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Category: WYSIATI

Pseudo news: “More Utah women are graduating with STEM degrees, but not at the same rate as men”

Pseudo news: “More Utah women are graduating with STEM degrees, but not at the same rate as men”

A pseudo news story – one of many – proclaims not enough women are in “STEM” fields. This conclusion depends on how you define “STEM” fields. By leaving out many fields of “science”, they are looking primarly at “TE” – technology and engineering only. When all “S” (science) and “M” (math) are included, the discrepancies are not nearly as large. The root issue, though, is that many fields have a dominant gender – but this issue is ignored in favor of focusing exclusively on women in “TE” fields (while pretending this group is “STEM”). For example, about 90% of nurses, which employs millions of workers, are women – yet “health science” is typically excluded from the charts and data tables used to show us that women are not studying “STEM” – because they mean “TE”.

The role played by propaganda in the public discussion of the #ACA #ObamaCare-Did you know the ACA has a pre-existing condition waiting period?

The role played by propaganda in the public discussion of the #ACA #ObamaCare-Did you know the ACA has a pre-existing condition waiting period?

Propaganda messaging played and continues to play an enormous role in the public’s view on the Affordable Care Act a.k.a. ObamaCare. For example, Democrats have made pre-existing condition exclusions the centerpiece of their 2018 public commentary on the ACA.

Yet, never explained is that most Americans already had protections against pre-existing condition exclusions – it was the individual market that did not have protections (details in the post). Further, contrary to what you have been led to believe, the ACA does, in fact, establish a pre-existing condition waiting period. The ACA did not eliminate pre-existing condition waiting periods (see post for details).

The propaganda messaging used the methods of Fear, Assertion, Lying and What You See Is All There Is and has been extraordinarily effective. The Republican opposition has been clumsy and largely counterproductive with utterly ineffective propaganda messaging of its own.

(This is a major update to a previously posted item on this topic – formatting, editing and a better explanation of the propaganda methods used have been done to improve the previous post and make it easier to understand.)

Ignorance contributes to the effectiveness of propaganda

Ignorance contributes to the effectiveness of propaganda

Democrats won the popular vote in the U.S. Senate, therefore the 2018 election is unfair, says the meme. Sounds convincing – until you see this claim taken apart by the Washington Post. In fact, Democrats won 22 of the 35 seats or 65% of the seats while receiving just 55% of the total votes. Read the whole thing. This is an example of propaganda messaging that uses the “What you see is all there is” method. Also see thelogical fallacy of implying a vote of 1/3d of the Senate seats is a vote of 100% of Senate seats, fooling the target of the propaganda messaging.

Tumblr blames Russian trolls spreading “misinformation”

Tumblr blames Russian trolls spreading “misinformation”

These headlines are to the point of being “What You See is All There Is” (WYSIATI) propaganda. In reality, everyone from everywhere has been spreading misinformation on social media. But by repeatedly framing the problem as “Russia” connected propaganda, people are influenced to draw a conclusion based on the idea that this is the sum total of the story. This conveniently leaves out all of the numerous others involved in doing this. Source: Tumblr Removed 84 Accounts Linked to Russian…

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“No, it wasn’t always on our money!”

“No, it wasn’t always on our money!”

TL;DR Summary The phrase “In God We Trust wasn’t always on our money” states the propaganda poster. This poster is both true and false, depending on how you define “money”. It has been on some coins since 1909, for example. The goal of the poster was to argue about separation of state and church (we think). It works due to (a) a true assertion, and (b) “What you see is all there is” and the viewer is not aware that…

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"No, it wasn't always on our money!"

"No, it wasn't always on our money!"

TL;DR Summary The phrase “In God We Trust wasn’t always on our money” states the propaganda poster. This poster is both true and false, depending on how you define “money”. It has been on some coins since 1909, for example. The goal of the poster was to argue about separation of state and church (we think). It works due to (a) a true assertion, and (b) “What you see is all there is” and the viewer is not aware that…

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Washington Post's "Russian hacking" fictional news story falls apart

Washington Post's "Russian hacking" fictional news story falls apart

This really was a fake news story from the Washington Post, since retracted, and labeled as fake news by many. The entire story was false. TL;DR Summary Washington Post writers Juliet Eilperin and Adam Entous publish a news story titled “Russian hackers penetrated U.S. electricity grid through a utility in Vermont“. This story is shared widely on social media, in part from social media promotion by Washington Post staff, and is quickly re-printed and re-published nationwide relying on the fear…

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Washington Post’s “Russian hacking” fictional news story falls apart

Washington Post’s “Russian hacking” fictional news story falls apart

This really was a fake news story from the Washington Post, since retracted, and labeled as fake news by many. The entire story was false. TL;DR Summary Washington Post writers Juliet Eilperin and Adam Entous publish a news story titled “Russian hackers penetrated U.S. electricity grid through a utility in Vermont“. This story is shared widely on social media, in part from social media promotion by Washington Post staff, and is quickly re-printed and re-published nationwide relying on the fear…

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Fake news: Anonymously sourced social media as the basis for news reports

Fake news: Anonymously sourced social media as the basis for news reports

This “news” report is based on an anonymously authored social media account: While the American media and leaders in Washington, D.C., wonder if Vladimir Putin’s government played dirty tricks to get Donald Trump elected, rich Russian youngsters have better things to worry about. Like expensive cars, bubble baths, jewelry, private jets — and showing it off on social media for the world to see. An anonymous Instagram account called RichRussianKids is still providing glimpses of the opulent lifestyle of “minigarchs,” or…

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Was Omaha Deaf Student Bullied and his backpack thrown in a toilet?

Was Omaha Deaf Student Bullied and his backpack thrown in a toilet?

TL; DR Summary The backpack belonging to a deaf student was thrown into a toilet. When we see this headline, we immediately envision students harassing a deaf student, stealing his backpack and throwing it in a toilet. This story has been widely shared on Facebook as an illustration of bullying behavior; indeed, bullying behavior against a deaf student. Except that is not what happened. Instead, this is a beautifully crafted story whose emotional bait successfully hooks all of us, so we…

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