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America’s Misinformation Crisis

  • Thread starter Thread starter nycfan
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  • Replies: 142
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  • Politics 
Paine said:
Somehow this thread has become a living embodiment of the misinformation crisis. Instead of talking about the crisis itself, a bad actor has come in and moved the conversation based on misinformation that he himself has fallen victim to. Can we just mute him and move on with the business of this thread?
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Sorry for my contribution.

We should have all listened several pages back when @superrific said to start another thread.

In the end, they are sort of proving how misinformation affects people.
 
nycfan said:
I found this an important observation that helps understand this nihilist behavior:

“… Michael Caulfield, an information researcher at the University of Washington, has argued, “The primary use of ‘misinformation’ is not to change the beliefs of other people at all. Instead, the vast majority of misinformation is offered as a service for people to maintain their beliefs in face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.” This distinction is important, in part because it assigns agency to those who consume and share obviously fake information. …

What we’re witnessing online during and in the aftermath of these hurricanes is a group of people desperate to protect the dark, fictitious world they’ve built.

Rather than deal with the realities of a warming planet hurling once-in-a-generation storms at them every few weeks, they’d rather malign and threaten meteorologists, who, in their minds, are “nothing but a trained subversive liar programmed to spew stupid shit to support the global warming bullshit,” as one X user put it. It is a strategy designed to silence voices of reason, because those voices threaten to expose the cracks in their current worldview. But their efforts are doomed, futile.

As one dispirited meteorologist wrote on X this week, “Murdering meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes.” She followed with: “I can’t believe I just had to type that.” …”
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My brother was a meteorologist for the NWS until he was forced to retire due to long COVID after he fell for antivax propaganda.

He still doubles down on his stance despite having a horrible quality of life.

There is some kind of irony here. I wonder if being a target of misinformation would make he rethink things.
 
lawtig02 said:
Mueller made it clear in his testimony, as is clear in the report, that he didn’t exonerate Trump for anything.
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If that's the case, what does this mean:

the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities

We are talking about the issue of misinformation. I am quoting directly from the report a section that says Trump did not conspire, yet that is viewed as misinformation?

If quoting directly from the report of the investigation isn't sufficient, what would be sufficient for you to believe that Trump and his campaign did not conspire?
 
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ZenMode said:
If that's the case, what does this mean:

the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities

We are talking about the issue of misinformation. I am quoting directly from the report a section that says Trump did not conspire, yet that is viewed as misinformation?

If quoting directly from the report of the investigation isn't sufficient, what would be sufficient for you to believe that Trump and his campaign did not conspire?
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You are eliding the difference between “the investigation did not establish collusion” and “the investigation established that there was no collusion.” Mueller didn’t confirm there was no collusion, he simply didn’t think he could prove it happened. Mainly because it was unclear whether the Trump campaign was knowingly working with the Russians or were just a bunch of absolute morons being unwittingly manipulated by the Russians.
 
rodoheel said:
You are eliding the difference between “the investigation did not establish collusion” and “the investigation established that there was no collusion.” Mueller didn’t confirm there was no collusion, he simply didn’t think he could prove it happened. Mainly because it was unclear whether the Trump campaign was knowingly working with the Russians or were just a bunch of absolute morons being unwittingly manipulated by the Russians.
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Ditto. And Trump’s obstruction of the investigation was a main part of the reason Mueller couldn’t obtain sufficient evidence to bring conspiracy charges.
 
rodoheel said:
You are eliding the difference between “the investigation did not establish collusion” and “the investigation established that there was no collusion.” Mueller didn’t confirm there was no collusion, he simply didn’t think he could prove it happened. Mainly because it was unclear whether the Trump campaign was knowingly working with the Russians or were just a bunch of absolute morons being unwittingly manipulated by the Russians.
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He said they were duped. I referenced that earlier. Not surprisingly, the Clinton campaign was not duped.

So, he saying they didn't know they were interacting with Russian accounts. He didn't find anything that lead him to believe they conspired. At this point, barring any new information, shouldn't we believe he DIDN'T conspire? At the very least, believing he didn't conspire shouldn't be labeled as misinformation while believing he did, which is contrary to what the report says, is accurate information.
 
This is just batshit craziness going on

​

FEMA contractors ordered to “stand down” after security threats, messages show​



Sunday evening, the Washington Post first reported messages about reports of threats to FEMA-affiliated workers in Rutherford County. WBTV has independently confirmed that reporting with sources with direct knowledge of the threats.

The news comes after FEMA workers across Hurricane Helene’s disaster zone in western North Carolina have been targeted with misinformation and rumors about the federal government’s recovery operations in the area.

“Effective immediately, disaster wide -- cease inspections today and return to your hotels,” an alert from Vanguard Inspection Services read on Saturday. “FEMA received news that the Title 10 (active military unit deployed to NC) came across some trucks of militia units who said they were out hunting FEMA personnel.”
 
It really is a perfect storm(no pun intended) for this type of thing to happen. The NC mountains are already filled with pockets of people who hate the government , throw in this terrible disaster where people are scared and frustrated and you have perfect lab conditions for conspiracy theories to grow and fester.
 
lightbluenc said:
This is just batshit craziness going on

​

FEMA contractors ordered to “stand down” after security threats, messages show​



Sunday evening, the Washington Post first reported messages about reports of threats to FEMA-affiliated workers in Rutherford County. WBTV has independently confirmed that reporting with sources with direct knowledge of the threats.

The news comes after FEMA workers across Hurricane Helene’s disaster zone in western North Carolina have been targeted with misinformation and rumors about the federal government’s recovery operations in the area.

“Effective immediately, disaster wide -- cease inspections today and return to your hotels,” an alert from Vanguard Inspection Services read on Saturday. “FEMA received news that the Title 10 (active military unit deployed to NC) came across some trucks of militia units who said they were out hunting FEMA personnel.”
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These people are dangerous from an immediate threat of harm standpoint and from a long-term threat to our entire democracy standpoint. At what point does the federal government take an extremely aggressive stance to punish them?
 
lightbluenc said:
This is just batshit craziness going on

​

FEMA contractors ordered to “stand down” after security threats, messages show​



Sunday evening, the Washington Post first reported messages about reports of threats to FEMA-affiliated workers in Rutherford County. WBTV has independently confirmed that reporting with sources with direct knowledge of the threats.

The news comes after FEMA workers across Hurricane Helene’s disaster zone in western North Carolina have been targeted with misinformation and rumors about the federal government’s recovery operations in the area.

“Effective immediately, disaster wide -- cease inspections today and return to your hotels,” an alert from Vanguard Inspection Services read on Saturday. “FEMA received news that the Title 10 (active military unit deployed to NC) came across some trucks of militia units who said they were out hunting FEMA personnel.”
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A military unit encountered a truck full of armed people saying they were "hunting" FEMA personnel ... and they just let them go???
 
rodoheel said:
A military unit encountered a truck full of armed people saying they were "hunting" FEMA personnel ... and they just let them go???
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They don't have the legal right to do anything, I'm pretty sure. I actually think they are prohibited from any law enforcement duties, barring the declaration of martial law.
 
finesse said:
They don't have the legal right to do anything, I'm pretty sure. I actually think they are prohibited from any law enforcement duties, barring the declaration of martial law.
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Fair enough. But I hope they at least gave the authorities details on who and where they were? Of course for all we know half the militia were law enforcement themselves.
 
Think how emboldened these terrorists would get if they were "approached" by any government organization of any kind. It would literally provide instant validation that the government is after them. It's a win-win for them.
 
lightbluenc said:
This is just batshit craziness going on

​

FEMA contractors ordered to “stand down” after security threats, messages show​



Sunday evening, the Washington Post first reported messages about reports of threats to FEMA-affiliated workers in Rutherford County. WBTV has independently confirmed that reporting with sources with direct knowledge of the threats.

The news comes after FEMA workers across Hurricane Helene’s disaster zone in western North Carolina have been targeted with misinformation and rumors about the federal government’s recovery operations in the area.

“Effective immediately, disaster wide -- cease inspections today and return to your hotels,” an alert from Vanguard Inspection Services read on Saturday. “FEMA received news that the Title 10 (active military unit deployed to NC) came across some trucks of militia units who said they were out hunting FEMA personnel.”
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Terrible. These FEMA folks are trying to help people going through some of the worst times of their lives and these wingnuts are not only threatening the helpers but also stopping the help.
 
circlesky88 said:
It really is a perfect storm(no pun intended) for this type of thing to happen. The NC mountains are already filled with pockets of people who hate the government , throw in this terrible disaster where people are scared and frustrated and you have perfect lab conditions for conspiracy theories to grow and fester.
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Agree. I LOVE the NC mountains. Love the people there. But for malicious right wing anti-government conspiracists, this thing has been a bathtub of chum being tossed in the water.
 
lightbluenc said:
This is just batshit craziness going on

​

FEMA contractors ordered to “stand down” after security threats, messages show​



Sunday evening, the Washington Post first reported messages about reports of threats to FEMA-affiliated workers in Rutherford County. WBTV has independently confirmed that reporting with sources with direct knowledge of the threats.

The news comes after FEMA workers across Hurricane Helene’s disaster zone in western North Carolina have been targeted with misinformation and rumors about the federal government’s recovery operations in the area.

“Effective immediately, disaster wide -- cease inspections today and return to your hotels,” an alert from Vanguard Inspection Services read on Saturday. “FEMA received news that the Title 10 (active military unit deployed to NC) came across some trucks of militia units who said they were out hunting FEMA personnel.”
Click to expand...
Joke's on them because FEMA isn't even there, right?

But seriously, our country is so broken socially and politically.
 
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