Myths, urban legends, frauds, flim flam, general misinformation, sub-optimal worldviews. Debunked.
Democrats are falling for fake news about Russia
Democrats are falling for fake news about Russia
President Donald Trump is about to resign as a result of the Russia scandal. Bernie Sanders and Sean Hannity are Russian agents. The Russians have paid off House Oversight Chair Jason Chaffetz to the tune of $10 million, using Trump as a go-between. Paul Ryan is a traitor for refusing to investigate Trump's Russia ties.
Experts on political misinformation... worry that the unfounded speculation and paranoia that infect the Russiasphere risk pushing liberals into the same black hole of conspiracy-mongering and fact-free insinuation that conservatives fell into during the Obama years.
The fear is that this pollutes the party itself, derailing and discrediting the legitimate investigation into Russia investigation. It also risks degrading the Democratic Party — helping elevate shameless hucksters who know nothing about policy but are willing to spread misinformation in the service of gaining power. We’ve already seen this story play out on the right, a story that ended in Trump’s election.
“One of the failures of the Republican Party is the way they let the birther movement metastasize — and that ultimately helped Donald Trump make it to the White House,” says Brendan Nyhan, a professor at Dartmouth who studies the spread of false political beliefs. “We should worry about kind of pattern being repeated.”




I kinda wanted to share this to /politics, but I think this is one of those things where the person making the claim is a chief contributor to the actual problem.
Just the first paragraph is problematic because they link to The Palmer Report, which can be likened to infowars for the left, and random peoples' tweets. They are literally random. They aren't from journalists from reputable sources or even actual politicians. If the article is based on that, should I keep reading? My feeling, as much as I like Vox, is that this debunking is kinda in need of some debunking.
Part of this space is about debunking what's being debunked, so it's good you point this out.
I think the idea of this article is worth it. Everyone's got to be careful about sources these days.
That said, I don't believe in the idea that "both sides are the same!" I feel that Republicans are more tribal and will go to great lengths to defend/excuse anything "their side" does, including TRUMP and the relentless hypocrisy. Democrats/Liberals, as a whole, are more critical of their own -- which may be a disadvantage with elections.
Well Ryan did swear everyone in the room to secrecy before the RNC when Kevin McCarthy suggested Trump was being paid by Russia