Browsed by
Month: August 2016

Some speech is more equal than others

Some speech is more equal than others

“Throughout the document, OSJI’s position appears to be that private actors on the internet must be brought under international control in order to prevent them from suppressing each other’s freedom of expression and speech.” Open Society Justice Initiative Proposed 2014 Strategy/DCLeaks Source: Leaked Soros Document Calls For Regulating Internet To Favor ‘Open Society’ Supporters Via @dailycaller Propaganda is all about influencing – or controlling – the media. This blog has shown how social media has become a frictionless conduit for the dissemination…

Read More Read More

Facebook’s confusing censorship policy

Facebook’s confusing censorship policy

Facebook temporarily shut down Gaines’ account at the request of the police. It came right before officers opened fire, killing her and striking her 5-year-old son. The decision put a spotlight on another Facebook activity: its routine censorship of users. Source: How Facebook censors your posts (FAQ)

Political polls

Political polls

Political polls are often a form of propaganda messaging. However, the propaganda connection is not the purpose of this post. UPDATE Nov 10 2016: The campaign polls were severely wrong, so wrong that they might have been part of propaganda messaging – or their failure may result from the pollsters and media being off in their own worlds, out-of-touch with real people. In essence, the pollsters and media may have become the “elite” that view the rest of the country as the…

Read More Read More

Social media and its negative impact on productivity

Social media and its negative impact on productivity

High tech ought to be driving our economy forward, but as the linked article highlights, our productivity improvements and job opportunities are not nearly as great as past industrial advances. Why is that? Much of today’s tech industry is “social media” and: One reason [for a productivity slowdown] may be the nature of “social media,” which is largely a replacement for technology that already exists, or in many cases, is simply a diversion, even a source of time-wasting addiction for…

Read More Read More

Research finds that social media rots teen brains

Research finds that social media rots teen brains

Analyzing the test results showed that students who frequently used social networking sites like Facebook or apps like Snapchat ended up wasting their brain cells, scoring on average 20 points lower in math, reading and science compared to those who didn’t partake in the online “social scene.” Source: Research Suggests Gamers Get Better Grades, While Social Sites Rot Your Brain Hmmmmm …. If you, say, wanted to control a population, you would use social media propaganda … with the added…

Read More Read More

Hillary Clinton can’t walk up stairs? Old photo, missing context

Hillary Clinton can’t walk up stairs? Old photo, missing context

TL;DR Summary This photo is spreading today (August 7, 2016) on Twitter and Facebook and purportedly is a contemporary photo of Hillary Clinton requiring assistance to go up a flight of stairs. Reality: The photo is from February 2016 when she slipped on the stairs and was grabbed by aides to prevent a fall. Once posted on social media, this was shared, liked and re-tweeted, with no one asking the obvious questions about time frame, location or verification of the subject. This…

Read More Read More

Bernie Sanders is not a millionaire?

Bernie Sanders is not a millionaire?

TL; DR Summary A shared social media poster asserts that Bernie Sanders would have been the first president who wasn’t  a millionaire, since 1945. On the surface, this statement sounds plausible. His Senate disclosure forms list less than $1 million in assets. But it leaves out the value of his retirement savings and his government provided pension. A private sector worker would need at least $1 million in assets to have a pension payout similar to what Sanders will receive…

Read More Read More