The Conservative Cave
Current Events => Politics => Topic started by: SVPete on December 20, 2018, 12:54:06 PM
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The godfather of fake news (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/the_godfather_of_fake_news)
(Christopher Blair) begins by choosing a subject. Which “lucky” politician will be on the receiving end of his attention today?
Bill Clinton? Hillary Clinton? One of the Obamas?
Or maybe the subject of his story won’t be a person, but a policy. Gun control? Police brutality? Feminism? Anything that will push buttons.
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Perhaps he’ll make up a controversial incident, a crime, a new law or a constitutional amendment.
“Changing” the US constitution is particularly fun - he’s already written more than 30 fake amendments.
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Christopher Blair grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts, a city on the northern outskirts of Boston.
His stepfather was a committed Democrat who once ran for the Massachusetts state senate.
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And so he tried another tactic. He began to write fabricated tales that looked like real news headlines. Streams of consciousness flowed from his head to the keyboard.
When he saw the results online, the hundreds and thousands of likes and shares his posts were getting, he felt validated. Far more people were interested in fake news than Blair’s opinions or true stories.
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(Fact-checker Schenk) messaged Blair and got him to remove the story. But the two men continued messaging online.
And that’s where Blair revealed his secret, his real reason for writing fake news.
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His aim is to trick conservative Americans into sharing false news, in the hope of showing what he calls their “stupidity”.
(My emphasis) This is a "long and winding" article, so I've only quoted the bits and pieces that show the bottom line. This guy - and I'm sure he is not alone - is a Prog out there trolling conservatives. I would not be surprised if there are conservatives doing the same; A pox o' both their houses! Be wary "news" consumers! Assholes like this play on our confirmation bias.