I think the OP made it clear that he accepts think tanks have an agenda, and are politically opinionated and motivated.

The implication of "propoganda" is generally more than that.

Personally, I think "unbiased" and "independant" are silly goals, when it comes to politically contentious issues. In practice it leads to a transparent veneer of impartiality far too often. Who says publications can't be opinionted.

In days past, political parties had publications, pamphlets...

TLDR, I sometimes prefer partial or partisan, especially compared to impartial publications pretending otherwise.

"Propaganda" is a loaded word, as it immediately reminds us of authoritative regimes and totalitarianism, but its definition, according to Merriam-Webster is:

- The spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person

- Ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause; also : a public action having such an effect.

Is what think-tanks do any different ? Mind, it's different from what normal press/media do, as their goal is usually financial and they just cater to their audience.

Whatever the dictionary definition, we don't use propaganda unless we mean disingenuous means in any context. Propaganda is an accusation.

Who do you trust then? There are no organizations that receive funding from no one are run by no one.

You can't really trust any single source. Get information from all over the place initially and figure out what's closest to the real thing. Eventually you'll find reliable sources. Plus, a reliable source in one area might not be reliable in another.

Not to go tin hat here either, but it seems very weird that just a few hours after this was submitted, it has by far the most upvotes and comments on hacker news, yet is near the bottom of the page. I wonder how much manual influence YC puts over their actual topic rankings.

A high rate of comments can work against a submission as it can trigger the "overheated discussion detector" which is used to work against flame wars. User flags (which suppress ranking even before the [flagged] tag appears) as well as mod weighting can affect ranking.

From the FAQ:

> How are stories ranked?

> The basic algorithm divides points by a power of the time since a story was submitted. Comments in comment threads are ranked the same way.

> Other factors affecting rank include user flags, anti-abuse software, software which downweights overheated discussions, and moderator intervention.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

being aware of ways to manipulate content is not being tin hat, i would love to be good at that kind of data manipulation, I admire it, sometimes its used for bad but i admire it, its real.

tin hat would be that its being done by some wierd cult of secret members that have a goal of making us unisex slaves to serve the elite few (which no one can agree on anyone in this group, Lady Gaga is apparently one of them, (how are people this dumb and not dead from their stupidity is something my OCD freaks out on)

I wish i saw the data the way that some do, I just make it neat and in order. we gotta stop the retaliation and jealousy of someone getting something we didnt. You will never get that satisfaction. Make life better for you, and just hope they get hit by a car and let it go.

Universities? After all, isn't this what tenure is for? To allow professors to make contributions to the public space without the risk of censure?

In a sense yes, but modern universities are also dependent on contributions from outsiders, so if a professor wants to become "successful" he/she may become bound to the political wishes of their donors. Economics is an area where this is very clear.

Moreover professors have their own agenda. Just looks at the reproducibility problems in many fields. There's very little information out there that doesn't have some kind of hidden bias. At least when you know there is a bias you can systematically take that into account.

while i feel for everyone, I will openly state that you should not trust me. Its not personal, its life. Heres a tip though, I usually trust the news i find excites me the most, the least, then i take the headline and paraphrase that into google and see the sources that are saying similar reports. If I see multiple sites that have a similar bias as the ONLY ones to dominate the first 3 pages of results, especially if they are the same sentence or article, I trust that to be not real until further credible news comes out. I also take anything that the actions of the people have an odd motive. Like Hilary Clinton running a secret child porn ring from the basement of a pizza parlor and a child sex ring, while running for President. (while the onion usually would print that, we have many friends and neighbors that actually would see that story and go "hate the lady, must be true" (I honestly was shocked and saddened by how many bought into that.) None ask "why would she do that?" Evil or Greed or one word, usually moral flaws as motive, are not actual motivators. No one does something just because they love, no they help the poor because they feel for others and knowing that they did just something to help a needy person gives them an endorphine rush and makes them feel good. Others get that from making money and never spending it. I get it from kinky sex with different people, and organizing chaos into structured data for others to pick apart. We may help others in life but nothing is 100% selfless.

Well i heard that parental thing can make you do things like that, but again its a bio feedback of purpose. Ted bundy got it from killing, he didnt do it to be EVIL. read something other than a 2000 year old book of prophecy. or at least stop making everyone else jump in line to fulfil it. If its a prophecy it will happen regardless of your actions. if you could stop it, not a prophecy.

A man has a think tank...

Only trust your fists.

In age of technology, even your fists may spy on you :)

Why do you need a think tank to think for you? Have you not read about the importance of distraction-free, analog, time with yourself and others?

Trust shouldn't enter into the equation, bro. That's fallacious.

'development' is code for domination by a miniscule portion of the global population who use that monopoly of state and economic power to extricate the maximum of value with the least cost (de facto parasitism) while also using that monopoly to guide behavior so as to maintain said relation.

"Why do you need a doctor to think for you?

[...]

Trust shouldn't enter into the equation, bro."

Sometimes other people know more about something than I can afford to figure out by myself, and listening to what they have to say can be useful.