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didymus
Guest
Interesting video from The Atlantic:
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7_Sorrows
Guest
didn’t Glenn Beck and others just meet with Mark Zuckerberg last week about this?
thanks for posting. interesting.
thanks for posting. interesting.
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WJeffrey
Guest
Could Facebook rig an election? Yes. Have you ever watched Watter’s World? Facebook has more influence than the three major networks combined.
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Neofight
Guest
Facebook and the other three major networks aren’t to blame.
Lazy, gullible voters who are so gripped by the info-age mentality of instant gratification and who thrive on sound bytes to forge their concept of truth are to blame.
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WJeffrey
Guest
Yes, and those people get their news from Facebook. They no longer watch the 3 major networks. Because of that, Facebook has more influence on the average American than the 3 major networks combined.
People who get their news from the three major networks are dinosaurs.
The average American voter can be found on any edition of Watter’s World, and Facebook is uniquely situated to rig an election if they choose to do it.
If you deny the impact Facebook has in American life, you are behaving like an ostrich.
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SuperLuigi
Guest
That probably shouldn’t shock anyone. For one thing, talk radio and FOX NEWS have been booming compared to the dinosaur media.
Without airport lobbies, doctor/dentist waiting rooms and libraries may soon be the only place one finds the non-on-line verison.
But I even think that the SMOSH channel on youtube had network execs wishing they had that kind of attention.
Social media has blown apart TV, paper media outlets and even video game consoles are in trouble. The latter has had to evolve fast just to survive.
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SuperLuigi
Guest
It’s simply impossible for me to argue that. In fact, Y!, which has been the #1 trafficked site on the planet, redid it’s news page to cater to headline readers so it could include unreliable sources such as liberal blogs but still maintain a certain level of deniability.
Problem is people just read the headline and not much else after it, and many of the writers know it and publish as such.
But I think the overall electorate has been uniformed for some time.
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Neofight
Guest
No…facebook or any media does not “rig” an election. Election outcome requires votes to be cast…facebook may provide fodder, but its an electorate that reacts to emotion instead of fact that determines the outcome of the election.
You seem to be making the electorate out as the victim of the media…As Walt Kelly once said in the Pogo comic strip: “We have met the enemy, and he is us!”
You are correct that facebook has impact in American life, but only because we allow them to. Facebook doesn’t elect candidates, we do!
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pianistclare
Guest
Exactly.
We are to blame. We allow FB and other junk networks and broadcasters, Huffington post, and other sites to drive our thought.
When people throw up their hands and say “what’s the use? I might as well go with the flow” they have no one to blame but themselves.
It’s NOT what our ancestors envisioned for us.
Nor Christ for that matter.
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anon67074017
Guest
Facebook would likely support Bernie.
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dixieagle
Guest
This hits the nail on the head. I am appalled by the willful ignorance of so many voters who are influenced by emotion and peer pressure rather than facts.
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dixieagle
Guest
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AlphaFoxtrotNW
Guest
Thus is the danger of bad intel on the part of the media because if they spew slander into peoples faces, most people would believe it. I have this noted as a paradox where if we are capable of free thinking, then why do we meld into the forms cut out by Media?
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on_the_hill
Guest
Facebook is a private enterprise. It has no obligation to be fair and balanced.
Although I wouldn’t go so far as to call people lazy and gullible in seeking instant gratification, I’m disheartened that so many people rely on Facebook to be a reliable source of news and information.
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WJeffrey
Guest
Sorry, but we are not to blame. The people on this site are statistically insignificant. The average American’s world view is shaped entirely by TMZ, Facebook and the Kardashians.
When Fox News can go to places like Harvard, Yale and Brown and show pictures of people like Ronald Reagan, Joe Biden and John Roberts and students can’t identify them, but they can identify Justin Beiber, the Kardashians and Beyoncé, the battle is lost.
The people at Catholic Answers are generally well informed civic minded people who pride themselves on being informed, doing the right thing, getting involved in the community, and voting. When Harvard students can’t identify a picture of Ronald Reagan, how can the entire brain-trust at Catholic Answers change that?
The average person who is 30 and younger relies solely on internet sites like Facebook for their news. Denying that is sticking your head in the sand like an ostrich.
You can pontificate about this not being true until the cows come home, but it will not change reality. Your vote is statistically irrelevant. Mark Zuckerberg can rig an election if he decides to do it. 90% of people 30 and under will never go to a second news source to make an informed decision. If you don’t believe that, watch an episode of Watters World anytime they go to an Ivy League campus. If Ivy league students can’t identify the current Vice President, do you really believe that the rest of people under 30 can do it?
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SuperLuigi
Guest
It’s especially bad because we (thankfully) operate under a secret ballot.
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