4 ms·

I don't see any evidence that the right has "weaponized misinformation in an organized manner" anymore so than the left has.

dariusj18 7y ago
Honestly, I have a hard time finding any organized left-wing disinformation. Perhaps that's the evidence of left-wing disinformation? Could you point me to some resources so that I might have a better understanding?
- cheese4242 7y ago
  The whole "Trump is controlled by Russia" thing, for starters.
  - dariusj18 7y ago
    This doesn't seem like misinformation to me. Certainly there are people who believe Trump is somehow directly controlled by Russia, but it doesn't seem to be an organized effort. Whereas there is plenty of evidence that Trump was aided by Russia and has many financial ties to Russian oligarchs. This credibly opens up a wealth of possible ways that he could be compromised. It's one of the reason politicians attempt to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
    - cheese4242 7y ago
      I'm not sure how the pushing of the Trump/Russia narrative could be seen as anything but "organized".
runarberg 7y ago
I think this came up after Sacha Baron Cohen gave his famous speech at the ADL[1]. What makes social media political campaign so much more dangerous then traditional campaigns is that the investigative journalists don’t have the same access to the campaign claims as the targets, and hence cannot scrutinize, contextualize and compare them. You are not alone in not seeing any evidence. Professional journalists with years of experience have the same problem. But until we either learn how to overcome this limitation with new investigative techniques, or—better yet—regulate political campaigns with national laws, I suggest we remember the fact that: “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”[2] [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymaWq5yZIYM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymaWq5yZIYM [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_ignorance#Absence_of_evidence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_ignorance#Absenc...

dariusj18 7y ago

Honestly, I have a hard time finding any organized left-wing disinformation. Perhaps that's the evidence of left-wing disinformation? Could you point me to some resources so that I might have a better understanding?

cheese4242 7y ago
The whole "Trump is controlled by Russia" thing, for starters.
- dariusj18 7y ago
  This doesn't seem like misinformation to me. Certainly there are people who believe Trump is somehow directly controlled by Russia, but it doesn't seem to be an organized effort. Whereas there is plenty of evidence that Trump was aided by Russia and has many financial ties to Russian oligarchs. This credibly opens up a wealth of possible ways that he could be compromised. It's one of the reason politicians attempt to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
  - cheese4242 7y ago
    I'm not sure how the pushing of the Trump/Russia narrative could be seen as anything but "organized".

runarberg 7y ago

I think this came up after Sacha Baron Cohen gave his famous speech at the ADL[1]. What makes social media political campaign so much more dangerous then traditional campaigns is that the investigative journalists don’t have the same access to the campaign claims as the targets, and hence cannot scrutinize, contextualize and compare them. You are not alone in not seeing any evidence. Professional journalists with years of experience have the same problem. But until we either learn how to overcome this limitation with new investigative techniques, or—better yet—regulate political campaigns with national laws, I suggest we remember the fact that: “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”[2] [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymaWq5yZIYM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymaWq5yZIYM [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_ignorance#Absence_of_evidence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_ignorance#Absenc...