4 ms·

> The fake news isn't lizard people and magic brainwashing of people into white supremacists, it's "Clinton is even more terrible than you think". What about p

by rdtsc 10y ago

> The fake news isn't lizard people and magic brainwashing of people into white supremacists, it's "Clinton is even more terrible than you think". What about people not liking her policies or what she has done, is that because of "Fake News". Should we go and censor that. Telling them they read "Fake News" and instead they should have been watching the "real news" like CNN would also sound rather silly, don't you think?

maxerickson 10y ago
No, it's fine for people to not like her policies, that's the traditional Republican base that I mentioned. I'm sure lots of well informed people voted against Clinton. So for example, in Wisconsin, I'm sure Trump would have gotten 1 million+ votes regardless of fake news. The question is more whether inaccurate stories influenced enough people (3 types of influence: vote changing, increasing enthusiasm which encourages voting, decreasing enthusiasm which discourages voting) to push the margin in Wisconsin to 30,000 in favor of Trump. I have seen no proof that it happened, I'm just saying that I think it could have happened in such a close race.
- rdtsc 10y ago
  > The question is more whether inaccurate stories influenced enough people Exactly, I'd want to know more as well. > I'm just saying that I think it could have happened in such a close race. The margin was close in many states, but overall Hillary still got the worst Democratic turnout since early 90's. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending who you ask) electoral collage is how presidency is won. So campaign strategy focuses on that. In that regard with Trump's landslide, putting "Fake News" as a major reason I think is dismissive. There are serious conditions under which so many people elected a TV show star as a President, and even though I am just as baffled and don't have the answer, I suspect focusing on "Fake News" is a misdirection.
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    The RNC targeted likely Democratic voters with negative ads designed to discourage them from voting. Fake news could have a similar effect. I don't think it is worth obsessing over it in context of the election, but I'm not going to dismiss it out of hand. People adopting insular world views is a real problem. Organizations with as much influence over content as Facebook can't just pretend they are neutral. And again, there was no landslide.
grzm 10y ago
"Telling them they read "Fake News" and instead they should have been watching the "real news" like CNN would also sound rather silly, don't you think?" Certainly. What would you say to encouraging people to be more critical in reading the news?

by rdtsc 10y ago

maxerickson 10y ago

No, it's fine for people to not like her policies, that's the traditional Republican base that I mentioned. I'm sure lots of well informed people voted against Clinton. So for example, in Wisconsin, I'm sure Trump would have gotten 1 million+ votes regardless of fake news. The question is more whether inaccurate stories influenced enough people (3 types of influence: vote changing, increasing enthusiasm which encourages voting, decreasing enthusiasm which discourages voting) to push the margin in Wisconsin to 30,000 in favor of Trump. I have seen no proof that it happened, I'm just saying that I think it could have happened in such a close race.

rdtsc 10y ago
> The question is more whether inaccurate stories influenced enough people Exactly, I'd want to know more as well. > I'm just saying that I think it could have happened in such a close race. The margin was close in many states, but overall Hillary still got the worst Democratic turnout since early 90's. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending who you ask) electoral collage is how presidency is won. So campaign strategy focuses on that. In that regard with Trump's landslide, putting "Fake News" as a major reason I think is dismissive. There are serious conditions under which so many people elected a TV show star as a President, and even though I am just as baffled and don't have the answer, I suspect focusing on "Fake News" is a misdirection.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  The RNC targeted likely Democratic voters with negative ads designed to discourage them from voting. Fake news could have a similar effect. I don't think it is worth obsessing over it in context of the election, but I'm not going to dismiss it out of hand. People adopting insular world views is a real problem. Organizations with as much influence over content as Facebook can't just pretend they are neutral. And again, there was no landslide.

grzm 10y ago

"Telling them they read "Fake News" and instead they should have been watching the "real news" like CNN would also sound rather silly, don't you think?" Certainly. What would you say to encouraging people to be more critical in reading the news?