2020: The Year of the Infodemic
December 9, 2020 7:01 PM Subscribe
In 2020, Disinformation Broke The US: Lies about science, civil rights, and the vote itself have turned Americans against one another. "Disinformation and its fallout have defined 2020, the year of the infodemic. Month after month, self-serving social media companies have let corrosive manipulators out for dollars, votes, and clicks vie for attention, no matter the damage..."
... After an initial showing of unity as the coronavirus pandemic hit North American shores, people in the US became divided over basic scientific facts about COVID-19. Then, after a horrified country watched George Floyd take his last breaths as a police officer pushed a knee into his neck, some members of the right-wing media recast peaceful demonstrators exercising their civil rights as violent thugs. And, as the year closed out, the president and his enablers smeared the simplest, most fundamental democratic act of counting a ballot as fraud.Article by Jane Lytvynenko for Buzzfeed News. Here's a Twitter thread about the piece by the author.
...
Disinformation is not going away. It will dissuade people from taking the vaccine. Protesters will be lied about as police brutalize them. And the propaganda machine Trump fueled won’t grind to a halt just because there’s a new president.
This is the big emergency we all feared when he was elected. And it’s worse than anyone could have imagined.
posted by glaucon at 8:17 PM on December 9, 2020 [45 favorites]
posted by glaucon at 8:17 PM on December 9, 2020 [45 favorites]
Infodemics, despite sounding like a sleek twenty-first-century vocabulary term, seem to be a pretty chronic thing in human history. I mean, to some degree they're the reason the concept of "heresy" exists, right? 'Cause originally all you could do was design an anti-virus. Wikipedia:
And then the Greeks also claimed that they invented everything else, while founding slightly-more-successful colonies than everyone else that became fashionable for Romans to take over and rule rather than burn to the ground, enslave all inhabitants of, and salt the fields, so that's the story we tell too.
posted by XMLicious at 8:49 PM on December 9, 2020 [26 favorites]
See also, the Greeks inventing the word "barbarian" for everyone non-Greek, including the Egyptians, Sumerians, and other cultures that had been writing poetry, building pyramids and ziggurats, and weaving cloth while the proto-Hellenes were still bashing each other over the head with rocks.A big lie (German: große Lüge) is a propaganda technique. The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously". Hitler believed the technique was used by Jews to blame Germany's loss in World War I on German general Erich Ludendorff, who was a prominent nationalist and antisemitic political leader in the Weimar Republic. According to The New York Times in 1943, Hitler's biggest lie, among many, many told, was that Germany was not beaten in 1918.
And then the Greeks also claimed that they invented everything else, while founding slightly-more-successful colonies than everyone else that became fashionable for Romans to take over and rule rather than burn to the ground, enslave all inhabitants of, and salt the fields, so that's the story we tell too.
posted by XMLicious at 8:49 PM on December 9, 2020 [26 favorites]
I prefer the term Disinfodemic, since Infodemic suggests a viral spread of all kinds of info, good and bad.
Still there may be a good side to the current Disinfodemic, at least regarding the Covid-19 disinfo... the people who believe the Covid lies are far more likely to get sick and die, resulting in a lower population of covid-deniers in the next few years. Few of the past Big Lies have had such a negative effect on those who believed them.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:13 PM on December 9, 2020 [2 favorites]
Still there may be a good side to the current Disinfodemic, at least regarding the Covid-19 disinfo... the people who believe the Covid lies are far more likely to get sick and die, resulting in a lower population of covid-deniers in the next few years. Few of the past Big Lies have had such a negative effect on those who believed them.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:13 PM on December 9, 2020 [2 favorites]
Still there may be a good side to the current Disinfodemic, at least regarding the Covid-19 disinfo... the people who believe the Covid lies are far more likely to get sick and die, resulting in a lower population of covid-deniers in the next few years.
Unfortunately they're also about as likely to take out folks who aren't deniers and are trying to protect themselves (but wrong place, wrong time...) as well.
Still, you can't feel too sorry for those who seem to not only accept but embrace disinformation to the point that it harms themselves as well as others.
posted by gtrwolf at 9:20 PM on December 9, 2020 [9 favorites]
Unfortunately they're also about as likely to take out folks who aren't deniers and are trying to protect themselves (but wrong place, wrong time...) as well.
Still, you can't feel too sorry for those who seem to not only accept but embrace disinformation to the point that it harms themselves as well as others.
posted by gtrwolf at 9:20 PM on December 9, 2020 [9 favorites]
Maria Ressa, a member of the Real Facebook Oversight Board, a watchdog group for the social network, and the CEO of Rappler, a news outlet, said that watching disinformation surrounding the US election was like seeing “Silicon Valley come home to roost.” In her view, “The US is the last country to have felt this.”
Yes, the last country. Never mind the fact that Trump got elected four years ago, that had nothing to do with anything.
posted by Dysk at 9:45 PM on December 9, 2020 [8 favorites]
Yes, the last country. Never mind the fact that Trump got elected four years ago, that had nothing to do with anything.
posted by Dysk at 9:45 PM on December 9, 2020 [8 favorites]
Month after month, self-serving social media companies have let corrosive manipulators out for dollars, votes, and clicks vie for attention, no matter the damage
I don't want to let them off the hook for points where they've thought little about prioritizing beyond "engagement" or haven't realized that not everything is discourse.
But Twitter's labels on Trump's tweets seemed like a good faith effort, YouTube isn't exactly letting everything run wild and while FB doesn't seem to have a coherent strategy they've made clear actions that have shown up in my feed (and preventing me from pulling shenanigans I'd like to if I'm being frank).
I'm inclined to believe it's less the specific social media companies we've got and more the societies we have. Technology is a magnifier. Cable news and talk radio propaganda preceded p2p. They exist at the strength they do because of the space we made for the status of people who wanted it.
Nuke FB and Twitter from orbit and in three years they will raise that temple up again, if the time from Netscape to SixDegrees.com is any indication.
There are rules we could probably figure out to make our media and discourse better, and it's interesting to watch both social media and traditional institutions learn -- lots more stating "this claim is not true" going on out there these days. But I'm not sure it's possible to make systems that are just *good* and take care of themselves. This might be the Eurasia we're always at war with...
posted by wildblueyonder at 10:37 PM on December 9, 2020 [5 favorites]
I don't want to let them off the hook for points where they've thought little about prioritizing beyond "engagement" or haven't realized that not everything is discourse.
But Twitter's labels on Trump's tweets seemed like a good faith effort, YouTube isn't exactly letting everything run wild and while FB doesn't seem to have a coherent strategy they've made clear actions that have shown up in my feed (and preventing me from pulling shenanigans I'd like to if I'm being frank).
I'm inclined to believe it's less the specific social media companies we've got and more the societies we have. Technology is a magnifier. Cable news and talk radio propaganda preceded p2p. They exist at the strength they do because of the space we made for the status of people who wanted it.
Nuke FB and Twitter from orbit and in three years they will raise that temple up again, if the time from Netscape to SixDegrees.com is any indication.
There are rules we could probably figure out to make our media and discourse better, and it's interesting to watch both social media and traditional institutions learn -- lots more stating "this claim is not true" going on out there these days. But I'm not sure it's possible to make systems that are just *good* and take care of themselves. This might be the Eurasia we're always at war with...
posted by wildblueyonder at 10:37 PM on December 9, 2020 [5 favorites]
One of the things I found interesting about the pandemic was just how insulated my circle of friends was from it. Those who are MDs were at risk, and some caught the corona virus. Two others did as well. And then all of us hunkered down and stayed safe, because my circle is made up of MIT alums and tech workers, and all of us had the resources (and the responsibility to use them). All my friends who caught it did so early on. Since then, a lot of people two. degrees of separation from me have caught it, but nobody in my circles.
Same deal with the infodemic. I have one FB "friend" who supported Trump literally because he could afford to avoid any of the repercussions which he could watch with popcorn in hand. And some high school friends who supported him very, very quietly.
But no covidiots or red-pilled anything. (One radical traditionalist Cathoic, but not a covidiot.) BUT, one degree of separation further away, and I encounter all of this. If only I could keep my family safe by treating disinformation like. the virus. Unfortunately, that's not the way it works.
posted by ocschwar at 10:49 PM on December 9, 2020 [6 favorites]
Same deal with the infodemic. I have one FB "friend" who supported Trump literally because he could afford to avoid any of the repercussions which he could watch with popcorn in hand. And some high school friends who supported him very, very quietly.
But no covidiots or red-pilled anything. (One radical traditionalist Cathoic, but not a covidiot.) BUT, one degree of separation further away, and I encounter all of this. If only I could keep my family safe by treating disinformation like. the virus. Unfortunately, that's not the way it works.
posted by ocschwar at 10:49 PM on December 9, 2020 [6 favorites]
US election: YouTube to ban videos alleging widespread voter fraud
YouTube said on Wednesday it would start removing content that falsely alleges that widespread voter fraud changed the result of the US election.
The dead professor and the vast pro-India disinformation campaign
A dead professor and numerous defunct organisations were resurrected and used alongside at least 750 fake media outlets in a vast 15-year global disinformation campaign to serve Indian interests, a new investigation has revealed.
YouTube said on Wednesday it would start removing content that falsely alleges that widespread voter fraud changed the result of the US election.
The dead professor and the vast pro-India disinformation campaign
A dead professor and numerous defunct organisations were resurrected and used alongside at least 750 fake media outlets in a vast 15-year global disinformation campaign to serve Indian interests, a new investigation has revealed.
posted by XMLicious at 11:19 PM on December 9, 2020 [4 favorites]The EU DisinfoLab researchers, who are based in Brussels, believe the network's purpose is to disseminate propaganda against India's neighbour and rival Pakistan. Both countries have long sought to control the narrative against the other.
So no-one even remembers WMDs now?
posted by pompomtom at 12:06 AM on December 10, 2020 [22 favorites]
posted by pompomtom at 12:06 AM on December 10, 2020 [22 favorites]
The Nazi propaganda machine exploited ordinary Germans by encouraging them to be co-producers of a false reality.
posted by adamvasco at 2:17 AM on December 10, 2020 [10 favorites]
posted by adamvasco at 2:17 AM on December 10, 2020 [10 favorites]
Republicans like Ted Cruz are fighting for disinformation under the guise that social media companies are censoring free speech.
posted by shoesietart at 2:34 AM on December 10, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by shoesietart at 2:34 AM on December 10, 2020 [7 favorites]
I've heard all the censorship arguments before, back in the 80s, when people couldn't get their idiotic conspiracy theory manuscripts published and had to resort to mail order mimeographs.
posted by wierdo at 4:37 AM on December 10, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by wierdo at 4:37 AM on December 10, 2020 [4 favorites]
The Reality-Based Community And Trump’s Orwellian Dystopia
posted by homunculus at 4:46 AM on December 10, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by homunculus at 4:46 AM on December 10, 2020 [4 favorites]
In 1991, I was dating my high school best friend, who was half-Japanese. I took him to meet my grandfather, who spent the few days we were there in a quiet rage.
He had fought in the Pacific Theatre in WW2 and he just plain hated [insert racism term here].
The social media companies are definitely a problem, but the human heart is also a big one.
I don't actually think Americans in this pandemic are lacking information, although I have been really wishing for better math and science education.
I think they are lacking empathy, and this lack of empathy has been coming a long time, literally forever, dating from slavery and genocide of First Nations (and frankly, before that through human history). And it's certainly not just Americans.
posted by warriorqueen at 5:00 AM on December 10, 2020 [34 favorites]
He had fought in the Pacific Theatre in WW2 and he just plain hated [insert racism term here].
The social media companies are definitely a problem, but the human heart is also a big one.
I don't actually think Americans in this pandemic are lacking information, although I have been really wishing for better math and science education.
I think they are lacking empathy, and this lack of empathy has been coming a long time, literally forever, dating from slavery and genocide of First Nations (and frankly, before that through human history). And it's certainly not just Americans.
posted by warriorqueen at 5:00 AM on December 10, 2020 [34 favorites]
the people who believe the Covid lies are far more likely to get sick and die,
I mean, while one might like to think so from a "karmic justice" sort of standpoint, we already have evidence that this is not how it's actually working - just look at the data we have about how COVID is decimating the POC population in the US.
Sure, 95%-white North Dakota might have some astoundingly horrible death rate, but in most of the country it's the white managerial and skilled labor class that are ranting and raving and buying and spreading utter bullshit on social media while working from home and living off savings and collecting top dollar unemployment and getting quality health care while Black and brown people who think COVID is as real as real gets are forced to go to work in unsafe conditions because they can't afford not to and even then can't pay for medical treatment if they get it.
Hell, we know for a fact the damn administration assumed that only majority-minority "blue" cities would really be affected, and they responded accordingly.
Collectively, as a population, the number of COVID-deniers who find out they were wrong the hard way isn't gonna make a dent in the disinfo problem.
posted by soundguy99 at 5:09 AM on December 10, 2020 [50 favorites]
I mean, while one might like to think so from a "karmic justice" sort of standpoint, we already have evidence that this is not how it's actually working - just look at the data we have about how COVID is decimating the POC population in the US.
Sure, 95%-white North Dakota might have some astoundingly horrible death rate, but in most of the country it's the white managerial and skilled labor class that are ranting and raving and buying and spreading utter bullshit on social media while working from home and living off savings and collecting top dollar unemployment and getting quality health care while Black and brown people who think COVID is as real as real gets are forced to go to work in unsafe conditions because they can't afford not to and even then can't pay for medical treatment if they get it.
Hell, we know for a fact the damn administration assumed that only majority-minority "blue" cities would really be affected, and they responded accordingly.
Collectively, as a population, the number of COVID-deniers who find out they were wrong the hard way isn't gonna make a dent in the disinfo problem.
posted by soundguy99 at 5:09 AM on December 10, 2020 [50 favorites]
So no-one even remembers WMDs now?
I remember when Weapons of Mass Distraction seemed like a clever phrase for the Bush Admin's pro-war alternate reality game.
It simultaneously feels as if we're on repeat and we hadn't seen anything yet.
posted by wildblueyonder at 5:41 AM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
I remember when Weapons of Mass Distraction seemed like a clever phrase for the Bush Admin's pro-war alternate reality game.
It simultaneously feels as if we're on repeat and we hadn't seen anything yet.
posted by wildblueyonder at 5:41 AM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
Under the polarization of disinformation, I think, is a desperate need to want the world to be something else. Believing these false things is feeding an emotional/spiritual need in these folks - I think some of them are hooked on the intense dopamine hit of outrage and anger, some don't like things about the world and so believing these things makes the world make sense.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:06 AM on December 10, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by rmd1023 at 6:06 AM on December 10, 2020 [8 favorites]
YMMV, but I found this NY Times opinion The Resentment That Never Sleeps to be a compelling summary of the fundamental motivation behind polarization, which leads to the appetite for disinformation. I think that is the proper cart-to-horse configuration.
posted by thandal at 6:25 AM on December 10, 2020 [19 favorites]
posted by thandal at 6:25 AM on December 10, 2020 [19 favorites]
Yeah, the Apocalypse has arrived; They think We are the Zombies.
posted by mule98J at 7:04 AM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by mule98J at 7:04 AM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
wildblueyonder : I remember when Weapons of Mass Distraction seemed like a clever phrase for the Bush Admin's pro-war alternate reality game.
I still crack up when I recall Jello Biafra’s line “I haven’t heard of mobile chemical weapons labs built into trucks since Get Smart!” .
posted by dr_dank at 7:55 AM on December 10, 2020 [8 favorites]
I still crack up when I recall Jello Biafra’s line “I haven’t heard of mobile chemical weapons labs built into trucks since Get Smart!” .
posted by dr_dank at 7:55 AM on December 10, 2020 [8 favorites]
To me, this phenomenon (disinformation, the infodemic) exploits a basic human struggle, between the root of our minds (emotions/feelings) and the newer, fancier rational, metacognitive parts; because literally, all input from body to brain moves up the brain stem and through the brain's anatomy from back/bottom to front/top, so all signals must pass through the oldest parts of our brain to be processed by any parts of our brains. I think this physical movement of our nervous system creates an experience that entails processing everything through irrationality (our emotional, felt reactions) before it can even get to rational 'thinking' parts.
When human beings lose the skill of, or disregard the need for, or are propagandized into a state of fear that prevents basic emotional regulation, our ability to think rationally is fundamentally obstructed: too much stimulation to, e.g., the amygdala, and you will not be using your forebrain to decide anything. Continued over-stimulation impedes use of parts of the brain used to perform empathy, or anything else that requires Theory of Mind to notice and care about the reality of another person.
So my sense is that our current tools/technologies are being used to exploit a basic aspect of how human beings are, but this kind of behavior (as mentioned upthread) is unfortunately not new generally...though the effectiveness of the tools being used certainly makes the degree to which it's happening really scary. And I have no idea how to back away from this particular cliff, when a fair portion of our population is propagandized daily into utter fear mode, so that not much input at all is making it past the oldest, most survival-oriented, fight-or-flight parts of their brains. It does help one to understand how it's all happening, though, and why appeals to reason rarely work.
posted by LooseFilter at 8:05 AM on December 10, 2020 [33 favorites]
When human beings lose the skill of, or disregard the need for, or are propagandized into a state of fear that prevents basic emotional regulation, our ability to think rationally is fundamentally obstructed: too much stimulation to, e.g., the amygdala, and you will not be using your forebrain to decide anything. Continued over-stimulation impedes use of parts of the brain used to perform empathy, or anything else that requires Theory of Mind to notice and care about the reality of another person.
So my sense is that our current tools/technologies are being used to exploit a basic aspect of how human beings are, but this kind of behavior (as mentioned upthread) is unfortunately not new generally...though the effectiveness of the tools being used certainly makes the degree to which it's happening really scary. And I have no idea how to back away from this particular cliff, when a fair portion of our population is propagandized daily into utter fear mode, so that not much input at all is making it past the oldest, most survival-oriented, fight-or-flight parts of their brains. It does help one to understand how it's all happening, though, and why appeals to reason rarely work.
posted by LooseFilter at 8:05 AM on December 10, 2020 [33 favorites]
Not directly relevant, but this paper Applying insights from magic to improve deception in research was interesting on deception in general:
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:12 AM on December 10, 2020 [12 favorites]
Magicians have theorised that if tricks are too smooth and perfect, they end up seeming less impressive than ones with minor flaws... Mentalists — those who mimic parapsychological abilities such as telepathy — apply this idea often... When guessing three people's chosen playing cards, they will intentionally get the last one slightly wrong (e.g., guessing the Seven of Diamonds rather than the Seven of Hearts) to make the situation appear more plausible and lead people to believe it is telepathy rather than a trick.Somehow it seems the amateurish presentation and the mistakes almost make the targets more convinced rather than less.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:12 AM on December 10, 2020 [12 favorites]
Wow, LooseFilter, what a great way to use the meat structure to conceptualize the information structure!
posted by notsnot at 8:20 AM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by notsnot at 8:20 AM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
"make the situation appear more plausible and lead people to believe it is telepathy rather than a trick."
Kinda like as a kid, if I "accidentally" dropped a curse word when lying to my mom, she'd focus on the vulgarity and not on my absolute lack of any skills of deception.
(Interviewer: "What's your worst trait?" Me: "I'm a terrible liar. If I think an idea is dumb, not only am I unable to fake enthusiasm, it's a struggle to just not say anything." I got that job.)
posted by notsnot at 8:25 AM on December 10, 2020 [12 favorites]
Kinda like as a kid, if I "accidentally" dropped a curse word when lying to my mom, she'd focus on the vulgarity and not on my absolute lack of any skills of deception.
(Interviewer: "What's your worst trait?" Me: "I'm a terrible liar. If I think an idea is dumb, not only am I unable to fake enthusiasm, it's a struggle to just not say anything." I got that job.)
posted by notsnot at 8:25 AM on December 10, 2020 [12 favorites]
The right-wing mediasphere has been cultivating this ground for decades, and white supremacists have been exploiting internet technologies since the KKK used newfangled cinema to spread their propaganda. A couple of books I've found helpful for understanding this moment are Network Propaganda by Yochai Benkler et al. (open access) and The Revolution that Wasn't: How Digital Activism Favors Conservatives by Jen Schradie (library access). Oh, and Jessie Daniels has been tracking how white supremacists use tech for years - she published Cyber Racism in 2009 (library access). On my to-be-read list is Bring the War Home by Kathleen Bewew (a history of white supremacy organization since the Vietnam war - library access) which I learned about on a Throughline podcast; there's nothing lone about these wolves. I also listen to On the Media and their episode that linked conspiracy theorizing with gnosticism is fascinating.
Basically we have platforms designed to be easily and profitably exploited by extremists. The platforms use highly-particular market segmentation and recommendation engines to make it possible to identify people who see truth as a matter of faith and identity rather than evidence and reason. In turn, extremists manipulate these platforms to find these folks and amplify and spread their messages of unreason and hate. It's a poisonous combination and it has gotten out of hand to a degree I've never experienced before.
posted by zenzenobia at 9:36 AM on December 10, 2020 [18 favorites]
Basically we have platforms designed to be easily and profitably exploited by extremists. The platforms use highly-particular market segmentation and recommendation engines to make it possible to identify people who see truth as a matter of faith and identity rather than evidence and reason. In turn, extremists manipulate these platforms to find these folks and amplify and spread their messages of unreason and hate. It's a poisonous combination and it has gotten out of hand to a degree I've never experienced before.
posted by zenzenobia at 9:36 AM on December 10, 2020 [18 favorites]
The republican party is a death cult and it's circling the drain. Yes, it's scary that 74 million Americans voted for 4 more years of Trump but if you've been paying attention it's not surprising. They are now getting higher on their supply than ever and republican voters are vulnerable to being ratfucked out of existence. I say let them believe anything they want because YOU WILL NOT CHANGE THEIR MIND. Stop letting yourself get upset about some dumbfucks who think the election was rigged against them when they've been rigging elections in their favor successfully for 50+ years. Stop worrying about what loony Q conspiracy theory republicans believe when they've been successfully conspiring against Blacks, women, gays, immigrants, poor people and the working class for centuries. Let y'all queda fantasize about cosplaying revolution in the streets because if they actually do it they'll tie up law enforcement from killing more Black Americans and they'll be slaughtered by the militarized police departments they've championed for decades.
Trump has knocked the republican party back on it's heels and it's time for the reality-based community to give them the push they need into the dustbin of history.
posted by photoslob at 11:57 AM on December 10, 2020 [6 favorites]
Trump has knocked the republican party back on it's heels and it's time for the reality-based community to give them the push they need into the dustbin of history.
posted by photoslob at 11:57 AM on December 10, 2020 [6 favorites]
"Stop worrying about the spread of fascism"? That's terrible advice, and has been at least since 2017, when an old buddy texted me "ignore the fascists and they'll just go away" -- while I was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic because of a literal fascist rally.
posted by Lyme Drop at 12:14 PM on December 10, 2020 [21 favorites]
posted by Lyme Drop at 12:14 PM on December 10, 2020 [21 favorites]
They're so much easier to ignore when we DEPLATFORM THEM.
posted by rmd1023 at 12:48 PM on December 10, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by rmd1023 at 12:48 PM on December 10, 2020 [9 favorites]
Maybe it's like the Libertarian defense of why Libertarianism never seems to work in practice: if ignoring the fascists hasn't made them go away, it's because you haven't been ignoring them enough.
posted by Riki tiki at 1:13 PM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Riki tiki at 1:13 PM on December 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
Let y'all queda fantasize about cosplaying revolution in the streets because if they actually do it they'll tie up law enforcement from killing more Black Americans and they'll be slaughtered by the militarized police departments they've championed for decades.
Except that they fucking WON'T, or did you forget about the white kid with guns who went around shooting peaceful protesters while the cops cheered him on? AND THEN RAISED HIS BAIL?
When these dipshits start cosplaying the revolution what's going to happen is that the cops will take that cosplay and make it REAL.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 1:14 PM on December 10, 2020 [21 favorites]
Except that they fucking WON'T, or did you forget about the white kid with guns who went around shooting peaceful protesters while the cops cheered him on? AND THEN RAISED HIS BAIL?
When these dipshits start cosplaying the revolution what's going to happen is that the cops will take that cosplay and make it REAL.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 1:14 PM on December 10, 2020 [21 favorites]
The republican party is a death cult and it's circling the drain.
That death cult circling the drain got over 74 million votes. Trump is never going away. He is never going to shut up. He's going to be harassing the Biden administration every day for the next four years and the media will help him.
Trump's only viable business anymore is grifting the MAGAs. He got 74 million votes. If he can convince just 10 million of them to give him $100 a year, that a cool billion dollars a year. To do that he needs to keep them whipped up with conspiracies and inflammatory language. It's not going to stop. Even when he's dead he will leave behind a continuing legacy for his kids, just like Jerry Falwell.
posted by JackFlash at 1:42 PM on December 10, 2020 [26 favorites]
That death cult circling the drain got over 74 million votes. Trump is never going away. He is never going to shut up. He's going to be harassing the Biden administration every day for the next four years and the media will help him.
Trump's only viable business anymore is grifting the MAGAs. He got 74 million votes. If he can convince just 10 million of them to give him $100 a year, that a cool billion dollars a year. To do that he needs to keep them whipped up with conspiracies and inflammatory language. It's not going to stop. Even when he's dead he will leave behind a continuing legacy for his kids, just like Jerry Falwell.
posted by JackFlash at 1:42 PM on December 10, 2020 [26 favorites]
Or Brent Bozell, or Dick Cheney, or Richard DeVos, or Michael Flynn, or Billy Graham, or Mike Huckabee, or Ron Paul, or Phyllis Schafly, or Jay Sekulow, or...
It's astonishing to me how many right-wing figures, both elected and not, have managed to turn it into a family business.
posted by box at 1:57 PM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
It's astonishing to me how many right-wing figures, both elected and not, have managed to turn it into a family business.
posted by box at 1:57 PM on December 10, 2020 [5 favorites]
So no-one even remembers WMDs now?
Or the anthrax attacks?
posted by kirkaracha at 1:58 PM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
Or the anthrax attacks?
posted by kirkaracha at 1:58 PM on December 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
The republican party is a death cult and it's circling the drain.
I think this is wishful thinking, but I do agree with the notion that it is futile to argue with lost cause loonies. I think deplatforming them and actively working to push racism back outside civilized conversation are important aspects of rebuilding society.
posted by snofoam at 1:59 PM on December 10, 2020 [12 favorites]
I think this is wishful thinking, but I do agree with the notion that it is futile to argue with lost cause loonies. I think deplatforming them and actively working to push racism back outside civilized conversation are important aspects of rebuilding society.
posted by snofoam at 1:59 PM on December 10, 2020 [12 favorites]
Did I type "ignore them" or "stop worrying about the spread of fascism" in my comment because I'm pretty sure I didn't.
The republican party is now the Trump party and the cosplay patriot party and the white supremacy party and so many other terrible things. They're splintering into factions that with enough work can be stomped out like roaches when the lights are turned on. Deplatforming isn't easy because social media companies make tons of money from giving the wingnuts a voice and the grifters will always find a way to make a buck off of stoking fears. By the time a company like Facebook deplatforms a group like the proudboys the damage is already done and they've moved on to Parler or one of the chans. The most effective thing would be to pull Fox's license and drag Murdoch and all his shit pedalers in front of congress and rake them over the coals but that's not going to happen the same way Facebook isn't going to be broken up.
posted by photoslob at 2:21 PM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
The republican party is now the Trump party and the cosplay patriot party and the white supremacy party and so many other terrible things. They're splintering into factions that with enough work can be stomped out like roaches when the lights are turned on. Deplatforming isn't easy because social media companies make tons of money from giving the wingnuts a voice and the grifters will always find a way to make a buck off of stoking fears. By the time a company like Facebook deplatforms a group like the proudboys the damage is already done and they've moved on to Parler or one of the chans. The most effective thing would be to pull Fox's license and drag Murdoch and all his shit pedalers in front of congress and rake them over the coals but that's not going to happen the same way Facebook isn't going to be broken up.
posted by photoslob at 2:21 PM on December 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
I think the middle class has been eroded largely as a result of political choices over the past twenty or thirty years to "monetize" the public sphere. A shrinking middle erodes common ground, and I think the media landscape is a reflection of that divide, rather than a cause.
The process of monetization of the public sphere is ultimately a process of monetizing relationships of trust. This includes the media selling their notional credibility as minders of the public interest to advertise pre-fab narratives and conflict as entertainment, long before Facebook became the hoovering malignancy it is today. Predictably, monetizing the public's trust diminished it, contributing to the current credibility crisis. That's what it means to "monetize" public trust. It means to reduce the amount of trust available to the public.
The social networks & gig economy platforms are a logical extension of this process, driving the commodification of trust relationships at an unprecedented, industrial scale. A company like Facebook quite literally makes its money by impersonating your friends back at you. The raw material for this fabrication, what makes it work, is trust. But that trust gets diluted when you monetize it. Did they remember my birthday, or did Facebook?
I think then that the unrestrained exploitation and monetization of trust constitutes a kind of strip-mining of the public sphere that erodes and pollutes trust as a collective resource. After the monetary value has been extracted and "profit-shifted" to the Cayman's, what remains is a revolting industrial sewer, full of toxic waste and contagious diseases like disinformation.
posted by dmh at 7:31 PM on December 10, 2020 [19 favorites]
The process of monetization of the public sphere is ultimately a process of monetizing relationships of trust. This includes the media selling their notional credibility as minders of the public interest to advertise pre-fab narratives and conflict as entertainment, long before Facebook became the hoovering malignancy it is today. Predictably, monetizing the public's trust diminished it, contributing to the current credibility crisis. That's what it means to "monetize" public trust. It means to reduce the amount of trust available to the public.
The social networks & gig economy platforms are a logical extension of this process, driving the commodification of trust relationships at an unprecedented, industrial scale. A company like Facebook quite literally makes its money by impersonating your friends back at you. The raw material for this fabrication, what makes it work, is trust. But that trust gets diluted when you monetize it. Did they remember my birthday, or did Facebook?
I think then that the unrestrained exploitation and monetization of trust constitutes a kind of strip-mining of the public sphere that erodes and pollutes trust as a collective resource. After the monetary value has been extracted and "profit-shifted" to the Cayman's, what remains is a revolting industrial sewer, full of toxic waste and contagious diseases like disinformation.
posted by dmh at 7:31 PM on December 10, 2020 [19 favorites]
By the time a company like Facebook deplatforms a group like the proudboys the damage is already done and they've moved on to Parler or one of the chans.
Yeah no. So firstly, giving up ahead of time is definitely not going to work. Secondly, while some damage might be done by the time groups can get thrown off of mainstream platforms, it's not like banishing them to the chans isn't harming them. It prevents further ongoing damage, and it absolutely, positively hurts their reach, impact, and relevance. That's why they're all on Facebook and Twitter, not just Parler and the chans. You're not reaching many new converts on fucking Parler. And finally, for someone supposedly not arguing for ignoring them, you certainly come across like you're advocating inaction by ridiculing and dismissing as impossible all forms of action suggested by both yourself and others.
Did I type "ignore them" or "stop worrying about the spread of fascism" in my comment because I'm pretty sure I didn't.
You didn't have to.
posted by Dysk at 9:04 PM on December 10, 2020 [7 favorites]
Yeah no. So firstly, giving up ahead of time is definitely not going to work. Secondly, while some damage might be done by the time groups can get thrown off of mainstream platforms, it's not like banishing them to the chans isn't harming them. It prevents further ongoing damage, and it absolutely, positively hurts their reach, impact, and relevance. That's why they're all on Facebook and Twitter, not just Parler and the chans. You're not reaching many new converts on fucking Parler. And finally, for someone supposedly not arguing for ignoring them, you certainly come across like you're advocating inaction by ridiculing and dismissing as impossible all forms of action suggested by both yourself and others.
Did I type "ignore them" or "stop worrying about the spread of fascism" in my comment because I'm pretty sure I didn't.
You didn't have to.
posted by Dysk at 9:04 PM on December 10, 2020 [7 favorites]
In 1991, I was dating my high school best friend, who was half-Japanese. I took him to meet my grandfather, who spent the few days we were there in a quiet rage.
He had fought in the Pacific Theatre in WW2 and he just plain hated [insert racism term here].
Despite knowing all about tens of thousands of Americans thrown into concentration camps, frequently while they had relatives in the US military fighting in Europe or serving as translators in the Pacific Theatre, and US military personnel decapitating so many corpses for trophies (←content warning: photo of a de-fleshed human skull used as a “mascot” on a US Navy vessel) that the Pentagon had to order them not to in writing, the reality that there are constant interactions like the above didn't really hit home to me until that scene in Mad Men,† set in the 1960s, wherein the corporate advertising partner/veteran Roger Sterling character lets his company invite counterparts to visit New York all the way from Japan and then basically spits in their faces anyways.
† Guess I'm still a bit of an ingenue because I was still surprised, watching this “behind the scenes” thing just now, how sympathetic the actors and director are to their character being an unbelievable asshole and taking advantage of guests who went out on a limb to do business with his company.
posted by XMLicious at 1:42 AM on December 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
He had fought in the Pacific Theatre in WW2 and he just plain hated [insert racism term here].
Despite knowing all about tens of thousands of Americans thrown into concentration camps, frequently while they had relatives in the US military fighting in Europe or serving as translators in the Pacific Theatre, and US military personnel decapitating so many corpses for trophies (←content warning: photo of a de-fleshed human skull used as a “mascot” on a US Navy vessel) that the Pentagon had to order them not to in writing, the reality that there are constant interactions like the above didn't really hit home to me until that scene in Mad Men,† set in the 1960s, wherein the corporate advertising partner/veteran Roger Sterling character lets his company invite counterparts to visit New York all the way from Japan and then basically spits in their faces anyways.
† Guess I'm still a bit of an ingenue because I was still surprised, watching this “behind the scenes” thing just now, how sympathetic the actors and director are to their character being an unbelievable asshole and taking advantage of guests who went out on a limb to do business with his company.
posted by XMLicious at 1:42 AM on December 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
I have no doubt that my grandfather participated in that, XMLicious.
I too really want to believe in a glory age before and after Trump and before and after social media but - I can’t.
That said, my grandfather raised my dad, who like all of us struggles and struggles with things but marched for civil rights and fought for his students’ well-being in surprisingly just ways, work I try to continue today. So there is hope for progress. Once again I don’t think information is it...I’ve been thinking about this a lot and I was raised on a hell of a lot of disinformation. Like, if I went through what I was taught in history class it would be a “everything you just said is wrong” situation. Without the Internet and social media I was in much more ignorance - MUCH more- than I am now, with very little way out of it.
Who controlled publishing, library purchasing, curriculum?
Anyways...I’m not anti-deplatforming, I’m been professionally up close with algorithms for content, I get all that. But this month anyway I just feel it’s the social not the media.
posted by warriorqueen at 5:26 AM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
I too really want to believe in a glory age before and after Trump and before and after social media but - I can’t.
That said, my grandfather raised my dad, who like all of us struggles and struggles with things but marched for civil rights and fought for his students’ well-being in surprisingly just ways, work I try to continue today. So there is hope for progress. Once again I don’t think information is it...I’ve been thinking about this a lot and I was raised on a hell of a lot of disinformation. Like, if I went through what I was taught in history class it would be a “everything you just said is wrong” situation. Without the Internet and social media I was in much more ignorance - MUCH more- than I am now, with very little way out of it.
Who controlled publishing, library purchasing, curriculum?
Anyways...I’m not anti-deplatforming, I’m been professionally up close with algorithms for content, I get all that. But this month anyway I just feel it’s the social not the media.
posted by warriorqueen at 5:26 AM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
Somehow it seems the amateurish presentation and the mistakes almost make the targets more convinced rather than less.
Speaking of mentalists and magicians, an interviewed hypnotist once explained how he could hypnotize someone far away in a random phone booth, while on the phone, in a matter of seconds. The answer was that when someone picked up a ringing phone on the street, they were already highly susceptible to suggestion. I would wager that Putin and his mind-controllers already knew this and worked to establish Q-anon. Anyone who responds to an anonymous-sourced conspiracy as reality is by definition a highly manipulable follower waiting for more orders.
posted by Brian B. at 1:26 PM on December 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
Speaking of mentalists and magicians, an interviewed hypnotist once explained how he could hypnotize someone far away in a random phone booth, while on the phone, in a matter of seconds. The answer was that when someone picked up a ringing phone on the street, they were already highly susceptible to suggestion. I would wager that Putin and his mind-controllers already knew this and worked to establish Q-anon. Anyone who responds to an anonymous-sourced conspiracy as reality is by definition a highly manipulable follower waiting for more orders.
posted by Brian B. at 1:26 PM on December 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
The answer was that when someone picked up a ringing phone on the street, they were already highly susceptible to suggestion.
This was the set-up for the film Miracle Mile, BTW.
posted by SPrintF at 3:04 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
This was the set-up for the film Miracle Mile, BTW.
posted by SPrintF at 3:04 PM on December 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
A Game Designer's Analysis of QAnon:
QAnon grows on the wild misinterpretation of random data, presented in a suggestive fashion in a milieu designed to help the users come to the intended misunderstanding. Maybe “guided apophenia” is a better phrase. Guided because the puppet masters are directly involved in hinting about the desired conclusions. They have pre-seeded the conclusions. They are constantly getting the player lost by pointing out unrelated random events and creating a meaning for them that fits the propaganda message Q is delivering.posted by TheophileEscargot at 11:06 AM on December 15, 2020 [4 favorites]
There is no reality here. No actual solution in the real world. Instead, this is a breadcrumb trail AWAY from reality. Away from actual solutions and towards a dangerous psychological rush. It works very well because when you “figure it out yourself” you own it. You experience the thrill of discovery, the excitement of the rabbit hole, the acceptance of a community that loves and respects you. Because you were convinced to “connect the dots yourself” you can see the absolute logic of it. This is the conclusion you arrived at.
Spot The Difference
How Thailand and Cambodia kept Covid cases so low.
The country’s success was down to clear communication by health experts, a willingness to allow scientists to lead the response and an effective lockdown, which was followed by the public.
posted by adamvasco at 3:26 AM on December 16, 2020 [6 favorites]
How Thailand and Cambodia kept Covid cases so low.
The country’s success was down to clear communication by health experts, a willingness to allow scientists to lead the response and an effective lockdown, which was followed by the public.
posted by adamvasco at 3:26 AM on December 16, 2020 [6 favorites]
'We want them infected’: Trump appointee demanded ‘herd immunity’ strategy.
“There is no other way, we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing the non-high risk groups expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD," then-science adviser Paul Alexander wrote on July 4 to his boss, Health and Human Services assistant secretary for public affairs Michael Caputo, and six other senior officials.
posted by adamvasco at 4:29 AM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
“There is no other way, we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing the non-high risk groups expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD," then-science adviser Paul Alexander wrote on July 4 to his boss, Health and Human Services assistant secretary for public affairs Michael Caputo, and six other senior officials.
posted by adamvasco at 4:29 AM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
The Guardian:
As far as nationalists are concerned, Trump pulled the sword from the stone, whether he fulfills the legal or constitutional criteria for succession or not. The fact that the stone he pulled it out of was his own ass matters not a whit to them.
posted by XMLicious at 11:45 PM on January 1, 2021
Facts won't fix this: experts on how to fight America's disinformation crisisDespite the title, though, the author doesn't acknowledge that we're kind of past the “disagreement on fundamental facts” point and pretty much at the Pope / anti-Pope stage of the game.
As far as nationalists are concerned, Trump pulled the sword from the stone, whether he fulfills the legal or constitutional criteria for succession or not. The fact that the stone he pulled it out of was his own ass matters not a whit to them.
posted by XMLicious at 11:45 PM on January 1, 2021
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