Tisme
Apathetic at Best
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- 27 August 2014
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The distinction between facts, opinions, facts of opinion and opinions of facts, is an intersesting topic in itself.
The fact that someone is expressing opinions as though they are facts, does indeed call the integrity of the offered information into question.
Sometimes in reality you just have to piece together a probable truth based on observed actions. Observe what's going on, rule out any explanations which can be disproven using verified facts, and then whatever you're left with is likely to be a small range of possibilities one of which will be very close to the truth. Further observation of ongoing actions and consideration of plausible motives and other factors then rules out some of those possibilities and in due course a likely winner emerges as to what's probably true.
There's no certainty but sometimes that's the best that can be achieved if there simply isn't disclosure of the facts (and anyone intending to do something against the will of others won't likely disclose it upfront in a factual manner - the first casualty of war is always the truth).
That's a lot of work though and not something the mainstream media is interested in these days.
I used to subscribe to the Courier Mail, the only right choice of newspapers between the Courier Mail and the Courier Mail. Sure I could have bought the Courier Mail instead for a more balanced view of the world, but I persevered and kept with the Courier Mail for 20 years and when that relationship turned 21 I showed it out the door.
I have to admit I did consult more prestigious overseas journalism to round out my News Corp diet, one being:
http://weeklyworldnews.com/
Pizzagate: Fake news story led man to shoot inside restaurant, police reports
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-...an-to-shoot-inside-pizza-shop:-police/8094310
The fake news stories alleging Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief ran a satanic child sex ring out of the restaurant have been denounced by the owner of the popular pizza restaurant Comet Ping Pong.
“We should all condemn the efforts of certain people to spread malicious and utterly false accusations about Comet Ping Pong,” owner James Alefantis said.
“Let me state unequivocally: These stories are completely and entirely false, and there is no basis in fact to any of them. What happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories comes with consequences.”
He and his staff — as well as Clinton’s election campaign — are victim to a story cooked up on the extremist 4chan website. It had been speculating on people mentioned in campaign leader John Podesta’s emails leaked by WikiLeaks.
Website participants zeroed-in on James Alefantis’ name. He had been a significant donor to the Clinton campaign. Then someone pointed out how some of the modern art on the walls of his family pizza restaurant contained images of children — and began to spin what would become the Hillary Clinton child-sex ring tale.
The tale gained momentum, was picked up by Reddit and then Twitter. Soon it was being ‘reported’ as fact by several false news sites seeking to capitalise upon a hunger for conspiracy among their readerships.
“They [the extremist conspiracy theorists] ignore basic truths,” Alefantis told the BBC. “We don’t even have a basement. Sometimes an innocent picture of a child in a basket is just an innocent picture of a child in a basket and not proof of a child sex trafficking ring.”
Many think fake news is a social media problem and don't question the grandfather of it:
e.g. http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4083567.htm
I was wondering what you were on about until I found CNN's tweet and read the discussion that followed. It seems they were deliberately hiding this guys Islamic connections and by cropping the image concealed his Palestinian scarf and the ISIS 1 finger salute. Even if he is mentally unstable (which is almost a given when discussing ISIS supporters), they should not try to doctor the truth.CNN still at it....
I was wondering what you were on about until I found CNN's tweet and read the discussion that followed. It seems they were deliberately hiding this guys Islamic connections and by cropping the image concealed his Palestinian scarf and the ISIS 1 finger salute. Even if he is mentally unstable (which is almost a given when discussing ISIS supporters), they should not try to doctor the truth.
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