# The real purpose of the cries of fake news **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 19, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-purpose-of-the-cries-of-fake-news/780225 "2017-02-19T16:25:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-purpose-of-the-cries-of-fake-news/780225/1 "2017-02-19T16:25:31Z")
The constant cries of “fake news” are especially insidious because not only is it an attempt to discredit the free press, but it shifts the focus from the original problem. Never forget, “fake news” didn’t start because the president didn’t like what the media was saying about him. Fake news started as pseudo-journalists making up false stories intentionally and being paid by the click and by the share from nefarious sources. There have even been reports of rooms full of Russian journalists doing nothing but publishing fabricated stories throughout the campaign. Now all the focus is on who is really lying, who is “fake news”, is it the media or the White House? People dedicated to truth are finding themselves constantly defending the media. We are being conditioned to accept stories from outside the White House as factual. But the more we focus on that, the less prepared we will be for the next onslaught of actual fake news. ---
**Author:** ![stosh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stosh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-purpose-of-the-cries-of-fake-news/780225/2 "2017-02-19T16:29:02Z")
If it’s said about your guy, it’s fake. If it’s about the other guy, it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-purpose-of-the-cries-of-fake-news/780225/3 "2017-02-19T17:21:19Z")
That’s the doctrine of false equivalence. Another dangerous way to think, but not what this post is about. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-purpose-of-the-cries-of-fake-news/780225/4 "2017-02-19T17:26:07Z")
The SDMB stands as an example of how “fake news” derails the discussion. I don’t think we can count the threads that quickly devolved from being about \*something \*to being about _the discussion of that something_. \*\*SA \*\*has it exactly right: the Bannon White House is simply going to use the adjective “dishonest” in every sentence about the media, and cry “Fake news!” at every uncomplimentary report until it’s taken for granted by Joe Public, who will get lost in the argument about whether news is “fake” or “honest” or not and fail to see the real topics. Bannon knows this weak spot in the US psyche well, and he’s kicking the shit out of it. He isn’t even trying to be subtle about it. There are sixth-grade bullies with more concealed motives and actions. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-purpose-of-the-cries-of-fake-news/780225/5 "2017-02-19T18:02:56Z")
It won’t work. The news is part of Big Media, and they have a hell of a lot more bandwidth than the whiner-in-chief. They haven’t yet brought out their big guns, but if they feel threatened, the White House will be flattened. Nixon thought he could blame the press, and the press took great joy in destroying him. (Meanwhile, of course, the other side has had Fox News for years and years. Obama had enough sanity not to obsess over them.) ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-purpose-of-the-cries-of-fake-news/780225/6 "2017-02-19T19:12:54Z")
Even if the media wins the battle of who is more truthful, the goalposts have been moved. By he next election, it will be forgotten that fake news was not about the mainstream media, it was about fraudulent, fabricated stories. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-purpose-of-the-cries-of-fake-news/780225/7 "2017-02-19T19:24:26Z")
The public is being conditioned to consider “fake news” accusations as nothing more than whining, so when actual fake news is created in the future to the WH’s benefit, they can scoff at the fake news accusers just as we are scoffing at them now. They are devaluing the difference between truth and lies. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-purpose-of-the-cries-of-fake-news/780225/8 "2017-02-19T19:45:07Z")
Of course, arguments and complaints about one thing tend to distract attention from others. So every time there’s an accusation of fake news about something relatively ephemeral, look for something else with potential long-term consequences that’s happening quietly in the background. ---
**Author:** ![allotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@allotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/allotrope)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-purpose-of-the-cries-of-fake-news/780225/9 "2017-02-19T19:55:07Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > The SDMB stands as an example of how “fake news” derails the discussion. I don’t think we can count the threads that quickly devolved from being about \*something \*to being about _the discussion of that something_. \*\*SA \*\*has it exactly right: the Bannon White House is simply going to use the adjective “dishonest” in every sentence about the media, and cry “Fake news!” at every uncomplimentary report until it’s taken for granted by Joe Public, who will get lost in the argument about whether news is “fake” or “honest” or not and fail to see the real topics. > > Bannon knows this weak spot in the US psyche well, and he’s kicking the shit out of it. He isn’t even trying to be subtle about it. There are sixth-grade bullies with more concealed motives and actions. Pretty much this. To the extent that anyone leaves the echo chamber of their social media cocoon, they’re going to be subjected to the recurring message that the accusations of ‘fake news’ coming from Trump and his surrogates is nothing more than another attempted deception in a continuous stream of attempted deceptions just like everything from the size of the crowd at Donald’s inauguration to the Bowling Green Massacre and now to whatever allegedly happened in Sweden. The only antidote for Trump supporters will be to completely withdraw into their echo chambers, which many have no doubt already done, or attempt to resolve the cognitive dissonance created by obviously conflicting messages. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-purpose-of-the-cries-of-fake-news/780225/10 "2017-02-19T20:23:06Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > The public is being conditioned to consider “fake news” accusations as nothing more than whining, so when actual fake news is created in the future to the WH’s benefit, they can scoff at the fake news accusers just as we are scoffing at them now. They are devaluing the difference between truth and lies. The asshole-in-chief is crying wolf, and thus enabling a future brand of bad guys to get away with outright lies. Meanwhile, he’s engaging in spreading outright lies. (Not only crying wolf, but killing his own sheep!)