Cherry picking: Everyone wants to spin the story
Pick cherries to make whatever flavor of cherry pie you want.
Is all politics disinformation?
The White House issues a bizarre official tweet saying that when Biden took office, January 20, 2021, “no vaccine was available”. This is bizarre on multiple levels. Unfortunately, it leads many of us to conclude that all political speech is disinformation, all the time.
Media “Fact checks” have turned into propaganda campaigns
“Fact Checks” pretend to resolve social media memes that go against the authoritative conventional wisdom. Under the guise of sounding official, the “Fact checks” are often little more than propaganda messaging masquerading as official information. Fact checks have become a new form of propaganda.
How NOT to use a chart to make a point
How to embarrass yourself – with a chart. DCCC sent this out saying “Thank you Joe Biden” – for a 2 cent or 1/2 % decrease in prices after a massive run up in prices. This is basically cherry picking the Y-Axis to make it look like there was a large drop. Chart mutilation is a common method of propaganda.
Classic media manipulation of your viewpoint – SF Chronicle had to rewrite headline and replace photo illustration
Over the span of a few days, the SF Chronicle went from a headline emphasizing “Winter Covid surge” to a new title emphasizing “the endgame”, and a new illustration, removing the fear and negativity focus. Sadly, the media always goes for fear and negativity and manages to spin good news into bad. This time they got caught at it.