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Category: Appeal to Authority

Talk about Spin: The official Minneapolis Police Statement after George Floyd was dead

Talk about Spin: The official Minneapolis Police Statement after George Floyd was dead

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The Minneapolis Police Department issued a press release after George Floyd died that was basically a lie, and omitted numerous critical details of the encounter. They later deleted the press release, apparently acknowledging it was not a true statement. The bogus press release is an example of pre-emptive propaganda, typical after police shootings – they release all the dirt they can find on the suspect, and then release a list of commendations and medals of the officers involved. In the case of George Floyd, the MPD left out crucial details – and this would have been all we knew if there had not been an independent video.

“Deplatforming” Parler

“Deplatforming” Parler

The controversy over hostile social media content advocating violence, hate, and lies on social media – and the deplatforming of individuals and entire services (e.g. Parler).

Was Parler deplatformed for “conservative” ideas or for users advocating violence?

Methods of subtle media propaganda

Methods of subtle media propaganda

Every time someone not following the face mask meme contracts Covid-19, the media makes the lack of face masks the story. Yet when a large group of health care workers, with 100% face mask compliance is diagnosed with Covid-19, mention of face masks vanishes. According to the CDC, 90% of those diagnosed with Covid-19 were face mask wearers – suggesting the media’s focus on face masks or lack of one as the cause of contracting Covid-19 is propaganda messaging.

False: Full-time low income wage earners cannot afford a 2 bedroom rental anywhere in the U.S.

False: Full-time low income wage earners cannot afford a 2 bedroom rental anywhere in the U.S.

This claim comes out every year, from the same activist lobbying organization. They use misleading language and obfuscated definitions to imply a conclusion that is not true – a conclusion that the media laps up like good little puppies and uses to make false conclusions. This blog has covered this item twice previously. Nothing has changed.

“Doomscrolling Is Slowly Eroding Your Mental Health”

“Doomscrolling Is Slowly Eroding Your Mental Health”

In the midst of an ineptly managed pandemic and ineptly managed civil unrest and economic fiasco people try to make sense of it by reading everything they can. Scrolling through post and news story after news story is called “doomscrolling” and it destroys your mental health. Sadly, much of the bull shit is not from random social media posts but from actual experts who spew nonsense.

Study used cherry picked data to prove a false conclusion

Study used cherry picked data to prove a false conclusion

A fake study cherry picks the start date of the pandemic to make a false claim that billionaires became far richer due to the pandemic. The actual purpose of the “study” is propaganda messaging using the methods of cherry picking, appeal to authority, and emotion. The errors made are large enough to be treated as lies, as well.

A subtle form of opinion making within a news report

A subtle form of opinion making within a news report

See how a WSJ report skews your views of the subject of a news article by diminishing the impressive background of the primary individual in the story. This is a common technique to spin a news story. Ultimately, rather than blame some for asking odd questions, we should ask why were they confused in the first place? The answer comes down to poor public messaging surrounding public health – from the public health practitioners themselves.