You Can't Fact Check Propaganda
hedgehogreview.com
hedgehogreview.com
In my opinion, this entire essay is the author struggling with their own cognitive dissonance that fact checking as it plays out in American media smells a lot like propaganda, but it surely can't be propaganda, because it's done by the good guys and for good intentions. But the American propaganda arm is very old and well established.
There is no informational authority and there never was or can be.
It doesn't mean true either.
Random comments by Seers on HN is probably close enough
Although I've got to say, people believing completely nonsensical conspiracy theories and other nonsense are definitely on the rise in Europe. I noticed my son's school is giving attention to how to judge the credibility of news.
The broad answer is badly.
One thing I find in the UK is that while most people say they distrust journalists and the media most people's worldview is clearly formed by the media they favour. This works both ways, of course.
Social media does allow some crazy conspiracy theorists, but they are a minority and most people use social media (at least outside personal stuff) to share both media stories and little snippets and quotes which back the same views and narrative they favour.
It is also very common for people to despise people who take a different view to despise those who believe the obviously false/propagandised/repugnant view of the other side. I think the "left" are worse (quotes, because IMO it is now more of a tribal badge than actually meaningful), but that may be because most people I know in IRL and connect to on social media are from a narrow group (affluent, Guardian reading type of left wing). I have known a broader range of people (in different countries too) but do not see that much of their attitudes at the moment and the biggest group (Sri Lankans) mostly comment on problems specific to their own country (and obviously I do not see them face to face as I do not live there now) so only social media, chats and phone calls).
I agree that fact checkers can't do much against people putting too much emphasis on specific true facts and ignoring others to build a narrative.
But, they became a thing because people were just making shit up about things that did not happen. Quotes that were not said. Social media posts that totally misrepresented something.
We now have even better tools for faking images, audio and video.
So, they'll not singlehandedly save the world from itself, but they have a vital role.
Not only do they let you look up a bit of surprising news and find out whether it is false they'll generally give a bit of context.
It not perfect but it's useful, and the people doing it don't need to solve every problem.
Imagine trying to counter a narrative when basic reality can be manufactured at will.
We saw these video when Gaza celebrated 7/10 murders – is it "Israeli propaganda"? Or maybe elimination of Israel in Hamas charter is?
Americans not "falling for propaganda", we just can differentiate between good and evil.
I also saw plenty of people (on Reddit, etc.) celebrating the bombing of Gaza, including incidents where innocent civilians were killed, or were certainly going to get killed. (Because “they all support Hamas anyway.”) Nothing about a group of people in Gaza celebrating terror makes them monsters or even especially unique. Unfortunately, once an enemy is sufficiently dehumanized, we are all susceptible to this sort of behavior.
EU as in European Union came to be long after colonization and have member states that were colonies of someone else.
Where did you get the idea that I want to give land to Turkey?
I'm actually of the opinion that both groups need to figure out how to live together peacefully instead of fighting each other. It seems quite unlikely that will ever happen. There's too much hate on both sides.
The western liberal sentiment is irrelevant. They cared about the Uighurs, Kashmere, Hong Kong, and Ukraine for upvotes, shares, and likes. When those didn’t generate enough interest they moved on. Hamas is their new shiny bauble.
The Gaza strip will be completely leveled. A bunch of noise on the internet will not change that. There will be a new topic in less a years time. We shall see what it is.
I can tell you already. The 2024 election.
Hamas and pallywood don't even bother. I guess their workbooks say something like "Just show some people that start crying when camera turns to them, or mention children, it will be enough for western useful idiots".
Lying all the time still fits the limits of "as they could be" if there are serious constraints on truth (as was the case in WWII)
> The manual for the American and British expeditionary forces warned that “when the listener catches you in a lie, your power diminishes.… For this reason, never tell a lie which can be discovered.”
There's a manual, then there's reality of people ignoring manuals
What's the point of going so shallow all the way to WWII when you can observe in real time how much outright and easily discoverable lying there is in the current batches of propaganda?