Posts by Dennis Frank
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Hard News: The fake news problem, in reply to David Hood,
Mm, I always empathised similarly. However the natural design of our world includes deception. Best source: Dark Nature (Lyall Watson). Caused me considerable angst, in the nineties - almost cured me of my innate green idealism.. : )
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Hard News: The fake news problem, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Interesting - hadn't heard of the author. Wikipedia: "At the time of publication it was one of the 10 longest novels written in the English language." We're still in the year of publication, so that very likely still applies. I like big deep fiction.
The Guardian reviewer quoted a couple of sections that seemed rather turgid in style, so I wish you luck with it - briefly reminded me of Alvin Toffler (ugh). Still, if he paces most of it swiftly & is concise as much as obscure, maybe worth reading eh?
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Hard News: The fake news problem, in reply to andin,
Yeah, quite illuminating. A Hillary voter who admits to creating propaganda designed to discredit Hillary, but in order to infiltrate the fake news subculture. This guy evokes the old double-agent scenario that prevailed during the Cold War and was recycled from the 19th century. Stalin was on the payroll of the Okhrana (Tsar's secret police) while acting as a terrorist to overthrow the Tsar.
People who play both sides against each other while operating in the middle are archetypal. The archetype was known as Hermes in the classical era. It generated trade and the media. It creates a conduit between two realms (attractors). Chaos theory taught us that the boundary between competing attractors is inherently creative, and fractal geometry computerised displays show us how it happens. Thus life forms emerged on the skin of Gaia, where earth meets sky. Metaphysics, substrata of the real world, can elucidate group psychodynamics. I'm just tossing this out there for those with the cerebral capacity to integrate it. Our deeply shallow contemporary culture requires conformity and we ought to be compassionate with everyone fixated on appearances, but transcending an inadequate status quo is always essential for progress.
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Didn't seem frothy to me, but good on you for sharing it. "As is so often the case, journalists — who constantly demand transparency from everyone else — refuse to provide even the most basic levels for themselves. When subjected to scrutiny, they reflexively adopt the language of the most secrecy-happy national security agencies: We do not comment on what we do."
"The Post itself — now posing as a warrior against “fake news” — published an article in September that treated with great seriousness the claim that Hillary Clinton collapsed on 9/11 Day because she was poisoned by Putin. .. As is so often the case, those who mostly loudly warn of “fake news” from others are themselves the most aggressive disseminators of it."
So there's a culture shift, from the pseudo-objective stance prevalent in the 20th century, back to the publisher's subjective prerogative that had prevailed in earlier centuries. Owners of media telling whatever stories they feel like telling. Caveat emptor. Presenting stories as news is as normal as ever...
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"On the night of the US election, the man described as "America's leading conspiracy theorist" was wrapping up a "historic" 52-hour live internet broadcast.
"Donald J Trump. The golden toad," declared a dazed and euphoric Alex Jones, the veteran radio broadcaster, filmmaker and founder of the influential InfoWars.com.
The broadcaster has been described as "the single most important voice in the alternative conservative media" by Roger Stone, the controversial Nixon-era political fixer and longtime Trump confidante." http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11755717Googling "golden toad" informs us "Males were colored a very vivid golden/orange". Okay, I get it. Onstage leaps many times his height would make excellent reality tv, but sadly we haven't seen that. Alex probably was a tad too enthusiastic when tossing down that electric kool aid in his youth.
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Hard News: The fake news problem, in reply to David Hood,
A fascinating analysis, eh? Seems sophisticated, even if reliant on diagnosis by computer (we know computers get things wrong often). Those visual displays of clusters of users connecting with each other on a particular meme are an excellent illustration of the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. One of them shows Trump exhibiting more of a nexus than God - perhaps an advisor will suggest to him that he can now go one up on John Lennon (who created headlines by pointing out that the Beatles were now more popular than Christ).
The point is that propaganda has now morphed into the mass construction of artificial social realities that become reality in the minds of those in the co-creating group, and fake news is (as the author asserts) just part of that group creative endeavour.
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Hard News: The fake news problem, in reply to mark taslov,
Re "greater domestic self-sufficiency" see also http://pundit.co.nz/content/the-future-of-international-trading#comment-44125
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Sometimes it isn't easy, distinguishing between fake news & real. If someone told you that a squirrel died in a kamikaze attack on a politician, you'd suspect it was fake eh? What if they told you they read it in the NZ Herald? Some cynics would still go for fake, no doubt. But it looks like the antipolitician groundswell in the USA has infected local wildlife... http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11754844
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Hard News: The fake news problem, in reply to John Farrell,
If. Did you also read the comments below the interview? I liked this: "if a journalist said to me it is raining outside I would check for myself. So even if everything he said is right no one believes him, a la Cassandra."
But yes, I myself made an online comment a few weeks ago re Trump's apparent immaturity. The spoilt brat syndrome could emerge to accompany the narcissism. The critical dimension to watch is how much or how long his team coheres. Bannon is who I'll watch - and whether team coherence persists through to the next mid-term elections.
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Hard News: The fake news problem, in reply to Stephen R,
Yeah, well put. I was responding to an assertion that was presented as if it were an historical fact. Also thanks to Joe Wylie for his correction: my impression from around 60 years of reading history probably derives from the lack of extensive use of the device in his empire. Just a guess, but reality checks are always helpful too.
On the more substantial current concern, count me as someone else apprehensive about Trump's disbelief in climate change initiatives. All very well to see the UN as part of the problem rather than part of the solution - most perceptive observers adopted that opinion more than 30 years ago - but a true political leader must validate himself by showing a way forward suitable for all, which in this case means advocating a viable solution to the problem.
A suitable international treaty drafted via multipolar negotiation need not be handicapped by UN bureaucrats. He could just ignore them totally and conduct the necessary liaison himself, using his proven skill as a deal-maker. Where there's a will, there's a way - but there's no sign yet of any such will.