Opinion of calling anything that upsets your worldview fake news?

[Virginiá]

After all, it is a good way to avoid accepting other points of view!

[Antonio the Sixth]

I love how it took only a few weeks for the right-wing propaganda machine to coopt the phrase " fake news" and twist it beyond recognition. They are getting better and better at this.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Hilarious. No one cares about truth anymore, they care about talking points. America is truly in a position to accept fascism.

[Virginiá]

I love how it took only a few weeks for the right-wing propaganda machine to coopt the phrase " fake news" and twist it beyond recognition. They are getting better and better at this.

It seems like it's being used more and more as a tool to deny things people don't like, from people like Limbaugh right on down to one's unhinged, fair weather uncle. If you're talking politics and someone tells you something that is false about "the other side" and someone else later tells you that reports came out proving it is false, it's just easier now to claim it's fake news. Why be objective? After all, the only objective people are select folks from "my side" whose opinions I unconditionally choke down as fact!

-

semi related:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/12/if-state-lawmakers-have-their-way-california-schoolchildren-may-be-taught-how-to-spot-fake-news/?utm_term=.2d31dba94d99

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[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

ALL LIBERAL ALL THE TIME

Yout guys are just Putin-loving pieces of s**t.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Just a shame because fake news is a real problem that should concern people of all ideological stripes. Definite HP.

[Green Line]

Fake Poll!!

[Leinad]

I might be swayed by your positions, but they are obviously fake posts, so I can freely ignore them.

Seriously though, it's a sad practice which is just a continuing manifestation of human nature--our desire to rest on the comfort of "this is my position" and find an excuse to write off any good points the opposing side makes. I guess it's an absurdly blatant variation of confirmation bias.

In a way it's very freeing to ignore dissenting opinion--"I'm right and that's the end of it"--so I can totally see the appeal. But a society that ignores dissenting opinion and values dogma over reason is royally screwed.

[Xing]

Obviously terrible, but what's perhaps just as bad is the belief that only people on the "other side" believe fake news or anything that isn't actually true. Unfortunately, the impulse to believe what we want to be true (or what will promote a narrative we like more) over what is actually true is extremely prevalent, and not limited to one party.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Only the alt-right neocons believe fake news. www.trueprogressivenews.left.com//progressives-87.2-percent-less-likely-to-believe-fake-news-then-the-neocon-establishment the link doesn't go anywhere. Or at least it shouldn't.

[Virginiá]

Obviously terrible, but what's perhaps just as bad is the belief that only people on the "other side" believe fake news or anything that isn't actually true. Unfortunately, the impulse to believe what we want to be true (or what will promote a narrative we like more) over what is actually true is extremely prevalent, and not limited to one party.

That's true. For what's it worth (regardless if you were implying me or not), I did try and "de-partisanize" my posts here, even if the worst of the fake news absurdity I've seen as of late has been conservative-oriented. It's a lazy feature of the human mind, and now that it's become "a thing," people have found it easier to abuse. Even worse when high-profile people seek to use this to tarnish things they know to be true but simply don't like.

Not even being able to agree on basic facts in an age of unparalleled access to information is an extremely troubling sign of society.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Who cares? It's the natural evolution of the echo chamber mentality; I don't see why we should be surprised that, contrary to "alternative interpretations", people have finally assembled "alternative truths".

[Xing]

Obviously terrible, but what's perhaps just as bad is the belief that only people on the "other side" believe fake news or anything that isn't actually true. Unfortunately, the impulse to believe what we want to be true (or what will promote a narrative we like more) over what is actually true is extremely prevalent, and not limited to one party.

That's true. For what's it worth (regardless if you were implying me or not), I did try and "de-partisanize" my posts here, even if the worst of the fake news absurdity I've seen as of late has been conservative-oriented. It's a lazy feature of the human mind, and now that it's become "a thing," people have found it easier to abuse. Even worse when high-profile people seek to use this to tarnish things they know to be true but simply don't like.

Not even being able to agree on basic facts in an age of unparalleled access to information is an extremely troubling sign of society.

Just to be clear, I wasn't implying you. My point was that while I too have seen much more fake news from conservative sites, the attitude of only accepting what promotes one's narrative does exist on both sides. I also think that it's easier to identify and react to lies and bias coming from political opponents. I have recently noticed some of my friends promoting articles that are sometimes not accurate, and more often clearly biased. It's harder to confront them, knowing that they might see me as a "traitor" for calling them out on it.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     The mainstream media originated the idea to describe their adversaries, without realizing how well the term described their own degradation into sensationalism, ideology-pushing, and commentary as journalism. As such, I have no sympathy for CNN or whatever else being labeled fake news, when they pushed the "fake news" narrative as long as they thought it benefitted them to do so.

[RI]

The inevitable result of a culture of postmodern cynicism.

[rpryor03]

KCDem did it first. "Junk poll!"

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

the link doesn't go anywhere. Or at least it shouldn't.

It redirects to a generic URL with an offer to purchase it. http://ww12.left.com/

[Meclazine for Israel]

I am only posting in this thread out of respect to the OP.

I understand the suggestion made, but the "Fake News" call sign is long overdue.

What it refers to is the inability of end-members of the political media spectra to objectively report the facts.

CNN is an example. The Trump tweet machine says "CNN is dishonest and promotes fake news."

That is the truth. The President-Elect said it in no uncertain terms.

Now go to CNN.

It's nothing short of an online war against Trump.

Trump 1 CNN 0

Trump is trolling CNN. Everybody knows that CNN is butthurt over the tweets, and their infantile tepid attempts to discredit Donald only reaffirms that they are generators of fake news.

Long before Donald Trump came along, everyone knew CNN and FOX were incapable of producing an objective viewpoint.

Donald is simply saying what we all knew.

#fakenews

[Virginiá]

Long before Donald Trump came along, everyone knew CNN and FOX were incapable of producing an objective viewpoint.

It's not really about biased/slanted news. I mean that is an issue, but lets be honest, we're always going to have that problem. The issue at hand here is people essentially saying that things that upset their political views (true or not) are "fake."

I don't have an actual Facebook account anymore (but a dummy one to view stuff), but I do bookmark profiles of some of my friends so I can see whats going on once in a while, and prior to making this thread I somehow chased a conversation down the rabbit hole between two of her friends and it inevitably devolved into one person calling parts of the Trump University scandal "fake news" in a completely serious manner. Like the guy really didn't believe Trump had a "university" like that, and yes he was a Trump supporter. It gets on my nerves because now I see so many retreating into their bubbles, calling everything that is even well-documented "fake" because there is no good way you can defend your God (trump) if that stuff is actually real. I've noticed this behavior more and more over the past 2 months now.

Two things I learned from this adventure:

1) The belief that the Internet would deliver to us a highly-informed society is starting to look more and more like a failure, but not for lack of information. We have too much information now, and humans tend to develop belief systems that are remarkably difficult to challenge, no matter how misinformed, and they latch on to anything that will bolster their POV. The Internet has now delivered copious amounts of conspiracy theories, legitimately fake crap and extremely biased opinions that make it easier than ever to ignore reality - all in á la carte fashion. We can no longer even agree on basic facts that are proven, sometimes by actual video/audio.

2) I really need to get a life

[Green Line]

I like reading Fox, MSNBC, drudge, and the HuffPo just to get a wide variety of viewpoints.  It doesn't kill anyone to read.