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Fake News Hysteria Just Creates More Uncertainty in What Truth Really Is

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Re: Fake News Hysteria Just Creates More Uncertainty in What Truth Really Is

#2
When people voted last year, they did not vote with facts. They voted with beliefs.

That is true because the published facts cannot be completely relied upon to make a decision. Why? People change! Hillary Clinton's 30 year public service work is a fact. What do you think of it? That is a belief.

Re: Fake News Hysteria Just Creates More Uncertainty in What Truth Really Is

#3
post #2

When people voted last year, they did not vote with facts. They voted with beliefs. That is true because the published facts cannot be completely relied upon to make a decision. Why? People change! Hillary Clinton's 30 year public service work is a fact. What do you think of it? That is a belief.

[deleted]

Re: Fake News Hysteria Just Creates More Uncertainty in What Truth Really Is

#4
For some reason I really like the phenomenon of "Fake News". It was an idea launched fairly quickly right after the election. It spread fast. All over the news. The media, and even Facebook and Google throwing their weight behind it.

Nobody quite knew what it was. Was it just Lizard People news or did it include all news from Fox or just some. Was it just Macedonian teenagers making money or was CNN also Fake News.

Then something happened. The mass media channels which invented and promoted Fake News ended up being labeled by it. Search for "Fake News" in image search on Google and CNN is right there. That was not the intended result I am sure. So the last I heard the idea is to now retire it due to inconvenience:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/its-time-to-r...

There is something sad and ironic about it. There is a pr lesson there as well perhaps...

Re: Fake News Hysteria Just Creates More Uncertainty in What Truth Really Is

#5
post #4

For some reason I really like the phenomenon of "Fake News". It was an idea launched fairly quickly right after the election. It spread fast. All over the news. The media, and even Facebook and Google throwing their weight behind it. Nobody quite knew what it was. Was it just Lizard People news or did it include all news from Fox or just some. Was it just Macedonian teenagers making money or was CNN also Fake News. T…

I mean Fox News, though. Seriously the fakest of Fake News.

Everything Rupert Murdoch has ever touched in his entire Mr. Burns life reeks worse than a Russian oligarch's toe jam, if you were curious about my opinion.

And his children still live and breathe.

Re: Fake News Hysteria Just Creates More Uncertainty in What Truth Really Is

#6
It may be that the days of near-absolute public faith, trust and confidence in top shelf journalism brands such as the New York Times and CNN is over. In place of that we should try to teach people how to do their own research and how to think critically and objectively about the source of news and other content they consume. (Maybe that's too much to hope for.) Either way this trend presents continued opportunities for entrepreneurs as the barriers to entry for news content continue to decrease. In a couple decades I can see at least the possibility of the Huffington Post, Breitbart, and the New York Times all having the same level of credibility (with more or less support among different groups).

Re: Fake News Hysteria Just Creates More Uncertainty in What Truth Really Is

#7
Apropos of not much, I created a Chrome extension that replaces the phrases "fake news" and "alternative facts" with the phrase "real-life fanfic." It's made my browsing over the past few days much more enjoyable, including this post and these comments.

Also, my first Chrome extension, so yay learning!

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-news-to-real-...

Re: Fake News Hysteria Just Creates More Uncertainty in What Truth Really Is

#8
Ironically, the word "Hysteria" marks this as yet more propaganda in my eyes.

Is it possible they have something useful to say? Anything is possible, but I refuse to let the propaganda consume more of my time (one of its goals) and there are so many great things I could be reading.

Re: Fake News Hysteria Just Creates More Uncertainty in What Truth Really Is

#9
post #4

For some reason I really like the phenomenon of "Fake News". It was an idea launched fairly quickly right after the election. It spread fast. All over the news. The media, and even Facebook and Google throwing their weight behind it. Nobody quite knew what it was. Was it just Lizard People news or did it include all news from Fox or just some. Was it just Macedonian teenagers making money or was CNN also Fake News. T…

I mean Fox News, though. Seriously the fakest of Fake News. Everything Rupert Murdoch has ever touched in his entire Mr. Burns life reeks worse than a Russian oligarch's toe jam, if you were curious about my opinion. And his children still live and breathe.

See this is the problem. Way too much groupthink nowadays. Do you honestly think Fox News is all fake? Hint: it's not.

I'm a lifelong democrat but here's where last November's events hit me even harder than most: I know we earned it.

We've been allowing CNN, MSNBC, etc to slam Trump left and right. Does he deserve it? Of course he does! The problem is they stand from an authority position with presumed partiality and they are absolutely biased. News flash folks: the giant cheeto is absolutely right about that. And they DO NOT get right 100% of the time, yet Fox News does the same thing and we slam them for it! It's absolute nonsense and it's how we got here. By being divided and pretending we aren't doing what our "enemy" is.

The MLK bust thing is a great example. The crowds? Not that it should even matter but the picture being passed around and paraded all over CNN and 10,000 memes everywhere was a picture taken BEFORE the inauguration got under way. Though I do not believe Trump had a bigger crowd than Obama, it was bigger than what CNN was showing you and making a big deal out of it.

These. Things. Matter.

There are so many simple examples, if you call Fox News fake you have to call all of them fake.

Re: Fake News Hysteria Just Creates More Uncertainty in What Truth Really Is

#10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean Fox News, though. Seriously the fakest of Fake News. Everything Rupert Murdoch has ever touched in his entire Mr. Burns life reeks worse than a Russian oligarch's toe jam, if you were curious about my opinion. And his children still live and breathe.

See this is the problem. Way too much groupthink nowadays. Do you honestly think Fox News is all fake? Hint: it's not. I'm a lifelong democrat but here's where last November's events hit me even harder than most: I know we earned it. We've been allowing CNN, MSNBC, etc to slam Trump left and right. Does he deserve it? Of course he does! The problem is they stand from an authority position with presumed partiality and…

If it actually mattered, then ISIS wouldn't exist, because we wouldn't have invaded Iraq for laughs.

But Fox News was pretty cool about making sure there was popular support for the Iraq war, and plenty of it.

Who cares about what happens anymore, when I'm supposed to each shit sandwiches like these.

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