The Negative Effects of Fake News May Be More Profound Than Initially Thought.
We’ve seen in recent times how fake news can sway an election, manipulate public thinking, and is often used as a tool by crooked publishers who’re looking to cash in on a fast buck. But what if I told you that fake news is also becoming a tool of trade for conspiracy theorists to preach manipulating lies with the intent of spreading hatred against humanity, and worst of all, inciting inexcusable violence to boot. Stuck at the corner of propaganda and truth, get ready as we journey into the deep dark world of fake news and expose it’s most vile of propagators.
For starters, just to note the profound effect that fake news has on manipulating the public, would you believe that millions of YouTubers believe the Earth is flat? It’s true, they actually believe this!
To note how significant the problem with fake news and misleading info on the web has become, popular conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who touts millions of cult followers for his Info Wars media, has somehow managed to convince many of those followers that the helpless victims of the tragedy at the Ariana Grande concert are quote “Liberal Trendies” (some of which were as young as 8 years old), that Pizza Gate is a real conspiracy and Hilary Clinton was behind it, that the event at Sandy Hook Elementary was a staged event, and even that the popular yogurt maker Chobani had hired migrant rapists?
To put icing on the cake, Alex Jones used the recent tragedies in Las Vegas to incite more political hatred and division among the American people when he stated, “They found Antifa information in the room and photos of women in the Middle East. He also claims quote, “There was antifa crap everywhere.” None of which was true.
Not only are none of these claims true, but Jones actually apologized and retracted many of the statements, only to make more bizarre and hate inciting episodes on Info Wars as time moved forward. Despite those retractions, Jones ability to manipulate the thinking of his audience has caused many to continue to believe these events are still true.
The really concerning part of Jones statements is his ability to incite so much hatred and division with his politically motivated rants, there appears to be the real risk of violence associated with them.
And things get worse, much worse in fact! Not only was the owner of the Washington DC based pizzaria Comet Ping Pong that was at the center of Jones Pizza Gate rants repeatedly threatened with violence, but a deranged man, Edgar Maddison Welch, actually entered the restaurant with a semi-automatic assault rifle and began shooting up the place. This all happened after Jones insisted his audience “Investigate the story for themselves.”
In other events, a woman has been tried and prosecuted after threatening the father of one of the Sandy Hook victims. As if losing their child weren’t bad enough, Jones went on a tirade of blasting the entire event as being a lie. Inciting anger, hatred, and violence against the victims in the process.
57 year old Lucy Richards made threats of violence to the father of a 6 year old victim of Sandy Hook. It’s honestly events like this show just how out of control the entire fake news situation has become. When will authorities say enough is enough, and start to crack down on those who spread the fake news stories that cause this?
While Richards is headed to prison, the man who convinced her the event was all a lie and incited enough hatred in her to threaten violence on others remains totally free. For Alex Jones, its just business as usual.
To make matters worse, President Donald Trump actually praised Alex Jones, stating quote, “Your reputation is amazing”, and somehow, despite all that’s happened, Jones Info Wars managed to get their hands on a temporary White House press pass. Here our newly elected president is actually commending fake journalism and worst of all, a conspiracy theorist who’s hell bent on inciting hatred in all of humanity.
After a recent interview with NBC’s Megyn Kelly, Jones released a new video claiming that Kelly left out crucial parts of the interview, including a statement he claims he made during the interview including, “In hindsight, the event at Sandy Hook probably did happen.” Yet, Jones failed to produce any audio of this supposed event, despite the fact he claims he recorded everything himself.
Jones went on to incriminate his own misdeeds even further in this very video by playing audio from an earlier video during the last campaign, in which he states quote, “When I think about all the children Hilary Clinton has personally murdered, and chopped up, and raped, I have zero fear standing up against her.” That statement is actually noted in Jones own video above. To say this is acceptable journalism is beyond disgusting.
If that statement isn’t mentally deranged, I don’t know what is! The point here, millions of people are mentally gullible enough to believe these extremely defamatory statements, and this schizo isn’t shy in admitting he made them. What’s even scarier is the fact he honestly believes his deranged ideologies are perfectly fine.
While many would point to Alex Jones as being quote, A “Conspiracy Theorist”, the fact is this man is a preacher of not just conspiracies, but flat out fake news.
They’re called conspiracy theories for a reason, because they aren’t factual in any way, shape, or form; but rather they’re merely ideas based on speculation. And let’s face it, there’s a huge difference between sharing an opinion, and flat out making up stories on the fly, which Jones is an expert at.
The real travesty here is the damning effect one person can have on all of society as a result of their intent to spread malicious lies with the sole purpose of inciting hatred, intolerance, and violence.
Besides the obvious point that Jones isn’t mentally well, one would have to ask, why does he do it? Why does he spread misinformation, incite intolerance, hatred, and compel people to become violent? What is it he personally gets from doing all of this?
It’s very simple, sensational and unbelievable stories attract attention, and Jones does it simply for the money. The bigger the controversy, the more attention garnered, and the bigger the pay day that follows.
Social Media Plays A Hand:
With the rapid rise of social media, comes a world of new media as well. This new media often acts with zero accountability, and its part of the reason the web is literally littered with fake stories today. While platforms like Facebook have stated they’re doing more to weed out misinformation on their platform, and others like Twitter have made it clear they’ve had enough with fake news, others, including the tech giant Google, have clearly turned a blind eye to the problem.
After all, its Google’s video sharing platform YouTube, that Jones makes use of as his primary podium for spreading his dishonest news coverage. Google has repeatedly stated they’re doing more to crack down on extremist content, while at the same time refusing to acknowledge the rampant issues with harassment caused by individuals like Jones.
As Journalist Denise-Marie Ordway pointed out in an article from Journalist Resource Dot Org, a survey from the Pew Research Center suggests that as much as 23% of U.S adults have shared fake news online. Denise goes on to note how many in the world of journalism see fake news as not only a way to make money, but to potentially influence public opinion:
So just how easy is it to manipulate public opinion and belief? Just ask Rick Dyer, the famed Bigfoot hoaxer who admits he made a lot of money faking stories of finding the infamous Sasquatch. Dyer states, “There’s no more evidence for Bigfoot than the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny.” Dyer made a killing, not of Bigfoot himself, but off of the ignorance of those who wanted to believe it exists, and the fact many paid to tag along on his Bigfoot hunting expeditions, which he admits were a sham.
Dyer made so much money off the first hoax he was involved with back in 2008, he decided to do a rinse and repeat, attempting to pull it off again in hopes of a getting a good payday in return.
Stupid is as Stupid Does:
While the perpetrators of fake news are a serious problem, the fact that many are gullible enough to believe the wild stories that traverse the web are a whole other issue. I have to admit, I wasn’t the least bit surprised when I read the report that 7% of Americans were stupid enough to believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows.
So, it appears that ignorance too plays a crucial role in all of this. Just as people like Alex Jones and Rick Dyer found ways to profit off of the ignorance and vulnerability of others, the even bigger issue is the fact that some people are so easily manipulated into believing just about anything they hear. Or, in the case of the chocolate milk, its more likely most of those who believe this nonsense lack any real form of intelligence. As I learned in a college psychology class, not all humans reach an operational (higher) stage of thinking upon adulthood.
But there’s more, as even the most logical minded of individuals can often be duped. Curiosity it seems is very much a part of our human nature, as is desire. To put it plainly, humans are imaginative beings, and sometimes we want to believe things even when we know they might, or more than likely could be wrong.
This is most notable with Christians, who swear the earth is 6,000 years old, yet science proves the teachings of the bible are billions of years off. Yet, despite the facts, millions upon millions still remain ignorant to science. Why? Not because they know they are right, but rather because they want to believe they’re right. I guess those 6,000 year believers never heard of carbon dating either.
Its too bad so many people can’t tell the difference between beliefs, narrow minded opinions, and real world facts. I can believe whatever I like, but that wouldn’t constitute my beliefs as being factual. Facts are widely agreed upon theories that have supportive physical evidence to back them up. On the other hand, beliefs are mere sentences of thought with no logical basis, and often no real tangible evidence to corroborate them with.
But to be fair, all humans are ignorant about certain things, as we can’t possibly know everything. For instance, if my computer breaks, I can fix it. But if my car broke down tomorrow, I haven’t a clue. No one knows all, and we’re all ignorant to some degree. But this doesn’t mean we have to lack common sense and good judgement.
The point here, its probably best not to believe everything you hear without taking any thought to the claims of others for yourself. It’s kind of like when you go to the doctor. The average person is completely ignorant to medical science, and 99% of the time patients will never question the authority of the doctors who provide them with medical care.
Speaking of ignorance, it appears there’s a whole science behind it, and a man who’s made it his destiny to study the phenomenon. Robert Proctor, a science historian at Stanford University even coined the term “Agnotology”, which is the study of wilful acts to spread confusion and deceit, usually to sell a product or win favour, as noted in this article from the BBC:
“Sometimes You Just Have To Tell People What To Believe”:
That was a statement I made to the co-founder of my media organization years ago in response to a simple question, “And they believe that?”
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my years of writing is that practice makes perfect, and I know if I wanted too, I could trick the public into believing just about anything. It’s all in the wording, and writing an article can easily become a trick hand at the cards. For journalists who write and interact with those who ingest their content on a daily basis, over time they learn to predict the reactions of others.
But unlike others, I feel I have a responsibility as a journalist and the head of my media organization to do what’s right and report honest news, and give honest and fair opinions about the subjects I cover.
Unfortunately, as I noted above, the world of journalism online is one plagued by false prophets who’ve turned reporting fake news into a lucrative business model, and one that causes real violence as a result of its reporting. In the case of Alex Jones, its not only a way to make money, but a way to manipulate the public into sharing his politically motivated and often extremely deranged ideologies.
That being said, search engines, social platforms, the media and the journalists they employ, all have a responsibility to do their part in weeding out crooked news outlets and finding better ways to ensure the news that’s published and promoted on social media and publishers sites isn’t made with the intent to deceive or manipulate the public.
We’ve seen how journalism is now used as a common means of manipulating the public for politically motivated reasons, and its a profitable business model for many. We’ve also seen the darker side of fake news in all of this, as deceptive journalism can be used as a means to incite hatred, intolerance, and ultimately violence. For journalists like Alex Jones, citing fake news is a means for spreading his hatred for humanity, and its people like this that have turned YouTube into an extremely toxic environment.
All it takes is one quick look at the comment sections of any one of Jones’ videos to realize his audience of followers are just as toxic as he is, often making threats of violence coupled with disparaging remarks about political candidates and others. There’s literally not a single positive comment on his videos anywhere, its virtually all negative. I think that says something.
While many would argue that cracking down on opinions would be a crack down on free speech, I’ve learned from experience in dealing with millions in our Google+ communities we manage that there’s a huge difference between sharing an honest opinion or strong convictions, and making statements that have the obvious intent to harass, threaten, intimidate, or mislead others. If the intent is to spread misleading information, or physically or mentally harm others, then there’s no room for it in our communities, or on Google+ for that matter.
Believe it or not, I along with our media organization have been fighting a long bitter war against fake news on Google+ for years! In fact, just one community we operate can get as many as 100 fake stories in a 24 hour period, just to note how significant the problem has become.
Luckily, Google has intelligent algorithms in place with the Google+ platform that can quickly detain questionable content at an accuracy rate of well over 99 percent of the time. Those questionable stories are then removed from public view where they await to be reviewed by our staff who give a final say.
Just as Google has a trusted flaggers program they use to police the YouTube platform, they’ve also resulted to identifying who they can trust to police their social network Google+.
While I don’t have an answer to this wider problem with fake news on the web, or the disgusting hatred it often spreads, I can say I and the media organization I operate have worked really hard to keep bad actors off of the Google+ platform, reporting and banning tens of thousands for spreading false and misleading information across social platforms over the last 5 years.
While I applaud Twitter and Facebook for taking action against those who not only make the web a miserable place for everyone else, but those who spread lies with the intent to manipulate our every thought, but others like Google still need to do more. While Google+ is well moderated, YouTube remains to be a serious concern.
Google recently stated they’re working to introduce new ways to battle extremist content on the YouTube platform, including the additions of more trusted flaggers who can take down deceptive videos, but I have my doubts. Here they’ve been talking about cracking down on extremists all year long, yet they have this manipulating liar, Alex Jones, who continues to operate with impunity on their platforms.
Conclusion:
Enough is enough with the fake news! While many like myself, my media organization, and others have done our job to police the web for bad actors and misleading information, I think its high time for Congress and the U.S justice department to take a closer look at the perpetrators of misinformation across the web and wider media.
While many would argue that having U.S legal authorities have a say in what’s acceptable and what is not in media reporting would be a violation of freedom of speech and expression, the outcome of freedom of press with zero accountability speaks volumes. Considering its literally come to the point where we have conspiracy theorists spreading news stories to incite politically motivated hatred, widespread discontent among the public, and misinformation with the intent to incite violence and manipulate all of humanity into believing flat out lies, this is where I have to draw a red line and say enough is enough.
That being said, I would wholeheartedly support the passing of laws that would hold the perpetrators of fake news, especially those who incite inexcusable violence, criminally liable for their actions. Of course mistakes in news reporting do happen often, but its the intent that matters.
Written and published by Daniel Imbellino — Co-Founder of Strategic Social Networking and pctechauthority.com. Many thanks for reading. Be sure to check out Strategic Social Networking Community on Google+ to connect with tens of thousands of IT professionals and learn effective strategies to grow your social presence online. You’re also welcome to follow Strategic’s brand page on G+ for the latest social media and IT industry news. You’re also welcome to connect with me on Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DanielImbellino
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