I don’t know what your life experiences are and how many countries you’ve lived in/languages you speak or people you know.
What I can say after living in 8 countries over 20 years and knowing multiple foreign languages is that zero hedge is designed to look real to a person who has a critical eye towards the US but in actuality is little more than sophisticated propaganda. I could take any articles’s “facts” and depending on the direction I want the reader to go, portray the US or Russia as evil/the victim/succeeding etc.
Once you realize that “fake news” is often about how “facts” are used to support a biased view, then you can look at everything more critically and have a happier life as you won’t need to take such sites so seriously. I was a regular reader for years but finally realized that my desire to get an alternative perspective wasn’t worth the negative effects such articles had on my thinking so I just cut it off and get other sources. A good one to consider is Calculated risk as they did a good job of calling the housing bubble but are grounding in facts.
For a while I read the housingbubble.com but they had a hard time realizing there would be a real recovery. If you join the permanent doom camp, it’s like putting on blinders and you won’t be ready when there is a recovery.
ZH is someone like that in the economic/political sphere.[/quote]
Yes, I’ve lived and traveled overseas, and have lived among immigrants my entire life. As you might imagine, I’ve never shied away from discussions about politics, culture, religion, etc.; and have had many interesting conversations with people from all around the world. These different perspectives have given me a much better understanding about the world and our place in it.
You are absolutely correct about being able to create multiple different (and even opposing) narratives based on the same facts. What I think you and others might be missing is that this is also true of U.S. news sources, history books, etc.
I’ve long been familiar with Calculated Risk, The Housing Bubble Blog (where I was a regular poster for many years), etc. There are biases and social/political leanings no matter where you go. I prefer to familiarize myself with as many perspectives as possible.
You’re wise to wean yourself from sites that create negative thoughts and feelings. I’ve had to do that myself, too. But I still want to be as informed as possible, and I can’t do that just by watching CNN or reading the Washington Post, the NYT, or the Economist (all of which I watch/read, too).
I think that alternative news sources are the lifeblood of a healthy society. As it stands, our media outlets are controlled by too few people, and it’s obvious that they are trying to push certain agendas, often to the detriment of both U.S. citizens and people abroad.
