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People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

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Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#391

Post by duckMuppet »

FlyMoreRockets wrote: post #390
AgentME wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the Kurt Vonnegut quote "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." I think people who decide to like a thing "ironically" generally progress to liking it unironically without realizing it. Some continue to claim it's ironic, but when all their actions (including voting) are fully consistent with someone that likes the thing unironically, you have to wonder if the word "i…

> "...you have to wonder if the word 'ironic' still has any meaning." This is perhaps the most ironic thing.

Pretty sure most news agencies consider anything remotely conservative fake news now. I rarely ever see corrections or retractions from ANY of the big outlets. It's largely become infotainment, and everyone drinks from the fire hose of their own perspective. It's no wonder there is so little tolerance of any other perspective.

This will likely lead to another push for controlling the internet/media a la net neutrality, because we all know people can't be left to do their own research, use any amount of discernment, or have an alternative viewpoint.

Bring forth the gulags, the people need jobs...

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#393

Post by hkt »

dandare wrote: post #110

Anecdotal evidence: I remember how my 65 years old dad changed from a large-minded, world-traveling retired professor to an avid consumer of fake news in the span of fewer than two years. Yes, it was a shock, but most of all I am mortified that this could happen to me as well when I get to his age.

My mother did the same. She was tolerant once.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#394

Post by hkt »

pasabagi wrote: post #343
pcwalton wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same with 4chan, from what I've heard. There's a lesson here about social media: if you tolerate people pretending to be Nazis "as a joke", then you will soon become overrun with actual Nazis.

I can confirm. I was on 4chan a lot as a teenager (some ten years ago, now), and the Nazism was generally more a joke about how nasty and intolerant the board was. There were even 'raids' (essentially cyber-bullying) on racists. I can only guess that things must have gone downhill when the site was taken over by Hiroyuki Nishimura, who has some pretty right-wing political views. That said, there's also a kind of natu…

I was on the site a little over ten years ago too, and see the same affinities, in retrospect.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#395

Post by hkt »

marton78 wrote: post #276
dandare wrote: post #110

Anecdotal evidence: I remember how my 65 years old dad changed from a large-minded, world-traveling retired professor to an avid consumer of fake news in the span of fewer than two years. Yes, it was a shock, but most of all I am mortified that this could happen to me as well when I get to his age.

It could be beginning dementia / Alzheimer's. At least that is the case for my father. Similarly to believing fake news, also lost his humour, he just doesn't get jokes any more, he takes them at face value. I hope this is not the case for your dad and I'm sorry if I scared you, but you could consider having him checked.

I'm sorry about your father, but your comment made me wonder how common this is.

I wonder: could an aging population endanger democracy by not being able to distinguish truth from falsehood?

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#396

Post by hkt »

leetbulb wrote: post #389
dandare wrote: post #110

Anecdotal evidence: I remember how my 65 years old dad changed from a large-minded, world-traveling retired professor to an avid consumer of fake news in the span of fewer than two years. Yes, it was a shock, but most of all I am mortified that this could happen to me as well when I get to his age.

It all happened when my father got an iPad and a Facebook account. Now he sits around and consumes the cancerous vomit spewed by "old friends" and predatory "news" outlets. He doesn't understand how any of it works; he has fallen victim, and there's nothing at all that I can do about it. He takes pride in his involvement, even if it's just consumption. It's tearing him away from reality and his family. It's almost as…

I'm not sure but I've noticed similar behaviours in others. I think it is due to the random reward of getting an item when you swipe a few times in the facebook app: people become absorbed in it the same way they become absorbed in gambling terminals, and crucially it is the same mechanism of reward.

It might be worth considering what interventions people make with problem gamblers. I suspect if those interventions would work for people in your situation too.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#397

Post by hkt »

cheez wrote: post #111
dandare wrote: post #110

Anecdotal evidence: I remember how my 65 years old dad changed from a large-minded, world-traveling retired professor to an avid consumer of fake news in the span of fewer than two years. Yes, it was a shock, but most of all I am mortified that this could happen to me as well when I get to his age.

I used to read the national enquirer (UFOs, Bigfoot!) religiously as a kid. I suspect there is something that appeals to people at certain stages in life. Most likely, as you get older/younger you desire stimulation. In mid-life, you're probably over-stimulated.

Fairy tales!

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#398

Post by burfog »

api wrote: post #14
taeric wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorta. Propaganda is not a new thing.

No, but I think the parent is correct. I grew up with the Internet. I was reading wacky conspiracy theories in my teens. It made me more skeptical of virtually anything I see in print since I learned how easy it is to create a BS narrative and fit details into it. I also learned what propaganda is, how it works, and how prevalent it is. Older generations grew up with a one-way opaque screen preaching to them. Obvious…

Older generations didn't trust things on screens. They cursed at things on screens.

They could and did seek alternative opinions, though often it cost more. Subscribing to newsletters has long been an option. For example, the John Birch Society's TheNewAmerican was created in 1985 as the merger of two older newsletters that date to 1956 and 1965. It's now available at https://www.thenewamerican.com/ but you can still get the print version delivered to your house twice a month.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#399

Post by sparkie »

fzeroracer wrote: post #374
sparkie wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the concerns, but your "solutions" are deeply flawed and faith based. Your idea that whites won't be discriminated is a joke, because it's already reality. Whites are actively discriminated against. This is what "positive discrimination" is. It means that if you have 9 white candidates and 1 non-white candate apply for 2 jobs, and you have a diversity quota to fill, then the non-white candidate has a 100…

White People are not actively discriminated against, period. Your fears are absurd and unfounded, considering white people still compose the majority of tech and that has changed very little.

The majority of applicants for tech roles are white men, period!

It's no accident that if you have 80% white people apply for jobs, then 80% of your company is going to be white. This is, assuming you do not discriminate based on skin color. If you have 80% white apply, and only 60% of your company is white, then you are disciminating based on skin color. This is racism! I don't care how you want to spin it, whether you think it is justified or not, it is plain racism. This is why I use the term racism quota and not diversity quota. Call things for what they are.

If you want to change the situation, then positive action would be actions which cause the number of applicants of color to increase. However, you need to be careful when planning this too - because educating non-whites "more than" whites, deliberately, is just moving the discrimination to white boys. The idea of "black-only workshops" is racist, just as it would be if there were "white-only workshops." Everyone should be given the same opportunities, and I'm all for improving the state of education in communities where it has been substandard or non-existant in the past, so as to level the playing field.

Perhaps education alone won't cut it, because there might be some more fundamental cultural issues which account for the significant differences in graduates of tech related fields. Women, for example, are only 15% of CS grads at best. It is absurd to expect equal representation of programmers to be female given the statistics but don't let that get in the way of your faith in social justice. Men can't be victims of your actions, after all.

If you think that girls don't get into tech because of some perceived patriarchy where they are oppressed, you are absolutely delusional. The biggest thing preventing girls getting into tech is other girls - the bullying they receive in school.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#400

Post by asabjorn »

EpicEng wrote: post #371
asabjorn wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

soundwave106 replied in another message with the sources. Buzzfeed seems to be the primary source of the classifications, a far-left organization, so the conclusion is with all likelihood predetermined by politically motivated definitions of fake news. These are the classification sources according to soundwave106: A) The primary source was a list of fake news sites compiled by Buzzfeed Media [1] B) The study was cro…

Do you have any specific examples of bias?

[1] https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/buzzfeed/

[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/10/21/le...

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