Tags
blogging, bots, culture, fake news, freespeech, hysteria, mediated reality, politics
Let’s begin by defining treason, “the crime of betraying one’s country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government.”
This can be a bit complicated because every four years (or 2 yrs) we have these things called “elections.” Often people check a box on their ballot which can be a vote against the incumbent or the incumbent’s party. This is the peaceful and civilized way that voters in the US go about the business of “overthrowing the government.”
It is NOT treason. Let us be very clear about that, please. Accusing voters of treason is just plain wrong-headed.
The media continues to behave in a very irresponsible manner and I am annoyed about it because it causes little people like me to be casually and falsely accused of treason, by the perpetually befuddled and stupid people who suck down everything they read on the internet, and follow the lead of mediated reality. Mediated reality says the Russians hacked the election, therefore anyone who voted for or supports Trump is now guilty of treason.
There is no evidence what so ever that the Russians had anything to do with hacking our election. Zip, zero, zilch. There are some hearings going on asking those questions and there may well be investigations too, but these things are not evidence.
So of course I stumble upon a couple of articles that just pour fuel on the treason hyperbole and right on schedule, I start seeing innocent people now being accused of treason.
Treason is not a funny word, nor should it be tossed about so casually.
Here are the two articles that have riled up the intertoobz,
and it’s companion
FBI ‘investigating role of Breitbart and other right-wing websites in spreading fake news with bots’
The sheer number of falsehoods in these two articles is staggering, but suffice it to say, they contain everything but actual facts and evidence. They are based exclusively on gossip, rumor, inneundo, hyperbole, and opinion.
This stuff makes me crazy becasue it exploits the general public’s ignorance. “Russian bots invade US election” sounds like something out of a scary sci/fi movie but people are so ill informed they have no idea what the heck a “bot” really is. I myself have been accused of being a bot a few times, for goodness sakes. I am not a bot people, I am a human girl. A bot is short for web robot, it is software that runs automated tasks over the internet. About half of all traffic on the intertoobz is made up of bots, webcrawling about. Half! At least half.
In this imaginary scenario the Russians (and apparently US hackers too) would have allegedly designed bots to crawl about the internet planting positive links to news stories about Donald Trump and negative news links to Hillary Clinton. Also, planting some links to fake news stories, so half of America could be properly brainwashed into voting for the wrong candidate.
Even if that allegedly happened, I’m not even sure it could be called illegal. Facebook has bots, Google, Amazon, the US media, spammers, gamers, etc, etc. Your bot would have to be doing something illegal. Linking to a website? It just doesn’t pass the smell test, even if the scary Russians were doing it.
Now of course I have no idea if anyone actually created any such bots, but I totally call into question the validity of this entire witch hunt, this mass hysteria that seems to have consumed so many.
My heart literally sunk when I saw normal, rational people falling for this rubbish. What the heck? You guys know better, or so I thought.
Let’s talk about this “evidence of treason” among alt-right sites. First off, what’s an alt-right site? Whatever we want it to be. That is a huge umbrella that covers such a vast array of people, probably in the thousands. As to the evidence of treason, “The FBI is reportedly set to investigate right-wing news websites like Breitbart over allegations that they worked with Russian-backed operatives to disseminate stories favouring President Donald Trump.” That is not EVIDENCE. That is a suggestion. Mediated reality. A thought planted in your head. AKA, something more akin to gossip.
Indeed, people did “disseminate stories” favoring one candidate or another. That’s not illegal, it’s not treason, it is called an election. It is what people do to share information, opinons, to win hearts and minds, etc.etc. Nobody needs a Russian backed operative to tell us to do that, we do it anyway. It’s kind of an American tradition, like free speech.
One could point out that the Independant, the news that wrote these articles is actually in the UK, so in theory really just a foreign entity planting fake news in the US for the purpose of sowing seeds of division and instigating citizen persecution of bloggers. I mean, they are cleary accusing US citizens of treason without any evidence while attempting to create discord, and cast shadows on our President.
I don’t know if I’d call that treason, but I ‘d certainly call it very bad manners.
See, there's this thing called biology... 
Memi, the “accusers” are carrying on their “family” tradition, then as now.
John 8
“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
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Avoid the brainwash! Turn off the news.
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Always sound advice. 🙂
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More diversionary nonsense by the Dems and media to obfuscate the shenanigans that Hillary and the DNC committed over that past few years.
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My heart literally sunk when I saw normal, rational people falling for this rubbish. What the heck? You guys know better, or so I thought.
Priceless, coming from a Teabagger… But of course, Obama was born in Kenya, right?
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Staying classy as always JZ.
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Do you deny it?
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When you use terms like teabagger or jump to invalidating someone’s views by insinuating they think Obama is a Muslim it makes appear to be an intellectual lightweight with nothing positive to contribute. Please prove us wrong some day….
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Excuse me, but you guys called yourselves Teabaggers
http://web.archive.org/web/20120112080615/http://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/article/?q=Mjk1YmRjNzIxNmUwMTI0ZWYxZWU4OWU2MzFiOWJmNDE=
Don’t blame me for your mistakes.
And are you denying that for 8 years Teabaggers didn’t swallow every insane conspiracy theory fed them?
Here, though, we actually have a real problem… Your president is an agent of the Russians. They have video of him urinating on women in a Moscow hotel room, and Neptune only knows how much money he owes the Kremlin.
Why else do you think Agent Orange (Liar-in-Chief) won’t release his tax returns?
What is he hiding?
What doesn’t he want you to see?
If he has nothing to hide, then show the tax returns.
Easy.
Collusion with an enemy state. Not good.
I think you have to appoint a Special Prosecutor to get to the bottom of this. Nunes blunder yesterday made that perfectly clear. Your president is deliberately interfering in a legitimate investigation, feeding lies into the mix.
If he has nothing to hide, why is he doing this?
It doesn’t look good. Not good at all.
Tax returns and a Special Prosecutor.
The world needs to know just how compromised this man is.
The world needs to know if we can trust the United States.
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John do you even read articles you link to or do you just randomly use them to back up arguments on subjects you know nothing about, hoping no one will notice they actually say the opposite?
If you honestly don’t know why the term you use to describe members of the Tea Party movement is insulting than you really should educate yourself on it. Most, after discovering their mistake would hang their heads in shame. I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt that that’s something you’re capable of.
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Perhaps you should read the article, Trish. It’s written by a right wing organisation, The National Review, and to quote:
So, again, don’t blame me. You called yourself Teabaggers.
Or are you, like the Liar-in-Chief, perhaps trying to peddle some ”ALTERNATIVE FACTS” here?
And what about Trumps tax returns… would you like to see how much money he owes the Kremlin?
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John, I’m very familiar with the article, the magazine/web site it’s sourced from and the author, as I read it daily. Jay, the author, is writing about the offensiveness of the term and how even liberals who were using it without being aware of the meaning stopped doing so. The above board ones did any way. And yes, some members of the TP movement started using the term as a way of owning it but that was short lived and consisted of a small percentage.
Come now, you are a better person, I think than to resort to such juvenile language.
Your spouting about tax nonsense is just that and why you keep parroting it 3 months after Trump took office is strange. Rachel Maddow tried that too after someone illegally gave her some of his returns, but apparently the only earth shattering news revealed was that he payed more than Obama and Biden combined in taxes. Oh the horror.
I didn’t vote for Trump, he is not my ideal President but he is far better than the alternative.
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So, I guess you were just lying when you said i made a “mistake,” and should “hang my head in shame”
I see.
And it seems you’re not capable of carrying through on your own advice and admitting your mistake.
Trump himself leaked that 2 page tax brief… as it had “Client Copy” stamped on it. Bring yourself up to speed, Trish. And those 2 pages said nothing about where his income came from. I think we must see where his income comes from, and where his debts are.
As I said, if he has nothing to hide, then there should be no problem. Right?
What is he hiding?
How much money does he owe to the Kremlin?
If there is nothing, then great.
Let’s see the full tax returns.
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Here is what I said, “Most, after discovering their mistake would hang their heads in shame.” So no, I didn’t lie when I said you made a mistake because that’s not what I said. I gave you the benefit of the doubt that perhaps you really didn’t know the meaning of the term and it’s offensiveness and that even you might be capable of shame when discovering this. That is a mistake I made and will not likely do so again.
Your reading compression skill deficit and inability to differentiate between reality and the thoughts in your head make discussing things with you pointless John so I’m done here. Not fair to IB either to veer so off topic.
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Oh, I know the meaning of the word, which makes it so funny that the tea party called themselves Teabaggers.
So, again, don`t blame for your mistakes.
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Hi John
Check this out.
You lie.
You come storming in here with your broad brush, screaming “you teabaggers,” and you have no idea who fits that and who does not. Not to mention you wrenched your stupid link so out of context as to be not recognizable. You yourself are guilty of the very type of intolerance and bigotry you constantly accuse Christians of.
And you tell bald faced lies to support it, and think if you repeat it enough, use enough quotations, and enough bold face, that your lies will come true.
Lies repeated over an over in bold face, remain lies
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And what lie did I tell, Wally?
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Nope, not chasing your around John. Your quote of saying “you teabaggers’ was incorrect.
Unless you actually have proof we are all tea baggers, of course
Got some?
Show it
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Ah, so you make an accusation, then refuse to back it up.
I see.
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I see
LOL
Back up your assertion that all the assembled here are, in fact “teabaggers.” as you stated.
I don’t have to prove what I said.
You lying is obvious by the fact that you offer no proof about what you said.
Name, by name, the teabaggers here in this thread, and offer proof to back that assertion
Or..you are a liar
LOL!!!
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Are you a Tea Partier, Wally? Do you support the Tea Party?
A simple yes or no will surfice.
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LOL
I see.
I don’t know John, you tell me what I am. You seem to have that cornered already.
You said it, back it up.
By the way, asking me 10 million times if I support something does not mean I do.
Any moron can see through that ploy, except of course the moron USING the ploy.
Name by name, John, with documentation to support it.
LOL!!
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Yes or no, Wally… Do you support the Tea Party?
Yes, or No
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LOL
You seemed to assume we all do!
Back it up you liar
LOL
You are an empty, flailing, moron John, who can’t see past his own lies and when you get called out on one, all you can think to do is find some accusation, phrase it as a question, and ask it a million time.
LOL!!
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Yes or no, Wally… Do you support the Tea Party?
Yes, or No
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LOL!!
This is almost shameful that such a backwoods fundy from the South of the USA is making such a towering intellect as you look like a….drum roll please….moron
LOL!!
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Yes or no, Wally… Do you support the Tea Party?
Yes, or No
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If you say it one more time it comes true!!
LOL
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Yes or no, Wally… Do you support the Tea Party?
Yes, or No
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Hmm…didn’t work
Maybe you should try quotations or something
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Yes or no, Wally… Do you support the Tea Party?
Yes, or No
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Odd
Bold face maybe?
Look, John. I tire quickly of playing middle school games, and I am tired of this one , even though it was amusing for a minute.
Back up your sweeping assertion, or prove forever you are liar. I am done with you on this thread, as it is just messing up a good post.
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Yes or no, Wally… Do you support the Tea Party?
Yes, or No
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But more importantly, and on message as per this post, do you think Trump should release all his tax returns so we can see where his income comes from, and who he owes money to?
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You’ve touched on such a nerve here and I so share your frustration! This emphasis on fake news is just excuse making and completely unhealthy for our nation. The left outright refuses to acknowledge what a horrible candidate they had and that it was the leaders of the Democratic party itself that blew it by STEALING the nomination from Bernie Sanders. I would never have voted for him but that’s because I believe in capitalism and personal freedom, but at least the man is honest and he stood a very good chance of winning the presidency. The left cannot admit this and therefore Trump’s election must be blamed on stupid people gobbling up fake news planted by the Russians.
It’s like a bad movie from the 1980s and on auto replay. Someone turn it off!
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“It’s like a bad movie from the 1980s and on auto replay. ”
Ha! Good point. The 1980’s called and they want their cheesy reruns and big hair back. 🙂
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Lol!
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I think some folk have confused engaging differing views in a democracy with demagoguery.
We all do love to throw out our dismissive labels with impunity…bots, treason, right wing, heretic, false prophet, antichrist, new ager… 🙂
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Don’t forget the Millenials! No wait….they really are annoying!
J/K, I actually gave birth to a couple of them. But you’re right, we tend to have a propensity to use labels to dehumanize and dismiss people.
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We birthed three. Of course, they know better because they have Google and Wikipedia. 🙂 We’re just a bunch of Luddites. ( J/K, too.) Our kids are actually pretty wonderful (unbiased fact).
As Kierkegaard said, “Once you label me, you can dismiss me.” How true.
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IB, I don’t think we can turn our backs on allegations or the coincidences that continually seem to be showing up. If we do, we risk turning a blind eye to a foreign country attempting to sway or control our election. I say let the intelligence community do its job; let them assess all the allegations and information they have. They will determine what is evidence and what is not based on a wide variety of sources and hopefully proceed in good faith and transparency from there.
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Well, I think it is a great tragedy that I say, “stop accusing good people, innocent people, of treason,” and the response is, “I don’t think we should turn our backs on these allegations.”
Obviously the intelligence community doesn’t answer to me nor am I interested in hindering any investigations, but for people, including the media, to be running about falsely accusing voters of treason is just plain wrong.
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I agree accusing voters of treason is wrong; that’s not what Painter did. Painter was accusing certain media outlets, if they colluded with Russia on planting fictitious news stories (like the one where Hillary Clinton ran a child sex ring out of a pizza shop).
Richard Painter is a Republican and was President Bush’s senior ethics lawyer. He knows something about ethics and governmental law. I’ve heard him speak before, and he does not use words lightly.
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Well, all in good humor here, but I believe we should all pause and take a moment of silence and think when we say “Bush and ethics” in the same sentence. That right there is a red flag that something is off.
Also, while Painter may be a Republican, he was also a stanch Clinton supporter in the last election.
And if he does know something about ethics and governmental law, then he should have known that leaking news of a potential FBI investigation to the foreign press is kind of unethical. Also, probably damaging to any potential investigation.
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I agree with all of that, IB, especially the “Bush and ethics”. Just sayin’ all these coincidences can’t possibly just be koinkeedinks. But I admit, I’m biased.
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The ‘magic’ of deception – repeat a lie often enough, the mere fact that it continues to be exponentially repeated creates the illusion that it must be true. Preface ANY statement with “reportedly” or “allegedly” and your rumor is destined to become an urban legend.
While you may please some of the people some of the time, not even God can please ALL of the people ALL of the time! Accordingly, at least half of the people are automatically in disagreement by default. Unfortunately, real unity is a hope never to be realized in this world. I know, at least half of the people in this world disagree – vehemently! They push globalism and feign the embracing of all cultures as equally acceptable in the name of unity, while rejecting and demonizing any culture that dares to disagree – which perpetuates the myth.
‘Law and order’ has become merely subjective, as has the comprehension of right and wrong, good and evil, and even male and female! There are NO ABSOLUTES – to half the population. So, we can say ANYTHING and it will automatically be truth to half the world. If we preface it with “reportedly” or “allegedly”, even if the FACTS prove otherwise – we’re NOT accountable anyway. It’s kind of an American tradition, like free speech.
Until there is a unilateral AGREEMENT – clearly identifying who “THEY” are …
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To change the government by voting in an election that follows the Constitution is not treason. It is not even “overthrowing the government.” A breach of the Constitution would be required to overthrow the government.
Knowingly to publish false information detrimental to a person is not treason. It is, however, libel, and can be prosecuted as such.
Repeating information that is false and detrimental to a person, believing that it is true, is not treason. It is not even libel. It could be careless research and faulty fact-checking. While those are not criminal, they ought to cause a repeat offender to lose his or her audience. J.
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the way you define treason here seems as if you are trying to indict the cia, the obama administration, the fbi, the nsa, the counterfeit news network (cnn), msnbc, abc, cbs, nbc, cnbc, the new york slimes, the washington post, etc.
which is borderline treason since these are our actual overlords.
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That’s actually a good point, because it speaks to authority and power. If these articles and the reaction on the internet had been mocking our alien lizard overlords, that is whole different ball game.
But to attack the little people, voters, bloggers, to accuse us of either being brainwashed or willfully engaged in treason, that’s just disrespectful and wrong headed.
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the problem is that the media doesn’t play the role that mocking our alien lizard overlords is okay. it plays the role that mocking the alien lizard overlords that THEY support is not okay, but mocking the other ones is not.
if we were to mock them all, it would be a sign to our enemies that our democracy works even though we are secretly run by the alien lizard overlords. hey, maybe alien lizard overlords aren’t as bad as the humans?
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I watched a lot of news stories during the election campaign. I must have played hop scotch to miss those favoring Donald Trump. Hope Russia is as inapt when it comes to bullets and bombs as they were in bambozzling the media into telling favorable Trump stories!
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That’s a great point. Let’s hope the Russians are as inept as they seem to have been allegedly “hacking” the election.
Shoot, we still can’t get news favorable to anyone, and certainly no good news.
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The Left seeing a vast Russian Conspiracy is really something…
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