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White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"

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Re: White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"

#51

Post by hhh »

squigz wrote: post #32
SilverElfin wrote: post #11

Here’s a direct link to the tweet from the White House deputy communications director that said this, after being caught red handed altering photos to spread propaganda and lying to the public: https://xcancel.com/Kaelan47/status/2014410500096856358 Even crazier is the reply further down on that post from the deputy press secretary, Abigail Jackson, making fun of people who debunked that post like Snopes: https://xca…

> And more horrifying are all the accounts replying in support of this. That’s evidence of the hardcore MAGA base that’ll support Trump no matter what he does, I guess. I'd just like to say that judging public perception based on online comments, in 2026, is probably not a good indicator at all. Sort of ironic having to point this out in a thread about AI faked images, but...

Why? There’s plenty of people disavowing their actions and plenty supporting them. There will be plenty of blue checkmarks with full face shown selfdoxxing while they gleefully call for more to be killed.

Re: White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"

#52

Post by unethical_ban »

blell wrote: post #28
matthewdgreen wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are people on this site who will still turn out to vote for this administration and their allies in Congress. It's wild.

[flagged]

Phase for the day: rule of law

Re: White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"

#53

Post by alright2565 »

secabeen wrote: post #16

Slander and libel laws are complicated, but she should have a pretty good case: - The defendant knew or should have know that he or she was making an untrue or defamatory statement about you. (Yes, they edited the photo.) - The false statement must clearly identify you. (It's a clear photo.) - The defendant must have spread the false information to at least one third party who is not the target. For a libel case, the…

The supreme court will declare them immune to the suit, if they haven't already done so.

Re: White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"

#54

Post by mhitza »

wmeredith wrote: post #2

There's been a lot of talk on HN about generative AI and how it will be weaponized to scam people and politically for propoganda. That reality got here very quickly. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted a photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong, a Minnesota civil rights attorney, being arrested at a political protest. A half hour later, the official White House X account posted an altered version in which Armstro…

Remeber my shock, first time reading the following news a couple of years back https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-65757400 where the faces of indian protesters were photoshoped to smile, in order to downplay their protest.

Image GenAi, just triviliazes the work of those in corrupt power.

Re: White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"

#55

Post by CursedSilicon »

blell wrote: post #28
matthewdgreen wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are people on this site who will still turn out to vote for this administration and their allies in Congress. It's wild.

[flagged]

Downplaying people getting shot in the face does you no favors

Re: White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"

#56

Post by b450 »

loudmax wrote: post #23
throwaway81523 wrote: post #5

Memes might continue but WH credibility won't. As if there was any in the first place.

Arguably, that's the point. For post-truth politicians, the objective isn't to present a narrative as objectively factual, but to bring the entire notion of factual objectivity into question. It's not "This is the truth." Rather, it's "The truth is unknowable." If nobody knows what's true and false anyway, there's no reason to concern yourself with "facts" that disturb your preconceptions.

> White House Deputy Communications Director Kaelan Dorr defended the post after criticism of the image manipulation.

> “Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Dorr wrote.

The banner image on Dorr's X account reads: "oMg, diD tHe wHiTE hOuSE reALLy PosT tHiS?"

You're right, and I'd add that the agenda goes well beyond muddying the waters. This administration is deliberately normalizing bad faith, lying, and trolling. Discrediting critics as humorless, pathetic pearl-clutchers. I don't believe that their supporters strictly "believe" in Trump's alternate reality - they know that Trump and his cronies lie non-stop, and they like it. Accepting these lies serves as a shibboleth and lays the groundwork for discrediting fair elections, bogus prosecutions of political opponents, and everything else this administration is doing to corruptly hold on to power and demoralize their opponents.

Re: White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"

#57

Post by squigz »

hhh wrote: post #51
squigz wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And more horrifying are all the accounts replying in support of this. That’s evidence of the hardcore MAGA base that’ll support Trump no matter what he does, I guess. I'd just like to say that judging public perception based on online comments, in 2026, is probably not a good indicator at all. Sort of ironic having to point this out in a thread about AI faked images, but...

Why? There’s plenty of people disavowing their actions and plenty supporting them. There will be plenty of blue checkmarks with full face shown selfdoxxing while they gleefully call for more to be killed.

There is lots of propaganda being pushed online with fake accounts. Checkmarks and pictures of a face do not make a real account.

Re: White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"

#58

Post by spencerflem »

mothballed wrote: post #39
loudmax wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a US citizen, I'm proud of Minnesotans for standing up for American values.

It's nice that they're doing it. And they are certainly the bravest we have to offer; much braver than you or I. That said, the bravest we have are asking that they please not be murdered. And then peacefully kneeling down to be executed, even when they are armed. Obviously this only emboldens the murderers. The options moving forward look bleak.

I’m not convinced we’d be in a better place if the ICE officer had been shot in self defense. It’s a really powerful story and cements to ‘normal people’ who are just barely following the news what ICE is like.

FWIW I do think things might be different later but there’s still a lot of room for escalation left

Re: White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"

#59

Post by mothballed »

davidivadavid wrote: post #20
matthewdgreen wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are people on this site who will still turn out to vote for this administration and their allies in Congress. It's wild.

The number of tech or tech-adjacent people that have completely torched their reputation in the last few weeks is staggering. I hope they get publicly shamed.

Lol the CEO of Palantir said enthusiastically during an investor conference that it's necessary on occasion to kill his enemies, why would you think tech reputations would get torched? If anything it should be a boon when getting hired for big tech. As the government becomes more fascist and more integrated with industry, these contracts will be more and more important and enthusiastically embracing the anti-domestic-terrorist line will improve reputations even more.

Re: White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"

#60

Post by morgengold »

Herring wrote: post #45

Reminder that the most reliable way to prevent the rise of the far right is to implement robust safety nets and low inequality, to reduce status anxiety and grievance. Europe found that out the hard way, and America is in the early stages of realizing it.

If we (Europe) are not careful, we will have to find out this pretty soon again.
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