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"Are you overwhelmed at the amount, contradictions, and craziness of all the information coming at you in this age of social media and twenty-four-hour news cycles? Fake News, Propaganda, and Plain Old Lies will show you how to identify deceptive information as well as how to seek out the most trustworthy information in order to inform decision making in your personal, academic, professional, and civic lives. • Learn how to identify the alarm bells that signal untrustworthy information. • Understand how to tell when statistics can be trusted and when they are being used to deceive. • Inoculate yourself against the logical fallacies that can mislead even the brightest among us." The author of the book is Donald A Barclay, librarian, who gave an interview to Publisher's Weekly last September. This excerpt mirrors a part of the preface, which I will dictate and post below. Dude sounds like a dang Objectivist here, if a plodder ... -- cross-linking here to a dedicated Front Porch topic thread "Fake News," and to a "fake news" OL-internal-search page of this blog, "Friends and Foes." There are at this moment 732 items in the "Fake News" phrase search returns of the whole of the Objectivist Living community. The subtitle to Barclay's book is "How to Find Trustworthy Information in the Digital Age."

Tarl Warwick (such a nice Lovecraftian name) aka Styxhexenhammer666 is someone I pay attention to, so that I can at the very least understand various arguments made. He is quite assured before the camera**, which still impresses me), and can run on for at least ten minutes, even if not colouring within the lines of his topic. Here he hews fairly strictly to the concept of Moral Panic and raises some questions that readers/watchers/listeners here can either analyze, scoff at, or nap through. I can't get access to automated captions at the moment, but will poke them in here once I figure out how .. The Invision Power Board software no longer allows embedded files in an iframe ... so I had to come up with a kludge, for readers: I use a kludge within a form element, a textarea. The only drawback is that in some browsers the size of the box is fixed to maximum width. Advanced example:Textarea with sizing and wrap attribute (try values of hard, soft, and off to see how it affects wrapping). The maximum number of characters is constrained to 200 by the maxlength attribute. Full automated caption file ... 00:00:00,709 - 00:00:02,878 All right everyone if you've ever read 00:00:02,879 - 00:00:05,068 or watched 1984 you know that one 00:00:05,069 - 00:00:08,339 element of propaganda and this work gets 00:00:08,340 - 00:00:10,619 it right definitely is language control 00:00:10,620 - 00:00:12,779 language control is perhaps the most 00:00:12,780 - 00:00:14,758 important aspect other than physical 00:00:14,759 - 00:00:17,549 force itself in controlling people in 00:00:17,550 - 00:00:19,469 fact if you have enough propaganda if 00:00:19,470 - 00:00:22,108 you're given enough psychological leeway 00:00:22,109 - 00:00:23,518 and you have enough of a corporate 00:00:23,519 - 00:00:25,589 apparatus to deliver it and get around 00:00:25,590 - 00:00:27,749 the 1st and 4th amendments which is what 00:00:27,750 - 00:00:29,579 Silicon Valley is for it to be it 00:00:29,580 - 00:00:31,409 appears then you don't need to use 00:00:31,410 - 00:00:33,659 physical force not necessary to round 00:00:33,660 - 00:00:36,359 people up in camps it's not necessary to 00:00:36,360 - 00:00:38,009 force them out in the middle of the 00:00:38,010 - 00:00:39,569 night and you know beat their daughters 00:00:39,570 - 00:00:41,968 at gunpoint it's not necessary to a 00:00:41,969 - 00:00:44,099 physically harass and intimidate them 00:00:44,100 - 00:00:46,139 all you have to do is have a such a 00:00:46,140 - 00:00:48,119 system that's created that is more or 00:00:48,120 - 00:00:50,159 less model I think it's monopolized its 00:00:50,160 - 00:00:51,808 government co-opted controlled by a 00:00:51,809 - 00:00:54,058 bunch of CEOs and bankers who have 00:00:54,059 - 00:00:55,589 nothing in common with the general 00:00:55,590 - 00:00:57,959 population you simply control people by 00:00:57,960 - 00:00:59,939 figuring out what language will or will 00:00:59,940 - 00:01:02,669 not be used or accepted on these 00:01:02,670 - 00:01:04,499 platforms that have been integrated 00:01:04,500 - 00:01:06,359 together into a gigantic corporate 00:01:06,360 - 00:01:08,759 monopoly that's what we see with the 00:01:08,760 - 00:01:09,600 internet today 00:01:09,601 - 00:01:12,329 we have a trust involving a few dozen 00:01:12,330 - 00:01:14,699 extremely large companies they work with 00:01:14,700 - 00:01:16,798 the US government this is why what 00:01:16,799 - 00:01:17,969 they're doing is technically illegal 00:01:17,970 - 00:01:21,059 already because it is you can't work 00:01:21,060 - 00:01:22,258 around the First Amendment by 00:01:22,259 - 00:01:24,089 privatizing abuse you can't say well 00:01:24,090 - 00:01:25,769 like the government can't say I can't 00:01:25,770 - 00:01:27,508 prevent you from speaking but I can 00:01:27,509 - 00:01:29,368 command all these corporations to not 00:01:29,369 - 00:01:30,899 sell you the paper to use on your 00:01:30,900 - 00:01:33,328 printer that would be illegal it would 00:01:33,329 - 00:01:35,008 be explicitly illegal as long as they do 00:01:35,009 - 00:01:37,438 it through middlemen nobody so far as 00:01:37,439 - 00:01:38,609 notice but I'm going to give a 00:01:38,610 - 00:01:41,548 suggestion to the Creator community to 00:01:41,549 - 00:01:43,319 alt tech to the online world to 00:01:43,320 - 00:01:45,179 political dissidents you know people and 00:01:45,180 - 00:01:46,919 the handful of people in our government 00:01:46,920 - 00:01:48,929 that are still awake there's one 00:01:48,930 - 00:01:50,758 important thing you can do to break this 00:01:50,759 - 00:01:52,648 sort of psychological conditioning 00:01:52,649 - 00:01:54,478 because it relies upon controlling 00:01:54,479 - 00:01:57,059 language so they'll use the term quality 00:01:57,060 - 00:01:59,099 filter it's not a quality filter it's a 00:01:59,100 - 00:02:01,319 censorship tool you're only calling it 00:02:01,320 - 00:02:03,269 though it's so opaque the way that it's 00:02:03,270 - 00:02:04,559 designed we don't even know what it's 00:02:04,560 - 00:02:06,539 filtering or how well then how can you 00:02:06,540 - 00:02:08,848 possibly say that oh just trust us 00:02:08,849 - 00:02:10,889 it's for quality assurance within 00:02:10,890 - 00:02:12,419 conversation no it's not it's 00:02:12,420 - 00:02:13,340 suppressing beep 00:02:13,341 - 00:02:15,348 that have certain views that have 00:02:15,349 - 00:02:16,878 certain beliefs that's all it is 00:02:16,879 - 00:02:18,649 family-friendly no it's not 00:02:18,650 - 00:02:20,779 family-friendly it's sanitized and 00:02:20,780 - 00:02:23,029 injected with propaganda it's not 00:02:23,030 - 00:02:26,238 fact-checking it's fact skewing see how 00:02:26,239 - 00:02:28,219 easy that is you've got to look at the 00:02:28,220 - 00:02:29,988 language of the terminology used when 00:02:29,989 - 00:02:31,429 they make up new terms 00:02:31,430 - 00:02:33,499 literally new speak you should always 00:02:33,500 - 00:02:35,119 pick them apart and think really 00:02:35,120 - 00:02:37,219 critically about whether it actually 00:02:37,220 - 00:02:39,409 properly represents what's going on 00:02:39,410 - 00:02:42,859 number one expose that fact to people 00:02:42,860 - 00:02:45,828 deride and mock these situations these 00:02:45,829 - 00:02:47,779 systems that are being made by Silicon 00:02:47,780 - 00:02:49,639 Valley the quality filters that and 00:02:49,640 - 00:02:51,318 stuff just call them what they are 00:02:51,319 - 00:02:53,449 censorship and derived them as such and 00:02:53,450 - 00:02:55,009 don't get bogged down in the muff 00:02:55,010 - 00:02:57,499 free-market debates that's it's 00:02:57,500 - 00:02:59,298 not a free market everyone knows that at 00:02:59,299 - 00:03:02,208 this point number two use the term moral 00:03:02,209 - 00:03:03,949 panic I see more and more people 00:03:03,950 - 00:03:06,318 starting to use legacy media I need to 00:03:06,319 - 00:03:08,268 talk about moral panic apparently ten 00:03:08,269 - 00:03:11,089 times more often if the term enters the 00:03:11,090 - 00:03:12,859 public discourse at a high enough level 00:03:12,860 - 00:03:15,469 seeps its way into public consciousness 00:03:15,470 - 00:03:18,589 as things like legacy media corporatism 00:03:18,590 - 00:03:20,988 terms like that are we can very quickly 00:03:20,989 - 00:03:23,629 collapse the entire sense of ship 00:03:23,630 - 00:03:25,939 paradigm because then people will have a 00:03:25,940 - 00:03:28,129 new term to substitute for what for the 00:03:28,130 - 00:03:29,929 new speak that's already being used see 00:03:29,930 - 00:03:33,078 the thing is this is counter propaganda 00:03:33,079 - 00:03:35,509 I'll tell you why I'll tell you why this 00:03:35,510 - 00:03:37,399 isn't technically like libertarian new 00:03:37,400 - 00:03:39,409 speaker selling which some people pry if 00:03:39,410 - 00:03:41,089 they're jackboot liquors they probably 00:03:41,090 - 00:03:43,578 claim them because this term already 00:03:43,579 - 00:03:45,409 entered the public lexicon a long time 00:03:45,410 - 00:03:47,149 ago it's already been around but there's 00:03:47,150 - 00:03:49,098 never been as far as I know before the 00:03:49,099 - 00:03:51,738 fairly modern era because the quality 00:03:51,739 - 00:03:53,958 filter what's what's a real quality 00:03:53,959 - 00:03:56,149 filter real quality filters you slap it 00:03:56,150 - 00:03:58,759 into your wall to filter the incoming AC 00:03:58,760 - 00:04:01,309 air so you don't get Legionnaires 00:04:01,310 - 00:04:03,138 disease or something that's a quality 00:04:03,139 - 00:04:04,969 filter family-friendly no 00:04:04,970 - 00:04:06,229 family-friendly is sitting around 00:04:06,230 - 00:04:08,479 playing checkers or watching The 00:04:08,480 - 00:04:09,949 Waltons or something you're not gonna 00:04:09,950 - 00:04:11,988 get family-friendly on a free and open 00:04:11,989 - 00:04:13,458 Internet because people aren't 00:04:13,459 - 00:04:17,029 constantly facing obstacles to absorbing 00:04:17,030 - 00:04:18,978 whatever content they want it'd be 00:04:18,979 - 00:04:20,659 draconian it'd be tyrannical its 00:04:20,660 - 00:04:22,098 censorship that's all it is 00:04:22,099 - 00:04:24,949 Oh build your own website they say you 00:04:24,950 - 00:04:25,550 can't 00:04:25,551 - 00:04:27,439 it's become impossible that's the whole 00:04:27,440 - 00:04:30,228 point good luck finding someone to act 00:04:30,229 - 00:04:32,329 as a registrar good luck payment 00:04:32,330 - 00:04:34,758 processing good luck using anything that 00:04:34,759 - 00:04:37,189 was built by any other site on your site 00:04:37,190 - 00:04:39,619 good luck finding a host good luck at 00:04:39,620 - 00:04:41,119 this point without net neutrality he'll 00:04:41,120 - 00:04:43,279 good luck finding an isp to serve you at 00:04:43,280 - 00:04:45,138 some point they'll eventually join the 00:04:45,139 - 00:04:47,598 fray because they become now a target 00:04:47,599 - 00:04:50,168 for the crap divest that's another thing 00:04:50,169 - 00:04:52,549 we can make up our own news speak 00:04:52,550 - 00:04:54,228 technically speaking for more benevolent 00:04:54,229 - 00:04:57,258 reasons use the term crap to fist to 00:04:57,259 - 00:04:59,239 denote somebody who's who claims to be 00:04:59,240 - 00:05:01,369 active istic but they're really just a 00:05:01,370 - 00:05:02,388 bored moralist 00:05:02,389 - 00:05:05,059 soccer mom that's a mockery is one big 00:05:05,060 - 00:05:06,829 way in which you defeat authoritarianism 00:05:06,830 - 00:05:09,198 look censorship and authoritarianism 00:05:09,199 - 00:05:12,439 stem from fear a group is losing power 00:05:12,440 - 00:05:14,689 or fears losing power or money or 00:05:14,690 - 00:05:16,879 something or audience and so they lash 00:05:16,880 - 00:05:18,619 out it's sort of like what a religion 00:05:18,620 - 00:05:20,149 does when it goes into decline it 00:05:20,150 - 00:05:22,728 declares some pogroms starts a crusade 00:05:22,729 - 00:05:25,128 all people are becoming decadent no no 00:05:25,129 - 00:05:27,529 the tithing level has decreased we must 00:05:27,530 - 00:05:30,228 kill anyone who disagrees with us states 00:05:30,229 - 00:05:32,388 do this a state that is under pressure 00:05:32,389 - 00:05:34,788 spawns authoritarianism far more readily 00:05:34,789 - 00:05:36,918 we saw this with via our Germany we're 00:05:36,919 - 00:05:38,568 seeing it all over Europe today it's 00:05:38,569 - 00:05:39,888 coming from the left and the right 00:05:39,889 - 00:05:42,739 groups are becoming more given over 00:05:42,740 - 00:05:44,869 towards political intimidation tactics 00:05:44,870 - 00:05:46,999 not necessarily authoritarianism as 00:05:47,000 - 00:05:49,638 directed to a populist sometimes it's 00:05:49,639 - 00:05:51,348 more in the realm of intimidation like 00:05:51,349 - 00:05:52,939 they're literally more willing to throw 00:05:52,940 - 00:05:54,918 a punch you know on the floor of some 00:05:54,919 - 00:05:57,379 some Congress some or some Parliament 00:05:57,380 - 00:05:58,848 all of a sudden they break out into what 00:05:58,849 - 00:06:01,129 amounts to a white-collar riot and it's 00:06:01,130 - 00:06:02,568 all very funny because they know they're 00:06:02,569 - 00:06:04,549 throwing cut HUD there they're $10 cup 00:06:04,550 - 00:06:06,559 coffee at each other and then grabbing 00:06:06,560 - 00:06:08,508 each other's thousand dollar suits and 00:06:08,509 - 00:06:10,429 ripping men's stuff like that mats can 00:06:10,430 - 00:06:12,619 be a little bit funny it's like in you 00:06:12,620 - 00:06:14,059 know in the Balkan states when 00:06:14,060 - 00:06:15,888 occasionally son throws a gas grenade 00:06:15,889 - 00:06:17,478 into the parliament or sorry it's just a 00:06:17,479 - 00:06:19,728 normal activity there once in a while 00:06:19,729 - 00:06:23,448 door when they lose a soccer match then 00:06:23,449 - 00:06:25,309 it happens even more than then the cars 00:06:25,310 - 00:06:27,258 start flipping and buildings start 00:06:27,259 - 00:06:29,689 burning honestly but no Linguistics are 00:06:29,690 - 00:06:32,448 how you understand reality you've got to 00:06:32,449 - 00:06:35,088 understand the concept of picking apart 00:06:35,089 - 00:06:37,788 language develop this skill it's not 00:06:37,789 - 00:06:38,719 that difficult 00:06:38,719 - 00:06:39,560 it's just Luke 00:06:39,561 - 00:06:41,418 terms especially when you hear a term 00:06:41,419 - 00:06:43,789 for the first time it sort of fires off 00:06:43,790 - 00:06:45,888 the the dopamine in your brain a little 00:06:45,889 - 00:06:48,168 bit take a step back and look at what 00:06:48,169 - 00:06:50,029 it's actually saying what does quality 00:06:50,030 - 00:06:52,129 filter in the sense of a multi-billion 00:06:52,130 - 00:06:54,289 dollar corporate entity imposing it on 00:06:54,290 - 00:06:56,089 political speech what does it actually 00:06:56,090 - 00:06:58,819 mean there's a simpler way of saying it 00:06:58,820 - 00:07:00,529 it's an old term it's been around for a 00:07:00,530 - 00:07:01,070 long time 00:07:01,071 - 00:07:03,439 censorship or corporate censorship if 00:07:03,440 - 00:07:05,119 you will because it involves a 00:07:05,120 - 00:07:07,099 multi-billion dollar entity if it 00:07:07,100 - 00:07:09,309 involves like Google the concept that 00:07:09,310 - 00:07:11,539 corporations can be moral actors I 00:07:11,540 - 00:07:13,638 reject completely it's impossible if 00:07:13,639 - 00:07:15,829 they exist within a competitive 00:07:15,830 - 00:07:18,049 framework they will naturally seek to 00:07:18,050 - 00:07:20,359 use those those tools they're developing 00:07:20,360 - 00:07:22,399 that they're presenting to you as though 00:07:22,400 - 00:07:23,959 therefore you're fit to keep your 00:07:23,960 - 00:07:25,789 children safer to protect you from 00:07:25,790 - 00:07:27,829 harmful opinions which you know 00:07:27,830 - 00:07:29,478 literally means anything that's non 00:07:29,479 - 00:07:31,839 corporate istic non neoliberal inform 00:07:31,840 - 00:07:34,638 they will inevitably aim them at smaller 00:07:34,639 - 00:07:36,769 competitors we see that right now what 00:07:36,770 - 00:07:38,269 are they doing to the alt-text site so 00:07:38,270 - 00:07:40,249 we're kicking off your payment processor 00:07:40,250 - 00:07:42,079 because you're not doing what Google 00:07:42,080 - 00:07:44,478 does and and policing and micro policing 00:07:44,479 - 00:07:46,519 everything that goes on on your site 00:07:46,520 - 00:07:48,559 oh you allow people to say things that 00:07:48,560 - 00:07:50,839 we find offensive you can't take money 00:07:50,840 - 00:07:53,359 we're kicking you off of your host your 00:07:53,360 - 00:07:56,179 registrar will drop you the ISP won't 00:07:56,180 - 00:07:58,609 serve you other sites won't allow you to 00:07:58,610 - 00:08:00,529 use their widgets or whatever the 00:08:00,530 - 00:08:02,689 they use now essentially your deep 00:08:02,690 - 00:08:03,350 person 00:08:03,351 - 00:08:06,409 well that sounds anti-competitive to me 00:08:06,410 - 00:08:07,788 it's funny you'd have to build your own 00:08:07,789 - 00:08:10,189 Internet in order to have actual free 00:08:10,190 - 00:08:12,319 speech going on I suppose to some extent 00:08:12,320 - 00:08:14,439 I think that that's quite chilling I 00:08:14,440 - 00:08:16,849 think it's absolutely ludicrous that 00:08:16,850 - 00:08:19,129 we're allowing US firms to get away with 00:08:19,130 - 00:08:21,138 this if you want to be authoritarians 00:08:21,139 - 00:08:23,569 why don't you relocate all of your 00:08:23,570 - 00:08:25,909 headquarters and stuff to a Malawi or 00:08:25,910 - 00:08:28,579 you know China or something you'd fit in 00:08:28,580 - 00:08:31,459 more in China do you you have an F oh so 00:08:31,460 - 00:08:33,619 that is not markedly different from what 00:08:33,620 - 00:08:35,899 China is doing on its intranet it 00:08:35,900 - 00:08:38,239 monitors everything it removes and 00:08:38,240 - 00:08:41,208 censors and D platforms at a whim it can 00:08:41,209 - 00:08:42,949 prevent you from engaging in commerce 00:08:42,950 - 00:08:44,778 because it can say well this person is a 00:08:44,779 - 00:08:46,579 dissident we better alert the 00:08:46,580 - 00:08:48,109 authorities they shouldn't be banking 00:08:48,110 - 00:08:49,549 they shouldn't be able to get a loan or 00:08:49,550 - 00:08:51,559 a house or something it's the same thing 00:08:51,560 - 00:08:53,369 we're under a four 00:08:53,370 - 00:08:55,799 of censorship right now under these US 00:08:55,800 - 00:08:57,959 tech firms that to a more limited extent 00:08:57,960 - 00:08:59,639 is essentially an extension of China 00:08:59,640 - 00:09:02,069 that's what it is it's not any different 00:09:02,070 - 00:09:04,019 it's just censorship it's not a quality 00:09:04,020 - 00:09:05,879 filter the Chinese used to Anu speak 00:09:05,880 - 00:09:07,919 like that to oh this is the protection 00:09:07,920 - 00:09:10,349 filter this is the great Internet wall 00:09:10,350 - 00:09:11,819 that'll keep you safe from the evil 00:09:11,820 - 00:09:14,729 outside world this is the this is the 00:09:14,730 - 00:09:16,528 hall monitor that's going to keep your 00:09:16,529 - 00:09:18,419 kids safe from bad opinions like 00:09:18,420 - 00:09:20,639 believing in labor unions or something 00:09:20,640 - 00:09:21,929 or thinking that they should get more 00:09:21,930 - 00:09:24,119 ten cents an hour and work from the time 00:09:24,120 - 00:09:26,249 that they're 10 11 years old that's what 00:09:26,250 - 00:09:28,079 in the nation of communist China they 00:09:28,080 - 00:09:29,789 would tell you aren't they telling you 00:09:29,790 - 00:09:32,399 basically the same thing here only with 00:09:32,400 - 00:09:34,409 without the suicide Nets because they 00:09:34,410 - 00:09:36,179 pay their staff you know six-figure 00:09:36,180 - 00:09:38,669 incomes not that big a different model 00:09:38,670 - 00:09:40,049 now when you really think about it 00:09:40,050 - 00:09:44,720 that's about all Pisa