Okay, fine, so we don't agree that "there are a substantial number of people who are brainwashed by the mass media". I'm very surprised you wouldn't think there are! I think it's plainly obvious...but okay. We apparently see that differently.

"if what you were saying about brainwashing etc was not to counter what in answer to what I said, why did you answer it as if it were?"

I was taking what you said in a very general sense as it applies to all of society, Jack, not taking it in a personal sense as it applies to you. I find it an interesting subject to discuss in a general sense, but I don't have any basis for knowing how it would apply to you personally.

Keep in mind that I am typing here and putting words down at a great rate and expressing myself as best I can at any given moment. I may not succeed in always wording everything perfectly in a way that would totally convince you that I'm not out to criticize and denigrate you personally...but that's because I'm not perfect! ;-) Nevertheless, if I tell you NOW in plain language that I was most definitely NOT asserting that you personally are brainwashed, stupid, or anything else pejorative like that, then I mean it. I am simply discussing broad societal issues that affect millions of people, I am not discussing the character faults of Jack the Sailor...except in one respect: I think you often jump to taking personal offense more quickly than the situation usually warrants, often when no such offense was intended...and that leads the whole discussion down a blind alley that helps neither you nor I.