4 ms·

First off this is terrifying. Additionally I was realizing the other day I thought of another reason fake news might resonate so quickly with people that doesn'

First off this is terrifying. Additionally I was realizing the other day I thought of another reason fake news might resonate so quickly with people that doesn't get brought up as much (not that I think I've had a novel idea of course, it probably isn't true or has been brought up and I haven't seen it): fake news has little nuance. Its part of what I think makes conspiracy theories so attractive, they give the impression that no matter what else is going on, someone is in control and things happen for a reason. I think the alternative that nobody is in control at all is even more scary for some people (maybe all people). I don't think it is entirely that fake news fits into your own viewpoint already, I have some "friends" on facebook that sometimes share fake-right news that aren't even really right wing, they are just kind of gullible (I hate to say that but they also fell for the fake wireless-charger video going around. Luckily that one was a little easier to debunk). The fake news would be so simple and digestible, without any nuance or subtlety that it might subconsciously be immediately favored over a more nuanced story. I don't dispute any of the other analyses going around but I think the simplicity of fake news can't be ignored and we need to remind our friends and family that the world is complex and very few stories are so straightforward.

devoply 10y ago
> I think the alternative that nobody is in control at all is even more scary for some people (maybe all people). But that's not true either, those two are not the only possibilities. The fact is that what happens in the world is usually due to the collective action of many different people and groups, with converging and diverging opinions. It's something like vector math, the resultant vector determines direction of decision making. The mass narrative which has been sold is that no one is in control, and things just happen. Which is also not true. Implicit conspiracy is common, when those interests converge. The headline might as well as be mass propaganda techniques no longer working. HALP! Or maybe mass propaganda techniques have been democratized. HALP!
- cryoshon 10y ago
  >The headline might as well as be mass propaganda techniques no longer working. HALP! i read the opposite: the propaganda technology known as "clickbait" has become so widely disseminated that truth or factual information can't compete because it doesn't translate as smoothly. the truth and the facts are always a bit less streamlined, and are always presented in a slightly more complex way-- slightly more cognitively expensive. the human mind takes the easy path whenever it can.
  - devoply 10y ago
    Human brain is easily hijacked by memes, propagandists have been doing it for a century, now the masses are doing it too -- and they are mad (are the masses mad? or the propagandists? why not both? what's the truth? i don't know!). Richard Dawkins on memes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRggkkAIC5A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRggkkAIC5A For instance this meme sunk Howard Dean's campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwkNnMrsx7Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwkNnMrsx7Q Dan Quayle and the potato incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdqbi66oNuI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdqbi66oNuI
- okreallywtf 10y ago
  > The fact is that what happens in the world is usually due to the collective action of many different people and groups Thats exactly what I mean, it seems like most conspiracies stem from the idea that some person or a group of persons is able to manipulate world events. In the fake news world, it is insinuations that circumstances have a very simple cause->effect relationship. Rather than having to comprehend the huge number influences on events, it is boiled down to a simple "they did it." narrative, which is appealing because its not challenging. Also I think calling it vector math is misleading because the number of datapoints and the complexity of the system makes any discrete analysis impossible, short of inventing psychohistory[1] for real. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional)

devoply 10y ago

> I think the alternative that nobody is in control at all is even more scary for some people (maybe all people). But that's not true either, those two are not the only possibilities. The fact is that what happens in the world is usually due to the collective action of many different people and groups, with converging and diverging opinions. It's something like vector math, the resultant vector determines direction of decision making. The mass narrative which has been sold is that no one is in control, and things just happen. Which is also not true. Implicit conspiracy is common, when those interests converge. The headline might as well as be mass propaganda techniques no longer working. HALP! Or maybe mass propaganda techniques have been democratized. HALP!

cryoshon 10y ago
>The headline might as well as be mass propaganda techniques no longer working. HALP! i read the opposite: the propaganda technology known as "clickbait" has become so widely disseminated that truth or factual information can't compete because it doesn't translate as smoothly. the truth and the facts are always a bit less streamlined, and are always presented in a slightly more complex way-- slightly more cognitively expensive. the human mind takes the easy path whenever it can.
- devoply 10y ago
  Human brain is easily hijacked by memes, propagandists have been doing it for a century, now the masses are doing it too -- and they are mad (are the masses mad? or the propagandists? why not both? what's the truth? i don't know!). Richard Dawkins on memes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRggkkAIC5A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRggkkAIC5A For instance this meme sunk Howard Dean's campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwkNnMrsx7Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwkNnMrsx7Q Dan Quayle and the potato incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdqbi66oNuI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdqbi66oNuI
okreallywtf 10y ago
> The fact is that what happens in the world is usually due to the collective action of many different people and groups Thats exactly what I mean, it seems like most conspiracies stem from the idea that some person or a group of persons is able to manipulate world events. In the fake news world, it is insinuations that circumstances have a very simple cause->effect relationship. Rather than having to comprehend the huge number influences on events, it is boiled down to a simple "they did it." narrative, which is appealing because its not challenging. Also I think calling it vector math is misleading because the number of datapoints and the complexity of the system makes any discrete analysis impossible, short of inventing psychohistory[1] for real. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional)