The Systemic Failure that is Fake News

[ck4829]

A lot is made about fake news, but I think it is just one component. Responding to fake news requires a lot more effort than just looking at one tree in a forest so to speak. If we truly want to challenge fake news, then we need to look at the entire system associated with it and be ready to confront it.

Fake news is a lot more than a crazy article on the internet, it is...

Confirmation Bias - It seems as though some corners of the internet are not vast libraries, that the super information highway has instead become a repeating cartoonish back alley that loops on itself infinitely, people go to these websites, and what do you know? It tells them exactly what they want to hear about liberals, Muslims, gays, minorities, feminists, the government, etc. What a coincidence, right?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

Esoteric Delusions - Go onto a site known to peddle fake news, you may get hit by popup ads telling you about some new way to make money fast and you're the only one who knows about it... for now, or you might see something about "Forbidden Attraction Secrets the Liberal Media Does Not Want You To Know", and that is the point of these ads and many of the stories, they claim to have secret knowledge that 'they' don't want you to know. Look for how many stories begin with "Mainstream media tries to cover up..." or "The government doesn't want you to know about..." It's very enticing, also a tactic used by cults, creates a sense of fraternity, making you feel like you are a discoverer of secrets, makes them look like bringers of knowledge, and the 'they' as some force promoting ignorance and wanting to keep you in the dark.
http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?19727-Get-the-quot-Secret-quot-Knowledge-Without-the-Cult

Dismissal of Debunking - So a fake story has been utterly debunked, Obama couldn't have been consulting with Elders of Mecca and Elders of Zion while giving his REAL Kenyan birth certificate to the Illuminati last Thursday at 9 PM because he was in the Oval Office at that time? Hold up, buckaroo. That doesn't mean anything. Get ready for the dismissals.
"Fake News Source A made something up? I heard that/I remember News source X did something like that too, so what?" is one you might see. I guess some fake news sources go straight for the jugular and attack people who might debunk them as part of the vast conspiracy to debunk them.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/25/technology/for-fact-checking-website-snopes-a-bigger-role-brings-more-attacks.html?_r=0

We need to challenge the entire system.

[Angry Dragon]

1. Trump is full of fake news ......... start there

[cyclonefence]

2. One important thing we learned during the election is that some of these sites

are truly apolitical in intent. They are run by people who sell ads; you make more money from ads if your site gets more visits. It was found that crazy stories denigrating Hillary (pizzagate) and extolling Trump got more clicks than sites that displayed positive stories (true or untrue) about Hillary. So it's simply a matter of economics--the crazier and more disgusting the story, the more the RW bias, the more visits (apparently the RW are more gullible), the more cash.

[NightWatcher]

3. Orwell never thought we'd do it to ourselves like this.