4 ms·

How on earth are those things connected? Changing your profile picture is nothing like disseminating factually untrue news stories to an audience of millions.

• gaius 10y ago
  They are connected by being scapegoated, in a display of cognitive dissonance to avoid a real root cause analysis. No piece of "fake" news changed anyone's mind, simply reinforced beliefs they already had. Same reason people subscribe to newspapers that reflect their existing worldview or value system.
  • untog 10y ago
    > No piece of "fake" news changed anyone's mind, simply reinforced beliefs they already had You make it sound like that doesn't matter. It does. Reinforcing an incorrect belief is a bad thing.
    • gaius 10y ago
      Who gets to define correct or incorrect here? Everyone has an agenda.