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Just an ancillary point: this highlights that free access to group messaging apps makes it much harder than before to suppress facts about what has happened som
by marvin 7y ago
Just an ancillary point: this highlights that free access to group messaging apps makes it much harder than before to suppress facts about what has happened somewhere. Especially if there's video. The Iran regime of 1990 would have had a much easier time keeping this mistake under wraps.
I think the whole "fake news" and related propaganda strategies we see in the West are what happens when people in power try to adapt to this new reality, by attacking at the weak spots of the new information infrastructure.
- pjc50 7y agoYes. Rather than attempt to suppress it in the West, we'd see a lot of conflicting reports, allegations of fake news, unrelated smear attempts, questioning of loyalties, and attempts to arrest whistleblowers. The US never did admit liability for shooting down an Iranian jet in similar circumstances: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655
- dougweltman 7y agoThere's a gap, between admitting to downing a plane and "admitting liability" for it, in which the US places its downing of Flight 655. But the parallel you would need to draw here is of the former: admitting to downing the plane.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- loufe 7y agoFor flight 655, while they never admitted guilt, they did settle paying the victim's families "ex-gratia" a non-negligible sum. While it is not the same as directly admitting you are responible, espcecially to the victims, for most intents and purposes that counts as an admition in my books.
- misterman0 7y ago>> they never admitted guilt >> they did settle >> that counts as an admition Oh how good you look in those rose tinted glasses of yours. Edit to self: never try to change HN. It's already optimized, not for conversation but for promotion of things that are PK. That is a good thing.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- dang 7y agoPersonal attacks will get you banned here. Also, can you please not post unsubstantive comments generally? The intended spirit of this site is described in https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. Would you please review those rules and post in keeping with them?
- iknowalot 7y agoAfter the US commander of the ship murdered 290 people on flight 655, he was given a Legion of Merit. Two sets of rules.
- nate_meurer 7y agoThrowing the word "murder" about like this is an abuse of language. Nobody, not even the Iranians, ever suggested that the crew of the USS Vincennes intended to kill civilians. The crew appears to have exercised piss-poor diligence, but it's universally recognized that they thought they were firing on a military aircraft.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- tnolet 7y agoThere is a great observation in one of the Bellingcat podcasts on MH17. Russia no longer denies facts. Instead they go all postmodern: “what are facts anyway? What is truth?” I guess Trump does this too to an extent. Except he has the press in his neck to call him out.
- brutt 7y agoRussia still denies facts. Period. This topic is about Iran.