Tag Archives: social media

Fake news infects the real thing

December 8, 2016 kanelis2012

We’re witnessing one of the more hideous and frightening aspects of the social media craze.

Fake news, man.

It’s this phenomenon we used to call “propaganda.” Internet trolls sit around the house and ponder ways to put out patently false stories — often involving celebrities/public figures/elected officials — and then watch the world react accordingly.

I’m not entirely certain if it’s a right-wing craze or a left-wing craze. I guess I’ll settle on the righty angle, given that’s what we hear about mostly.

Whatever the tilt of those who put this crap out there, it’s driving me to the brink of insanity.

Texas Tribune recently did a study of an elected official, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, and discovered that he’s become a big purveyor of fake news. He and/or his campaign staff puts these lies out there and, I reckon, laugh until their guts hurt as people react to it.

The Republican official’s response is equally “hilarious.” He says he’s not a “news source.” No s***, Sid! Still, someone is sending this crap into cyberspace and the worst of it is that people are buying it!

Didn’t someone recently put out a lie about Hillary Clinton being involved in a child porn ring or some such horse crap? And didn’t that provoke a violent reaction?

I used to tell people who would submit letters to the Amarillo Globe-News, where I worked for nearly 18 years until 2012, that they need to take care about what they read on the Internet. They would insist their information was “true, because I read it on the Internet.” My response usually was that they should believe only about 1 percent of what they read on the ‘Net and then check out the source of the information before passing it on.

Now, with this epidemic of “fake news,” I reckon the reliability percentage has plummeted even farther.

It’s giving me the heebie-jeebies.

I’m longing for a simpler time when we recognized fake news when it appeared on those supermarket tabloid headlines — my all-time favorite of which was, “Chocoholic Mom Gives Birth to Super-Coated Baby!”

Ah … those were the days.

national news, political news

Obama critics won’t stop name-calling, either

December 7, 2016 kanelis2012 1 Comment

It’s going to be a difficult transition for many millions of Americans from the Obama presidency to the Trump presidency.

I totally am in that camp. I’m one of those Americans who’s going to have a tough time making that switch.

Yes, some critics of this blog — and some acquaintances of mine — have questioned why I keep commenting negatively about Donald J. Trump. “Move on,” they say. “Get over it,” they admonish me.

Well, OK. I will get over it. I will move on … eventually.

Perhaps I should offer a deal for those critics to ponder. How about many of them stop hurling epithets at the current president?

I don’t associate with those who’ve been amazingly harsh toward Barack Obama, his lovely wife Michelle — and even those precious and beautiful daughters of theirs, Malia and Sasha.

You no doubt have heard some of the hate that has spewed forth against the first family. Much of it is based on the president’s policies. Much of it also is based on more visceral feelings.

Let’s not pussyfoot around here. There has been a racial component to the criticism against the first family. No, I am not pointing the accusatory finger at all the critics. Those who’ve said things publicly through social media, though, have conducted a shameful smear campaign against the president and his family.

Will I be able eventually to accept fully the election of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States? I am going to make every effort possible to do so.

But I won’t be badgered, pestered or browbeaten into doing so by those who have kept yammering negatively against the current president over matters that transcend public policy.

It’s not that I intend to deliberately return what others have flung at the man Trump is succeeding as president. Those who have said many ugly and hurtful things, though, need to understand that some of these wounds will take time to heal.

So, if some of us continue to complain out loud — and vociferously — about the policies being proposed by the current president, I’ll offer this response: Get over it!

national news, political news

Not yet time to ‘move on’

December 6, 2016 kanelis2012

Some of my social media friends and contacts are asking me a good question. It goes something like this:

“When are you going to quit bashing the new president and move on?”

My answer? Not anytime soon.

I’ll parse the question in two parts.

First, I don’t consider my criticism of the president-elect as a “bashing.” It’s been harsh at times. I’ve made no apologies for feeling deeply disappointed about the election outcome. I didn’t want Donald J. Trump elected. My preference was for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I’ve gone on and on in this forum about how unqualified and unfit Trump is for the office he is about to assume.

Enough said there.

Time to move on? Time to get on board? Not yet. Maybe not ever. It’s too early yet for me to make that call.

Trump’s lack of government experience has presented itself frequently as he has begun the transition from private business mogul to the most powerful man on Earth.

His Cabinet selections have been a mixed bag. That’s the best thing I can say for him. He’s a faux populist who’s filling his Cabinet with mega-rich folks. I get that he’s more comfortable with those who run in the same circles as he does. He’s also recommending individuals for some posts who quite possibly will seek to roll back many of the progressive reforms enacted during the past eight years.

Trump spoke by phone to the president of Taiwan and in the process tossed aside decades of diplomatic protocol by conversing with someone who governs a country with which we have zero diplomatic relations.

Will all of this — and more — produce an effective presidency? I hope it does. I also hope the president succeeds in doing whatever it is he wants to do. Then again, I am not yet sure what on God’s Earth he actually intends to do. Trump isn’t driven by any ideology I can identify, other than seeking to call attention to himself.

I’ll keep on being critical of Trump. I won’t call him names. I won’t hang labels on him the way, um, he has done to others.

If he does something good, I’ll say so.

Until then, I do, though, reserve the right — as a red-blooded American citizen, Army veteran and someone who pays his taxes every year — to criticize the man who’s about to become president of the United States of America.

The U.S. Constitution gives us all that right. I intend to exercise it with vigor.

media news

Total strangers become foes, even enemies

November 15, 2016 kanelis2012

One of the downsides — and there aren’t many of them — of writing a blog is that I might be guilty of turning total strangers into enemies.

I post these musings on my High Plains Blogger website. I then transmit them via several social media outlets: Twitter, Facebook, Google and LinkedIn. My aim, of course, it to maximize exposure for this blog with the hope of getting those with whom I’m connected on all those sites to share these messages with their friends and social media acquaintances.

That’s straightforward enough, don’t you think?

But then something happens. My friends/”friends” on Facebook start tangling with each other. They read what is circulated on that social medium and respond to it. Then someone else reads the response and responds to that; it’s quite often — if not mostly — a negative response. That draws a rebuttal, which then attracts another reply.

On and on it goes, too often to no good end.

I do not like getting ensnared in this back-and-forth. I prefer to stay — if you’ll pardon the high-minded tone — “above the fray.”

I put the stuff out there, having stated my piece. Then I let others have at it.

Now, if someone asks me a direct question that requires a direct answer, I’m inclined to answer it. But I don’t always respond. I also might respond to an insult, which I do get occasionally.

The upshot of this is that while I (more or less) regret the hard feelings that erupt on occasion from those who respond to my blog spewage, I won’t back off from sending this stuff out there.

It provides great therapy, even if it comes on occasion with a bit of angst over the anger that boils up.

***

I made what some might consider to be a strange reference in this blog post. I describe my Facebook contacts thusly: friends/”friends.”

I do that to delineate between actual friends and those who I know only through Facebook. I have a number of folks out there who I consider to be — if not friends in the classic sense — friendly acquaintances. Truth be told, my actual friends amount to a tiny fraction of those with whom I have a friendly relationship.

There are others I know only because we’ve connected on social media. Those are the “friends” to whom I refer.

So, there you have it. To my many friends/”friends,” I say: Peace be with you.

media news, national news, political news

Cyber bullying must stop … no kidding!

November 4, 2016 kanelis2012

Melania Trump said what?

She wants to make cyber bullying the top priority of her potential first ladyship?

Oh, the irony. The lack of spousal awareness. This is amazing!

Trump’s major solo speech today highlighted what she wants to do in case her husband Donald gets elected president next week.

Cyber bullying is her target. It’s got to end, she said.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/melania-trump-says-she%e2%80%99ll-fight-cyber-bullying-as-first-lady/ar-AAjREmA?li=BBnbcA1

OK, she can start at home. With her husband.

Donald Trump has used his Twitter account to call broadcast journalist Megyn Kelly a “bimbo.” He has used it also to allege the existence of “sex tapes” involving former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, about whom he has said many other unflattering things … also on social media.

She said this, among other things: “Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers,” Trump said Thursday afternoon in Pennsylvania.

Melania Trump, quite naturally, made no mention of her husband’s cyber-bullying history.

Trust me on this: The irony cannot possibly be lost on many of us who understand just how much her husband has contributed to the coarsening of political discourse.

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