In Support of Fake News

Posted by $ MikeMarotta 7 years, 3 months ago to Humor
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As I said on Rebirth of Reason:
"Louisa May Alcott was a "penny-a-liner" making up lurid stories for New York city newspapers. She was not alone among now-respected 19th century authors who earned money that way. The Pulitzer Prize was invented at Columbia University's School of Journalism from a bequest from the Pulitzer foundation. But in reality, Joseph Pulitzer was every bit as dishonest as his rival, William Randolph Hearst. Either man could have been the model for Citizen Kane or Ayn Rand's Gail Wynand. No one expected much else from the press 100 years ago... or in the 100 years before that...

When Thomas Jefferson said that he would prefer a society of newspapers without government to a society of government without newspapers, he was not endorsing the factual reporting of Pulitzer Prize winners. He put his name behind what were only the ink-and-paper versions of barroom brawls. And yet... that is where the Federalist debate played out. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote their essays for newspapers -- and did so anonymously as "Publius." It remained incumbent upon the reader to evaluate the content.

Personally, what I perceive in the "war on fake news" is an abdication of responsibility. Generally speaking, no one wants to find out anything for themselves. They just want to be told what to believe = and be secure in that belief. And it is not just liberals or progressives or illegal aliens at the polling place. I participate on the GaltsGulchOnline board. It is common there for posters to put up links from American Thinker, Breitbart, Glenn Beck, or lesser lights, but never check any facts with a simple Google search of the key words."

http://rebirthofreason.com/Forum/Gene...

When I think of "fake news" I recall tabloids in the supermarket check-out lanes that announced the Bat Boy and the President meeting with an Alien (from outer space, not Mexico). Fake news is the Loch Ness Monster and Big Foot - and Big Foot's contract to appear on the David Letterman Show.

It might be said too easily that if you are taken in by fake news, then you deserve to be. The only problem with that, just for instance, are many cases of what we knew not being true, just as Einstein's gravitational constant which was here-again gone-again over the span of 75 or 80 years.

Herodotus and Aristotle accepted reports at face value and based their opinions on them. The Romans never questioned that the Ahenobarbus Brothers actually met the Dioscuri in person. In discussing the gods, Cicero said that we know that the gods are real because people report seeing them, and the senses are valid.

It is really up to you yourself to decide what it is true and what is not, what is misreported, falsely reported, or wrongly reported.

Kidnapped Journalist Forced To Explain To ISIS Captors What BuzzFeed News Is -- http://www.theonion.com/article/kidna...


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  • Posted by rbroberg 7 years, 3 months ago
    This one is juicy. News that is fake is just a lie, and has its probable genesis in Trump, who claimed such wonderful "facts" about minorities, his income, and other variants of behavior that lead to the comparison that he talks like someone who is high on cocaine.
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  • Posted by khalling 7 years, 3 months ago
    we do not post fake news. idiot
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    • Posted by $ 7 years, 3 months ago
      Fake news: "Philosophy Professor says students too fearful..." here
      https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...

      Fake news:
      Harvard Professor admits to hiding Obama video here:
      https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...

      Fake news:
      Anti-Trumps sow discord in Electoral College here:
      https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...

      Fake news:
      Fructose is sugar here:
      https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...

      And what started this from me:
      "Fake News: Socialists' Emolument Clause" here:
      https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...
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      • Posted by Dobrien 7 years, 3 months ago
        My post is the second one you listed. It is far from being fake it was just old news as I responded to your diatribe . You are a fake!
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        • Posted by Dobrien 7 years, 3 months ago
          Here is how you operate.Posted by Dobrien 1 week ago
          Maybe you could expand on your statement of Trumps lack of principals. I did a search for that as you recommend and didn't come up with much except for the same anti trump biased media trolls.
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          Posted by $ MikeMarotta 1 week ago
          Of course, if you look for "Trump lacks principles" you are going to find a lot of junk, and perhaps some truth. My recommendation is to read his own words: The Art of the Deal. Many books under his name have come out since, but I do not trust them as his own heartfelt expressions. They may have been publicity works created by ghost writers, albeit with the Trump imprimatur.

          Find Trump's own statement of principles and post it. (Triple dog dare.)
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          Posted by $ allosaur 6 days, 22 hours ago
          Me dino knew Trump was flawed when I voted for him.
          I'll take a blowhard American-loving blundering bulldozer over a bribed and totally corrupt self-loving evil hag of the Teflon Democrat elite any day.
          Especially if it saves the Supreme Court from being capsized by life-long appointments!
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          Posted by $ IndianaGary 6 days, 17 hours ago
          You dino does sometimes have a way with words. :-]
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          Posted by $ allosaur 6 days, 16 hours ago
          Mucho thanko meo iso gratitudo, kiddo. Cha-cha-cha!
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          Posted by Dobrien 6 days, 17 hours ago
          Hi MikeMarotta,
          Your statement was made based on your conviction. I asked for your reason to make that statement. I am not a Trump apologist but I did vote for him. BTW I have a lot of respect for him after the last 6 mo.s he endured a concerted effort to destroy him and he withstood the daily onslaught. I will be disappointed if you don't respond to your claim.
          Respectfully,
          DOB
          Re: (triple dog dare)
          Donald Trump "I would center my presidency on 3 principals. One Term, two fisted policies, and no excuses. For voters it would be a business approach and the best one available in the market place. I'd lead by example."
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          Posted by $ allosaur 6 days, 16 hours ago
          Yeah, and me dino wants to see what The Donald does and does not do when he actually becomes a really for really real businessman, oops, I mean president, in the Oval Office.
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          Posted by Dobrien 4 days, 20 hours ago
          Well I'm waiting. See my response to your (Triple dog dare.)
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          Posted by $ MikeMarotta 4 days, 14 hours ago
          First, "one term, two fisted policies, and no excuses" are not principles. We could accept them as his rules, but just today he spoke again of eight years rather than one term. So, that "principle" was violated before it got started.

          April 2 here:
          http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/p...
          Nov. 22 here:
          http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/22/politic...

          December 12: "President-elect Donald Trump: "No, no, I get it when I—first of all, these are very good people that are giving me the briefings. And I say, if something should change from this point, immediately call me. I’m available on one minute’s notice. I don’t have to be told—you know, I’m like a smart person. I don’t have to be told the same thing and the same words every single day for the next eight years."

          I will grant that "no excuses" is closest to an actual guideline that he seems to follow consistently. He is a bully - "two-fisted policies" - but he does not back down in a confrontation. So, I will give him that. He does prevaricate, but never says, "I'm sorry."
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          Posted by Dobrien 4 days, 11 hours ago
          So you continue to evade backing up your statement. Evasion is , in ethics, an act that deceives by stating a true statement that is irrelevant or leads to a false conclusion.
          Peter Bull identified the following evasion tactics
          For answering questions:
          #1 ignore the question
          #2 acknowledge the question without answering it.
          He finishes with "placing the responsibility to answer on someone else"
          You employed those three so far!
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