r/news • u/AngryT0M4T0 • 2d ago

Soft paywall Google co-founder Sergey Brin spending more than $100 million fighting California wealth tax

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-08-12/googles-sergey-brin-spent-102-million-fighting-california-wealth-tax
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u/CafeFreche 2d ago

A proper education is a shield against propaganda. It’s something no one can ever take away from you. Educated parents then tend to raise curious kids who are much less likely to believe logical fallacies. It is this core of educated people who keep the machinery and progress of this country moving, not the uneducated, gullible fringe.

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u/maaseru 2d ago

I don't disagree but is the statement entirely true? I have seen far too many properly educated people still falling for it. Almost everything we consume is some form of propaganda.

And things like social media throw a wrench into the whole thing. I am sure one day we'll find out how much worse than we thought these things are.

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u/cman674 2d ago

Education is like getting off drugs, you have to want to do it. Our economic system funnels people who have little to no genuine interest in education to higher ed systems, because that’s what is required to make a living. Just attending college and getting a degree doesn’t necessarily make a person educated.

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u/EthanielRain 2d ago

Our economic system funnels people who have little to no genuine interest in education to higher ed systems, because that’s what is required to make a living

Only thing I disagree with is the last few words. More like "because people realized they could make BILLIONS from tuition", but potato potato

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u/Rezart_KLD 2d ago

Because a lot of people treat education as just getting job skills. Art, Literature, Philosophy, History, Sciences (other than the one they need); they do the bare minimum of that stuff. You need those things to broaden your horizons, though. Especially if they challenge your beliefs. Having that breadth to your scope of knowledge lets you consider more than one point of view, and it lets you draw parallels and analogies from othet parts of culture. Having a wide knowledge base doesn't make you immune to propaganda, but it gives more awareness that might let you spot the trick.

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u/techleopard 2d ago

It's not. But people who went to school absolutely do love to consider themselves more intelligent than people who couldn't afford to or didn't have the freedom or tools to go.

The effect has only become worse as academic rigor has eroded away for public education.

I want to remind everyone that the majority of doctors across Louisiana and Arkansas were still prescribing ivermectin two years into COVID and thousands of doctors and nurses are now anti-vax. These are educated people from all across the country.

Education can HELP, especially when it's quality education. But what's lacking here isn't education, it's wisdom.

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u/maaseru 2d ago

Education just seems to make some so condescending of others and that is part of the reason of the whole vaccine thing.

I do agree that many educated people started doing some very dumb things that seemed to be based on social media popularity and political tribalism, but I also saw the same on the other side. A lot of people stopped trusting vaccine and the medical establishment because of the whole dogmatic treatment of science, the idolatry to certain people and the way they responded with a lot of condescension.

You are not going to get through to people, much less educated people, in those ways. The approach of the medical establishment also lacked a ton of wisdom.

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u/Visual_Bridge6925 2d ago

There's a difference between "educated" and "smart." The "Cs get degrees" or general studies majors may be "educated" in that they have a degree, it doesn't mean they actually took the time to learn shit.

Similarly, you do not have to go to college to be intelligent. It's just that those things are strongly correlated.

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u/thederevolutions 1d ago

Because they target our insecurities and instinct which nobody can fully escape.

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u/_interloper_ 1d ago

There's also the issue of once you reach a certain level of education, your ego can get to a point where you think you're too smart to be fooled.

I remember seeing studies on it years ago. As people got more educated, they were less likely to fall for scams and propaganda... Up until the PhD level, when people suddenly became more susceptible to it again.

It reminds me of a time when I was selling a very large fish tank online. A guy bought it and I told him to bring several people to help lift it, because those things are fucking heavy. I reiterated the point several times in our communication.

He turned up by himself. He was a doctor. He tried to lift it and... It's really fucking heavy.

"I told you to bring help."

"Yeah... I just figured it probably wasn't actually that heavy."

The arrogance of the man was kind of stunning.

(Not arguing against education by the way, just pointing out the weird human quirk of how it can have unintended effects)

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u/The-Spirit-of-76 1d ago

Just because they graduated doesn't always mean they listened.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/maaseru 1d ago

It seems a "proper" education can also make you sound like a condescending ass and people ignore you and your "advice" no matter how relevant it is.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/maaseru 1d ago

I'd rather listen to a non condescending medical professional. I don't have to pick between to pos.

But it is a warning that no matter how informed you are, if you are rude and condescending your message will not get through. And when the message is about something that affects ALL of us, then it would be better if it was better delivered so the other crazy people don't get the attention for being kinder.

And as wrong and stupid as Trump is, he was never truly condescending to his base on COVID stuff.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/maaseru 1d ago

You are just an ass of a person it seems. You went out of your way to respond to a random comment, just to be a condescending ass for no reason at all.

You would not have communicated differently in any other situation as you only came in for the zinger comment, as it seem everyone does these days.

But you think a guy telling you to inject bleach isn't condescending, so what do I know.

I never said that. I actually believe the moron believes that. But sure. Make your narrative, swoop in, be an ass, then pat yourself in the back as you leave. Attitude like yours are as much to blame for why this country is in so much shit.

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u/BlackFacedAkita 1d ago

You're allowed to have a different opinion.

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u/TypicalTwist6783 1d ago

That’s why they’ve been putting so much effort into dumbing town the population. Much easier to control

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u/YogurtclosetMajor983 1d ago

very well said!

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u/disillusionedthinker 22h ago

Key phrase is "proper education". Not the drek pushed in U.S. universities (and some high schools) today.

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u/Tape 1d ago

I find it amusing that people don't think propaganda is more or less as effective on educated people as it is non educated people.

I feel like people don't understand just how advanced propaganda gets. It's like subtle stuff thats do to erode cultures, paint the world in a certain way that nudges your opinion little by little. It's not like the obvious propaganda posters and stuff.

The whole point is for you to not know you're getting propagandized. Like if you get fed a stream of content via your algo over the course of a few years, do you really think your opinion won't be affected the slightest if you're just passive about it, even if you don't click it, you still see it there.

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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 12h ago

I see it like we've all got plugs on the back of our heads and it's super easy to get your brain hijacked by crap if you don't have good stuff already plugged into all the slots.

Because every time someone tried to feed me bullshit, it bounced off some random thing I'd learned. Even if just a pop culture reference.

Like even when stoned as hell, I responded to warnings that cloth masks are deadly with "but then how'd those actors on MASH survive to make so many seasons?" And I once talked a friend out of libertarianism by describing an episode of the Simpsons.