My Occupy Propaganda page on Facebook was shadow banned beginning about December 15th, 2016. Read on for the update – and confirmation. (This web site, when it started, was titled Occupy Propaganda, partly making fun of several “Occupy” political groups. I later changed the name to Social Panic. I discontinued cross publishing this web site to Facebook a few months after this shadow ban occurred.)
Just hours after a mass evacuation order was given, the emergency in Northern California turned social media into its usual outrage culture filled with political propaganda. This event has provided a real time illustration of the way that social media is collapsing in on itself. The first and third comments in this screen capture illustrate both sides: Water scientist Peter Gleick says he cannot tell which is worse: “gloating comments” on social media might be worse…
New data from Kaplan Test Prep say admissions officers do look at accounts. Source: Colleges Really Are Looking at Your Social Media Accounts | Best Colleges | US News And what they find can improve admission chances – or rejection. The key takeaway: “College applicants need to be aware of what others can find about them on social networks and make sure it reflects well on them,” said Alpher. “For better or worse, social media has become an established factor…
Dozens of news outlets reported on a purported scam wherein fraudsters supposedly falsify charges by randomly calling people and asking ‘Can you hear me?’ Source: ‘Can You Hear Me?’ Scam Warning CBS News prompted the latest round of this story. As Snopes notes, no one can identify an actual victim of the purported scam. Of course, it is a good idea to say as little as possible to telemarketers. However, it might not be a great idea to share the…
TL;DR Summary A media outlet ran a story with the headline “”Ben Carson admits fabricating West Point Scholarship“, based in part on muddled comments from Ben Carson that were not clear. The false version of the story was picked up by media and spread rapidly on social media. The story was eventually shown as incorrect and prominent media called the story a “lie”. But the damage was done. Propagandists know that the first message received by the target, even if…
TL;DR Summary Poster SourceSince the post asks, “What’s wrong with this picture?“, let’s take a look!
TL;DR Summary President Obama selected as the most admired man in the world, per Gallup Poll of U.S. residents. Analysis: True! And it is good that the US President is selected for this, in this poll. Almost every year since 1946, the current sitting President has been identified by this Gallup poll as the most admired man in the world. Doesn’t matter who is in office (except for Gerald Ford – it sucks to be Gerald Ford, apparently). This works…
TL;DR Summary The phrase “In God We Trust wasn’t always on our money” states the propaganda poster. This poster is both true and false, depending on how you define “money”. It has been on some coins since 1909, for example. The goal of the poster was to argue about separation of state and church (we think). It works due to (a) a true assertion, and (b) “What you see is all there is” and the viewer is not aware that…
TL;DR Summary The Daily Beast reported the Trump administration deleted references to “climate change”, “LGBTQ”, “health care” and “civil rights” and other topics from the whitehouse.gov web site. Fake news and “real” news web sites promoted the theory that these topics were deleted as part of an upcoming period of darkness under the Trump administration. My Twitter feed was absolutely filled with links to these stories. Reality: As part of the change in administrations, the U.S. National Archives archived the Obama record…
TL;DR Summary A true quote but taken out of context – the quote is referring to something completely different than a modern day “minimum wage”. As a propaganda message, this has been widely shared, which makes for successful propaganda, even though the message is untrue. Roosevelt did say this quote, but it was not about the minimum wage but about creating opportunities to become skilled, employable and have the ability to earn good wages. The speech was about the need…