General Discussion

garybeck

(9,942 posts) Wed Apr 18, 2018, 01:36 AM Apr 2018

Do you realize that right now as we sit here.....

People are planning and creating the fake news stories, the memes, the videos, the baseless attacks, the outrageous lies, that are going to be pushed through Facebook, Twitter, Fox News, and Sinclair in the next few months leading up to the election?

If you think the revelations about Cambridge Analytica are going to stop these people, think again. They don't have to data-mine to do continue to do this. that was just one tool of delivery. They can still buy ads, and use other ways to spread their content.

These people are very sophisticated and they're not going away. They have lots of cash and they are very creative. They create "news" stories that have a tiny seed of truth in them and they mix in just enough lies and bullshit to be just barely believable enough to convince enough dumb people that something is true and they should run to the polling station because they're going to hell if they don't. They've seen it work and they aren't going to stop doing it just because Mark Z and congress suddenly care about our privacy and fake news.

Even if Facebook completely stopped selling our personal info, that would not stop this. The first amendment guarantees free speech, so no amount of privacy protection will stop these people from flooding the internets any way they can with their BS. Privacy is important but our election problem is not so much about privacy. It's about the content that is going out there. It's about the bullcrap memes, the GIFs, the videos, the news and lies that were spread all over the internet last election, and will again.

these are not geeks in their basement, or Okeefe-types making up shit and sending out to their email list. this is highly sophisticated and well funded and they are a step ahead of Congress, Zuckgerber, and us.

it won't be as obvious this time because it's not a national election. but they will be doing it for key races, and they will be testing and preparing for 2020.

They are preparing the content right now as we sit here.

(not to mention the more direct attacks on our democracy -- purging the voter rolls and other attacks on the voting systems -- those are not going to stop either)

So what are we going to do about it?

4 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Do you realize that right now as we sit here..... (Original Post) garybeck Apr 2018 OP

Yes, and I'm seeing some now, elleng Apr 2018 #1

Yes, I am aware. Solly Mack Apr 2018 #2

We Have To Encourage Those People That Don't Vote..... global1 Apr 2018 #3

I think we should have a mocking ad campaign Awsi Dooger Apr 2018 #4

elleng

(130,906 posts)

1. Yes, and I'm seeing some now,

Reply to garybeck (Original post)

Wed Apr 18, 2018, 01:38 AM

Apr 2018

Divide and Conquer happening.

Solly Mack

(90,767 posts)

2. Yes, I am aware.

Reply to garybeck (Original post)

Wed Apr 18, 2018, 02:30 AM

Apr 2018

All too aware.

global1

(25,247 posts)

3. We Have To Encourage Those People That Don't Vote.....

Reply to garybeck (Original post)

Wed Apr 18, 2018, 02:37 AM

Apr 2018

to get out and vote. We can't have people sit home and not participate in the 2018 Midterms. The 2018 Midterm election needs to be historic. We need to have the biggest turnout to vote in an election in history. We can't take this election for granted. We need to turn a Blue Wave into a Blue Tsunami. GOTV!!!!!!

Awsi Dooger

(14,565 posts)

4. I think we should have a mocking ad campaign

Reply to garybeck (Original post)

Wed Apr 18, 2018, 03:33 AM

Apr 2018

Like two well dressed classy women on a break from work and one of them excitedly reads a fake news story from her cell phone. She looks up in concern. Then the other one scoffs and says in dismissive tone, "You're not going to fall for that, are you? I got taken by that nonsense two years ago, and look where it took us."

***

Something like that. People don't like to play the fool. A run like that wouldn't even need to be prolonged, because it would earn immediate attention and spread well outside the original vehicle.

Young people are largely immune. That continues to be my best guess toward a solution. Register as many people as possible on college campuses and take your chances in 2018 and beyond.

BTW, fake news won't be the extent of it this year. The sinister deplorables are always at least one cycle ahead. Based on what I saw here in Miami last spring, it's going to involve heavily expanded door to door contact to their friendlies, and well ahead of time to get them motivated. It was unbelievable how early that began for a local election here. They were everywhere. My sister is a Republican and had lived here previously so they initially were coming here until I shooed them away. The flyers she was receiving in the mail were coming in bunches every day and contained the same type of outrageous lies as the online fake news. I had to believe that door to door stuff was a trial run for larger cycles ahead.

Reply to this discussion