Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Onion buys Infowars

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

841–850 of 1001 posts

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#841

Post by pcf »

alt187 wrote: post #834
joezydeco wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trick is to do it without the readers noticing .

> The trick is to lie to them to get them away from their hateful and conspiracy theories I can't articulate what you're admitting to exactly, but it's an interesting admission. On a more serious note, most of the readers of these kinds of outlets aren't stupid in this specific sense. They go looking for confirmation , rather than new information. This is why they're hard to untangle.

> They go looking for confirmation, rather than new information. This is why they're hard to untangle.

This applies to most readers of most things, not just fringe content on the Left or the Right.

Most people are stuck in their confirmation biases, and few make an intellectual effort to look at topics from multiple angles and via multiple media outlets on various sides of the political spectrum.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#842

Post by pcf »

sjsdaiuasgdia wrote: post #432
dionian wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand your point

Since Musk's acquisition of Twitter, it has increasingly become a right wing echo chamber and place to promote conspiracy theories. And Alex Jones' InfoWars and Elon Musk's Twitter are both likely to show you advertisements for supplements of dubious effectiveness and other generally scammy products. So yeah, Jones fits right in there.

The reason it's increasingly an "echo chamber" is because liberals are so offended by actual free speech that they stopped posting there. To blame conservatives for this development is illogical.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#843

Post by JimDabell »

joezydeco wrote: post #262
sed_zeppelin wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a whim, I decided to peek at the InfoWars homepage. At this moment, I cannot determine which of the headlines are genuine InfoWars content and which are the product of Onion writers. (I assume it's genuine due to the recency of the sale closing?)

This seems like an incredible opportunity to see if it's possible to reprogram InfoWars readers away from the hate and the conspiracy theories. It would be a massive undertaking but wouldn't it be funny if the savior of modern media turned out to be a student newspaper from Madison, Wisconsin?

The difficulty with this is that anything that isn’t a hard 180 involves continuing to publish approximately the same type of content for a while, which is probably unpalatable to The Onion. Anything that is a small enough course correction to retain its audience is too small a shift to get away from that hateful nonsense. It’s a nice idea to try to steer people away, but you have to start off by driving in the same direction, which nobody wants to do.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#844

Post by arrowsmith »

russdpale wrote: post #675
gchamonlive wrote: post #54

The onion should just keep Alex Jones without any filters but put the onion logo on every page. The joke is already good enough, just keep it going.

Not a good idea, Alex Jones is a big reason for the hate against people like Anthony Fauci.

Idk I think the global events of 2020 to 2022 had a bigger effect on public opinion than fringe lunatics like Alex Jones.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#845

Post by verisimi »

soco wrote: post #44
arethuza wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Brexit taught me anything it was that the correct phrase is pesky unelected EU bureaucrats!

Now if we want to get into dirty details, no bureaucrat is ever elected. You elect the representatives, and they nominate in turn whoever bureaucrats they feel comfy to work with. Or is this in the UK different?

That's still democracy! Right?

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#846

Post by verisimi »

data_maan wrote: post #416
arethuza wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Brexit taught me anything it was that the correct phrase is pesky unelected EU bureaucrats!

Newsflash: the Pentagon has literally _millions_ of bureaucrats. None elected. Unelected people are tasked with defending the free world. how about that?

defending the un-free world, I think you mean. Unless you are exempt from forcible extraction of your wealth (taxes).

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#847

Post by Digit-Al »

potato3732842 wrote: post #265
josefresco wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The core idea of satire, which is often missed in supposedly satirical works is that you should not only make fun of the thing you don't believe, but you should also explain what you do believe under the cover of pretending to dismiss it. I often suggest that satire is a dangerous double edged sword and not a good primary vehicle for positive change. Part of your audience will understand it's satire, but a signific…

>I often suggest that satire is a dangerous double edged sword and not a good primary vehicle for positive change. When I write with the intent of my words being read at face value I get downvoted, flagged or my post get sent into the void by some AI depending on platform. So satire and memes it is.

Can't decide if the people downvoting you don't realise the irony, or are deliberately downvoting you for the irony.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#849

Post by arrowsmith »

thrance wrote: post #718
tonymet wrote: post #710

The Onion is irrelevant. In 3 years they will be gone and Alex Jones will pick this up for $5m

Alex Jones still owes $1.5 billions to the people he wronged, he's never buying anything ever again.

How does this actually work though? Can the debt be discharged in bankruptcy?

Now that he's been stripped of his assets, what's to stop him declaring bankruptcy, then using his name and reputation to get rich with another, new InfoWars-like brand?

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#850

Post by sharpshadow »

Conscat wrote: post #580
Suppafly wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It seems likely a good lawyer could pierce that corporate veil and go after the new company, but I don't know if that has happened. He's spent the whole time since losing the lawsuit illegally shifting assets to his parents and they bankruptcy courts haven't seemed to be able to stop that.

For what it's worth, a lawyer _did_ ask the presiding Judge Christopher Lopez to tell Alex Jones he definitely can't do that and solidify this in writing the terms of bankruptcy, and the judge simply refused to even try on the basis that everyone involved is an adult and ought to know better.

It’s standard practice to let somebody else own your things when you are in a position that don’t allow you to have something. It’s not provable easily and if it’s justice to charge him 1.4B for talking some shit it’s also justice to use the loopholes of the system.
Post reply on HN