A few years ago, seemingly out of nowhere, were a bunch of articles about how Oman was the center of terrorism in the middle east.

I had had family stationed there years before so the name popped out at me, as they'd described it previously as "open and accepting of westerners" (relatively speaking, I guess).

Anyway, this "center of terrorism" thing was front page news across the board for a solid week, maybe two, then poof, it went away. Nobody even remembers it now.

I don't really know what to make of it. What would I, Normy McYaBasic, do with the above information in any case?

It's a fun little metagame to imagine the motives of headlines put in front of you. In this case, maybe the motivating factor that lead to the journalist's boss dropping this assignment on their lap could have been anything from a slighted Saudi prince to someone shorting Oman Air that week.

Except that the "current situation in Europe" actually is being motivated primarily by irrationality. (That's what extreme nationalism amounts to.) And I don't know what kind of ideological contortions you'd need to undergo to conclude that the man who has brought about this situation is not your enemy.

Thank you for illustrating my point.

Why are you certain that I don't have all the information necessary to have made an informed decision on this?

If you had the all the info, how would you be certain that you are not biased?

I had the unluckiness to be born in a country torched by war. I am still finding out the info about the war, that you won't be able to read anywhere. I am aware that it is not easy for someone that grew up and lives in totally different world to learn and understand all the complexities... But at least take everything with a grain of salt.

I'm very curious what you think of this interesting article[0] I read yesterday which ties into your point.

[0]: https://wisdomofcrowds.live/email/725986a1-fc00-4962-a1dc-c3...

That's just an argument that news is biased and flawed. It's hardly a justification for quitting the news. Evidently, you haven't quit the news because you know about the current situation in Europe, you're just skeptical that the news is giving the whole picture.

The situation in Russia is the action of a single person. Rationality is not a universal state of people. People can have mental problems and while actions can seem to be rational in their own head, every other person realizes their irrationality.

Also for the record, given the lies being created, it’s quite obviously rational what they’re doing, but it doesn’t make the lies not lies.