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The Onion buys Infowars

nytimes.com

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Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#141

Post by fireflash38 »

rightbyte wrote: post #113
lenerdenator wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Somewhat ironic since The Onion could be brought down in the same way by defamation lawsuits. Unlikely. It's worth remembering that Jones was never actually tried for defamation. He instead received a default judgment. In the US, both sides of a civil case have the right to a fair and speedy trial. If there's delays, you had better have a good reason for them and they need to fit the rules of procedure. Jones and h…

Fair enough. I didn't know it was a walkover in the end. And it is not really surprising there was no sane defence. I believe Info Wars etc becoming big is pretty much a symptom rather than the problem. And it has escalated lately. I fear that they will be used as excuses for getting at others.

> I believe Info Wars etc becoming big is pretty much a symptom rather than the problem

I believe the problem is how incredibly easy it is to both disseminate and consume utter bullshit. You're no longer that weird loner in town. You go online and can find hundreds and thousands of people who agree with you. Why would you go find people that challenge your views, when you can get those dopamine highs from people who love everything you say?

Get pushback from people in your life? Cut them out. They don't get you, and they're just hating.

The worst part? It's self-sustaining. Humans are really bad about going against a group. So much of our social behavior is around what others do, and the more we find out about others believing XYZ, we'll start to believe it ourselves. Unless they're from a different group, in which case it is anathema.

Combine those 2 things and you get these people who basically live in separate worlds. And social media/internet enables that.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#142

Post by zenethian »

What's wild is that if I go to the Infowars website I can't actually tell if The Onion is controlling it yet or not. It all looks like satire already, full of absolutely ridiculous headlines.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#144

Post by jayd16 »

dogleash wrote: post #53
ascendantlogic wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the Onion is as good as it ever was. The issue now is that the real news is so wild and unhinged the Onion doesn't have that segment cornered anymore.

Oh come on now. The world wasn't just sent to live with it's auntie and uncle in Bel-Air. The distressed sullen worldview might be new to you, but people certainly had it back when I found the Onion regularly quite enjoyable too.

How is the Onion supposed to top the actual cabinet appointments, for example?

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#145

Post by gadders »

kregasaurusrex wrote: post #64

There's tonnes of worthless merchandise and supplements of a dubious nature which The Onion, the least expected of all possible buyers, now has to find a use for. My first suggestion would be melting down all of the 500% marked up gold bars[0] and make a one-time-run charity auction collectible for the Sandy Hook families. Or upcycling all the paper in Alex Jones' books [1] into paper mache, and use it to make globes…

>> make a one-time-run charity auction collectible for the Sandy Hook families

They've got $1.5billion. Probably don't need the gold as well. There might be equally valid causes with less funds.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#146

Post by SauciestGNU »

ziddoap wrote: post #132
dmvdoug wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As for the vitamins and supplements, we are halting their sale immediately. Utilitarian logic dictates that if we can extend even one CEO’s life by 10 minutes, diluting these miracle elixirs for public consumption is an unethical waste. Instead, we plan to collect the entire stock of the InfoWars warehouses into a large vat and boil the contents down into a single candy bar–sized omnivitamin that one executive (I w…

Funny, for sure, but does not explain what they will be doing in reality.

They probably don't want to be in the business of selling unregulated, scammy, and potentially dangerous goods. They might destroy the merch. Who knows.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#147

Post by mrguyorama »

raverbashing wrote: post #106
rightbyte wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like the article is really gleeful. Somewhat ironic since The Onion could be brought down in the same way by defamation lawsuits.

The Onion was not telling the parents of dead children they were crisis actors and were lying Don't want to be sued by defamation don't make BS about people in a fragile position. It's that simple

In the US, the truth is a strong and approved defense against defamation. If you are for some reason terrified of defamation lawsuits in the one nation with the highest bar required to prove defamation, you can avoid any possible loss by simply not lying.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#148

Post by miltonlost »

rightbyte wrote: post #72
afavour wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Seems like the article is really gleeful. Good! It should be. Alex Jones is a ghoul making money from dead school shooting victims. Anything that embarrasses him is entitled to as much glee as it wants.

Yes and he profits from fooling mentally ill people. Selling homeopatic pills and whatever. But I think the right to be wrong is way more important than getting at Alexander Jones. The precedent is bad.

Calling Sandy Hook a hoax and harrassing grieving parents is not "the right to be wrong".

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#149

Post by 3D30497420 »

lenerdenator wrote: post #67
rightbyte wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like the article is really gleeful. Somewhat ironic since The Onion could be brought down in the same way by defamation lawsuits.

> Somewhat ironic since The Onion could be brought down in the same way by defamation lawsuits. Unlikely. It's worth remembering that Jones was never actually tried for defamation. He instead received a default judgment. In the US, both sides of a civil case have the right to a fair and speedy trial. If there's delays, you had better have a good reason for them and they need to fit the rules of procedure. Jones and h…

IANAL, but I'd also imagine there's a difference between clear satire and something being presented as the truth. Additionally, The Onion generally goes after public figures while Infowars, in this case, was targeting private individuals. Not sure how either of these have bearing in the legal sense, but could be important factors.

Of course, in a politicized legal context, these points may not matter since legal action could simply be an endurance trial.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#150

Post by nixdev »

rightbyte wrote: post #72
afavour wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Seems like the article is really gleeful. Good! It should be. Alex Jones is a ghoul making money from dead school shooting victims. Anything that embarrasses him is entitled to as much glee as it wants.

Yes and he profits from fooling mentally ill people. Selling homeopatic pills and whatever. But I think the right to be wrong is way more important than getting at Alexander Jones. The precedent is bad.

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