3 ms·

While the content in the Podesta emails was not of any interest in itself, the existence of the dump suggested there was something being revealed and Wikileaks

by nemo 5y ago

While the content in the Podesta emails was not of any interest in itself, the existence of the dump suggested there was something being revealed and Wikileaks hype and misleading editorializing around the leaks is how Pizzagate became a thing. It's not schizophrenic - the reality is that false editorializing about a leak can deeply mislead people even if the real content of the leak is completely innocuous (e.g. someone ordering a pizza).

pydry 5y ago
You seriously think pizzagate is what swung the election? That it was a conspiracy theory that you think resonated with multidinous swing voters as opposed to a core of rabid Trump supporters? And that they couldn't have come up with something equally harebrained without the emails?
- nemo 5y ago
  I don't think Pizzagate swung the election, but it shows how Wikileaks approach to disinformation works, and illustrates that despite the fact of there being nothing of any real note in the leaked emails, the mere fact of Wikileaks posting them and posting dishonest editorializing about them did have a real impact on public opinion with Pizzagatge being evidence of that.
  - acdha 5y ago
    It’s also worth asking how it fed into the backdrop of a multi-decade campaign portraying both Clinton as liars engaged in criminal conspiracies. It seems plausible that it wouldn’t have worked on most politicians but still could have been enough to get a few thousand people to stay home thinking that maybe this meant there was more to all of the other make believe tales which have been getting spread since the 1990s. They didn’t need to flip votes or even get a very long effect — a few days was enough.
  - pydry 5y ago
    Pinning pizzagate on wikileaks is like blaming school shootings on video games. It's dishonest, excessively partisan, wrong and a transparent attempt at redirection.

by nemo 5y ago

pydry 5y ago

You seriously think pizzagate is what swung the election? That it was a conspiracy theory that you think resonated with multidinous swing voters as opposed to a core of rabid Trump supporters? And that they couldn't have come up with something equally harebrained without the emails?

nemo 5y ago
I don't think Pizzagate swung the election, but it shows how Wikileaks approach to disinformation works, and illustrates that despite the fact of there being nothing of any real note in the leaked emails, the mere fact of Wikileaks posting them and posting dishonest editorializing about them did have a real impact on public opinion with Pizzagatge being evidence of that.
- acdha 5y ago
  It’s also worth asking how it fed into the backdrop of a multi-decade campaign portraying both Clinton as liars engaged in criminal conspiracies. It seems plausible that it wouldn’t have worked on most politicians but still could have been enough to get a few thousand people to stay home thinking that maybe this meant there was more to all of the other make believe tales which have been getting spread since the 1990s. They didn’t need to flip votes or even get a very long effect — a few days was enough.
- pydry 5y ago
  Pinning pizzagate on wikileaks is like blaming school shootings on video games. It's dishonest, excessively partisan, wrong and a transparent attempt at redirection.