- Joined
- May 11, 2016
- Messages
- 16,971
- Reaction score
- 11,167
This is truly pathetic.
And it is even more pathetic that they are listed on the official GOP site.
https://www.gop.com/the-highly-anticipated-2017-fake-news-awards/
The "highly anticipated fake news awards" are in reality, a list of eleven stories with factual errors. Most of these stories are petty and trivial, such as: "CNN FALSELY edited a video to make it appear President Trump defiantly overfed fish during a visit with the Japanese prime minister" and "Newsweek FALSELY reported that Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda did not shake President Trump’s hand."
Now, admittedly, the pettiness and triviality run both ways; the news media is sometimes complicit.
Also, admittedly, there is a trolly aspect to this that is quite funny; Trump is funny.
But there is a deeper and more important point here: Trump knows that behind the humor, he is corroding Americans' trust in factual narrative itself. That is his purpose. Put out enough stories about how the press was wrong about minor details, and it becomes easy to convince the public that they are just lying about or fabricating major stories, such as details of the Russian investigation.
There is an insidious strategy to mocking factual narrative that, when combined with human cognitive errors (such as confirmation bias and false equivalence), is a true threat to the functionality of our democracy.
Humor is a weapon, and a dangerous one.
I should also point out:
1. Eleven stories make up a TINY percentage of the total amount of press coverage Trump receives.
2. Previous politicians had to deal with these same type trivial and petty stories.
And it is even more pathetic that they are listed on the official GOP site.
https://www.gop.com/the-highly-anticipated-2017-fake-news-awards/
The "highly anticipated fake news awards" are in reality, a list of eleven stories with factual errors. Most of these stories are petty and trivial, such as: "CNN FALSELY edited a video to make it appear President Trump defiantly overfed fish during a visit with the Japanese prime minister" and "Newsweek FALSELY reported that Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda did not shake President Trump’s hand."
Now, admittedly, the pettiness and triviality run both ways; the news media is sometimes complicit.
Also, admittedly, there is a trolly aspect to this that is quite funny; Trump is funny.
But there is a deeper and more important point here: Trump knows that behind the humor, he is corroding Americans' trust in factual narrative itself. That is his purpose. Put out enough stories about how the press was wrong about minor details, and it becomes easy to convince the public that they are just lying about or fabricating major stories, such as details of the Russian investigation.
There is an insidious strategy to mocking factual narrative that, when combined with human cognitive errors (such as confirmation bias and false equivalence), is a true threat to the functionality of our democracy.
Humor is a weapon, and a dangerous one.
I should also point out:
1. Eleven stories make up a TINY percentage of the total amount of press coverage Trump receives.
2. Previous politicians had to deal with these same type trivial and petty stories.
Last edited:
