Open thread, Apr. 10 - Apr. 16, 2017

MrMind

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If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post, then it goes here.

Notes for future OT posters:

1. Please add the 'open_thread' tag.

2. Check if there is an active Open Thread before posting a new one. (Immediately before; refresh the list-of-threads page before posting.)

3. Open Threads should start on Monday, and end on Sunday.

4. Unflag the two options "Notify me of new top level comments on this article" and "Make this post available under..." before submitting.

I agree there is a big danger of slipping down the free speech slope if we fight too hard against fake news, but I also think we need to consider a (successful) campaign effort of another nation to undermine the legitimacy of our elections as an act of hostile aggression, and in times of war most people agree some measured limitation of free speech can be justified.

All of the information submitted to Wikileaks was real. Even if it came from Russia it was nothing to do with Fake News.

5lmn9y

You know, your campaign against fake news might be taken slightly more seriously if you didn't immediately follow it up by asserting a piece of fake news as fact.

3skeptical_lurker9y

I've just been skimming the wiki page on Russian involvement in the US election. [...] The other claims seem to just be that there was Russian propaganda. If propaganda and possible spying counts as "war" then we will always be at war, because there is always propaganda (as if the US doesn't do the same thing!). The parallels with 1984 go without saying, but I really think that the risk of totalitarianism isn't Trump, its people overreacting to Trump. Also, there are similar allegations of corruption between Clinton and Saudi Arabia.