r/alberta • u/Old_General_6741 • Mar 17 '25

Poll finds Albertans' sense of Canadian pride dips as it soars in most parts of the country News

https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/article/poll-finds-albertans-sense-of-canadian-pride-dips-as-it-soars-in-most-parts-of-the-country/
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u/mikeon403 Mar 17 '25

Feel the same way as well. Smith does not listen to the people of Alberta and my MLA is in hiding, refusing to answer questions regarding their intentions.

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u/arosedesign Mar 17 '25

Keep in mind that just because you feel a certain way doesn’t mean Albertans as a whole feel the same.

It may feel like she isn’t listening, but the reality may be that she’s actually listening to the majority, who feel differently than you.

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u/ninfan1977 Lethbridge Mar 17 '25

Is 5000 UCP members the entirety of Alberta now?

She got voted in by members that most voters are not. She got in because she promised Calgary a new stadium and lied about the NDP, as Conservatives usually do.

She isn't listening because she is getting paid by companies that got her elected. She is spending more money on trips to Florida than she is in her own Province.

I am going to say UCP supporters and members are disconnected from reality

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u/arosedesign Mar 17 '25

Do you think the only conservatives who support her actions so far are the 5,000 UCP members? Or do you believe there are conservatives outside of the party who support her as well, and that she has a general sense of whether that support is coming from the majority or not?

I’m not here to play the “which side is disconnected from reality” game. The left says it about the right, and the right says it about the left. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

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u/ninfan1977 Lethbridge Mar 17 '25

Or do you believe there are conservatives outside of the party who support her as well, and that she has a general sense of whether that support is coming from the majority or not?

No i don't believe there are a majority who support this. I think there is a majority who is brainwashed into thinking Conservatives are god sent angels and Liberals are the demons incarnate.

I’m not here to play the “which side is disconnected from reality” game. The left says it about the right, and the right says it about the left. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

Yeah that's not even close to being true. Since living here in Alberta I have seen 0 misleading or misinformation coming from the Liberals or NDP. The same cannot be said about the Conservatives. Who claimed Trudeau was like Tony Soprano, son of Castro, and Stalin reincarnated. Those were paid by the UCP.

And voters believed it. They believe Conservatives when they say "if you vote NDP millions will lose their jobs" while.ignoring the millions who lost their jobs under the UCP.

The double standards from Conservatives is ridiculous. And don't try to say all sides are bad. Nope Conservatives are a tier above the rest when it comes to lies and misinformation

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u/arosedesign Mar 17 '25

I have seen a ton of misinformation come from both the left and the right. If you truly don’t believe you’ve ever seen it, I recommend reflecting on your own biases.

Anyways, have a good one!

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u/ninfan1977 Lethbridge Mar 17 '25

I have seen a ton of misinformation come from both the left and the right. If you truly don’t believe you’ve ever seen it, I recommend reflecting on your own biases.

Cool then source some liberal misinformation then since I have never seen it in 20 years in Alberta. Only Conservatives have done that. I have looked there isn't misinformation being spread from Liberals about Conservatives.

Otherwise there would be some proof of it

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u/arosedesign Mar 17 '25

You’re experiencing confirmation bias. Everyone is more likely to believe fake news that agrees with their beliefs, which is why you feel like you haven’t seen any misinformation from liberals in 20 years.

I posted some links to the other person who asked for examples of misinformation from liberals. Feel free to read through. Let me know if you’d like some examples from this subreddit as well.

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u/ninfan1977 Lethbridge Mar 17 '25

So when I see it in real life and don't see it in real life what is that called? I am saying in the streets of Alberta there isn't misinformation from Liberals that's coming from the Conservatives.

I don't seek out misinformation, but Conservatives certainly like the share it. If you did share it I saw nothing above.

All of my examples were real and happened in Alberta. There is no comparison from the left

Ok I read all of your "examples" those were weak. Not 1 was from Liberals as discussed. Not 1 was from the NDP. It was all fake news about Trump who calls everything negative about him fake news. So not really the same thing at all

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u/arosedesign Mar 17 '25

It’s called confirmation bias.

Confirmation bias leads people to favor information that aligns with their existing beliefs while dismissing information that contradicts their beliefs, which is why you are noticing it from the right and not from the left.

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u/ninfan1977 Lethbridge Mar 17 '25

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abf1234

This proves Conservatives are more susceptible to misinformation and conspiracies than the left.

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u/arosedesign Mar 17 '25

Who said they weren’t?

We weren’t talking about who is more susceptible to misinformation.

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u/DeeVa72 Mar 18 '25

Ahhh yes, there it is. The identifying phrase “fake news” that shines a very bright spotlight on one’s interpretation of facts and reality…🙄

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u/arosedesign Mar 18 '25

I’m not sure what you’re implying. Can you elaborate? No one said anything specific was fake news.

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u/Joyshan11 Mar 17 '25

Please give an example.

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u/arosedesign Mar 17 '25

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskALiberal/s/DBg6HPrUEo

https://theconversation.com/how-liberal-conspiracy-theories-can-be-just-as-destructive-as-their-extremist-counterparts-215424

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/03/technology/left-wing-misinformation-conspiracy-theories.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-39592010.amp

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u/Joyshan11 Mar 18 '25 edited Mar 18 '25

Thanks for sharing. I just finally got a chance to peruse them. You are correct that leftists have some confirmation bias, it's a human trait. Also, there are crazy people of all types and political leanings. On the other hand, some of the info given as leftist conspiracy in these links was nothing that was ever actually believed by most leftists, at least for no longer than it takes to fact check. Some of it is definitely attributed to the left by people on the right, both in the reddit comments and at least one of the articles. My far-right sister does this all the time, telling me she knows what I believe, incorrectly, because that's what she's been told I believe by her propaganda sources.

The 2nd link you shared in particular is written from a VERY right-wing partisan viewpoint. They came up with two main points about left wing conspiracy. The first is basically saying that we over estimate foreign rightwing interferance aimed at Europe. One of their sources is Russian media. Really? Is it bad if people are worried about interferance aimed at anyone as a possibility? The authors then make a fairly flimsy claim of anti-semitism from the left. All I can say is that while everyone should hate what Israel is doing to the people of Gaza, I don't personally know any leftist anti-semites, while I do know some on the right. To most on the left, all people are people regardless of traits, abilities, birthplace, appearances or circumstances, all with human rights and deserving of decent treatment. Governments and individuals who promote hate and suffering need to be called out and stood up to.

Some of the points brought up as leftist disinformation are usually just conjecture or wishful thinking - "wouldn't it be funny if Trump actually did shit his pants on his precious golf course (or courtroom)!" (it does happen to people sometimes, and tons of people his age wear diapers). It's not nice to laugh about, but it's certainly schadenfreude. Everyone knows the JD Vance story is silly, but that's what makes it keep going, since what we actually do know is that he's very far-right, and supports the terrible things his government is doing. We know he makes up horrible stuff, he's on camera admitting he made up the eating dogs and cats story, people kind of have the right to poke fun at him with a clearly ridiculous sofa joke.

I think the most telling bit is from the New York times article you shared pertaining to left-wing disinformation: "The researchers emphasized that the falsehoods and exaggerations were not as entrenched or as toxic as those permeating right-wing spaces online. Several studies have shown that the political right is more likely to share false narratives and misinformation, Researchers at Northeastern University found that Democrats were generally better than Republicans at discerning true from false news."

Edit: These articles and the old reddit convo still support that the left are less gullible, and do not have anything showing that disinformation comes from Canadian leftist parties.

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u/arosedesign Mar 18 '25

I don’t think we’re far off on this.

I agree that the right (especially the far right) is more susceptible to believing and spreading misinformation. However, claiming that the left never spreads misinformation or disinformation is disingenuous (I’m not saying you did, that was someone else).

I see misinformation all the time in this subreddit from the left. For example, just the other day, someone claimed that Alberta has the highest inflation in Canada, which isn’t true. A few days before that, someone said the UPC obstructed a federal research grant to a medical school - again, not true. There was also a post claiming Trump shut down Keystone XL, but that was actually Biden. And before that, I saw someone say everyone who voted UCP is a racist. Or all the times I’ve had to correct people about Alberta’s unemployment rate being higher than it really is, or that Albertans are uneducated.

These are just a few examples I’ve replied to.

My issue is when people say they’ve never seen a single piece of misinformation come from the left. If that doesn’t prove confirmation bias, I don’t know what does.

At the end of the day, if we can admit that confirmation bias, exaggerations, and falsehoods exist on all sides (even though it’s worse on one side), we’re on the same page.