4 ms·

Super common tactic used by any entity with enough resources that is unable to directly stop the information from being spread. Here’s a notable example: http

Super common tactic used by any entity with enough resources that is unable to directly stop the information from being spread. Here’s a notable example: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/26/mesmerising-boris-johnsons-bizarre-model-buses-claim-raises-eyebrows https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/26/mesmerising...

itronitron 4y ago
It seems like that would also explain a lot of Elon Musk's antics, although that may be giving him too much credit.
- O__________O 4y ago
  Do you have any notable examples of Elon doing keyword bombing, media washing, reputation laundering, etc?
  - Pyramus 4y ago
    Not the expert on this, but Tesla whistle and Tesla shorts come to mind immediately. There are more subtle ones, e.g. the Tesla respirators right when Covid hit. This was all before Twitter of course.
    - houseinthesky 4y ago
      I think Tesla shorts was just him having a laugh at the investors shorting Tesla and showing confidence in the company. It increased media coverage of, and popular discussion about, the number of Tesla shares sold short. It wasn't about hiding or suppressing it, it was about showing that he wasn't concerned and was in some sense, "standing up to" the people predicting Tesla's demise.
  - RC_ITR 4y ago
    https://www.thecut.com/2022/07/elon-musk-tweet-no-sex-ages.html https://www.thecut.com/2022/07/elon-musk-tweet-no-sex-ages.h... Two months after being accused of sexual harassment by a flight attendant.
  - itronitron 4y ago
    You mean other than buying Twitter?
    - JohnFen 4y ago
      Let's be fair to Musk on this. He didn't want to buy Twitter. He was playing games and ended up trapping himself into it.
      - phs318u 4y ago
        So you’re saying he’s an idiot? Not disagreeing, it’s just an interesting argument to make about a supposedly genius billionaire.
        JohnFen 4y ago
        I don't think he's an idiot, but I equally don't think he's shown any signs of being a genius.
        Red_Leaves_Flyy 4y ago
        I’ll say it. Elon Musk is an idiot. Are his goons going to black bag me? Will his reputation managers show up in this thread with their sock puppets to “control the narrative” which is that daddy Elon is a self made billionaire who definitely didn’t benefit from his daddies Zambian emerald mine (which definitely never used forced labor, slaves, or children)! He’s also a huge fan of labor unions and never violates labor laws or fires organizers. Elon’s also definitely not cozy with other fascistic billionaires, the trumps, etc. I’m bored, this is a good stopping point.
  - zo1 4y ago
    What's ironic is they're doing the opposite of what they claim Elon Musk is doing. So they randomly inject Elon Musk into a conversation about this topic to add that association. Imagine the insanity if bings ChatGPT got a hold of this thread as truth. Oops, I may have dragged ChatGPT into it now too.
mherdeg 4y ago
Is the idea here that if you search for [Boris Johnson bus] you'll find results about his supposed hobby instead of the "let's fund the NHS" bus? Reminds me of the headcanon that Disney released "Frozen" so when you search for [Disney frozen] you find the movie instead of the stories about Walt Disney and cryopreservation.
- zpeti 4y ago
  What’s interesting about the Boris bus is that NHS funding has increased by way more than what was promised since then. Yet it’s somehow still held up as a lie. The NHS gets something like 30-40% more funding since brexit.
  - cesaref 4y ago
    I don't think you're quite right. There are budgets and projections here - https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-in-a-nutshell/nhs-budget https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-in-a-nutshell/nhs-... If we take 2016 and compare against 2023 for NHS budget, we see a figure of 124bn compared to a projected 152bn for this year. If we use the bank of england inflation calculator (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/in...) It says 124bn in 2016 would be the equivalent of 155bn in 2023. So, we're currently funding the NHS less today than we did in 2016 in real terms. The Brexit bus suggested an additional 18bn per year could be made available for the NHS. If this was the case, this would work out as an additional 22bn with inflation. Anyhow, lies, damn lies and statistics :)
  - philjohn 4y ago
    When you include the £37bn for test and trace, and £££ for vaccine rollout, yes, but that's somewhat disingenuous (and one could argue done by the Government to hoodwink). The other oft-trotted lie is that the NHS is "awash with middle managers!" when the manager to frontline staff ratio is far lower than in comparable private sector companies. Plainly speaking, the NHS is short on doctors and nurses, short on beds, and downstream services like care homes are not numerous enough, leading to bed blocking. It's also not had funding to keep up with an ageing population. Far less money is spent on the NHS than on private healthcare + medicare and medicaid in the US, and less per person than comparable EU countries.

itronitron 4y ago

It seems like that would also explain a lot of Elon Musk's antics, although that may be giving him too much credit.

O__________O 4y ago
Do you have any notable examples of Elon doing keyword bombing, media washing, reputation laundering, etc?
- Pyramus 4y ago
  Not the expert on this, but Tesla whistle and Tesla shorts come to mind immediately. There are more subtle ones, e.g. the Tesla respirators right when Covid hit. This was all before Twitter of course.
  - houseinthesky 4y ago
    I think Tesla shorts was just him having a laugh at the investors shorting Tesla and showing confidence in the company. It increased media coverage of, and popular discussion about, the number of Tesla shares sold short. It wasn't about hiding or suppressing it, it was about showing that he wasn't concerned and was in some sense, "standing up to" the people predicting Tesla's demise.
- RC_ITR 4y ago
  https://www.thecut.com/2022/07/elon-musk-tweet-no-sex-ages.html https://www.thecut.com/2022/07/elon-musk-tweet-no-sex-ages.h... Two months after being accused of sexual harassment by a flight attendant.
- itronitron 4y ago
  You mean other than buying Twitter?
  - JohnFen 4y ago
    Let's be fair to Musk on this. He didn't want to buy Twitter. He was playing games and ended up trapping himself into it.
    - phs318u 4y ago
      So you’re saying he’s an idiot? Not disagreeing, it’s just an interesting argument to make about a supposedly genius billionaire.
      - JohnFen 4y ago
        I don't think he's an idiot, but I equally don't think he's shown any signs of being a genius.
      - Red_Leaves_Flyy 4y ago
        I’ll say it. Elon Musk is an idiot. Are his goons going to black bag me? Will his reputation managers show up in this thread with their sock puppets to “control the narrative” which is that daddy Elon is a self made billionaire who definitely didn’t benefit from his daddies Zambian emerald mine (which definitely never used forced labor, slaves, or children)! He’s also a huge fan of labor unions and never violates labor laws or fires organizers. Elon’s also definitely not cozy with other fascistic billionaires, the trumps, etc. I’m bored, this is a good stopping point.
- zo1 4y ago
  What's ironic is they're doing the opposite of what they claim Elon Musk is doing. So they randomly inject Elon Musk into a conversation about this topic to add that association. Imagine the insanity if bings ChatGPT got a hold of this thread as truth. Oops, I may have dragged ChatGPT into it now too.

mherdeg 4y ago

Is the idea here that if you search for [Boris Johnson bus] you'll find results about his supposed hobby instead of the "let's fund the NHS" bus? Reminds me of the headcanon that Disney released "Frozen" so when you search for [Disney frozen] you find the movie instead of the stories about Walt Disney and cryopreservation.

zpeti 4y ago
What’s interesting about the Boris bus is that NHS funding has increased by way more than what was promised since then. Yet it’s somehow still held up as a lie. The NHS gets something like 30-40% more funding since brexit.
- cesaref 4y ago
  I don't think you're quite right. There are budgets and projections here - https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-in-a-nutshell/nhs-budget https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-in-a-nutshell/nhs-... If we take 2016 and compare against 2023 for NHS budget, we see a figure of 124bn compared to a projected 152bn for this year. If we use the bank of england inflation calculator (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/in...) It says 124bn in 2016 would be the equivalent of 155bn in 2023. So, we're currently funding the NHS less today than we did in 2016 in real terms. The Brexit bus suggested an additional 18bn per year could be made available for the NHS. If this was the case, this would work out as an additional 22bn with inflation. Anyhow, lies, damn lies and statistics :)
- philjohn 4y ago
  When you include the £37bn for test and trace, and £££ for vaccine rollout, yes, but that's somewhat disingenuous (and one could argue done by the Government to hoodwink). The other oft-trotted lie is that the NHS is "awash with middle managers!" when the manager to frontline staff ratio is far lower than in comparable private sector companies. Plainly speaking, the NHS is short on doctors and nurses, short on beds, and downstream services like care homes are not numerous enough, leading to bed blocking. It's also not had funding to keep up with an ageing population. Far less money is spent on the NHS than on private healthcare + medicare and medicaid in the US, and less per person than comparable EU countries.