Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/03/09/inconvenient-nuances.html
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Never underestimate the power of memes. Also, bots can’t meme for crap.
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Study finds fake news articles double posted on BoingBoing. 
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As I said in the other thread:
Appeals to Emotion are some of the most effective appeals. When that also reaffirms you’re currently held belief, it is even more powerful. You will find the titles with a bit of hyperbole tend to create more of a fuss on BB.
(Which thread will survive? Both? Only one? The first? The best? Sounds like a prime candidate for Thunderdome!)
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Appeals to Emotion are some of the most effective appeals. When that also reaffirms you’re currently held belief, it is even more powerful. You will find the titles with a bit of hyperbole tend to create more of a fuss on BB.
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“A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on” - Terry Pratchett, The Truth.
Or Mark Twain.
Or or or
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The ambiguity will set you free.
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It’s not OneBoxing, but the link below tries to trace that particular quote.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/07/13/truth/
tl;dr We (human beings) have known for a long time that lies propagate faster than truth.
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thanks to stupid humans who get their news from Twitter and Facebook
ftfy
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Isn’t this obvious?
If you think in terms of mimetics then what is going to be more successful at spreading fast:
- whatever spreads fastest
- whatever spreads fastest and is true
Clearly the untrue stuff will out compete the true stuff, since it can say literally anything while the competitor can only say true things.
I’m not saying we don’t need to research this and get actual evidence but this finding is the completely expected outcome.
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Even the ones made of meat.
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I call it Ockham’s Taser: The most exciting explanation is the one most likely to be believed.
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Room spinning… Must comment… No way to know if study about fake news isn’t itself fake news…
Whew, that’s better.
By people complaining about emotional appeals and “clickbait” headlines, and always the headlines that seem to be supportive of leftist issues. Always threads full of irrelevant, nitpicking “WELL ACTUALLY” posts after those.
Lies spread faster because complex issues can’t be meme’d. “Lazy people just want free stuff”/“Free speech should be absolute” are easily spread because they’d quickly digestible; they almost sound reasonable. To refute them takes time and understanding of the issue, something that isn’t meme-able. Simple bullshit is easier to strew around than complex reality.
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So emotional appeals, click bait headlines, and exaggeration or hyperbole is ok if it further views one agrees with?
You’re right, throwing up some memes for the likes is much easier than acknowledging and analyzing the various pros and cons of a subject.
How can we test this? Here’s an idea…
Don’t you think 45 looks tired?
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“Don’t you think 45 looks tired?” 45 looks like 85.
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Together with this implied speed limit for truth, we appear to have the makings of an algorithmic bullshit detector.
Real news is usually more predictable than false news. People take advantage of chaos (re. trump) to plan future actions around the biggest threat or advantage and notify their peers of outstanding changes.
