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Some political activists have no choice but to yell "Fake News!" to rationalize censorship now, because they basically used "Racist!" to censor views they didn'

by skrowl 10y ago

Some political activists have no choice but to yell "Fake News!" to rationalize censorship now, because they basically used "Racist!" to censor views they didn't like so much that the word no longer has meaning. It makes you wonder what will come next. The funny (or sad) part is that silencing dissenting opinions via means like this is the very definition of fascism, but the people so quick to yell "fake news!" now are the same ones who were calling their friends fascist on social media 2 months ago just for supporting a different presidential candidate than they were.

otalp 10y ago
It is less a question of censorship and more a question of removing egregiously bad "news" that is explicitly written to collect views. If you believe flagging false headlines like “Michelle Obama DEMANDS Americans PAY UP To Give Her Mom A Cushy $160k Pension” is fascism, and that advocating war-crimes and bringing back libel laws like Trump did is not, I don't know what to say. There is a whole industry set up to profit from making fake news that they know is false: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/in-macedonias-fake-news-hub-teen-shows-ap-how-its-done/2016/12/02/98bce38e-b88d-11e6-939c-91749443c5e5_story.html?utm_term=.f80a4c745b5a https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/in-macedonias-fa... If you think any attempt to reduce profiteering by knowingly generating fake news that gets millions of shares is fascism, I'm not sure what isn't. I'm not sure if there has been any 'transition' from accusations of racism to fake news. The "birther" controversy, especially the way it treated by places like Brietbart was both racist and fake, I doubt that you dispute that. Trump retweeting Stormfront infographics that claim ridiculous stuff like 90% of white murder victims were killed by black people is both racist and fake. This is hardly a "liberal" or globalist position, even Fox news called out Trump on that. Regardless of political orientation, objective facts do exist. I don't believe in censorship, but I think if a site wants to flag a post saying "reasons why the moon landing is a globalist conspiracy" as false, I'm not going to cry that it's literally fascism.
DanBC 10y ago
The Daily Mail is a fascist newspaper, and has been for some time. When they print headlines such as "Hurrah for the blackshirts" (1934) or "German Jews pouring into this country" (1939) it's easy to see their fascist history, but that continues today. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between Nazi cartoons and modern day DM cartoons. http://www.globalresearch.ca/british-media-has-sunk-to-an-all-time-low-despicable-response-to-paris-terrorist-attacks-and-refugee-crisis/5489791 http://www.globalresearch.ca/british-media-has-sunk-to-an-al... http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/offended-by-the-daily-mails-cartoon-of-refugees-and-rats-fine-but-you-don-t-have-a-right-to-censor-a6738356.html http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/offended-by-the-daily-ma...
anigbrowl 10y ago
I've seen this argument before. A: the solution to unwanted speech is more speech. B: OK. A: Also pg is a lizard from planet Nibiru. B: That sounds like bullshi- A: OMG CENSORSHIP Nobody is silencing dissenting opinions, they're disagreeing with them and questioning their validity. Don't dish out criticism if you can't take it.

by skrowl 10y ago

otalp 10y ago

It is less a question of censorship and more a question of removing egregiously bad "news" that is explicitly written to collect views. If you believe flagging false headlines like “Michelle Obama DEMANDS Americans PAY UP To Give Her Mom A Cushy $160k Pension” is fascism, and that advocating war-crimes and bringing back libel laws like Trump did is not, I don't know what to say. There is a whole industry set up to profit from making fake news that they know is false: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/in-macedonias-fake-news-hub-teen-shows-ap-how-its-done/2016/12/02/98bce38e-b88d-11e6-939c-91749443c5e5_story.html?utm_term=.f80a4c745b5a https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/in-macedonias-fa... If you think any attempt to reduce profiteering by knowingly generating fake news that gets millions of shares is fascism, I'm not sure what isn't. I'm not sure if there has been any 'transition' from accusations of racism to fake news. The "birther" controversy, especially the way it treated by places like Brietbart was both racist and fake, I doubt that you dispute that. Trump retweeting Stormfront infographics that claim ridiculous stuff like 90% of white murder victims were killed by black people is both racist and fake. This is hardly a "liberal" or globalist position, even Fox news called out Trump on that. Regardless of political orientation, objective facts do exist. I don't believe in censorship, but I think if a site wants to flag a post saying "reasons why the moon landing is a globalist conspiracy" as false, I'm not going to cry that it's literally fascism.

DanBC 10y ago

The Daily Mail is a fascist newspaper, and has been for some time. When they print headlines such as "Hurrah for the blackshirts" (1934) or "German Jews pouring into this country" (1939) it's easy to see their fascist history, but that continues today. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between Nazi cartoons and modern day DM cartoons. http://www.globalresearch.ca/british-media-has-sunk-to-an-all-time-low-despicable-response-to-paris-terrorist-attacks-and-refugee-crisis/5489791 http://www.globalresearch.ca/british-media-has-sunk-to-an-al... http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/offended-by-the-daily-mails-cartoon-of-refugees-and-rats-fine-but-you-don-t-have-a-right-to-censor-a6738356.html http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/offended-by-the-daily-ma...

anigbrowl 10y ago

I've seen this argument before. A: the solution to unwanted speech is more speech. B: OK. A: Also pg is a lizard from planet Nibiru. B: That sounds like bullshi- A: OMG CENSORSHIP Nobody is silencing dissenting opinions, they're disagreeing with them and questioning their validity. Don't dish out criticism if you can't take it.