The "Fake News" conspiracy.

[BenDhyan]

Clever Russian agitprop, but near to the mark...

[0_0]

[liminalOyster]

I'm still incredulous at some of the smart people who have been willing to adopt this dangerous and asinine term, "fake news" so cavalierly with apparently little concern for its obviously inevitable redeployment as a weapon against forces of good. A million examples out there I'm sure, but this one, from a notorious industry front group promoting Glyphosate, stuck with me this week:

[T]he French media stubbornly propagated “fake news” in regard to glyphosate by ignoring the broad scientific consensus on glyphosate being of low toxicity, not being an endocrine disruptor, and not being a "carcinogenic" compound under normal use. The press also ignored the facts pointing to the capture of the IARC working group on glyphosate by anti-pesticide activists, some with links to law firms seeking to earn a lot of money through lawsuits based on IARC’s decisions. Astonishingly, the press also ignored the inquiry by a journalist from Reuters who found unexplained last-minute changes made to the IARC report on glyphosate, which in each case went against the use of glyphosate.

Such a profound reality gap between scientific consensus and press articles deserves to be named the Triumph of Post-Truth. It is the outcome of a long anti-glyphosate campaign by anti-pesticide activists.

This shit is gonna be everywhere and the gullible slightly educated masses who fancy themselves defenders of the public good against the scourge of zerp-derp "anti-vaxxers" are going to fall hard for it.

[Elvis]

I'm still incredulous at some of the smart people who have been willing to adopt this dangerous and asinine term, "fake news" so cavalierly with apparently little concern for its obviously inevitable redeployment as a weapon against forces of good.

It's already happening. (right here on this forum, too.)