Can Starlink be Trusted?

Reasoning against a conspiracy…

Ann: This offer of a satellite link directly from my iPhone.  It worries me.
Max: Hmm?
Ann: Isn’t that ring of satellites, what’s it called, Skynet, copying our data and spying on us?
Max: Well. First off, it’s not Skynet. It’s Starlink. Skynet was a movie.
Ann: Same thing, right?
Max: Not same. Starlink is a carrier of signals. Not a malevolent intelligence like Skynet.
Ann: Well, Starlink could still steal our data couldn’t it?
Max: Not if the data is encrypted. And iPhones do that so make sure you set it up right. And update regularly.
Ann: What if I’m in a public WiFi area?
Max: Ah, now that’s where you might be vulnerable. So no shopping, using credit cards or using passwords.
__________
Voice-over
Configure your iPhone to interface with Starlink. Be vigilant but don’t veer into paranoia. Don’t fall for the social media misinformation. But if you’re still concerned go Settings > Cellular > Your Carrier > Satellite (turn off).

An alternate reality game played in public

A conversation of agreement...

.

Not even an alternate fact...

Sergey: Some people live in alternate realities. They inhabit alternate worlds.

.

Mark: Like the "so-called" leader of a certain country?

.

Sergey: He’s playing an alternate reality game. An ARG. One in which he mixes reality and fiction, tweets false stories. He exists but his talk is false.

.

Mark: No harm if it were a game played by a private individual. But when a person who lives their life based on fake news and conspiracies enters public office, in a democratic society, that person is on a collision course with people who live in a more reasoned and evidential universe. Chaos.

.

__________

Voice-over

Where the alternate beliefs of an individual impact on other people disturbance occurs.
.
At a private level, infantilism and indulgence, lying and anger is a pebble dropped in a pond. At the public level, winds blow and the ocean roils.

...

Independence Day 2017

Press conference …

.
WP: Mr T, Did you ever insult women, immigrants, people with disabilities?

.

T: Lies, all lies, never did.

.

WP: Mr T, did you ever deny that climate warming is occurring?

.

T: Of course. It’s a hoax. Everybody knows that.

.

WP: Mr T, did you ever say that President Obama was not born in the U.S.?

.

T: Never did say that.

___________

Voice-over

Get ready for the Freak Show.

So the world now has a U.S. president who uses hate speech, conspiracy theories and false news. Good grief. Despite, or perhaps because of, the media’s best efforts to prevent it, this alien slipped through the air-conditioning grating and took over our planet. America, you sent the alien packing in Independence Day 1996, can’t you fix it this time?

…

Truth even stranger than conspiracy theories

At a book club meeting…

.

Bill: “Truth is stranger than fiction.” An axiom recalled by Nelson DeMille in another of his novels premised on a conspiracy theory, Wild Fire.

.

George: The one about ultra rights and oil interests dropping a nuclear bomb on an American city, blaming jihadists, so they can retaliate by nuking Islamic countries and taking over their oil?

.

Bill: Something like that. Conspiracy theory-based stories, I find restricting, they remind me of repetitive drum-beating. They seem to be the kind of novels that may appeal to a Trump voter. The kind believing that you, George, engineered the 9/11 attacks, or that global warming is a hoax.

.

George: But the premise of Wild Fire was that the president was rational and diplomatic enough but his minders were extremists.

.

Bill: Now Washington is upended. An unhinged, vindictive, irresponsible president spouting conspiracy theories, appointing loonie ultra rightists. Can the moderates control these conspiracists who see all of Islam as jihadists? Maybe they will cook up an excuse to start a war.

.

George: Truth often is stranger than fiction.

_________

Voice-over

Trump's credulous supporters
Washington Post

A responsible leader makes statements based on evidence. So do responsible academics. Offering unsubstantiated opinion is a characteristic of child behavior. Offering opinion based on unsubstantiated conspiracy theory is something uneducated teenagers might do. America, who is it you will have leading you? You actually listen to what he says? What does that say about your levels of education?

...

Conspiracy Theories and Amplified Animosity

On candidates applying for a job…

.

George: Does she know her stuff? Does she have experience? Is she good at her job? Is she calm enough to handle pressure? Can she put her point across without going off-topic? Can she win a debate?

.

Bill: Yes to all of the above.

.

Amplified Animosity 

George: Then why is she so unpopular?

.

Bill: There’s this avalanche of hate speech.

.

George: That’s the marginalized groups.

.

Bill: But don’t you think the media fed this conflagration? Just a bit?

.

George: Aah. Yes. The press seeking sensational soundbites. Lacing their stories with juicy conspiracy theories. Highlighting outrageous suggestions. And then there’s social media feeding their participants the same messages they want to hear.

.

Bill: Can America settle down and become a civilized society? Will we have war INSIDE America as well as the ones OUTSIDE?

.

George: We’ll know after November 8, won’t we.

______________

Voice-over

Why do people hate a knowledgeable, hard-working leader who is good at her job? See Economist article here.

...

Deplorable Language

If you repeat the lie often enough…

.

Hank: I feel insulted being addressed as if I were 6 years old.

.

Depp: Insulted by libellous language?

.

"EVERYONE knows…
they're BAD people… 
I alone can fix it.

Hank: No, being talked down to with overly simple expressions like, “She’s a very bad person,” and “They’re bad people.” Using unsupported sweeping generalizations like, “Everybody knows,” with no proof as to who says it. Or megalomanic pronouncements like, “I alone can fix it.” That’s how some people talk to kids.

.

Depp: But it simplifies the message, it appeals to a certain swath of voters.

.

Hank: Deplorables? Whoops, sorry. E.M. Forster wrote an essay called “Two Cheers for Democracy”. Forster understood the danger. “Two cheers for democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism. Two cheers are quite enough: There is no occasion to give three.” That’s what Forster said.

____________

Voice-over

Countless memes comparing Trump with Hitler (sometimes inadvisedly) have been circulating for months. But this comparison is about language use, attitudes, conspiracy theories and extremism. That is how Hitler started out. We are not comparing track records in heinous acts. People who don’t understand the dangers of conspiracy theories and extremism often dismiss non-adherents as educated elites. As if schooling was something to be ashamed of. In this case, a little education, a little knowledge of history, could nip a calamitous consequence in the bud.

...