S08.E26: Internet Misinformation to Diaspora Communities

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Main topic: Internet Misinformation to Diaspora Communities

Also: Idaho Lt. Governor's actions; OAN's relationship to AT&T; Fox & Friends Brian Kilmeade likes Christopher Columbus way, way too much

Original air date 2021.10.10 

[Annber03]

That story about the lieutenant governor of Idaho. "Defending life" says the woman who wants to ban mask and vaccine mandate because...um...reasons. Gotta love that ever hypocritical "pro-life" mindset of people like her. 

And the flag, gun and Bible - tell me you're a walking stereotype without actually telling me you're a walking stereotype. 

Someone from Fox News praising and defending Christopher Columbus? I'm shocked. Just shocked. And he dressed up like him for Halloween because OF COURSE HE DID. God.

When John was talking about how so many young people have to deal with the nonsense being sent by their older relatives it had me thinking about how, back in the late '90s, my generation was lectured constantly about internet safety. Being careful of who you talk to and who you can trust, not believing everything you read online, sharing as little personal information as possible, all of that.

And now so many of the people who lectured us about that stuff, and hell, some people from my generation who got that lecture, are now the same ones sharing all this crazy misinformation all over the place and disregarding every single one of those pieces of advice they gave us (look at how many people broadcast every last detail of their lives, tell everyone online when they're going to be away from home, sharing personal photos of their young children online, etc.). It's just so striking, that sudden shift, and I think really speaks to just how much the internet has changed in just twenty some odd years. 

And it also really speaks to some serious weaknesses regarding people's trust in doctors/nurses and such that people are deciding to get medical advice from Facebook, of all places. Some of that can be due to things John's talked about before regarding how the medical community can often dismiss or misdiagnose women and minorities' various health issues, and some of it also speaks to just how little people truly understand about science, and how lacking a lot of people's education, not just on that topic, but on many others (foreign affairs, civics, etc.) really is. 

I am glad that he addressed the issues of misinformation in other communities, too. Certainly does explain and answer a few questions some have had in regards to recent election results and such, yes. The guy showing just how easy it was to make a fake item that they can float around so easily, that was unnerving. 

I loved John's comment about how al of us, no matter who we are, have that one relative that we groan at whenever they post something new. I have a Facebook account, but I haven't been on it in years, so I am thankfully, for the most part, blissfully unaware of whatever conspiracy stuff many of my relatives share on there. I only hear about it if my mom tells me about the latest misinformation she's seen them share. And I don't have any other social media accounts ,either - I glance at some of it occasionally, but that's about it. And honestly, I don't feel I'm missing much. Social media can be and should be a great thing in many ways, but this is a perfect example of how awful and insidious it can be as well. And I agree these sites must be held accountable. And those who work to fight misinformation online should get more resources to help combat it and push it out. 

I do rather like the idea of threatening to just throw our relatives' phones in the river if they post any further conspiracy BS online :p. I dunno, maybe that kind of tough love approach really is the way to go in a lot of these cases. 

I also appreciated John just dragging the hell out of AT&T XD. 

[scarynikki12]

Go Ollie go! Love him telling off AT&T.

Of course whatshisface from Fox is a Columbus stan.

Non-English language misinformation is a good topic to explore and of course Facebook and YouTube are as happy facilitating this as they are with the English language versions.

These apps need heavy regulation and now. They’ll stick a band aid on it for PR purposes but won’t actually fix the problems without laws getting passed.

I love the MCU but I laughed at the dig and the audience reaction.

Those morning greetings for WhatsApp were fun. I hope they get used.

[khyber]

10 hours ago, Annber03 said:

 speaks to just how little people truly understand about science, and how lacking a lot of people's education, not just on that topic, but on many others (foreign affairs, civics, etc.) really is. 

Preach! 

[peeayebee]

How crazy that the lt gov of Idaho can take charge whenever the gov is out of the state. That law should probably be changed, y'think? 

11 hours ago, Annber03 said:

And the flag, gun and Bible - tell me you're a walking stereotype without actually telling me you're a walking stereotype.

And was she in a tank? It looked like some kind of military tactical vehicle.

I read recently about AT&T requesting a conservative network. At least this lead to John's legally approved trashing of AT&T.

I had no idea about the various social apps that non-US/non-English people use. I'd only heard of WhatsApp. However, I didn't know about the rampant, unpoliced misinformation on them. The whole thing just makes me despair (yet again, continually) about the state of the world. 

It would be helpful if Facebook would hire a bunch of people to label as false the posts made in languages other than English.

[swanpride]

One has to feel for the governor of Idaho...after this he is basically trapped in the state until Mrs. "Gun on Bible" is gone (honestly, am I the only one who isn't just bothered by the fact that she put a bible into an add, being staunchly for a separation of religion and state AND being a Christian who is very much against connecting a religion whose main manage is the lack of violence with weapons of any kind?). 

I am kind of surprised that OAN can get away with outright lying about a democratic process and not so settled calling for violence. I know that the US is kind of crazy in their definition of free speech, but how is that legal? In any way? 

I wonder how much of the monitoring outside of the US and Canada happens in the EU alone, since the German government got on Facebooks case quite a while ago, and the EU has taken an interest, too. I am ready to bet that they don't do any monitoring for the majority of the world. 

The idea that Biden is in any way socialist is just laughable. 

Sadly I have one of those in the family too...I am not looking anymore. 

I take offense to the MCU joke. I don't appreciate someone dissing my choice of media. 

 

 

 

[Brandi Maxxxx]

14 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Someone from Fox News praising and defending Christopher Columbus? I'm shocked. Just shocked. And he dressed up like him for Halloween because OF COURSE HE DID. God.

It's a holiday where you turn up at people's homes and threaten them into giving you free stuff. Columbus was the ultimate trick-or-treater.

[DoctorAtomic]

19 hours ago, Annber03 said:

That story about the lieutenant governor of Idaho. "Defending life" says the woman who wants to ban mask and vaccine mandate because...um...reasons. Gotta love that ever hypocritical "pro-life" mindset of people like her. 

She is a piece of work. The gop in Idaho are asking non-gop voters to register for the primary (it's closed primary) to vote against her. There's a lot of people that just don't go to the restaurant/pub she owns anymore. 

They could do a whole show on the Lt Gov. 

Edited October 11, 2021 by DoctorAtomic

[Quickbeam]

I know this was a side topic but the “it fits” tiktok video and the commentator’s passion for it was *amazing*. And I’m embarrassed to say I got hypnotized by it. As the owner of a 150 year old home, something fitting exactly is kind of a pipe dream.

[peeayebee]

In that "It fits" TikTok, do her viewers/followers submit videos? That was my impression, rather than her just finding random videos online. And what was up with her eyebrows? 

[DoctorAtomic]

I know it's trivial, but I'm not sure I buy that Columbus was harder than going to the moon. Space travel was literally invented in like 10 - 12 years culminating with walking on the moon. It's not like people weren't traveling long distance on boats; they just didn't go left. I think slingshot-ing around the moon was a little more tricky than raising and lowering the sail when there was wind. 

[DB in CMH]

WhatsApp is literally just a text message service that is linked to your specific phone number. Anything I send on WhatsApp I could just as easily send via SMS, and there's literally nothing else to it. You don't follow people, there are no influencers - it's just a SMS replacement service  That's a fundamental difference between it and things like YouTube that most media reporting fails to understand. John did better than a pre-election report I heard on NPR (which seemed to blame the app itself for the misinformation), but I'm still not sure what could be done to regulate it, or if anything should be given the privacy nightmare that would turn into.

Edited October 12, 2021 by DB in CMH

[paigow]

1 hour ago, DB in CMH said:

WhatsApp is literally just a text message service that is linked to your specific phone number. Anything I send on WhatsApp I could just as easily send via SMS,

It is one of many unlimited free messaging apps - if using public wi-fi - as opposed to paying your wireless provider per text. Since it is a Facebook property now, that is likely why the show targeted it. 

Edited October 12, 2021 by paigow

[paigow]

2 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I know it's trivial, but I'm not sure I buy that Columbus was harder than going to the moon.

Fox News should remember that the original mission objective was to reach Asia by sailing westward from Spain. Since the Vikings never sent a map showing "The New World" to Columbus, he did not fail by incompetence; however, his subsequent actions tarnished a legitimate seafaring achievement.

[DoctorAtomic]

Whatsapp is encrypted end to end iirc that was the point John was making. You can't track the initial message like you could with getting phone records for SMS. It just bounces IP addresses around. 

[xaxat]

That story about Idaho is terrifying. It's not like the Governor is a Democrat who parties with the libs. He's a Republican. And she felt comfortable stabbing him in the back to prove she more committed to the cause. 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2021 by xaxat

[andromeda331]

I had no idea it was  that easy to make fake news. That's crazy. So is the Lt-Governor of Idaho. Wow, that's bold. The Governor better watch his back.   

[Kel Varnsen]

On 10/11/2021 at 11:17 AM, peeayebee said:

How crazy that the lt gov of Idaho can take charge whenever the gov is out of the state. That law should probably be changed, y'think? 

That story was weird. When the guy ran for Governor did he pick this crazy person as his running mate? Or is it some weird system where the person who gets the second highest number of votes becomes Lieutenant governor? Because otherwise why would you pick someone who is out to get you to be your lieutenant?

On 10/11/2021 at 7:48 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

I know it's trivial, but I'm not sure I buy that Columbus was harder than going to the moon. Space travel was literally invented in like 10 - 12 years culminating with walking on the moon. It's not like people weren't traveling long distance on boats; they just didn't go left. I think slingshot-ing around the moon was a little more tricky than raising and lowering the sail when there was wind. 

I think the moon landing was way harder. For one thing Apollo 11 was only 66 years after the airplane was invented. If Columbus went to the new world 66 years after the invention of boats it might be the same thing. Plus for the Apollo missions were going somewhere where you knew there were no support or resources along the way or when you got there. Even if Columbus didn't know he would end up on land, he could still catch fish for food along the way, and they would always have air to breath. For the moon missions you had to bring all the food and air you needed.

Not to mention the fact that ther were already people there when Columbus arrived means it was automatically less difficult.

Edited October 13, 2021 by Kel Varnsen

[Hanahope]

Oh Kilmead is just trying to "own the libs" with all his Columbus and "it was harder than going to the moon" talk.  he knows its a bunch of bs, he's just doing it to get reactions.  its the faux news mantra.

[Ailianna]

23 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

That story was weird. When the guy ran for Governor did he pick this crazy person as his running mate? Or is it some weird system where the person who gets the second highest number of votes becomes Lieutenant governor? Because otherwise why would you pick someone who is out to get you to be your lieutenant?

No. It was briefly mentioned in the show, but lt. governor runs an entirely separate race from gov. So he got the most votes for governor and she got the mist for lt. gov., but neither of them picked to work with the other. And she's angling for the top job in the upcoming election.

[peeayebee]

19 minutes ago, Ailianna said:

No. It was briefly mentioned in the show, but lt. governor runs an entirely separate race from gov. So he got the most votes for governor and she got the mist for lt. gov., but neither of them picked to work with the other. 

That's bonkers. Seems you'd want a governor and lt gov working as a team.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

56 minutes ago, Ailianna said:

No. It was briefly mentioned in the show, but lt. governor runs an entirely separate race from gov. So he got the most votes for governor and she got the mist for lt. gov., but neither of them picked to work with the other. And she's angling for the top job in the upcoming election.

That seems like a really dumb way to do things. Although I guess I am impressed because I assume at least there hasn't been a case of an Idaho Lt. Governor trying to murder the actual governor.

[DoctorAtomic]

11 hours ago, xaxat said:

And she felt comfortable stabbing him in the back to prove she is Trumpier. 

I'm probably toeing the line of relevance, but this isn't really that bad compared to the critical race theory task force and the lawsuit from the press corps. The governor can just cancel the order. I'm kind of ticked I can't go to her pub anymore. It's really good.

Confirmed that Lt Gov is a separate elected position. She already declared her intention to run for Governor, but the current Governor hasn't said whether he'd be running. So they'd face off in the primaries, actually. To be fair, however, there are several states that have separately elected positions, including California. 

[ebk57]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

That's bonkers. Seems you'd want a governor and lt gov working as a team.

 

I just looked this up.  I live in Maryland, where the Gov/Lt. Gov is elected as a team.  In Virginia (where I'm bombarded with election ads right now - ugh), they are elected in separate races.  It seems that only 26 states elect as a team.  The rest are scattershot.  It's...weird.

 

https://nlga.us/research/methods-of-election/

[paigow]

3 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

 That's crazy. So is the Lt-Governor of Idaho. Wow, that's bold. The Governor better watch his back.

Shakespeare wrote the script. See who executes it better...

Edited October 13, 2021 by paigow

[Victor the Crab]

The big takeaway I had with Sunday's show was, why does an entity like AT&T feel America needs another right wing news channel in America? The ones in existence right now are propaganda tools used to sew hate and division in the country. Perhaps Ollie and company can delve into the matter, and everything regarding the country's corporate media strategy on how they cover politics in America!

[DoctorAtomic]

3 hours ago, Victor the Crab said:

The big takeaway I had with Sunday's show was, why does an entity like AT&T feel America needs another right wing news channel in America?

Because Business Daddy wants to make a buck. That's all. John's covered enough of these OANN type outlets that there's clearly a market for it. You'd think the market would be saturated already. 

[Lantern7]

Nice choice of main topic. Bonus: it seemed to be something that happens mainly outside of the United States, but it did tie into the lives of many Americans. Apparently, misinformation tends to run as rampant as it does here, and there are fewer hurdles to deter it. That makes it easier for hucksters to operate and profit.

Do you think John has a "safe house"? You know, for when "Business Daddy" sends some people to break his legs. AT&T being involved with OANN . . . yikes.

On 10/10/2021 at 11:45 PM, Annber03 said:

That story about the lieutenant governor of Idaho. "Defending life" says the woman who wants to ban mask and vaccine mandate because...um...reasons. Gotta love that ever hypocritical "pro-life" mindset of people like her. 

And the flag, gun and Bible - tell me you're a walking stereotype without actually telling me you're a walking stereotype.

That wasn't n SNL sketch?