Philosophy Now Forum

In the article below, I had argued the Jan 6 incident should bear no weightage to Trump's Performance Appraisal;
An Objective Employee Appraisal of Trump, Biden, and Obama
viewtopic.php?t=44966

However, many still insist Jan 6 must be taken into account to appraise Trump's Performance.
Here is one reason why it should not;

Exposed: The secret dossier revealing ‘anti-Trump’ bias at the BBC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjPlfUt4S9U

Video wrote:The BBC doctored a Donald Trump speech by making him appear to encourage the Capitol Hill riot, according to an internal whistleblowing memo seen by The Telegraph.

A Panorama programme broadcast a week before the US election made it seem that the president told supporters he was going to walk to the Capitol with them to “fight like hell”, when in fact he said he would walk with them “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard”.

The “mangled” footage was highlighted in a 19-page dossier on BBC bias which was compiled by a recent member of the BBC’s standards committee and is now circulating in government departments.

The dossier said the programme made the US president “‘say’ things [he] never actually said” by splicing together footage from the start of his speech with something he said nearly an hour later.
It claimed that senior executives and the BBC’s chairman had ignored and dismissed a string of serious complaints raised by the corporation’s own standards watchdog.

The Telegraph will soon publish other excerpts of the memo which accuse the BBC’s Arabic service of bias over its coverage of the war in Gaza, and accuse the corporation of “effective censorship” of its coverage of the transgender debate.

It is not only the BBC, but the whole lot of anti-Trump media had been deceiving and zombifying the masses with lies against Trump.

Btw, I admit I was zombified to have a strong hatred for GHW Bush -beyond whatever negatives he had- via fake news and propaganda driven by inherent perverted tribalism. I have soon learned that, thus my proposal for a more serious objective Employee Performance Appraisal for past, present and future President of the USA and the world.
No one had ever done such an appraisal like the one I proposed.

Are you zombified at present?
Discuss, Views??

Notes:

From AI:

How the Masses Were Zombified by Fake News
The Panorama Case and the Psychology of Modern Tribalism

There was a time when the news was trusted without question.
Today, it is often a delivery system for mass persuasion, not mass education.
The BBC’s Panorama program — exposed for splicing two separate statements by Donald Trump into one fabricated segment — is not merely a journalistic lapse; it is a textbook case of how the modern mind can be zombified by the illusion of truth.

1. The Anatomy of Zombification
The term zombified is not used lightly. It describes a condition where large portions of the public lose the ability to think critically, instead absorbing narratives crafted by sophisticated propaganda systems.
This is not new. What is new is the speed, precision, and cognitive reach of such manipulation — powered by 24-hour news cycles and algorithmic reinforcement.

When falsehoods are packaged with authority, repetition, and emotional charge, the brain treats them as truth. This process bypasses reason and directly stimulates our P₁ core drive — the primal survival system. Once that is triggered, the tribal brain (H₈ in the SLOPE taxonomy) takes over: us vs them becomes the dominant logic, not truth vs falsehood.

2. The BBC Example — An Empirical Case
In the Panorama case, the BBC spliced Trump’s remarks from two different time stamps, deleting the portion where he explicitly called for peaceful protest. The edited version circulated globally, reinforcing the narrative of “incitement” around January 6.

This was not a difference of opinion — it was an empirical falsification.
It shaped public perception across continents. Millions who never watched the full speech internalized the false version, forming moral judgments based on fiction.

Such editing is far more dangerous than overt lies: it exploits the viewer’s trust and the subconscious belief that prestigious outlets don’t deceive. That trust becomes the infection vector of zombification.

3. Tribalism as the Operating System
At the root of this mass susceptibility lies H₈ — Tribalism, a deep evolutionary residue in human cognition.
We evolved to survive in small, competitive groups. That structure still drives emotional loyalty to political parties, ideological factions, and identity blocs.

Even in modern democracies, voters behave like tribes: the red and blue flags replace the ancient totems, and slogans substitute for rational deliberation.
As long as the Tribal Mind remains active, fake news will always find an opening.
It doesn’t need to convince—it only needs to confirm what the tribe already feels.

4. The Media–Tribalism Feedback Loop
Mainstream and social media thrive on attention. Attention spikes with outrage.
Thus, the media’s economic model aligns perfectly with our evolutionary wiring for tribal conflict.
The result is a feedback loop of perpetual provocation:

A distorted or de-contextualized event is broadcast.

The tribe reacts emotionally, spreading it further.
Outrage becomes proof of truth.
Objective inquiry dies quietly in the corner.
Each loop strengthens the illusion that we are informed while we are, in fact, being conditioned.

5. The Cognitive Vaccine: Empirical Objectivity

Escaping zombification requires what might be called a cognitive vaccine — disciplined empiricism.
This means:

Verify before you vilify.
Watch original sources, not edited clips.
Question every narrative that flatters your tribe.
Treat outrage as a red flag, not a moral signal.

The antidote to fake news is not counter-propaganda; it is epistemic humility — the willingness to admit that we may be wrong, that our outrage might be engineered.

6. Toward a De-Zombified Society
Tribalism and the-survival-reflex will never vanish; they are written into our DNA.
But awareness of their influence can neutralize their control.
The goal is not to suppress emotion but to subordinate it to reason and empirical verification.
Only then can citizens act, vote, and judge independently — immune to manipulation by edited soundbites or partisan hypnosis.

The true battle for civilization today is not between left and right, or even truth and lies —
it is between those who think and those who are thought for.

7. Closing Reflection
The Panorama episode is a warning.
A single falsified clip can reshape global opinion.
Multiply that by thousands of daily distortions across media ecosystems, and it becomes clear why the modern world feels perpetually divided.

To reclaim our minds, we must reclaim our methods of knowing.
Objectivity is not a luxury; it is a survival skill for the 21st century.

Notes:

Trump's Speech:

"I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. [.....] We're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue—I want to thank you all. God bless you and God bless America. [.....] And after this, we're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you. We're going to walk down. We're going to walk down. [.....] If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."

Sounds kind of one sided.

What about Trump's own lies?

What about "zombification" by pro-Trump media and pro-Trump influencers?

Veritas Aequitas wrote: ↑Tue Nov 04, 2025 10:08 am [^^^......^^^]
To reclaim our minds, we must reclaim our methods of knowing.
Objectivity is not a luxury; it is a survival skill for the 21st century.

First, a short note to ChatGPT...

Dear ChatGPT, I know that you don't care if someone quotes your words and then pretends (or gives the impression) that they are the originator of those words by not citing you as the source,...

...but don't you think that that's a bit unethical?

Second, a short note to you, Veritas Aequitas, taken from the thread where you linked me to this new thread:

seeds wrote: ↑Sun Nov 02, 2025 3:50 pm Sorry, Mr. foreigner, but based on the "4.2/100" rating of your qualifications for evaluating how the majority of actual Americans feel about Donald J. Trump,...

...your opinion on the issue carries no weight.

Indeed, it is meaningless and worthless to us and is best kept to yourself.

I know you are not from America, but speaking to you - as one fellow zombie to another - did you by chance happen to get your hands on a cookbook from some southern area of the United States?

AI Overview wrote: Southerners have traditionally eaten pork brains, often prepared as a breakfast dish with scrambled eggs....The dish is typically made by seasoning and scrambling the brains before adding eggs, and it may be served with biscuits.

The point is that perhaps if you...

(again, as a fellow zombie)

...stuck to eating human brains instead of pig brains, you might be less prone to spouting (oinking) nonsense.
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phyllo wrote: ↑Tue Nov 04, 2025 12:39 pm Sounds kind of one sided.

What about Trump's own lies?

What about "zombification" by pro-Trump media and pro-Trump influencers?

Agree.
MAGA is cult-like and many are zombified which is the manifestation of the inherent primal tribalism.
Trump may have lied to some degrees, but they don't have very significant impact on his Employee Performance Appraisal in an objective presentation - his score is ~72/100 -objectively.

So, I agree we must also counter any appraisal by any MAGA zombies who may rate Trump at 95/100 or even 100/100. We need to insist they rate Trump's assessment objectively.

One point is, Trump is doing very well in his job, that the pro-Trump medias do not have to lie too much.
All they do is trumping the border wall is being built, less immigrants, less crimes, more peace deals, etc.

On the other hand, the anti-Trump media which are more dominant has to lie more to counter Trump's actual performance, note the recent news the BBC produce fake news plus the many others.

seeds wrote: ↑Tue Nov 04, 2025 5:16 pm

Veritas Aequitas wrote: ↑Tue Nov 04, 2025 10:08 am [^^^......^^^]
To reclaim our minds, we must reclaim our methods of knowing.
Objectivity is not a luxury; it is a survival skill for the 21st century.

First, a short note to ChatGPT...

Dear ChatGPT, I know that you don't care if someone quotes your words and then pretends (or gives the impression) that they are the originator of those words by not citing you as the source,...

...but don't you think that that's a bit unethical?

That was an omission.
99% of the time I mentioned AI where applicable.

Where is your objective presentation?
Since you are so zombified, get AI to help you and prompt AI to be as objective as possible.

Trump may have lied to some degrees, but they don't have very significant impact on his Employee Performance Appraisal in an objective presentation - his score is ~72/100 -objectively.

His lies about the 2020 election being stolen are a direct cause of the Jan 6 riot.

One point is, Trump is doing very well in his job, that the pro-Trump medias do not have to lie too much.
All they do is trumping the border wall is being built, less immigrants, less crimes, more peace deals, etc.

Do you ever watch Fox?

Are you aware of Trump's approval ratings in America?

phyllo wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 2:01 pm

Trump may have lied to some degrees, but they don't have very significant impact on his Employee Performance Appraisal in an objective presentation - his score is ~72/100 -objectively.

His lies about the 2020 election being stolen are a direct cause of the Jan 6 riot.

That is his opinion, not a lie; everyone is entitled to an opinion.

One point is, Trump is doing very well in his job, that the pro-Trump medias do not have to lie too much.
All they do is trumping the border wall is being built, less immigrants, less crimes, more peace deals, etc.

Do you ever watch Fox?
Are you aware of Trump's approval ratings in America?

The current approval ratings are based on subjective opinions & sentiments and depend on a selected sample.
Before both the elections [2016, 2024], the majority of polls concluded Trump will lose.

What we objective, rational and intellectual people should rely on an objective Employee Performance Appraisal.
Those who gave their view and rating should have accessed to this objective Employee Performance Appraisal before they express their rating.

BBC Head Resigns Over Doctored Trump Footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx_xukz3_5E

Trump's Speech:

"I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. [.....] We're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue—I want to thank you all. God bless you and God bless America. [.....] And after this, we're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you. We're going to walk down. We're going to walk down. [.....] If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."

It is not only the BBC, the US medias also lied in many ways against Trump.

As of this writing, AI does not mention this development.

This article does, with the confidence to name names. It’s an interesting story about January 6, when men were climbing the walls of the Rotunda like monkeys ... quite a dramatic visual display.

Maybe AI is in on the conspiracy.


Kash Patel’s Big Test: How He Handles the Government's J6 Pipe Bomb Suspect
https://townhall.com/columnists/william ... t-n2666173

Walker wrote: ↑Mon Nov 10, 2025 8:13 am As of this writing, AI does not mention this development.

This article does, with the confidence to name names. It’s an interesting story about January 6, when men were climbing the walls of the Rotunda like monkeys ... quite a dramatic visual display.

Maybe AI is in on the conspiracy.

Kash Patel’s Big Test: How He Handles the Government's J6 Pipe Bomb Suspect
https://townhall.com/columnists/william ... t-n2666173

Initially, AI being influenced by popular repetitions, cited Jan 6 as a critical criteria in the assessment of Trump's Employee Performance Appraisal.
After tedious counter arguments with AI on an objective basis, AI agreed Jan 6 should be excluded as a criteria of assessment.

Elsewhere AI do take into account there were agitators.
AI cannot comment on this J6 Pipe Bomb Suspect, until there is a final report.

EXCLUSIVE:
Donald Trump’s Lawyer REVEALS the DEMANDS of BBC's looming $1 BILLION lawsuit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXxjkQBGj0E

As stated many times, I do not like certain aspects of Trump's personality and behaviors.

In this case, for humanity's sake -not Trump - I hope he will win big to teach liars a lesson and expose the desperation of the bankrupt opposing ideology.

Veritas Aequitas wrote: ↑Tue Nov 11, 2025 4:01 am EXCLUSIVE:
Donald Trump’s Lawyer REVEALS the DEMANDS of BBC's looming $1 BILLION lawsuit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXxjkQBGj0E

As stated many times, I do not like certain aspects of Trump's personality and behaviors.

In this case, for humanity's sake -not Trump - I hope he will win big to teach liars a lesson and expose the desperation of the bankrupt opposing ideology.

Watch and listen to someone with more common sense in his little finger than what VA and Walker have in their combined being.

In the YouTube video titled...

"BBC boss Tim Davie resigns over Trump documentary edit"

...British radio personality James O'Brien gives a level-headed assessment of what's really going on in the fiasco that VA is referring to...

https://youtu.be/7oXGttEq_qU
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Notes:
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