The guy who wrote this fake story was just outed by the NY Times and he lost his job as a political aide. But he made $22,000 for about 20 hours of creating fake news during the election. This 100% fake news story got 6 million views and got him $5,000.
100% Made Up Story about Ballots pre-filled out for Clinton
It was early fall, and Donald J. Trump, behind in the polls, seemed to be preparing a rationale in case a winner like him somehow managed to lose. “I’m afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest,” the Republican nominee told a riled-up crowd in Columbus, Ohio. He was hearing “more and more” about evidence of rigging, he added, leaving the details to his supporters’ imagination.
A few weeks later, Cameron Harris, a new college graduate with a fervent interest in Maryland Republican politics and a need for cash, sat down at the kitchen table in his apartment to fill in the details Mr. Trump had left out. In a dubious art just coming into its prime, this bogus story would be his masterpiece.
Mr. Harris started by crafting the headline: “BREAKING: ‘Tens of thousands’ of fraudulent Clinton votes found in Ohio warehouse.” It made sense, he figured, to locate this shocking discovery in the very city and state where Mr. Trump had highlighted his “rigged” meme.
“I had a theory when I sat down to write it,” recalled Mr. Harris, a 23-year-old former college quarterback and fraternity leader. “Given the severe distrust of the media among Trump supporters, anything that parroted Trump’s talking points people would click. Trump was saying ‘rigged election, rigged election.’ People were predisposed to believe Hillary Clinton could not win except by cheating.”
....
the insight on which Mr. Harris said he built his transient business: that people wanted to be fed evidence, however implausible, to support their beliefs. “At first it kind of shocked me — the response I was getting,” he said. “How easily people would believe it. It was almost like a sociological experiment,” added Mr. Harris, who majored in political science and economics.
By his account, though he voted for Mr. Trump, his early preference had been for Senator Marco Rubio. Mr. Harris said he would have been willing to promote Mrs. Clinton and smear Mr. Trump had those tactics been lucrative. But as other seekers of clicks discovered, Mr. Trump’s supporters were far more fervent than Mrs. Clinton’s.
But as other seekers of clicks discovered, Mr. Trump’s supporters were far more fervent than Mrs. Clinton’s.
Well, duh. It was vitality and patriotic passion vs. decay and NWO status quo. No surprise which side had more energy for the hijacking. But look where we are now: it's the left grasping desperately at every golden shower straw.
The proverbial little man behind the curtain -- in this case, whomever wanted to make Trump supporters out to be fools. If I were trying to track that little man down, I'd start with that village in Macedonia and the teenagers there who pump out the fake news for pay. There's a lot of smoke coming from that direction for there to be no fire.
Those are real parts of the picture, certainly. Now, finally, the warnings are taking hold, even as the corrupt media liars are exposing themselves more with every passing day. It's a beautiful thing. However, it does leave a vacuum (which I've posted about here on Voat before). All sorts of people and things are stepping into that vacuum, so it's a time when actual fake news sources (like the Macedonian dorks) can thrive, for now, in the chaos. Caveat lector has never been more apt. But there is also the element of disinformation coming from those who want to depict their opponents as gullible. This strikes me as akin to pushing a toddler down as they're taking their first steps and then belittling them for not being better at walking. Or, to use a more current analogy, like kidnapping a mentally challenged white guy and gang-torturing him for being a Trump supporter.
People will learn, one way or another, to beware of both disinformation and misinformation. In the post-Mockingbird era, there isn't any choice (at least not yet). Meantime, more fake stuff will doubtless have its moment in the sun now and then.
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AreWeSure ago
Fake news is winning.
The guy who wrote this fake story was just outed by the NY Times and he lost his job as a political aide. But he made $22,000 for about 20 hours of creating fake news during the election. This 100% fake news story got 6 million views and got him $5,000. 100% Made Up Story about Ballots pre-filled out for Clinton
....
ZalesMcMuffin ago
Well, duh. It was vitality and patriotic passion vs. decay and NWO status quo. No surprise which side had more energy for the hijacking. But look where we are now: it's the left grasping desperately at every golden shower straw.
AreWeSure ago
It appears you're saying that vitality and patriotic passion lead Trump's supporters to be more gullible and to patronize fake news sites.
ZalesMcMuffin ago
Some of them did so. Not all of them did. But as long as some take the bait, it's "mission accomplished" in a PR war, isn't it?
In a similar sense, you don't have to catch every fish in the lake to be successful at fishing.
AreWeSure ago
Mission accomplished by who?
ZalesMcMuffin ago
The proverbial little man behind the curtain -- in this case, whomever wanted to make Trump supporters out to be fools. If I were trying to track that little man down, I'd start with that village in Macedonia and the teenagers there who pump out the fake news for pay. There's a lot of smoke coming from that direction for there to be no fire.
AreWeSure ago
I think this is merely supply and demand. And the fact that the right has told their people not to trust the media since Nixon.
ZalesMcMuffin ago
Those are real parts of the picture, certainly. Now, finally, the warnings are taking hold, even as the corrupt media liars are exposing themselves more with every passing day. It's a beautiful thing. However, it does leave a vacuum (which I've posted about here on Voat before). All sorts of people and things are stepping into that vacuum, so it's a time when actual fake news sources (like the Macedonian dorks) can thrive, for now, in the chaos. Caveat lector has never been more apt. But there is also the element of disinformation coming from those who want to depict their opponents as gullible. This strikes me as akin to pushing a toddler down as they're taking their first steps and then belittling them for not being better at walking. Or, to use a more current analogy, like kidnapping a mentally challenged white guy and gang-torturing him for being a Trump supporter.
People will learn, one way or another, to beware of both disinformation and misinformation. In the post-Mockingbird era, there isn't any choice (at least not yet). Meantime, more fake stuff will doubtless have its moment in the sun now and then.