Comment by ZeroGravitas | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ZeroGravitas | Hacker News Reader

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You say all this in a dismissive tone, but there is a powerful media voice in America that talks about fish people and interdimensional elves, and a president elect that claimed for years that the previous president was a sleeper agent who had his entire life story up to and beyond college invented as a cover story. Who on television after a mass shooting crassly implied that the President was implicated. I could go on but I'll stop there.

That seems worth a news article or two.

Also regarding your thought that it's just sour grapes after losing, here's a fascinating This American Life episode from during the election on roughly the same topic, but talking about the USA:

https://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/599/se...

"Ira's quest continues. He calls his Uncle Lenny, who gets his news from Fox and the Wall Street Journal, and lives with an entirely different set of facts, and Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration expert at the CATO Institute, who explains that the central issue in Donald Trump’s candidacy is based on something that isn’t true."

I think his point is, there has been fake news on FB for years now and no one has bat an eye. Now all of a sudden it's of interest to everyone because it's a scapegoat explanation for why the Democrats lost the White House.

I think it's of interest now because you have a direct cause-and-effect scenario in place (e.g. fake news having some effect on the outcome of a US election). Beforehand, most people would have assumed that the fake news industry simply pandered to the conspiratorial crowd without any repercussions. It was harmless...not to be taken seriously. However, now we can see real consequences, which makes for a worthy story IMO.

> you have a direct cause-and-effect scenario in place

See I was not so sure about the direct cause and effect bit.

That sounds a bit too dismissive. I am sure it has to have some effect but not sure that's the reason for an electoral landslide and Hillary delivering the worst Democratic performance in 20 some years, despite having experience, a mass media support, DOJ and POTUS on her side, a lot more donor money and resources.

Saying this is because Macedonians brainwashed our citizens about lizard people or KGB agents seems dishonest.

I'm not saying it's the single, deciding factor as to why Clinton lost. I'm simply saying that we can now see the influence fake news has on something as pivotal as a US election. Prior to this, the effects would have been written off as harmless. This is why it makes for an important story and not some attempt at scapegoating.

> I'm simply saying that we can now see the influence fake news has on something as pivotal as a US election.

Makes sense. I'd want to know the effect the fake new had. I suspect it is not as big as presented, at least not compared to the current hype about it. I am guessing you think it is more significant?

> Prior to this, the effects would have been written off as harmless.

Yap. I was joking the other day, I wouldn't mind a test before voting "Do you think Earth is flat?" / "Do you think lizard people run our government?" / "Is earth 5000 years old?". If they answer yes, they vote goes uncounted.

That sounds like it could be a bit close to uncomfortable things...

Also obviously people who believed those things could just mark "no", and it would probably also strengthen those beliefs in those that hold them.

I disrecomend that plan.

That episode is interesting and slightly scary. You'd hope people like his Uncle Lenny once discovering they'd been lied to might switch to a more accurate news source but it doesn't seem to work that way.

You must be talking about the accusations in 2008 of Sen McCain being literal Manchurian Candidate.

I'd never heard this, so looked it up. Wikipedia claims it came up in 2000, not 2008:

An anonymous smear campaign began against McCain, delivered by push polls, faxes, e-mails, flyers, and audience plants.[126][142] The smears claimed that McCain had fathered a black child out of wedlock (the McCains' dark-skinned daughter was adopted from Bangladesh), that his wife Cindy was a drug addict, that he was a homosexual, and that he was a "Manchurian Candidate" who was either a traitor or mentally unstable from his North Vietnam POW days.[126][136] The Bush campaign strongly denied any involvement with the attacks.[136][143]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#2000_presidential_...

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