7 ms·

Fake News Hysteria Just Creates More Uncertainty in What Truth Really Is

49 points by AnneDev 10y ago

pcunite 10y ago
When people voted last year, they did not vote with facts. They voted with beliefs. That is true because the published facts cannot be completely relied upon to make a decision. Why? People change! Hillary Clinton's 30 year public service work is a fact. What do you think of it? That is a belief.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- dingo_bat 10y ago
  > Hillary Clinton's 30 year public service work is a fact. Is it? IMO all of it was cast into doubt the moment it came out that her foundation is just a front to get money from foreign interests.
  - bitwize 10y ago
    Millions of people with tropical diseases were treated thanks to the Clinton Foundation, yet it's all "just a front". Sure.
    - MollyR 10y ago
      Yet when she lost, many foreign governments started to pull funding. Its pretty clear that something suspicious was occurring. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/16/clinton-global-initiative-lays-off-22-as-donations/ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/16/clinton-glob...
    - DefaultUserHN 10y ago
      Wasn't there a water-downed HIV Clinton Foundation scandal? Or the Haiti scandal? Sounds like the Clinton Foundation is just a scam.
rdtsc 10y ago
For some reason I really like the phenomenon of "Fake News". It was an idea launched fairly quickly right after the election. It spread fast. All over the news. The media, and even Facebook and Google throwing their weight behind it. Nobody quite knew what it was. Was it just Lizard People news or did it include all news from Fox or just some. Was it just Macedonian teenagers making money or was CNN also Fake News. Then something happened. The mass media channels which invented and promoted Fake News ended up being labeled by it. Search for "Fake News" in image search on Google and CNN is right there. That was not the intended result I am sure. So the last I heard the idea is to now retire it due to inconvenience: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/its-time-to-retire-the-tainted-term-fake-news/2017/01/06/a5a7516c-d375-11e6-945a-76f69a399dd5_story.html?utm_term=.0ec4321e17f6 https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/its-time-to-r... There is something sad and ironic about it. There is a pr lesson there as well perhaps...
- tritosomal 10y ago
  I mean Fox News, though. Seriously the fakest of Fake News. Everything Rupert Murdoch has ever touched in his entire Mr. Burns life reeks worse than a Russian oligarch's toe jam, if you were curious about my opinion. And his children still live and breathe.
  - dotnetisnotdead 10y ago
    See this is the problem. Way too much groupthink nowadays. Do you honestly think Fox News is all fake? Hint: it's not. I'm a lifelong democrat but here's where last November's events hit me even harder than most: I know we earned it. We've been allowing CNN, MSNBC, etc to slam Trump left and right. Does he deserve it? Of course he does! The problem is they stand from an authority position with presumed partiality and they are absolutely biased. News flash folks: the giant cheeto is absolutely right about that. And they DO NOT get right 100% of the time, yet Fox News does the same thing and we slam them for it! It's absolute nonsense and it's how we got here. By being divided and pretending we aren't doing what our "enemy" is. The MLK bust thing is a great example. The crowds? Not that it should even matter but the picture being passed around and paraded all over CNN and 10,000 memes everywhere was a picture taken BEFORE the inauguration got under way. Though I do not believe Trump had a bigger crowd than Obama, it was bigger than what CNN was showing you and making a big deal out of it. These. Things. Matter. There are so many simple examples, if you call Fox News fake you have to call all of them fake.
nugget 10y ago
It may be that the days of near-absolute public faith, trust and confidence in top shelf journalism brands such as the New York Times and CNN is over. In place of that we should try to teach people how to do their own research and how to think critically and objectively about the source of news and other content they consume. (Maybe that's too much to hope for.) Either way this trend presents continued opportunities for entrepreneurs as the barriers to entry for news content continue to decrease. In a couple decades I can see at least the possibility of the Huffington Post, Breitbart, and the New York Times all having the same level of credibility (with more or less support among different groups).
jadell 10y ago
Apropos of not much, I created a Chrome extension that replaces the phrases "fake news" and "alternative facts" with the phrase "real-life fanfic." It's made my browsing over the past few days much more enjoyable, including this post and these comments. Also, my first Chrome extension, so yay learning! https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-news-to-real-life-fa/inojhidgcahbfmjdhdabcfipnlkkildg https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-news-to-real-...
- youngbullind 10y ago
  > replaces the phrases "real-life fanfic" and "real-life fanfic" with the phrase "real-life fanfic." Seems a little redundant
- AnneDev 10y ago
  that's badass!
hackuser 10y ago
Ironically, the word "Hysteria" marks this as yet more propaganda in my eyes. Is it possible they have something useful to say? Anything is possible, but I refuse to let the propaganda consume more of my time (one of its goals) and there are so many great things I could be reading.
starik36 10y ago
The big media organizations have brought this onto themselves. Take CNN for instance. The entire summer they beat the drums that the world is going to end if the Olympics are allowed to proceed in Brazil because of Zika. Way overblown. And then, after this propaganda exercise, they have the veracity to run an online poll to see how many people are in favor of pulling out of the Olympics. And they do this with everything. Be it literally shilling for Hillary this entire year or anything else. They have a pretty uphill battle to make themselves trustworthy again.
- ailideex 10y ago
  > the world is going to end if the Olympics are allowed to proceed in Brazil because of Zika But of course we know this is not true because the world already ended because of ebola.
simplyinfinity 10y ago
Here in Bulgaria we've observed Fake News for at least couple of years.... the nature of those sites (not just a single article in a reputable source) is just to generate outrage with false but legitimately sounding information. Since this has happened there is a thought trending among people : I disagree with you, so you are paid troll by (CIA|George Soros|Putin/Russia|EU liberals)
- wapz 10y ago
  Can you tell me what kind of fake news or ideas Bulgarians believe would be sponsored by the CIA? I'm genuinely intrigued to hear that the CIA would be responsible for spreading propaganda in Bulgaria of all places.
  - simplyinfinity 10y ago
    Here is a prime example : http://bradva.bg/bg/article/article-70597 http://bradva.bg/bg/article/article-70597 Rough tl;dr translation Title : Report leas about CIA's future plans for Bulgaria. This is what they planned, it's scary! Body : In 2050 The population will be divided into Bulgarians and Roma. The Roma minority will live in smaller cities/villages under extreme poverty and will attack larger cities for food. Bulgarians will have to travel with military convoys for safety. To prevent this Bulgarians have to start breeding kids with strong nationalistic views (to be read as neo Nazis) and to isolate the Roma into camps.
    - wapz 10y ago
      Wouldn't an article like this be by an ANTI-CIA group and not the actual CIA themselves? I don't see how something like that would be sponsored by the CIA because it paints them in bad light, no?
tnone 10y ago
There's a lot of scrutiny on the present, but the same applies to the origin stories around us. If history is written by the victors, what did the people who lost have to say? Reading books from the early 20th century for instance shows a society far less backward than some progressive goggles would have you believe. One should never confuse those who complain about things for those who actually intend to fix them.
guelo 10y ago
We are so fucked. Trump supporters are giddy but there is nothing to be happy about even if your preferred policies will be implemented. The thing about the destruction of Democratic institutions is that they are incredibly hard to rebuild. And without them it is a downward spiral from here.

49 points by AnneDev 10y ago

When people voted last year, they did not vote with facts. They voted with beliefs. That is true because the published facts cannot be completely relied upon to make a decision. Why? People change! Hillary Clinton's 30 year public service work is a fact. What do you think of it? That is a belief.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
dingo_bat 10y ago
> Hillary Clinton's 30 year public service work is a fact. Is it? IMO all of it was cast into doubt the moment it came out that her foundation is just a front to get money from foreign interests.
- bitwize 10y ago
  Millions of people with tropical diseases were treated thanks to the Clinton Foundation, yet it's all "just a front". Sure.
  - MollyR 10y ago
    Yet when she lost, many foreign governments started to pull funding. Its pretty clear that something suspicious was occurring. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/16/clinton-global-initiative-lays-off-22-as-donations/ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/16/clinton-glob...
  - DefaultUserHN 10y ago
    Wasn't there a water-downed HIV Clinton Foundation scandal? Or the Haiti scandal? Sounds like the Clinton Foundation is just a scam.

rdtsc 10y ago

For some reason I really like the phenomenon of "Fake News". It was an idea launched fairly quickly right after the election. It spread fast. All over the news. The media, and even Facebook and Google throwing their weight behind it. Nobody quite knew what it was. Was it just Lizard People news or did it include all news from Fox or just some. Was it just Macedonian teenagers making money or was CNN also Fake News. Then something happened. The mass media channels which invented and promoted Fake News ended up being labeled by it. Search for "Fake News" in image search on Google and CNN is right there. That was not the intended result I am sure. So the last I heard the idea is to now retire it due to inconvenience: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/its-time-to-retire-the-tainted-term-fake-news/2017/01/06/a5a7516c-d375-11e6-945a-76f69a399dd5_story.html?utm_term=.0ec4321e17f6 https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/its-time-to-r... There is something sad and ironic about it. There is a pr lesson there as well perhaps...

tritosomal 10y ago
I mean Fox News, though. Seriously the fakest of Fake News. Everything Rupert Murdoch has ever touched in his entire Mr. Burns life reeks worse than a Russian oligarch's toe jam, if you were curious about my opinion. And his children still live and breathe.
- dotnetisnotdead 10y ago
  See this is the problem. Way too much groupthink nowadays. Do you honestly think Fox News is all fake? Hint: it's not. I'm a lifelong democrat but here's where last November's events hit me even harder than most: I know we earned it. We've been allowing CNN, MSNBC, etc to slam Trump left and right. Does he deserve it? Of course he does! The problem is they stand from an authority position with presumed partiality and they are absolutely biased. News flash folks: the giant cheeto is absolutely right about that. And they DO NOT get right 100% of the time, yet Fox News does the same thing and we slam them for it! It's absolute nonsense and it's how we got here. By being divided and pretending we aren't doing what our "enemy" is. The MLK bust thing is a great example. The crowds? Not that it should even matter but the picture being passed around and paraded all over CNN and 10,000 memes everywhere was a picture taken BEFORE the inauguration got under way. Though I do not believe Trump had a bigger crowd than Obama, it was bigger than what CNN was showing you and making a big deal out of it. These. Things. Matter. There are so many simple examples, if you call Fox News fake you have to call all of them fake.

nugget 10y ago

It may be that the days of near-absolute public faith, trust and confidence in top shelf journalism brands such as the New York Times and CNN is over. In place of that we should try to teach people how to do their own research and how to think critically and objectively about the source of news and other content they consume. (Maybe that's too much to hope for.) Either way this trend presents continued opportunities for entrepreneurs as the barriers to entry for news content continue to decrease. In a couple decades I can see at least the possibility of the Huffington Post, Breitbart, and the New York Times all having the same level of credibility (with more or less support among different groups).

jadell 10y ago

Apropos of not much, I created a Chrome extension that replaces the phrases "fake news" and "alternative facts" with the phrase "real-life fanfic." It's made my browsing over the past few days much more enjoyable, including this post and these comments. Also, my first Chrome extension, so yay learning! https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-news-to-real-life-fa/inojhidgcahbfmjdhdabcfipnlkkildg https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-news-to-real-...

youngbullind 10y ago
> replaces the phrases "real-life fanfic" and "real-life fanfic" with the phrase "real-life fanfic." Seems a little redundant
AnneDev 10y ago
that's badass!

hackuser 10y ago

Ironically, the word "Hysteria" marks this as yet more propaganda in my eyes. Is it possible they have something useful to say? Anything is possible, but I refuse to let the propaganda consume more of my time (one of its goals) and there are so many great things I could be reading.

starik36 10y ago

The big media organizations have brought this onto themselves. Take CNN for instance. The entire summer they beat the drums that the world is going to end if the Olympics are allowed to proceed in Brazil because of Zika. Way overblown. And then, after this propaganda exercise, they have the veracity to run an online poll to see how many people are in favor of pulling out of the Olympics. And they do this with everything. Be it literally shilling for Hillary this entire year or anything else. They have a pretty uphill battle to make themselves trustworthy again.

ailideex 10y ago
> the world is going to end if the Olympics are allowed to proceed in Brazil because of Zika But of course we know this is not true because the world already ended because of ebola.

simplyinfinity 10y ago

Here in Bulgaria we've observed Fake News for at least couple of years.... the nature of those sites (not just a single article in a reputable source) is just to generate outrage with false but legitimately sounding information. Since this has happened there is a thought trending among people : I disagree with you, so you are paid troll by (CIA|George Soros|Putin/Russia|EU liberals)

wapz 10y ago
Can you tell me what kind of fake news or ideas Bulgarians believe would be sponsored by the CIA? I'm genuinely intrigued to hear that the CIA would be responsible for spreading propaganda in Bulgaria of all places.
- simplyinfinity 10y ago
  Here is a prime example : http://bradva.bg/bg/article/article-70597 http://bradva.bg/bg/article/article-70597 Rough tl;dr translation Title : Report leas about CIA's future plans for Bulgaria. This is what they planned, it's scary! Body : In 2050 The population will be divided into Bulgarians and Roma. The Roma minority will live in smaller cities/villages under extreme poverty and will attack larger cities for food. Bulgarians will have to travel with military convoys for safety. To prevent this Bulgarians have to start breeding kids with strong nationalistic views (to be read as neo Nazis) and to isolate the Roma into camps.
  - wapz 10y ago
    Wouldn't an article like this be by an ANTI-CIA group and not the actual CIA themselves? I don't see how something like that would be sponsored by the CIA because it paints them in bad light, no?

tnone 10y ago

There's a lot of scrutiny on the present, but the same applies to the origin stories around us. If history is written by the victors, what did the people who lost have to say? Reading books from the early 20th century for instance shows a society far less backward than some progressive goggles would have you believe. One should never confuse those who complain about things for those who actually intend to fix them.

guelo 10y ago

We are so fucked. Trump supporters are giddy but there is nothing to be happy about even if your preferred policies will be implemented. The thing about the destruction of Democratic institutions is that they are incredibly hard to rebuild. And without them it is a downward spiral from here.