to think we're all being manipulated

Yep

I have worked for a few different national newspapers. Firstly, each media outlet has a political alignment. People choose the media that aligns with their political views. Everyone knows the telegraph, daily mail, sun are right wing papers. Everyone knows the guardian is left wing.
Second, the poeple that work there do not all hold the same views. In fact many actively oppose views and discuss them openly in the office. I worked for a very right wing paper and loads of people put EU flags up on their desk during the brexit referendum and were outraged by it even though the paper itself was putting out opposing views.
Third, the people that work there are doing a job to get as many people to consume their product as possible, clicks, shares, views, traffic to website, sales are all measured. Huge screens showing numbers of clicks per articles are shown across the offices. Regardless of a persons persons political views, thry are going to create content that makes people click. Strong views do this
Fourth, papers wont change their political alignment, they are owned by billionaires, but not run by them. They have an audience to serve and if their audience is right wing or left wing that is who they will write for. The view will not be balanced. The product is a 'right wing news outlet'and that is the product they create.
Lastly, news and media are not public services. They are businesses created to make money. Of course they are biased, self gaining and self serving. If you blindly consume media without thinking this is the case then more fool you.

I think this is true, but there is also a slippery slope from this thinking into paranoia and conspiracies. I know a couple of people who have been sucked in due to current events, but it was probably originally triggered five years ago. It’s quite easy to think of the Big Bad Government lying to us about everything, and propaganda has been part of politics since before newspapers were invented, but it’s really just fairly normal people running things farcically like in The Thick of It

My DH says the same as you, OP.

He hates Farage and how we're all in the mess we're in because of Brexit etc. He's always saying if Reform get in, the country's on its way to a fascist state. 😳😞

No, you are not, genuinely or other wise, smarter than everyone/anyone else op. Of all the assumptions pp are likely to make about you on this thread being smart is not likely to be one of them. It’s like watching far left bingo today.

Denying the statistical fact that tens of millions have indeed arrived here in the last decade or two, as being completely irrelevant sounds like insanity to me.

A requirement for you to acquire your own tin hat as a conspiracy theorist even.

To not even take a cursory glance at the economic impact, the consequences to housing and hospitals, schools, sewer systems, prisons, social care etc and the likely future impact to your children. It hasn’t even occurred to little old smarty pants, she is is too busy with her amateur arm chair psychology to actually look outside, much less step outside of her own bubble for a few minutes and see what’s actually happening on the ground.

On the ground people don’t need ‘the media’ to tell them it’s a problem, that the infrastructure is collapsing all around them, not due to a lack of investment (we could not throw more money at the NHS) but due to the obscene volume that it was never designed to manage.

Every system designed to uphold our society was modelled on a projection, with plenty of scope for movement either way, no one expected those models to be blown to pieces.

Op, you can come back to us in five years with a genuine apology. It is the tin eared far lefties like you that will finish this country off for good.

There is manipulation by the left as much as from the right. Labour have spent 14 months gaslighting everyone that everything's fine, see their adverts (propoganda) on Facebook/X etc all saying "nothing to see here".

Are we being manipulated by people who would like to see us fighting each other asks the OP who started another divisive thread.

Perhaps you could stop being part of the problem by assuming it's only other people who are being manipulated and ask yourself if you are also susceptible to narratives that are not wholly accurate.

Yep

Its surprising that there are threads here about eating disorders, feminism etc where people talk about the effect algorithms, YouTube rabbit holes, discussion forums can have on leading young (but not only young) people down dangerous paths leading to eating disorders, extreme mysogyny, body dismorphia etc. But then become extremely resistant to the idea they could be affected too/think they are being called stupid. It's like advertising. Everyone's affected by advertising that's the point.

I think any algorithm designed to push engagement is always going to push decisive content. Because strong emotions like anger, hate etc keep people's attention focused and they want people to stay on their site as long as possible. But I think something more than that is also happening. I think certain viewpoints are being pushed. All you can do is limit your time spent on social media which orders posts etc by algorithms. That includes YouTube/tiktok. And I guess be aware your emotions are always being played with.

Not here.

Some are also keen the issue isn’t discussed. There’s pushes from both sides on this.

Hit the nail on the head. Honestly couldn't have said it better myself

of course we’re being manipulated. It has always been that way.

However, I’m not sure a sensible discussion on migration is possible when left-wingers try to stop discussion by calling you a bigot.

"They don't know that we know they know we know"

Sorry couldnt resist!!

But OP, you answered your own question

As long as we're fighting amongst ourselves, no one is looking up at the people with the real power and money.

.

I agree we are being manipulated.

The fight age young men was a thing though - mainly as Russia did apparently use the proxy arm combat people to destabilized central africa countires one after another and other parts of the world and young men did emmigrate to europe to get the hell away from being recruited and killed in the wars.

I think UN was doing reports on it. It could have been spun more postively but it wasn't.

The immigrant situation though is naunced though. It's partly because servcies are stretched so whether it's from another country or another area - new housing estates - being get worried they'd get streched further not unreasonably - but that there is awarness that we do need some immigration in some areas but in others it was driving wages down.

I was surpsied last year when BBC vox pop of public was shown to more nuanced than the reporting had has - then some of the repoting shifted. I think its's shifted back to if you dislike immigration at current levels you're right wing racists nut job now though.

I do think living standards falling is main issue and right are blaming immigrations but honestly I don't think left have helped there either - having concerns dismissed don't tend to make them go away but fester.

“I disagree with your second point however. An aversion to Britain being changed by other cultures is just rooted in xenophobia.“

Someone else said this on another thread. It's not the case.
I am not apologising for liking my country and my culture as it is this, with its (comparative) freedoms, tolerance and humour.
I welcome immigrants who want to come here to integrate into our way of life, work and enrich our culture.
I don't want those who want to bring with them a criminal or gang subculture, who have medieval attitudes towards women and children, or who want to have separate legal systems.
That is not xenophobia.
And before you assume that I am only informed by biased media, please understand that I worked as a social worker for nearly forty years in a large town with a multi ethnic population, and I have seen the best and the worst.

Remember all those stories about Polish people eating Queen's swans from the lake? That's what made Brexit happen. Some very rich people made a lot of money from it. This hatred campain is just another scam for the rich to become even richer and the masses are cought up in it and swallow it like candies.

Much lolz.
lets ignore the real issues and complain about invisible rich people manipulating us, instead!

Yep,

The whole division rhetoric is everywhere. Extremist bots run around sowing and amplifying discord.

Child free vs parents. Men Vs Women. The whole "stupid Americans" vs "Euro-poor" crap, TRA vs GC.

Basically, divide the masses so that they are distracted and infighting. Keep them so occupied they don't notice that war is about to be sprung upon Europe and the economies of the West are failing.

Well when resources become scarce, this is what happens. In my opinion the hard left is just as hateful as the far right, and those of us more in the centre are just flailing around watching the country crumble.

I said exactly this to my dh. I was sa by my stepfather and he was imprisoned 30 years later for 6 years and fortunately died just as he was about to be released.
I think people should be protesting about ridiculous sentences for sexual offences but no one wants to froth about that.
All this is designed to stop us worrying about what else is going wrong.

I suspect that a great deal of the obvious hate from the far right is actually fake and manufactured by those wanting to sow division. That’s not to say that there are not many racists in this country, but I don’t believe that the majority of them actively demonstrate their hate in the way that the media likes to portray.

😂😂