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Comment by g42gregory | Hacker News Reader

4 pointsg42gregory6 comments

Kind of hard to criticize somebody for "anti-vax conspiracies" when I believe they don't even mention it in their monologue. The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

That Headline is a bit extreme.

https://archive.is/N39Fx

Here is what he said.

“The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media and all the politicians and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes, and people can only come out if they take the cartel’s drugs — and keep taking them — over and over.”

“I threw the script away. I mean, who is gonna believe that crazy idea! Being forced to do drugs? I do them voluntarily all day long.”

Exactly. This is not about what he said, but about how Rolling Stone presented it to the public. Many other news outlet had similar headlines, including Forbes, for example. If you take Forbes, they not only have news on Woody Harrelson, but also on serious politics, economics, finance, social, etc... issues. If they can't handle SNL joke properly, why would we expect a better discourse in other areas?

It's funny how media, especially bottom tier media over-reacts to things. I don't think there are any "conspiracies" but it's almost like these outlets non-news "cultural" publications (Ars Technica is another example), didn't get the memo that they're not part of a conspiracy and feel like they need to act as propaganda mouthpieces for some imagined master.

I don't know if you would consider them a bottom tier media, but here is a headline from Washington Post:

"On SNL, Woody Harrelson pushes popular covid-19 conspiracy theory"

Huffington Post: "Woody Harrelson Rambles About Weed, Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy In 'SNL' Monologue"

Forbes: "Woody Harrelson Spouts Covid Vaccine Conspiracy In ‘SNL’ Monologue"

This list goes on...

Interesting. I'd but Forbes and Huffington Post in the same bucket as Rolling Stone, they are just looking for clicks. Washington Post I'm surprised they would even cover a SNL monologue. That's the type of non-story you regularly see on Fox News. But I guess it refutes my claim that Rolling Stone is uniquely taking the journalistic low road.

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