*This* is What the Bot Told Me

Who do you trust?

There are a lot of people out there asking that. And the vox populi seems to side against traditional media. And I know traditional media makes its fair share of mistakes, pushes agendas and occasionallly outright lies.

But the "people" the people say they trust are even worse.

Read this a few days ago in Nathaniel Poppler's "The Trolls of Wall Street":

Dopierala vehemently denied the accusations that were flying around the internet. BUt once a suspicion is planted on social media, it is hard to pull it back. And by this time, the GME Owls were talking about several other strange patterns and portents floating around GameStop. One of the GME Owls began documenting every message he could fine encouraging people to sell GameStop. He noticed that many of them were from newly created accounts and that all the messages were using the same phrasing across different social media platforms. "I track a lot of social media challens and the volume is insane, all the same things," he wrote. . . 

Melvin, of course, denied that it had paid for any sort of social media campaign But the fears swirling around were the kind of thing that often happened as online social movements grew. Social media maede it hard to know who was real and who was some plant from the opposition. People had come to social media because they distrusted traditional sources, but this was one of the many areas where social media ended up exacerbating the distrust.

This has, of course, evolved a bit. There've always been people who'll look to social media (or traditional media) and believe what they read because it already jibes with their beliefs. But there's growing evidence that people can now look at the kinds of patterns outlined in the book excerpts and *still* insist that what's being said is true, even if it's an orchestrated attempt at disinformation and pushing agendas.

It reminds me of what Terry Pratchett wrote in "Making Money":

Always remember that the crowd that applauds your coronation is the same crowd that will applaud your beheading. People like a show.

The Joker is about to kill all the people following the parade. And they don't care, because he's giving away free money. Hubba hubba hubba, who do you trust?

Ignore the Liars

Men, boys - especially the boys - read this email, which I found in my spam folder this afternoon.

It's important to read it thoroughly.

But first, read this:

Even if you've been poking around on naughty websites, and especially if you feel guilty about it, remember this: These creeps have nothing on you. They blast these messages out to every email address with a pulse and hope some poor vulnerable soul reads it, listens to the guilt already stirring within and gives in to their demands for money. That's all they want, is money. Don't give it to them. They can't do a thing to you; they have not been recording your actions. They just want to play the guilt and fear you feel for money.

If you feel bad about what you've done, that's fine. Guilt is your soul's way of prompting you to quit your behavior. Concentrate on changing your behavior rather than listening to that pathetic, greedy voice that got lucky in finding a guilty soul with their shitty email. Don't give them money; that's all they care about.

Don't believe me? Talk with someone you trust. If you're religious, talk to your religious adviser. Talk with your spouse, your parents, a trusted teacher or anyone else you know will tell you the truth. Get help from people who know you and love you and care about you. Don't listen to the empty threats of some Internet jerk who's only trolling around for money.

People have killed themselves out of guilt and fear after they got a message like this. If you're having such thoughts, call the Suicide and Crisis Hotline at 988 now. They're there 24 hours a day.

I'm a religious person and believe sincerely that the worth of souls is great in the eyes of God.

These creeps sending out these emails are honest in one way: They're not shy in saying they want money. That's what you're worth to them: Money. Don't listen to them. They're jerks and liars.

Listen to people who love you, even if it's hard to talk about.

Remember, they're liars. They're only interested in money. Those who are interested in you will help you get past these jerks and their empty threats.

Hells Bells this is Stupid

So, over at the US Department of Energy Facebook page, they're bragging up a bunch of contracts they've cancelled to save money.

They don't list them.

They link to a Fox Business article that's so generic in its approach to the topic, brings up the bugaboos of "millions" in Politico subscriptions and the devil that is DEI, but again lacks that certain detail that would be the list of cancelled contracts that the entire article might as well be a Burma Shave advertisement.

And they have someone named "Clara Johnson" on the page, pretending to be a Department of Energy employee there to answer questions, and the main photo on her profile:

1. Has a logo that's completely alien to the Department of Energy.

2. Spells the word "energy" as "emergy."

None of this is professional. None of this engenders any faith in what the Department is saying.

This is your government at work.

[Whispers] Don't Lie, Jared!

Speaking of the outrage machine, I saw this today (click to embiggen):

No, really. Click on that picture and blow it up and read the text therein.

As noted in my previous post on Russian propaganda being made for idiots, my Imbecillamus really sent alarm bells off as I read this.

This should be easily verifiable, of course. So I went a-searching for the original story, from a reputable news source, not some social media "news source," and yes, there is a difference.

Here's what I found:

Again, click to embiggen. I'll wait. Read all the words, please.

Notice something missing? Yes, the second is a story about a man making an appeal to Donald Trump to exempt his wife from being deported, as her citizenship was well underway and should be allowed to continue. Missing, of course, is the "fact" that said man is a Trump supporter, shocked and awed! that the position he supported meant pain for himself.

Story after story after story after story has the story of the man's wife being taken, but nothing about the man being a Trump supporter. Oh, there's this one. But it's from 2017. And it's friends of the deported fellow who report regretting voting for Trump. SO THIS OTHER STORY COULD HAVE HAPPENED, RIGH?!!?!

Except, of course, it didn't.

That is, of course, the story the left wants to tell: Trump's supporters will feel the pain for supporting him. I'm sure that'll happen.

But there is NO REASON TO LIE ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR STORY. None. None whatsoever. It's easily verifiable that it DID NOT HAPPEN. Unless you think your own base are the idiots, succumbing to the propaganda made for idiots, their imbecillami muted to the lies because they're lies they want to believe.

Tell the truth. And not the "truth," but the TRUTH.

In case you don't understand what I'm saying, I'll make it simple: Don't lie, Jared.

And don't tell me you have to lie because the other side lies. That's the biggest lie of all. I refuse to choose the lesser of two liars.