The president of the pixilated United States

The NYT article "'False Flag' Theory on Pipe Bombs Zooms From Right-Wing Fringe to Mainstream" is not only an incisive examination of the whys and wherefores of conspiracy theories, it would seem to explain why such a childlike rabble-rouser sits in the Oval Office"

"Conspiracy theories play especially well on social media, which amplifies provocative and engaging content by design and often rewards misinformation with increased distribution. One study published this year, led by M.I.T. researchers, found that on Twitter, falsehoods were 70 percent more likely to be retweeted than accurate news."

What, for instance, was more "provocative and engaging" than the concept of birtherism to explain — egads — a black man as president of the United States? Or the loss of one's job because of "illegal" Mexican immigrants? Or an imaginary rise in crime because of "illegal" Mexican immigrants as criminals?

And the list goes on, perfectly suited for the most gullible among us — whose numbers are far greater than we ever imagined.

 

Comments

[Anne J]

Well then we're going to need a bigger imagination.

[Peter G]

Can’t say I am surprised. I have been listening to old farts and young dummies too hold forth with strange conspiracy theories for a lot longer than the Internet has existed. My favorite has to be the water powered car, as in water as fuel. Which the oil industry is said to have purchased and buried because .....

The internet has definitely changed the dynamics of conspiracy theory propagation. Those who lack the imagination or marginal intelligence to think up their own now have instant access to finely tuned idiocy. To be honest though most of it is pretty transparent bullshit. The originators know their market and that market will swallow and propagate just about anything that fits with what they want to believe. To be fair this isn’t merely a right wing phenomena. I see plenty on the left too although not nearly as much. Or quite as bizarre.

[Anne J]

Now the rwnj conspiracy theories are all pretty much the same. Take any event, use the term "false flag" as if they have inside knowledge of FBI terminology, and claim the democrats did it. No need for facts to come out first. It's become their knee jerk reaction to any tragedy or near tragedy within seconds of first reporting. Emphasis on the "jerk" part.

[Max]

"The Internet is a difficult place to ascertain accurate information."
- Abraham Lincoln

[shsavage]

"I Never Said Most of the Things I Said."
-- Jesus

[Max]

"Come all and gather around me and listen carefully. I don't want four different versions out there."
- Jesus Christ

[Joseph Ernst]

In the bombings, at least, there has been an arrest. We should know more about the motives behind the bombing soon I hope.

[Peter G]

I credit Colbert for his neologism “truthiness”. If it sounds like something they might want to believe then they do. I used to argue with such people by pointing out the giant gaping holes in their theories. But it is like playing whack a mole. There is no giant gaping logical or factual hole that cannot be covered over by a still zanier theory. And it is always one that proves that the conspiracy runs much deeper than they previously thought.

Take this particular bit of stupid. Real bombs were sent to critics of Trump. One could, as DA has suggested, use Occam’s razor to conclude that of the two options available that the one most likely to be true is that the sender really didn’t like people who criticize Trump. The second option, the false flag, is to assume that the bomb sender wanted to kill critics of Trump to achieve what? Not too sure but it seems to have something to do with undermining faith in Trump and Republicans. And nobody is fooling them right?

Who was it supposed to fool then?

[shsavage]

This is why I like to say that all conspiracy theories are true, especially the ones that are contradictory...

[shsavage]

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
- Yogi Berra, Commentary on Robert Frost

[Peter G]

Or the Gospel of Mary Magdalene. You’re not going to take the Word of some woman are you? Just because she was there? Fake Good News!

[Peter G]

Been keeping an eye on that myself.

[shsavage]

https://boingboing.net/2018/10/26/florida-man-arrested-in-packag.html?fbclid=IwAR2Pd6FKw-CEp-zCt4rvetdIoFCe3vJXRwC7D0q1L1Ra69LoTV7w8v647hU

All those Trump and Alt-Right stickers? Just part of the false flag operation...

[Peter G]

So there is a news conference at 2:00 this afternoon. In the meantime Fox is running a story that speculates that the misspellings were intentional. Why you ask? In order to deceive authorities into believing the swiftly caught bomber was stupid. But not really stupid. I wonder if the Fox readers have figured out that this is the Fox way of saying it wasn’t one of us. He was a fifty plus white male pretending to be stupid.

[Peter G]

Aha! He has ties to New York that makes him a Liberal just like Tr....Shit!

[Max]

I need to revisit that. It has been decades. Nag Hammadi as well.

[Peter G]

Shocking to learn, he was a Soros conspiracy fan just like ol Duff.