MetaFilter posts tagged with disinformation

How much of what you read can you trust?

netbros — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:37:13 -0800

Dave's Web of Lies. There is a lot of information available on the World Wide Web. Not all of it is as it seems. Everywhere you look there is out-of-date information, popular misconceptions, and even mistruths presented as fact. Random lie is your friend. Sadly, selling gin in marmalade jars to old ladies is now outlawed in parts of York and Manchester.

"War Made Easy" A Movie On How Government Deception and the Conservative Media (includeds NYT & NPR, national pentagon radio) has fostered War.

Rancid Badger — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 12:39:51 -0800

“War Made Easy" is a documentary with Sean Penn narrating, and is based on a book by Norman Solomon . This is an award winning expose on how the American Public has been led into a 50-year pattern of government deception and spin, dragging the United States from one war into another. Remarkably this film exhumes archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations. Brutally persuasive this film presents disturbing examples of propaganda from those we want to believe in.

Roses are red / Violets are blue / Sugar is sweet / And so is... WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU EATING?

Faint of Butt — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 03:58:33 -0800

"Splenda's advertising claims that it is 'Made from Sugar, so it Tastes Like Sugar.' What they don't tell you is that Splenda is not natural, it's a chlorinated artificial sweetener." So states The Truth About Splenda, a site devoted to saving us from this chemical menace. But who are the good samaritans behind this truth-telling campaign? Why, none other than the good people of The Sugar Association, who only want to promote the consumption of sugar as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle. McNeil Nutritionals, the maker of Splenda, fight backs with SplendaTruth.com.

I C DISSinformtion

Kattullus — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 17:06:41 -0800

icdiss.org looks, at first glance, like your run-of-the-mill think tank website. Two recent articles, one in The Economist and another on economist.com, say that the International Council for Democratic Institutions and State Sovereignty is, in reality, geopolitical astroturf for the Kremlin and the rulers of Transdniestria. Both of these articles are by journalist Edward Lucas (his blog).

The organization even has a wikipedia entry. The entry has a fascinating talk page, with Edward Lucas contributing additional research he's done since the articles were published.

So... want to become a member? Before deciding, maybe you want to read an interview with the program director. It's in the Transdniestrian English-language publication The Tiraspol Times & Weekly Review (slogans: "daily news, independent and objective" and "Get the Facts!").

The State Department vs. Misinformation

blahblahblah — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 19:23:51 -0800

The State Department's campaign against misinformation and propaganda. Before you comment on the irony of it all, it is worth a read. Included are a careful, Snopes-like debunking of various rumors: Hugo Chavez's "Plan Balboa documents," the old 4,000 Jews and the WTC rumor, the use of chemical weapons in the Korean War, and some I hadn't heard of (the US to take over the rainforest?). Also information on how to spot disinformation, and attacks on the credibility of a few sites. Too bad that the US information services don't have the credibility they used to, but still worth reading.

Bizzare WSJ Article Slams Hybrids

Ken McE — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 16:05:29 -0800

Dear Valued Hybrid Customer... I can't tell if this is a joke or something. As rhetoric, it's well done. As a reasoned argument it falls apart if you actually know anything at all about hybrids.

ources close to the White House say...

amberglow — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 18:59:40 -0800

Source Code --ever wonder who it is feeding the media in DC? Meet "The 4 Horsemen", "The Übersource ", "The Troika ", and lower on the totempole, "Hill Dwellers" and "Ex-Bush Spokesbots".

Pat Tillman, The Real Story:

owillis — Sun, 05 Dec 2004 21:01:09 -0800

Pat Tillman, The Real Story: "During several weeks of memorials and commemorations that followed Tillman's death, commanders at his 75th Ranger Regiment and their superiors hid the truth about friendly fire from Tillman's brother Kevin, who had fought with Pat in the same platoon, but was not involved in the firing incident and did not know the cause of his brother's death. Commanders also withheld the facts from Tillman's widow, his parents, national politicians and the public, according to records and interviews with sources involved in the case. " Believe nothing.

Disinformation, Iraqi style.

insomnia_lj — Sat, 02 Oct 2004 07:32:08 -0800

"Iraqi blogger" indulges in disinformation. "Sam" of http://hammorabi.blogspot.com has graphic pictures on his site of children killed by Zarqawi terrorists in Baghdad on Thursday. Horrible and tragic, indeed. Even more tragic, however, is that a Reuters camera crew filmed their identical twins, who died that same day after a US airstrike in Fallujah. Is "Sam" a victim of US disinformation, or is "Sam" a practicioner? Could "Sam" be an uncle, perhaps?!

''Allow me to remove my mask for you...''

reklaw — Mon, 10 May 2004 13:50:24 -0800

The Human Face of Pedophilia (A Pedophile Unmasked). "I am not afraid of who or what I am, because I have nothing to hide. I have always abided by the laws of the countries in which I have resided--even the laws with which I have not agreed. I have no desire to hurt or take advantage of anybody. I invite any others who share my ethos and my commitment to refuting the onslaught of disinformation about us to join me on this site."

Weird Science & Bad Photoshopping

boost ventilator — Thu, 15 Jan 2004 07:44:14 -0800

Top 10 impossible inventions that ~~allegedly~~ work. Includes such ~~conspiracy-nut~~ favorites as a system for sending power wirelessly, an anti-gravity device, the cloudbuster and an electronic telepathy device. [Snagged from Disinformation.]

Media Misinformation

grrarrgh00 — Fri, 03 Oct 2003 06:25:41 -0800

From the Asia Times — "The more commercial television news you watch, the more wrong you are likely to be about key elements of the Iraq War and its aftermath, according to a major new study released in Washington on Thursday." [more inside]

Google as Big Brother

boost ventilator — Tue, 18 Feb 2003 12:47:22 -0800

A Google boondoggle? Does Google deserve your nomination for Big Brother of the Year? Nine points from the previously mentioned folks at Google Watch. (via the Disinformation Newsletter)

Propaganda - Disinformation: The Masters of the Lie

letterneversent — Fri, 15 Nov 2002 11:38:39 -0800

Propaganda - Disinformation: The Masters of the Lie What if the U.S. projected a holographic image of Allah floating over Baghdad urging the Iraqi people and Army to rise up against Saddam, a senior Air Force officer asked in 1990? The hubris and racism of American Psyops, who knows what the military is plotting now?

crunchland — Wed, 05 Jun 2002 11:29:18 -0800

I must admit, I've always had my doubts about some of you... Corporations hire viral marketing firms to spread misinformation and bogus votes of support for their products on internet message boards. With all the front page entries about new movies, new records and new colored cola drinks, are we all being manipulated and duped by the marketing weasels even here on Metafilter?

Steven Den Beste — Wed, 10 Oct 2001 05:16:32 -0800

High speed hoax: Taking advantage of a bug in CNN's "mail this story" mechanism, a guy created a hoax page looking like a CNN news story which claimed that Britney Spears had died in a car crash. (She's fine.) He seeded the story by giving it to just three people in a chat room -- and within 12 hours it had been downloaded 150,000 times. The Internet appears to permit extremely efficient distribution of disinformation.

Rastafari — Sat, 19 May 2001 00:51:31 -0800

The truth finally comes about trashing of the White House as earlier reported (remember the disinformation?). The question now is, will the mainstream press now cover this with the same fervor as the earlier (false) stories, or was it simply shoddy journalism in the first place to report and print "facts" without doing any background checks? Come to think of it, I never did see any photos of all the alleged damages created....