4 ms·

The establishment got what they wanted out of this lie. The truth will now be buried and go largely unexamined.

ttt0 5y ago
It's just as they say, "lies have short legs". The purpose of misinformation is not really to bury the truth forever, as the truth will eventually come out, but to achieve short term goals like getting a desired reaction from people, at which point you don't care anymore if the lie was exposed. Another relevant example is the Hunter story, where the media did a blackout and it was censored off Facebook and Twitter, but after the election they no longer cared and they just admitted it was true.
- AnimalMuppet 5y ago
  No, it's long term too, because the retraction doesn't have the same effect as the original. In bayesian terms, it doesn't completely reset peoples' priors.
- tablespoon 5y ago
  > The purpose of misinformation is not really to bury the truth forever, as the truth will eventually come out, but to achieve short term goals like getting a desired reaction from people In some cases. In others the purpose is to flood the zone with so much crap that people mistrust almost everything.
- alphabettsy 5y ago
  Admitted it was true about Hunter Biden? What? Also I don’t understand where the lie was? Was it unreasonable to initially report that an officer who died following the chaos had injuries from the event? It’s fair to criticize the breathless coverage, but isn’t calling it a lie that served its purpose a bit much? The correction that is supposedly being buried is on the top of Apple News, WaPo and on the front of the NYT.
  - db48x 5y ago
    How many of those stories mentioned that he collapsed in his office, 8 hours after he walked away from the riot?
    - alphabettsy 5y ago
      I was curious so I checked. CBS, BuzzFeed, NBC, Politico, USA Today, NPR, and WSJ stories mentioned that he died many hours after leaving, most provided exact times. I gave up after those because it seems this narrative about the truth being buried isn’t turning out to be true.
      - db48x 5y ago
        I decided to check as well. https://web.archive.org/web/20210108182531mp_/https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/washington-dc-riots-trump-news-friday/h_54554e3d41127a23b67975f8edf5ff96 https://web.archive.org/web/20210108182531mp_/https://www.cn... Scroll down about three–quarters of the way to find it; the link doesn’t go to just a single article. “Officer Sicknick was injured while physically engaging with the rioters and collapsed after returning to his division office. "He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,"” So it does say that he collapsed in his office, but not that it was 8 hours later, that he walked himself back to his office, nor that he died the next day. It then pads the paragraph out with “Officer Sicknick joined the USCP in July 2008, and most recently served in the Department's First Responder's Unit.”, which is irrelevant information. I just clicked on the first headline I saw about the “5 deaths”. Maybe there are a dozen others that have more details, but this summary that leaves out everything important was the easiest to find.
      - db48x 5y ago
        Here’s another one that came to my attention: “He Dreamed of Being a Police Officer, Then Was Killed by a Pro-Trump Mob” https://web.archive.org/web/20210109011156/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/us/politics/police-officer-killed-capitol.html https://web.archive.org/web/20210109011156/https://www.nytim... “Then on Wednesday, pro-Trump rioters attacked that citadel of democracy, overpowered Mr. Sicknick, 42, and struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher, according to two law enforcement officials. With a bloody gash in his head, Mr. Sicknick was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support. He died on Thursday evening.” That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? Surely the hospital could have confirmed or denied that he was bleeding from a head wound when admitted, if they had asked. After all, they claim to have known that he was on life support, so surely they must have asked somebody. Or they could have found out that he was admitted 8 hours later. More likely they just made things up.
stereoabuse 5y ago
Currently front page of NYTimes, CNN, WaPo, Fox, WSJ edit: (and Hacker News)
- pseudo0 5y ago
  On the (mobile) NYTimes home page it's the 24th story down, and entitled "Officer Attacked During Capitol Riot Died of Multiple Strokes" and redirects to https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/19/us/joe-biden-news/ https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/19/us/joe-biden-news/ - some sort of political live feed? The Sicknick story is the 6th down in this feed, buried a couple thousand words in. Not exactly the clear and unambiguous retraction I'd expect from a serious newspaper.
readflaggedcomm 5y ago
And comments citing these facts go transparent.

ttt0 5y ago

It's just as they say, "lies have short legs". The purpose of misinformation is not really to bury the truth forever, as the truth will eventually come out, but to achieve short term goals like getting a desired reaction from people, at which point you don't care anymore if the lie was exposed. Another relevant example is the Hunter story, where the media did a blackout and it was censored off Facebook and Twitter, but after the election they no longer cared and they just admitted it was true.

AnimalMuppet 5y ago
No, it's long term too, because the retraction doesn't have the same effect as the original. In bayesian terms, it doesn't completely reset peoples' priors.
tablespoon 5y ago
> The purpose of misinformation is not really to bury the truth forever, as the truth will eventually come out, but to achieve short term goals like getting a desired reaction from people In some cases. In others the purpose is to flood the zone with so much crap that people mistrust almost everything.
alphabettsy 5y ago
Admitted it was true about Hunter Biden? What? Also I don’t understand where the lie was? Was it unreasonable to initially report that an officer who died following the chaos had injuries from the event? It’s fair to criticize the breathless coverage, but isn’t calling it a lie that served its purpose a bit much? The correction that is supposedly being buried is on the top of Apple News, WaPo and on the front of the NYT.
- db48x 5y ago
  How many of those stories mentioned that he collapsed in his office, 8 hours after he walked away from the riot?
  - alphabettsy 5y ago
    I was curious so I checked. CBS, BuzzFeed, NBC, Politico, USA Today, NPR, and WSJ stories mentioned that he died many hours after leaving, most provided exact times. I gave up after those because it seems this narrative about the truth being buried isn’t turning out to be true.
    - db48x 5y ago
      I decided to check as well. https://web.archive.org/web/20210108182531mp_/https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/washington-dc-riots-trump-news-friday/h_54554e3d41127a23b67975f8edf5ff96 https://web.archive.org/web/20210108182531mp_/https://www.cn... Scroll down about three–quarters of the way to find it; the link doesn’t go to just a single article. “Officer Sicknick was injured while physically engaging with the rioters and collapsed after returning to his division office. "He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,"” So it does say that he collapsed in his office, but not that it was 8 hours later, that he walked himself back to his office, nor that he died the next day. It then pads the paragraph out with “Officer Sicknick joined the USCP in July 2008, and most recently served in the Department's First Responder's Unit.”, which is irrelevant information. I just clicked on the first headline I saw about the “5 deaths”. Maybe there are a dozen others that have more details, but this summary that leaves out everything important was the easiest to find.
    - db48x 5y ago
      Here’s another one that came to my attention: “He Dreamed of Being a Police Officer, Then Was Killed by a Pro-Trump Mob” https://web.archive.org/web/20210109011156/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/us/politics/police-officer-killed-capitol.html https://web.archive.org/web/20210109011156/https://www.nytim... “Then on Wednesday, pro-Trump rioters attacked that citadel of democracy, overpowered Mr. Sicknick, 42, and struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher, according to two law enforcement officials. With a bloody gash in his head, Mr. Sicknick was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support. He died on Thursday evening.” That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? Surely the hospital could have confirmed or denied that he was bleeding from a head wound when admitted, if they had asked. After all, they claim to have known that he was on life support, so surely they must have asked somebody. Or they could have found out that he was admitted 8 hours later. More likely they just made things up.

stereoabuse 5y ago

Currently front page of NYTimes, CNN, WaPo, Fox, WSJ edit: (and Hacker News)

pseudo0 5y ago
On the (mobile) NYTimes home page it's the 24th story down, and entitled "Officer Attacked During Capitol Riot Died of Multiple Strokes" and redirects to https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/19/us/joe-biden-news/ https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/19/us/joe-biden-news/ - some sort of political live feed? The Sicknick story is the 6th down in this feed, buried a couple thousand words in. Not exactly the clear and unambiguous retraction I'd expect from a serious newspaper.

readflaggedcomm 5y ago

And comments citing these facts go transparent.