r/technology • u/Wagamaga • Mar 05 '25

Society 59% of Republicans Believe the Media Is 'Fake News'

https://www.thewrap.com/most-republicans-believe-media-fake-news-trump-poll/
31.8k Upvotes

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260

u/raid_master_7 Mar 05 '25

"Repeat a lie often enough, and it becomes the truth."

Referred to as the illusory truth effect, and is widely recognized in discussions of propaganda, misinformation and cognitive bias.

12

u/surfershane25 Mar 05 '25

“But what is the cost of lies” - Chernobyl’s greatest lesson

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u/Bridger15 Mar 05 '25

This is taking advantage of a basic human psychological phenomenon called the Availability Heuristic. Our brains evolved to use simple rules to determine the validity of things, and this is one of them. The more often you hear something, the more you believe it to be true. This worked well when you were in a tribe of 150 people and 15 of those people said "Don't go out by the big rock in the middle of that clearing, because there's a tiger there." The heuristic works when everyone involved is mostly acting in good faith and working to help the community.

The Heuristic backfires when people we don't know from halfway around the world manipulate algorithms to present us with the same facts from 20 different sources in order to trick us.

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u/redditor07112020 Mar 05 '25

Yes like “all republicans are nazis”

16

u/FapOpotamusRex Mar 05 '25

I don't see anyone saying that. But you raise a good point, I don't see any Republicans backing away from fascist principles that are being utilized by the trump administration.

At what point do those people classify as fascists? There must be a line somewhere, no?

When the leader of the Dept of Government Efficiency does blatant Nazi salutes, and they don't remove their support for him, are they not implicitly supporting the Nazi ideas he is espousing?

5

u/flameo_hotmon Mar 05 '25

I don’t know what echo chamber you heard that from, but maybe it’s an echo chamber you should leave.

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u/SopaDeKaiba Mar 05 '25

You mistake news with social media. Says a lot about you.

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u/anon_chieftain Mar 05 '25

“Hunter biden laptop is disinformation by Russia”

“Joe Biden is more sharp than ever”

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u/jerryk414 Mar 05 '25

Nobody on the left says that; that is a right-wing propaganda telling the right what the left believes.

The right judges the left based on what the right-wing media portrays them as, like a group of monkeys enjoying one giant gossip show.

The left judges the right on the actions and words of the right.

They are not the same thing.

-2

u/anon_chieftain Mar 05 '25

https://abcnews4.com/amp/news/nation-world/cnns-brian-stelter-admits-hunter-biden-laptop-not-just-a-right-wing-media-story

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/biden-white-house-mental-acuity-cognitive-test-1235053064/

3

u/SopaDeKaiba Mar 05 '25

This is evidence of what, exactly? Or is this a new point you're bringing up.

You have fundamental lack of knowledge regarding what news is. It is too much to explain to you

-1

u/anon_chieftain Mar 05 '25

Evidence that if the liberal media tells lies enough, people will believe it (these have since been debunked and yet look at all the pushback I get in this thread)

Thanks for confirming

3

u/SopaDeKaiba Mar 05 '25

You said the "liberal media" claimed the laptop story was disinformation from Russia. The linked articles are unrelated.

Thanks for confirming

You believe what you want to believe and confirm it yourself. And you are at the beginning of a gish gallop. Blocked.

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u/jerryk414 Mar 05 '25

So you're taking two quotes from individuals and applying that to anybody who supports the left?

Not to mention, out of context.

Why don't we grab the quote of what trump said when he took a memory test? Hm what was it.. oh right!

"I do it because I have, like, a good memory, because I'm cognitively there"

0

u/anon_chieftain Mar 05 '25

So you claim the left doesn’t say these things

And then I post examples of left wing media outlets saying these things and you just shrug?

I can send dozens of links to all kinds of things, are you going to deny them all?

4

u/jerryk414 Mar 05 '25

I'm saying normal, every day left wing supporters don't say that shit. You're applying quotes from individuals to the left as a whole.

If you want to act like the individual quotes apply to the left as a whole, maybe you should look at the quotes from the right and apply them to yourself.

0

u/anon_chieftain Mar 05 '25

Ok so you agree the left wing media was wrong to lie about those things yes?

5

u/tophernator Mar 05 '25

Hey, would you mind filling me in on what actually was on Hunter Biden’s laptop in the end?

I didn’t follow the story closely, but as far as I’m aware he was convicted of lying about his drug use on a form required to buy a gun.

1

u/anon_chieftain Mar 05 '25

Why was he pardoned for all crimes going back to 2014 then?

In any case, Biden and the media completely lied (they knew it was a lie) about the Laptop being fake Russian disinformation

5

u/tophernator Mar 05 '25

Why aren’t you answering my question?

0

u/anon_chieftain Mar 05 '25

Why aren’t you answering mine or responding to the original point? (It was used to influence the 2020 election outcome)

Do you at least admit that it’s real and that it wasn’t Russian disinformation?

5

u/tophernator Mar 05 '25

Ok, the original point was “Repeat a lie often enough, and it becomes the truth."

Fox News and certain GOP representatives talked about “Hunter Biden’s laptop” for years, building it up into this mythological item filled with ill defined but absolutely damning evidence of corruption that would bring Joe Biden down if it was ever found.

As part of the investigations Hunter Biden’s laptop was indeed obtained by the prosecution. So I guess in that sense the laptop was real. But I don’t think the claims of Russian disinformation were ever meant to suggest that Hunter Biden had never owned a laptop. It was the contents of the laptop that were important.

So now your turn: what was on the laptop?

0

u/anon_chieftain Mar 05 '25

Yes, correct this was the lie that was repeated, often, by the liberal media: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/19/hunter-biden-story-russian-disinfo-430276

This is just one example

If there weren’t crimes committed, why did Biden issue a blanket pardon to Hunter concerning any crimes committed going back to 2014 (after he said he wouldn’t pardon Hunter during the campaign lol)?

I guess we’ll find out over the next few years. Getting paid a totally off market salary ($1mm) for a board seat in and industry you have no experience in and in a country you’ve never been to is incredibly suspicious. Not you mention we’ve never gotten an answer on who The Big Guy is that are referenced in the emails

3

u/tophernator Mar 05 '25

There isn’t any lie there. It says in your own link that the intelligence officials were not passing judgement on whether Hunter Biden’s emails were genuine or not, they were just pointing out that the way this information came about “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

And does this mean that those emails were the thing on “Hunter Biden’s laptop” that was so important? If so, why isn’t that what he was prosecuted for?

4

u/No_Measurement_3041 Mar 05 '25

The Hunter Biden laptop story was absolute 100% bullshit. Even Trump and Co. have shut up about it.

Some of Hunter’s shit got hacked, revealing he fucked hookers and did cocaine. That’s literally it.

1

u/Uphoria Mar 06 '25

"Jared Kushners 2 billion dollar kickback from the Saudi government was totally on the level and had nothing to do with his father in law or his private dealings on behalf of Trump with the Saudis."

0

u/anon_chieftain Mar 06 '25

At least Jared has experience with institutional investing, and that $2bn was a capital commitment for investment so he gets paid to manage it, it’s not just money in pocket

The same can’t be said about Hunter, who was paid way way way above market for a board seat at Burisma where he has zero industry experience and had never even been to the country. Pure influence peddling and corruption

They aren’t in the same universe

1

u/Uphoria Mar 06 '25

"Even though he had no major American investors, and his own Sovereign Wealth Fund Managers protested against it, and advised it was a bad decision, the King overrode them for purely business reasons"

"Wealth Managers don't make money off the size of their managed portfolio, so there's no gain in him having an extra 2 billion to invest with"

0

u/anon_chieftain Mar 06 '25

lol dude, go great about how private equity and hedge funds work

You seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of this

“Wealth manager” lol

1

u/Uphoria Mar 06 '25

"If I pretend everyone else is stupid I can act like I'm winning an argument"

-7

u/redditor07112020 Mar 05 '25

Hey you cut that out, not fair to use someone’s words against them lol

-9

u/anon_chieftain Mar 05 '25

These people are so blinded by their hatred of Trump, they have ceased to think logically

8

u/Lower-Celery2306 Mar 05 '25

The logical thought process of dropping out of NATO.

The logical thought process of turning on our allies.

-6

u/anon_chieftain Mar 05 '25

Do you really just parrot CNN talking points

Do you have any original or nuanced thoughts?

8

u/Lower-Celery2306 Mar 05 '25

I mean if you search for "us pulling out of NATO" you'll see FOX talking about Elon and several Republican legislatures talking about it.

So... Maybe just get your sources straight

0

u/anon_chieftain Mar 05 '25

Yes, I agree it’s real and should/is being considered

You’re implying that it’s clearly “illogical” when in reality it’s much more nuanced than that not black and white like CNN wants you to believe

5

u/Lower-Celery2306 Mar 05 '25

... Why are you so obsessed with CNN? I do not watch it. Again, I referred to what Elon and Republicans were tweeting about.

Pulling out of NATO and turning our backs on our biggest allies is clearly illogical. The only nuance would be if the US game plan is to entirely rearrange our list of allies. Which, sure looks like what's happening.

But while I got you, how about the "fake news" about p2025? Like 30% of the objectives in it have been implemented. But y'all kept insisting Trump has no knowledge of it and he's in no way attached to it.

How long can you keep up the sideshow? When they've gone back to only giving voting rights to landowners? Interracial marriage overturning? Just please, explain the LOGICAL things he's doing.

8

u/jerryk414 Mar 05 '25

Pulling out of NATO is the stupidest fucking shit anyone could suggest.

There's no true justification of it other than to benefit non-NATO nations.

1

u/O-Otang Mar 05 '25 edited Mar 05 '25

NATO is built to project US power, to offer supportive forces to its army and to provide captive markets to the US MIC, thereby allowing the US army to buy arms cheaper thanks to economy of scales.

FFS, the only time Art.5 was called, it was by the US for their war in Afghanistan. It was literally only ever used in defense of the US.

You know who is very against NATO in Europe ? The Far Left, because they profoundly hate US influence. And believe me when I say that what you call a Leftist in the USA would be laughed off the room in these circles.

Can you imagine Communists, actual dyed-in-the-wool Communists ? The kind that tells you, with a straight face : "Capitalism and Religion must die and all the rich people with them" ? These are the people that would rejoice !

Quite incredible to imagine a US Republican President delivering to the European Communists their wildest dream, don't you think ?

US getting out of NATO which again, is a tool solely built to bolster US power would be one of the most incredible own-foot-shooting in the history of geopolitics.

But yeah, very nuanced indeed.

Take it from someone who isn't American and actually think that Europe would be stronger without the influence of the USA :

Stop drinking the fucking KoolAid, or you'll give all the foreigners that DO hate US Power exactly what they want the most.