Gorgritch_umie_killa

I'm going to give you an argument describing why i think you're correct but also why you're getting pushback. I'm basing this off the greek discursive appeal structures i've been reading about lately, because its fun to try to apply them here.

Firstly, if people say its a great 'scientific study' where you hear it, correct them. Its sad but thats often all we can reasonably do. If they refer to it as a great study in humanity, then maybe it is. After all Supersize Me was about the mostly unconsidered and wildly successful upselling technique that had passed into the culture of the time. So, what does that say about us?

Pathos

Supersize Me is an exercise mostly based on an appeal to Pathos. An argument based around an emotional appeal.

My stab at the key emotional switch employed would be turning the blasé attitude around the then common, comfortable upselling practice "would you like that supersized?", to a feeling of angst when those words are spoken. I think Supersize Me was largely successful in that appeal.

Emotional switch: Blasé->Angst.

I found Michael Moore's documentary styles also relied heavily on Pathos. So maybe the style was de rigeur at the time.

The big question is, did these documentary makers pass from persuasion into manipulation? This is the same as the question your asking when refering to his undisclosed alcoholism during filming. Which is why i think you're argument that the documentary wasn't fairly done is right. Theres a manipulation at its heart.

But that doesn't defeat the very real effects that emotional switch from blasé->angst about the practice had.

So a successful but manipulative documentary?

Logos

The argument i read in your comments assumes the documentary should primarily appeal to logos. Or a persuasion tactic based in logic. No controlled experiments for example.

While there are probably plenty of examples of this throughout the documentary, I wouldn't say this is the primary appeal he relies on.

The obvious conclusions of the poor diet is a good example of an appeal to logos. But not very persuasive on its own, because no one needed to watch it to draw the conclusion that poor diets equal poor health. At least most didn't.

Another thought,

Its a documentary, its not necessarily an exercise in absolute honesty. Few documentaries can claim such an authoritative place.

I think its maybe why Louis Theroux has belatedly become so highly respected. Not because he was authoritative in the beginning, but so much of what he presented has since been borne out. Maybe his documentary series matched the changing realisations of the times, so have had a kind of Kairos?

Earth Abides

Its mostly slow. Apocalypse genre, without the insanely selfish caricature of the personal relationships between people.

Oh wow! I read Little Kiwi's Matariki to my whanau all the time, but had no idea how to find it in the sky. When the clouds go, i'll have another look!

But, is the beard long enough??

Is it a book about how Russia becomes the world's hegemon, or how it beats the US/West/Atlanticists?

What does it say in relation to East Asia?

Most interestingly China, considering today's context, but thinking about the time it was written Japan might've been more pertinent in their thinking.

Only a communist deals in absolutes! ..... wait.. thats not it..

What matters for an economy, and therefore the value of its currency, is the value they create–simply put, how much resources they exploit and how efficiently

Yeah, thats the way it ought to be, its actually slightly different, and is very important in the context of what a country does to undermine it's own currency, or even a companies director does to the value of their company.

Value is a question of perception. How much are people/investors willing to tolerate and still perceive the value in a good or service or currency.

Its the reason the massive quantitative easing ended up spreading so widely as a tool in the last 15 years. In the beginning it was assumed that the massive 'money printing' would lead to massive devaluations, which didn't really happen as expected. Thats because the reaction in value percieptions in those currencies ended being more flexible than central bankers and economists initially feared.

The perception of value played a role in how long it took for people in the US to recognise the real estate bubble exploding in 07-08. It plays a role in really any bubble, and is why prices drastically plummet instead of taper. The value perception changes en masse, and bang, everybody runs for the door.

One more interesting example is the value perception comparison of essential workers in the COVID19 Pandemic compared to normal times.

What will they do!? Cross the Rubicon?!

It can sometimes grow to quite a large fund for people.

Damian Gordon saved $46,000. He described it as a hobby for him. What a legend!

Yeah, to add a different perspective, but largely agreeing.

The Americans have unnecessarily squeezed this new regime in Syria for months more than they needed to, international aid agencies that could provide some stability in the country haven't been able to enter due to these sanctions, Rest is Politics UK spoke in better detail about this a few months back.

Biden had a smallish wondow of a chance to give this regime a go, Trump has had ample time. In this case, it seems America's corruption may have circumvented their stubborn prejudice and evangelism.

Bad action; good result? On balance at least?

Lot of good advice here about curation, thats definitely an option to leverage your subscribed feed.

Another option, is to remove yourself from the largest server (lemmy world), look at your options on other instances, theres hundreds. The label to the right of usernames should denote what instance people are connecting from.

Some examples are blahaj, midwest.social, sopuli, feddit....

The links below have lists of a lot of the available instances,

Lemmyverse.net

Fedidb

Advantages of Choosing a Smaller Server

The experience of the 'Local' tab seems to be genuinely different from Lemmy World.

Lemmy World probably doesn't look too different whether you sort by the 'all' tab or 'local' tab, so you really only have the 'subscribe' tab to find and hone your niche on the network.

Going for a smaller, but active in its own right, instance means you suddenly have a 'local' tab that is highly differentiated from the wider lemmy network, andgoing along with that its often a bit less political.

I'd use my own as an example here, but we've just had a major election in Australia, so its been pretty political lately, i'm expecting that to subside now that the chooks are counted.

In darkness freedom dies.