Those devious Russian bots used actual facts!
Let's assume that all the official accusations about Russiagate are true.
Let's assume that those Twitter bots in Russia were all controlled by Putin himself.
Let's assume that they were organized to undermine Hillary and our democracy.
Assuming all of that to be true, this is what we are left with.
Damn you Russian bots, with your widely read mainstream sources and your factual accuracy! https://t.co/qxDYTtSJ3J pic.twitter.com/N8SsoxP90Q
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) February 15, 2018
The analysis by Columbia University social-media researcher Jonathan Albright of more than 36,000 tweets sent by Russian accounts showed that obscure or foreign news sources played a comparatively minor role, suggesting that the discussion of “fake news” during the campaign has been somewhat miscast.
“The Kremlin, they don’t need to create a false narrative. It’s already there,” he said. “You’re just taking a narrative and elevating it.”
Let's step back here.
The "fake news" source was the Washington Post, which has been screaming about "fake news from Russia" for a year, which was actually articles out of the Washington Post.
Do you have a hard time believing that? I am quoting the Washington Post right now.
Among the tweets Albright studied, the most common links were to Breitbart News, followed by The Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle....The Russian government-funded news site RT ranks 19th among widely linked sites; no other foreign-based site ranks among the top 25 on that list.
But wait! It gets even more bizarre. Check out this quote.
Phil Howard of the University of Oxford’s Computational Propaganda Project, said: “In a good misinformation campaign, Russian bots on Twitter or fake accounts on Facebook will actually make use of the most credible news sources in America. Even news stories that debunk some political rumor can be used to keep the rumor alive.”
I wonder if, when Howard said this, did he realize just how Orwellian his statement was?
Have we always been at war with Eastasia?
If they used the main stream media, then that is poor journalism.
— Tom Swetland (@fedbooks) February 15, 2018
The day has come: accurate news stories threaten American Democracy...
— Mike Jasinski (@jasinskm) February 15, 2018
Let's be clear on this: if you read, post, or retweet American mainstream news stories, you are likely a Putin Puppet.
Comments
Forget 13 Russians...
The U.S. should be more concerned that a large proportion of the population is getting the 'news' via inane social media sites such as Facebroke and Twatter.
Sites obviously easily manipulated.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
What a conundrum.
Faceplant and Tweeter are used by billions for their
newsmisinformation.We are truly screwed.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
"Area Nation Constantly 'Liking' Stuff, Brought to its Knees"
Future Onion headline.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Neither are no worse
than the Cable Nets or Network News.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Maybe, but no more
so than getting your "news" from MSLSD.
Or Fox. Or CNN.
They all tell us what They want us to hear.
I quit watching the Cable News Nets when I got tired of watching "Liberals" get the $h!t kicked out of them by conservatives, without barely a whimper from the "Liberal" in his or her defense. Every night. Okay, I don't need to watch this, if I want to watch Liberals take a beating I'll watch Repubs beat 'em up on the House floor on CSPAN. That was it. Click. Haven't been back since. No matter where we get our "news" it's from the pov of the source. And MSLSD is barely a kitty whisker to the Left of Fox. Barely.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Yup, they're really only "liberal"
on social issues, anything remotely touching the corrupt mess we call a government will never be reported by either side of the divide. My Republican co-worker asked me yesterday where she would go to find real news. I'm adding her to my own little distribution list now since she actually asked me to.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Good work. :)
And, I suspect if there's one Repub asking where to find real news there's more behind her.
And that bodes well for "our side."
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Glenn Greenwald
writes this week about media statements equating the pop-up-puppy ads with Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
Who do those Russians think they are?
Posting stuff on the World-Wide Web! What nerve!
"Please clap." -- Jeb Bush
I indulge:
My brain and my soul is thrown into despair at how propaganda so weak and so obviously propaganda, that the Saddam WMD lies seem solid in comparison but so many people buy into it with a religious ferver. You can't even begin to talk sense to people who pride themselves -- and in the past, justly so -- on their 'crap detector.' Is there something in the water and air? Subliminal pulsing through TV screens? I can't comprehend this level of gullibility.
Orwell: Where's the omelette?
Just got an email from an Occupy comrade we know who
is a big union and labor rights guy. The subject line was "own your words" and contained an attachment to the joke of an indictment. He writes in what I presume was a mass email, "You choose what you read. You own what you repeat. Were you duped? If you were duped unwittingly, you are no longer. Read it all then come in from the cold or be an accessory v. democracy in United States of America."
For me now that's at least two really bright, studied, well-read activist sorts who fell for this whole embarrassing and comical Russian Red Herring Meltdown garbage. I'm still totally gobsmacked.
Last time I saw said friend was at the supermarket just after the Primary was stolen from Bernie. Told him unequivocally I would not under any circumstances be voting for $hills. He was pretty convinced then that we had to fall in line with the corrupt Dems for the GE. That took me aback a little. "Nah," I told him, "I'm not having it."
Propaganda is such a real force to be reckoned with. And it's been wielded throughout history (Red Scare during WWI, McCarthyism, Cointelpro, etc) to produce the same reaction as this garbage, which is to whip up hysteria so the State and Corporate PTB can viciously attack and defeat their political opponents. Thank god for Jimmy Dore, who I bet neither of those guys are watching (incidentally, do check out the Rational National's video on Sam Seder's jealous meltdown over this and about Jimmy Dore's growing audience. Lost Seder too...). If your news intake is mostly or all MSM content, it's pretty fucking simple: you have been brainwashed.
Jeez, what an upside down time. Can't believe what the Orange Buffoon is doing to otherwise good, dissenting and radical people. It's all a deflection from how Billary and the DNC conspired to cheat Bernie and prop up Drumpf (#PiedPiperStrategy). And this kind of "evidence" linked here is all a sham to keep the charade up. Now it's 13 people who upturned the entire American Electoral process, indeed a joke to begin with. But how exactly did they manage to throw the entire election then? Totally implausible.
The MSM propaganda is so relentless, the collective meltdown so total, that it's bringing out the worst in people. Rationality and reason have left the room.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
How long until they call us Reds?
This is what people were called during the McCarthyism days. Maybe we'll be called in front of the unAmerican committee soon.
[video:https://youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=p9JFVoQQXuk]
h/t Amanda
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
No need for committees.
I've already been called that because I voted for neither one.
Guilty as charged.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
We need a name for our club
I haven't bothered to vote since I voted for the Empty Suit. There was no way in hell I'd vote for TCC. I wouldn't have voted for Bernie because there was no way he could do any of the things he said he would because all our money goes to war. Until that's stopped, we'll never get single payer here.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
They may as well call it the “Un-Amazon” Activities Committee
seeing that Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post has been promoting RussiaGate big time — one well-known example being the prominently featured “PropOrNot” article, in which a long list of alternative news sites were claimed to be tools of Russian propaganda.
It's because Her lost
If it was Trump saying that Russia interfered with the election they would be laughing their asses off. They are so invested in Her that it has clouded their minds.
One thing that needs to be mentioned is if this was the greatest attack on this country since 9/11, then why didn't Obama tell McConnell to screw himself and tell us about it? Hmmm?
Actually Obama told us that our voting system is safe and unhackable. Why isn't this mentioned either?
I have family members who have bought this. Mainly because Rachel has been pushing it. I told them that it's just propaganda and the look on their faces was priceless.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Baffled,
I just want to agree, jim p, that,
And I agree with you, Mark from Queens, that,
I'm starting to wonder if it has to do with education, that the American people are starting to show their shocking ignorance of history. And it does shock. Consortium News' article by Gilbert Doctorow this week mentions the Munich Conference attempts to eliminate the Russians from the history of WWII! Combined with our government's support of Nazi paramilitary forces in Ukraine, it seems we are trying to make the Nazis the GOOD GUYS in WWII! Is it possible the American people of 2018 are so stupid or ignorant that they can be persuaded that Hitler was right and that the Russians fought on the wrong side?
Speaking of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Doctorow writes the following:
It's mind boggling.
ALL of my Dem buds think R-gate is "bigger than 9/11."
These are mostly intelligent people, most of them smarter than me.
Hey, a vote for Trump is a vote for Pootin. And if, gawd forbid, you voted for 3rd party or didn't vote at all, you not only voted For Pootin, but denied Her Highness Her rightful place upon the Oval Office throne. How DARE you sunsabitches?!
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Morgan Freeman
It seems so obvious when they start using the likes of Morgan Freeman to whip up outrage and fear about evil Russia destroying our democratic institutions. Have you seen the Facebook video? I can imagine the SNL skit where these deep state types are sitting around the table plotting ways to convince Americans to buy their war mongering propaganda du jour. And someone suggests the voice that America trusts as the mouthpiece for the lies.
What utter hypocrisy, deflection and deceit. You help me stay grounded and hopeful.