapsing of a seven-day pause in the fighting, which had seen more than 100 hostages released by Hamas. “I made clear that before Israel resumes major military operations, it must put in place humanitarian civilian protection plans that minimize further casualties of innocent Palestinians,” Blinken said, specifically mentioning the need to safeguard hospitals, powers stations and facilities. He said that Netanyahu had agreed to take steps to protect civilians. But two key questions now will be whether those efforts are genuine and effective and to what extent the Israeli prime minister and his military brass are willing to accommodate US concerns. . . . . Secretary Austin reiterated this message of cautioning Israel against indiscriminate bombing on December 18 when he was in Israel . Democracies are stronger and more secure when we uphold the law of war. And as I've said, protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral duty and a strategic imperative. So we will continue to stand up for Israel's bedrock right to defend itself and we will also continue to urge the protection of civilians during conflict and to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. That's important as Israel fights to dismantle the Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. And it will also be crucial for our work with our allies and partners after the fighting stops. . It is, therefore, undeniable by any honest person that President Biden has clearly and repeatedly called for Israel to not take actions that will lead to mass Palestinian civilian casualties and more than a week ago harshly criticized indiscriminate bombing. . Last night, Chris Hayes stated that the administration is backing indiscriminate bombing just as he pushed the bullshit that Tara Reade was groped by Joe Biden. It's hard to imagine that Chris doesn't know that President Biden made it clear that he strongly opposes 'indiscriminate bombing'. Yet he said the opposite. I can't guess his motives. So, this kind of thing and Cenk Uygur and the Green Party and intentional misinformation from the Russians and the Republican Party has to be one reason why young people who self-identify as progressives proudly announce to the world that they are Hamas. . But while Chris is not helping, there are other causes. . "Teens struggle to identify misinformation about Israel Hamas conflict, the world's second "social media war" . Teens struggle to identify misinformation about Israel-Hamas conflict — the world's second "social media war" "I'll just open TikTok or Instagram and it's like, 'here's a clip from inside Israel or inside Palestine,'" Miller said. "Sometimes I just need to sit down for like 10 minutes and actually figure out what's happening. It's hard to know what's real and what's fake." The conflict in the Middle East is now the second war to be viewed in vivid, and often intimate, vignettes on social media, where 51% of younger Gen Z teens get their news, according to a Deloitte survey. The war between Israel and Hamas has also sparked a tidal wave of misinformation and disinformation, which is reaching American teens like Miller.Media literacy classes Despite the technological edge young Americans have over older generations, Stanford University researchers Sam Wineburg and Joel Breakstone say teenagers' ability to identify misinformation on social media is concerningly low. "Video has a kind of immediacy, but we need to help people understand how to evaluate a video," Wineburg said. "Is the person who's providing the video an objective source? Does that person, are there reputational costs if that person is wrong, or are they some 'rando' that has sensationalist footage and is a rage merchant?" Trumpublican Party people are misled because they have chosen to accept whatever Donald Trump says. They listen to, watch, and read Alex Jones, News Max, OANN, Fox News, and extremist podcasters. Younger people who in theory lean left get their news from social media which makes them vulnerable to misinformation. It can't be a surprise that Donald Trump is ahead of President Joe Biden at this point in time. Too many major outcome altering events will take place between now and the election for current general election polls to be taken seriously. This point is so obvious that it's disappointing that I have to make it. That's true whether President Biden is ahead or the insurrectionist is ahead. . The media is reporting that the economy appears to be about to complete a 'soft landing ', bringing inflation under control while avoiding significant job losses. It's very difficult to make a case against this economy. There is more household savings than there has been in thirty years. People admit that their own personal finances are good and they are merely worried about other people, meaning they are lying to the pollsters. The gross domestic product grew at a rate of 5.2% in the last quarter. Our gross domestic product growth and our inflation rate are better than any other nation in the G7. The stock market reached new highs. 4.5 million more jobs have been created than were lost in the pandemic. 14 million new jobs were created over all, 800,000 manufacturing jobs were created. It appears that President Biden and the Federal Reserve appear to have achieved success in being able to 'defeat inflation without a steep recession ' . Wages are growing faster than inflation . Surprise: Wage growth has actually outpaced the crushing inflation over the past 2.5 years. ‘The economy appears to be doing better than a lot of people might realize’ . Again, wages started growing faster than inflation in May, but it may be until 2024 when workers catch up . The unemployment rate is 3.7%. This is the longest continuous period with an unemployment rate less than four percent in fifty years. Then we have the federal January sixth prosecution which was designed for speed and should have a verdict before the 2024 presidential election. Almost a quarter of Trump supporters oppose having him on ticket if convicted: Survey. 52% of Republicans won't vote for Trump if he goes to prison: poll. There are other polls with results in this range. Then the sheer news of the various criminal and civil trials Trump has put himself in will affect voters and their preferences. We have not even had the first primary for either major political party. President Biden and those supporting him and the Democratic Party candidates will be actively campaigning for him and other democrats appearing on media to campaign for them as well. Then there will be the conventions of both major political parties. Therefore, we cannot expect anybody to be able to use our current polls prior to these events to predict the outcome and the polls are simply a snapshot in time. They reflect how the respondents reacted to a particular set of questions as they were asked at a specific point in time. They can't necessarily tell us how voters feel about an issue or which issue is a greater priority because the way that the question is asked plays a major role in the outcome for that question as does the order of the questions. Moreover, 'Republicans fall in line while democrats fall in love.' Pretty much all Trumpublicans love Trump and will indicate so in any head to head polling against President Biden. On the other side younger 'progressives' will tell the pollsters that they will not vote for President Biden to attempt to make it so that he is not the nominee. Which is stupid. When is the last time an incumbent president ran to be the nominee of their political party for president and he lost that primary? I can say without fear of contradiction that it's been at least a century. The problem is that while lots of democrats would prefer a Democratic Jesus around whom the entire political party would coalesce, there is NO ONE SUCH DEMOCRAT AROUND WHOM ALL OF THE DISPARATE FACTIONS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY WOULD COALESCE. Furthermore, it would be political suicide for any major player within the party whether it be big Gretch, Governor Gretchen Whitmer or Governor Newsome to run. The reason for this is simple. To run and defeat him would require a scorched Earth campaign attacking him on age and lies about cognitive deficit and inflation, all of which would be a huge gift to Donald Trump who will eradicate our democracy if elected in 2024. Even if they ran this scorched earth campaign, they would likely lose, but they would likely damage President Biden. And if he lost and we lost our democracy, nobody on the left who prefers democracy to autocracy or a theocracy would ever forgive them. ​​​​​​President Biden would not even be running for reelection if there were one and only one such democrat around whom the entire political party would unite. Again, there is no one such person. On Earth as opposed to Earth 2.0, President Biden will be the nominee for president of the Democratic Party and, in all probability, Donald Trump will be the nominee for president of the Republican Party. . So, whether it is the ideal of most voters or not, the 2024 presidential election will be a binary choice; either President Biden will win reelection and we retain our democracy or Donald Trump wins the 2024 presidential election and we lose our democracy. . In such a scenario where the election boils down to democracy vs a dictatorship, I have to believe despite so much abject stupidity in voters on both sides of the aisle, democracy and President Joe Biden win reelection. . . [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/20/2212797/--Teens-struggle-to-id-misinfo-may-help-partly-explain-polling-results?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/