I’m often torn between different points of view because, as a Gemini, I can see both sides. Mind you, I don’t actually believe in astrology, but that’s typical of Geminis.
So when it comes to legislation preventing misinformation and disinformation, I can see that some would want such laws in order to prevent people spreading dangerous propaganda which makes us all less safe. I can also see that there’s a problem in deciding exactly what constitutes both misinformation and disinformation because one person’s lie is another’s truth.
Of course, we don’t want people able to publish information that is blatantly incorrect in order to scam their money or to get them to vote against their own interests. On the other hand, who’s to say that what’s actually in someone’s interest? I mean, it seems wrong for a person to be robbed of their life savings through a scam, but then maybe it teaches them resilience.
Granted, the proposed laws are more concerned with political information and that’s where it gets hard. If Donald Trump were to appoint the arbitrator then anyone who said that the election wasn’t stolen would be prosecuted for misinformation, but if I’m the arbitrator, then only things that are clearly misinformation would be banned… like just about everything Donald Trump says!
Ok, some of you might argue that I’m the one being biased but you clearly haven’t been listening to Trump’s recent rambles which seem to be as disjointed as a James Joyce novel. I’m fine with a stream of consciousness, but in Trump’s case it seems more like the sort of stream that he was accused of enjoying in Russia.
Speaking of Trump, when I had a momentary lapse in memory this morning about something which I can’t recall, my wife accused me of having a “Trump moment” rather than a senior moment, which I thought most unfair. Then I started to wonder how long before the phrase, “I’m just having a Trump moment” becomes synonymous with forgetting how your sentence started before getting to the end of your attempt to explain what it was that was so good about what you started to explain before you started to talk about how Sleepy Joe wouldn’t have been able to… I mean it was just so unfair that he was… where is he, by the way?
And, also speaking of Trump, I have seen several memes of him grabbing a kitten and/or a duckling. While this is obviously a reference to the alleged crimes in Springfield and trying to portray Trump as a protector, I can’t help but wonder how long it’ll be before someone adds those “locker room talk” comments about grabbing a certain body part that could be a substitute for the word “kitten”…
Anyway, the accusations of about those Haitians stealing pets is one of those things that may or may not be considered misinformation. However, when you’re repeating it without any basis beyond you heard that it was true and there are people saying that it’s not, then we enter this sort of world reminiscent of primary school where all sorts of fantasy were shared and believed until some nasty bully laughed and shattered the dream with a harsh dose of reality. The difference being that grown people have more resilience and often refuse to listen to the nasty person pointing out inconvenient facts because, well, they don’t have to and it’s a free country and I’m entitled to believe what I want and how dare you call Peter Dutton a racist just because he doesn’t want foreigners coming into the country…
So the problem with any mis/disinformation laws is the problem of how to ensure that it’s only genuinely incorrect things without taking away both people’s right to think differently and people’s right to repeat whatever nonsense makes them happy. How can a misinformation regulatory authority apply the law without reducing most of the Murdoch papers to a few ads and the footy scores?
Yes, it’s a hard one. But it does intrigue me that certain people just presume that they’ll be the ones being targeted. Do they know something about what they’re saying that they’re not sharing?
[textblock style=”7″]
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
Your contribution to help with the running costs of this site will be gratefully accepted.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
[/textblock]
Trump: “Those illegals stealing cats should leave the pussy grabbing to me.”
How ironic. And how pathetic.
This article, of all articles, attracted the wrath of the spooks at Facebook and all links to it were removed.
Here’s but one example:
Farcebook, arsebook, no classbook, what a modern mess of anti-intellectual bowellery this rubbish can be. Too much is getting out of sense, utterly stupid, opposite to sense and fact, all because solid shitheads are able to pose as inflated wowfactors. Poop.
Well, Michael, have you thought of posting on TRUTH Social instead?
😃
“A Trump moment.”
I’m still chuckling!
And the analogy of primary school chatter to what’s going on today is dead accurate.
Society is being infantilized.
Rossleigh
A ripper of an article , felt I was sitting in the same room with you yarning – and me listening and learning.
Thanks for writing this Rossleigh.
It gets confusing doesn’t it ?
To one person a dog is man’s best friend, to another a dog is an essential component to a char-grill !
A bit like a lamb roast but that’s another story!
Rather than allow fact checkers to censor without rational justification why not encourage fact checkers to name, blame and shame known scammers thereby protecting the interests of the public. Otherwise digital media fact checkers protect vested interests of their corporate clients to the detriment of public interest.
Imagine 2 umbrellas, one umbrella called ‘Freedom of Speech’ and the other ‘Freedom to Censor You Forever’.
Which umbrella should sit atop the other? Remember, Dutton is likely to be the next PM.
Given the fascist tendency on display by both Labor & LNP Govts to forge allegiances with multi-national corporations plus their propensity to ignore the public, isn’t it obvious free speech will disappear quickly if political ‘censors’ do not have your best interest in mind, which they don’t.
Currently I’m watching a talk given by Dr. Robert Malone titled ‘PsyWar’ (YouTube, @ Mises Institute, August 2024). I’m only 10 minutes in and it has to be one of the most insightful videos I’ve watched these last few years.
Misinformation?
What do you call it when one webpage of the TGA cites myocarditis as a side effect zero times and another TGA webpage mentions myocarditis 16 times for the same product: ACAM2000 [Smallpox and Mpox (Vaccinia) Vaccine, Live]?
I call it treating the consumer like a mushroom.
TGA Consumer Info (zero mentions of myocarditis as possible side-effect) – https://www.ebs.tga.gov.au/ebs/picmi/picmirepository.nsf/pdf?OpenAgent&id=CP-2020-CMI-02246-1&d=20220802172310101
TGA Product Info (16 mentions of myocarditis as possible side-effect) https://www.ebs.tga.gov.au/ebs/picmi/picmirepository.nsf/pdf?OpenAgent&id=CP-2020-PI-02245-1&d=20220802172310101
Pete here is enthusiastically wrong, misguided, has misled himself with resentment, suspicion, egofixation, submission to garbage, willingness to be consumed in ignorance. Mises Inst. rubbish is designed to achieve brainless submission of the resenters of expertise, and the USA is full of totally ignorant, abrasive, under educated nobodies who know ALL. Rotten Rubbish. (and twice)
Having a ‘trump moment’ means you are capable of many crass despicable idiotic things.
A few examples: grabbing at women’s crotches, conning people out of their life savings and declaring bankruptcy (more times that he’s had hot breakfasts) so you don’t have to pay them back, lying every single time you open your mouth, lying about your personal wealth to try and impress others, cheating on your wife and ex-wives, cheating the tax payers, throwing toddler temper tantrums every time you don’t get your own way, trying to stage a coup when you lose, racist against immigrants but was caught employing illegals at his Malaria-lago property, -hypocracy at it’s finest. Etc. This list would get very long if I kept going…
The parliament of howlers.
“I really missed you when you were having a Trump moment!”
“Were you really, that’s so kind and considerate.”
“No, not really, I was just trying to understand what you thought about Trump.”
“When?”
“Just before you had your Trump moment.”
“Couldn’t you glean anything for my Trump moment?”
“No, I decided to give it a miss, as it would likely be misinformation.”
“Oh c’mon, get over it, I don’t deal in misinformation! Now you’re just dissing me!”
“No I’m not! I don’t deal in disinformation!”
“Right! That’s it, I’m pissed, and going coz I’m disgusted and obviously mistrusted!”
“Yeah, me too, you’re cancelled, fuck you!”
“Fuck you too!”
You mean this Robert Malone? He’s just another anti-vax clown and just plain nutjob with delusions of grandeur. You mean that Robert Malone? Absolutlely no credibility.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/03/technology/robert-malone-covid.html
reducing most of the Murdoch papers to a few ads and the footy scores
We can dream, can’t we? That’s such a pleasant thought I’m leaving the interwebs for today and curling up with a good book. Chocolate and/or cheesecake may also be involved.
Pete ‘Currently I’m watching a talk given by Dr. Robert Malone titled ‘PsyWar’ (YouTube, @ Mises Institute, August 2024)’
Give you a heads up, the Mises Institute (Wien) are not health experts, but the ‘Austrian School’ of economics, joined at the hip with ‘Chicago School’, in Atlas Koch Network (locally = IPA & CIS) promoting ‘segregation economics’ of their muse James Buchanan (with Friedman, Rand, Hayek et al getting public profile); faux free market and social Darwinism.
Thanks for that – it clarifies the substance of a commentator to my previous post. I strongly admire Dr Robert Malone so I will take in his talk to the Moses Institute.
Andrew, thanks for the heads up, here’s one for you – next time a clueless health bureaucrat mandates a branded bio-chemical product for chicken, duck, pangolin, sloth, monkey or whatever flu, do yourself and your loved ones a favour – read both the TGA Consumer Information (for dummies) and the Product Information (product insert with ALL side effects).
If you see a doctor for ‘bio-treatment’ maybe secretly record the visit (use in future court cases). If the doctor or injector fails to mention all side effects (product insert sheet) then you might have a right to sue at a later date as no real informed consent was given.
GL, the NYpost link needs sub. The article is April 2022, six months before Pfizer market rep Janine Small told the EU Parliament, in a roundabout way, that she repped a pretentious, profit-driven group of duds moving at the ‘speed of science’. wtf
In her actual words: “Regarding the question* . . did we know about stopping the immunisation [sic] before it entered the market? No, heh . . we had to really move at the speed of science to really understand what is taking place in the market . . we had to do everything at risk”.
In other words: ‘we had to secure market share, testing be damned, so there’.
As for Mises Institute, I only can judge them by that one interview. I sense a lot of jealousy from those opposed to Dr Malone, being a successful creator has that effect on some people.
question* “Was the Pfizer Covid vaccine tested on stopping the transmission of the virus before it entered the market?” asked by EU MP Mr Roos.
Pete:
Vaccines are not designed to prevent transmission. They teach the body’s natural immune system to recognise a problem and thus react more quickly and become more effective against it. They reduce the likelihood of infection and the severity of symptoms.
If you’re going to ask a question about the effectiveness of any specicifc vaccine, ask it about what vaccines are actually meant to do.
leefe, it’s a miracle mankind made into the 20th Century without such a product. /sarc
I’m going to question everything related to mandated products and if I have to throw a few, or all, doctors under the bus for not giving out proper information that constitutes the basis for INFORMED CONSENT, so be it.
Drs have a choice, do the job properly, inform the public of known side-effects or cower to AHPRA policy and hide relevant product info from the public as it might create ‘hesitancy’.
What kind of doctor do you want, a coward who will hide critical data to keep their job or one who offers full advice to protect you & your health?
It’s not rocket science: the doctor-patient relationship & ‘first do no harm’ oath mean something or we live in a communist system ruled by health dictators.
If you die due to iatrogenic carelessness, and I mean really, really careless carelessness, and everyone else named in your will dies from iatrogenic harm thanks to a universal ‘I don’t give a sh*t about you’ attitude, who do you think gets your assets? Hint, it won’t be me.
Seek treatment, Pete, for hope exists in curing or at least ameliorating the worst problems associated with paranoia, aspects of abnormal psychology, of psychosis related problems, persecution fears, grandeur delusions, even hallucinations. Best of luck.
Phil, I don’t know enough about vaccines to comment, but I do know that in the prescribing of antidepressants, medical codes of practice are not followed, legislated requirements are not followed, and AHPRA will not enforce compliance.
I also know that for antidepressants, many doctors are not familiar with the Product Information docs. They cannot inform patients as to risks, because they do not know.
The field of medicine is to a very great extent controlled by Big Pharma, and again, AHPRA will not act.
To me, it does not seem logical that a huge industry, one of the most powerful in existence, is not acting suitably in only one tiny section of its operation. So I have an open mind on this one.
Steve is right to point out “worries” in any system which can be abused, controlled, exploited, and, as I have no expertise here at all, should not comment, perhaps, except for caring about people and issues, and wishing for the best. Australia’s federal health authorities publish c. 25 pamphlets or articles about life saving, preventative, vaccines which have saved millions of lives over time.
Pete, amendment to my last comment – remove the “/sarc”. Thinking about it, it is a miracle that the human body did what it did to evolve before the pin-headed injectors came along. The human body, in fact all nature, is a magnificent design that no puny human mind could have came up with. Now the duds think they can improve on nature, cut this dna strand up, add this bit of junk, and viola, a glow-under-UV-light something with no long term viability outcome known and which should of course be mandated so as to generate more profits for the deceivers.
Anyway, message delivered – it’d be a good idea to read product inserts rather than expect doctors to inform you correctly.
it’s a miracle mankind made into the 20th Century without such a product. /sarc
Talk to the millions who didn’t (plague, smalpox, polio, measles etc).
Exactly leefe, you make a good point, but Pete’s advice is sound.
Product Information docs are available on the internet. Use them.
And as Pete says, you should not expect doctors to inform you correctly.
I know of an antidepressant that has over 70 possible adverse effects, ranging from minor to very severe. If doctors told patients of this, no-one would take it — they would laugh at the doctor. Or abuse the doctor. So patients are not informed.
Patients are told to read the product info docs carefully before taking anything. Any sensible person will ask about potential side effects before accepting a prescription. Personal accountability has to start somewhere.
I will admit to not trusting any psychoactive medication, including antidepressants, but that’s a personal thing. Many people owe their continued lives and quality of life to such drugs.
there are some things you have to be an absolute fool to believe. And there are some things you have to be an absolute fool not to believe. We learn some of this shit at school. Lots of stuff we learn from just being alive and around others. Lots of stuff should be plainly obvious with just some fraction of thought. This is the stuff we don’t need in our lives……….more complex stuff, yea maybe leave up to experts to decide. If we can eliminate 90% of lies, i will take that any day. That is low hanging fruit……….i always thought the media were experts in this……until i learned this shit payed its bills. If the media cant do its job, it forfeits its rights…why isnt Murdoch behind bars? Shoot the first one and everyone else will follow
As for big pharma, i have no real gripe. They have done an amazing job, with a few missteps. How ever, WTF did people expect with self regulation? When has it ever worked? For this i blame the weak spined neocons who LIED. Knowingly lied by OMISSION and then collected later. You dont need a royal commission to spot them, just check their bank balance and who they work for.
We have turned lying into an art form that just goes over everyone’s head. Oh its too hard…….no it fucking isnt. As the well known comedy sketch says, do your fucking job. The law, WFT is it? How is Morrison not in prison?
Its not the lies, its the indifference to them, the cumulative effect of normalising them when no body is held accountable. Then when the truth is in your face, many will disbelieve it
I see one of Gina’s favourite ring lickers, P Duddy, is taking another page from the repug playbook: A big lie becomes a “mistake” when it comes back to bite him on the arse. How does he resolve it? By lying…oops, creating another future “mistake”…again.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/sep/19/peter-dutton-apology-lebanese-muslim-migration-comment-ntwnfb
Will we find out who the mysterious “senior person” is? Nope, it’s rather difficult to chase down Does Not Exist and ask him if the supposed conversation ever took place.