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posted by
FatPhil
on Monday February 06 2017, @09:17PM
from the is-there-an-all-fake-news-sites-are-liars-paradox dept.
from the is-there-an-all-fake-news-sites-are-liars-paradox dept.
Over the last few months, we've talked about the weird obsession some people upset by the results of the election have had with the concept of "fake news." We warned that focusing on "fake news" as a problem was not just silly and pointless, but that it would quickly morph into calls for censorship. And, even worse, that censorship power would be in the hands of whoever got to define what "fake news" was.
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Bad Idea or the Worst Idea? Having the FTC Regulate "Fake News"
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It's not reality that's important, but how you perceive things.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Joe Desertrat on Monday February 06 2017, @10:53PM
the only people I hear raging about "fake news" are conservatives
Yes, and they are the same people who have spent the last eight years bombarding social media with shares of the most utterly preposterous tripe, claiming outrage over the "news" they were informing us about. It usually took only minutes (after clicking through several pages of search results showing conservative blogs all parroting the same misinformation) to find the original text of a speech or original article and debunk these claims. Some will claim liberals do the same, but unless I have a really unusual mix of friends and family, that is not the case.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 06 2017, @11:23PM
unless I have a really unusual mix of friends and family
I'd bet that you do. The chances of you having an unbiased, represententive sample of all "liberals" is incredibly low.
Be wary of cognative bias, especially your own.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday February 06 2017, @11:47PM
You have an unusual mix of friends and family.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 07 2017, @02:59AM
No matter how hard you wish it to be so, the guys who make money off peddling lies found that the market just wasn't there.
We've tried to do similar things to liberals. It just has never worked, it never takes off. You'll get debunked within the first two comments and then the whole thing just kind of fizzles out.
http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/11/23/503146770/npr-finds-the-head-of-a-covert-fake-news-operation-in-the-suburbs [npr.org]
Anyone who listens to talk radio knows its true - 90% of the syndicated ads on talk radio are for scams. That's because they know the audience is primarily credulous fools.
That's not to say liberals are completely immune to fake news. Just that the herd immunity is a lot stronger because modern liberal culture has embraced facts and science over truthiness and emotion.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday February 07 2017, @03:52AM
What planet are you living on? The entire progressive platform lately has been about not hurting their feelz. Conservatives and libertarians are constantly being accused of being unfeeling simply because we don't give a shit if you're offended.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 07 2017, @05:05AM
That is because you listen to the dogma put out by those who fancy themselves your master. You are manipulated beyond belief by fake bullshit propped up by emotional xenophobia. The number of liberals that fit your description are small and mostly exist in universities where they are still growing up and learning about themselves. Conservatives are the ones who easily get their feelings hurt, and due to some weird trick of human nature that insecurity leads them to lash out at others. You can see the same phenomenon with liberals as well, but as the other commenter pointed out it is much less likely in a liberal population. Why again? Because liberals are much more accepting of new viewpoints, they value education more, and they are more likely to value science over the magic sky fairy.
In case you missed my point, conservatives are easily hurt which is why they lash out in ways that appear to be unfeeling and cruel. It isn't that you don't give a shit, that is just your attempt at rationalization and externalizing the issues. To be fair, quite a few liberals have the same failings. Their insecurity leads them on their own crusades for social justice. At least they try and improve the world in their flawed way, conservatives tend to let their insecurity lead to fear and hatred. I'll take the insecure liberal, they're about 10x more likely to respond to factual evidence and rational discourse. Conservatives, or libertarians as you now like to be called, tend to ignore facts with a single minded stubbornness. The more evidence you bring against them the more they dig in their heels and twist the facts into some crazy kaleidoscope of logic.
All that said, there is a lot of value in conservative people. And there is a lot of troubling behavior in liberals. But you would do well to actually learn some facts and experience reality instead of buying into the reality dictated by the talking heads.
One of my good friends is conservative...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday February 07 2017, @05:41PM
No, sweety, I just listen to tools like you on the left. You're happy to fill me in on how offending you should be legally banned and anyone doing so should also be fired from their job, have the swat team sent to their house, be no-platformed if they try to speak out in their own defense, and otherwise ostracized from society. Oh, and we should apparently go to hell too according to my favorite progtard on here.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.