Liberal columnists, wounded that so much of the public ignored their overtures first on Brexit and then on Trump, claim good, decent, supposedly ‘elitist’ journalism must now assert itself. Our role in ‘seeking the truth’ must be ‘harnessed with steely determination’, says one. CNN’s Christiane Amanpour says the ‘tsunami of fake-news sites’ is an affront to journalism and the thing that journalism helps to facilitate: democracy. We must now fight ‘hard for the truth’ in this world where ‘the Oxford English Dictionary just announced that its word of 2016 [is] “post-truth”’, she says. Numerous hacks have been despatched to Macedonia and Russia to confront the fresh-faced youths who run these fake-news sites for cash. ‘How teens in the Balkans are duping Trump supporters’, says one headline. ‘Russian propaganda effort helped spread “fake news” during election’, says another. The image we’re left with is of dastardly Easterners suckering stupid Westerners and undermining the democratic tradition, and now pain-faced, well-minded columnists must stand up to this foreign threat to reason.
It’s the fakest news story of the week.
CNN?
Home of the “bend over for Saddam” school of journalism?
That CNN?
People who do not wish to invest much of their time on sifting fake news from real news can be helped by institutions which, over a long period, have developed a reputation for reliably reporting real news.
Such institutions, alas, sank into the Gramscian swamp long ago. So news consumers need to work a bit harder.
The elites are terrified that their tried and trusted tools of propaganda dissemination are no longer working.
Hence the push for internet censorship, and the social media networks arbitrarily banning “controversial” points of view.
What utter futility. The cat is out of the bag. We have been bullshitted too long.
*sigh*
1. Social Justice warriors ALWAYS lie.
2. Social Justice warriors ALWAYS double down.
3. Social Justice warriors ALWAYS project.
Where to start? What will they do when this doesn’t work?
Step One: create a Truth Vacuum by distorting the nature of investigative journalism.
Step Two: when clickbait rushes into the vacuum, blame it for everything you hate.
Step Twe: double down on your vacuous truthiness, and wait for the tide to turn.
Step For: quadruple down as the masses stop listening to you.
Step Fiv: fade away…
When many of these people learn that they are not “liberal”?
If they don’t understand the enemy they will never defeat it.
@lucklucky: “If they don’t understand the enemy they will never defeat it.”
I still believe that here is such a thing as defeat by accident. Some victories sadly are won by sheer mass in spite of bad strategy, tactics, and bad understanding of the enemy.
I’m sure there are as many fake news sites dissing Trump as there are dissing Clinton. Likewise there are as many idiots supporting Clinton as there are supporting Trump. That’s why elections are not unanimous unless blatantly fiddled. The idiots cancel each other out. That is how democracy and the Wisdom of Crowds work.
As long as mainstream outlets pursue a narrative then they themselves are fake news sites- and all of them openly favour some particular view of the world so all of them are.
I suspect that all of them thought that all good people agreed with their particular worldview, and many are having trouble accepting that that is not true
Fun galore if Trump announces that the MSM has convinced him to ‘do something’ about fake news, once he’s in office. It’s time for a Department (you’d say “Ministry”) of Truth! 😛
Priceless: Magazine behind UVA rape hoax begs Obama to do something about fake news. These people have completely and totally lost all touch with reality.
I have to say, we may end up going to hell in a handbasket, but the impending presidency of a Grand Master-level Troll of Trump’s caliber will at least provide us with some entertainment for the next 4, maybe 8 years.
“I suspect that all of them thought that all good people agreed with their particular worldview, and many are having trouble accepting that that is not true”
Not true?! I’m sure they’re only surprised that there are more bad people than they thought.
Pat December 1, 2016 at 1:55 pm: “I’m sure there are as many fake news sites dissing Trump as there are dissing Clinton.”
I’m sure there are more.
Some of them are rather old and well known. 🙂
“The idiots cancel each other out. That is how democracy and the Wisdom of Crowds work.” Ah, the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. Thank you, Mr. Mencken.
Anyway, the two don’t exactly cancel each other out; there’s always one group of idiots which is a little larger than the other. That’s why the pendulum swings back and forth.
“We have been bullshitted too long.” And here I thought the past tense was “bullshat”.
I do not understand the business model of CNN – there are four other leftist television news services in the United States (ABC, CBS, NBC [which runs MSNBC and so on] and PBS) and about a dozen English language leftist news services broadcast (via sat) into the United States by various governments – there is simply no market space for CNN.
As for “fake news” – the BBC broadcasts that every day (“government spending cuts” that do not exist and so on) and so does CNN.
More importantly is what the “mainstream media” leave out – for example the blank out that the so called E.U. “Single Market” is NOT about Free Trade – it is about endless (Louis XIV and Colbert style) regulations – seeking to control every aspect of economic life.
As for the United States – has CNN even reported what a total disaster Obamacare is?
What about the impending Federal Reserve Credit Bubble which threatens to destroy the American economy?
I’m not sure anyone (in the MSM) has reported what a disaster the Health Fraud Act is.
However, I spent over 3 hours on the phone this afternoon trying to enroll in Medicare Part D (the shame 🙁 !), and when the necessary preliminaries were accomplished and the feller went to switch me over to Enrollments (which he warned would like take quite awhile, because of call volume), naturally a spiteful and evil-minded gremlin hit the phone link and we were disconnected. By that time it was after hours (for the number I have to call in order to start the process).
So I, at least, do report what a totally catastrophic disaster this abortion is.
I anticipate a completely wasted Wednesday.