Fake News

THE MORNING JOLT BY JIM GERAGHTY Fake News, Gullible Voters, and the Appetite for a 2016 Scapegoat

http://www.nationalreview.com/morning-jolt/453392/russian-influence-facebook-ads-scapegoat?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=171103_Jolt&utm_term=Jolt

Excerpt: Over in the New York Times, Emily Parker provides Democrats — and everyone upset by the 2016 election, including Never-Trump Republicans — with a message they would probably rather not hear: Propaganda only works when there’s a significant enough segment of the population that wants to believe a particular message. It’s convenient and almost fun to blame the big tech companies — Twitter, Facebook, YouTube — for Russia’s efforts to influence the election and the 2016 results, but in the end, the voters were not brainwashed into any choices. "Facebook and Twitter are just a mirror, reflecting us. They reveal a society that is painfully divided, gullible to misinformation, dazzled by sensationalism, and willing to spread lies and promote hate. We don’t like this reflection, so we blame the mirror, painting ourselves as victims of Silicon Valley manipulation. . . .Facebook and Twitter didn’t force users to share misinformation. Are Americans so easily duped? Or more alarming, did they simply believe what they wanted to believe?"