Forget fake news — alt-right memes could do more damage to democracy

[Mister Cheese]

http://www.salon.com/2017/07/08/forg...-to-democracy/

This week saw President Trump cross yet another line in his use of his Twitter account. Trump tweeted a meme of himself symbolically beating up CNN. While to some it might have appeared to be a funny way to epitomize Trump’s feud with CNN, to many the meme was aggressive, immature and inflammatory. CNN took the attacks seriously and released a statement stating, “It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters.”

There are lots of questions to be asked about the tweet, not the least of which is what it tells us about the judgment of the president and those who work with him. But the real story here is not about Trump; it’s about the increasing power and presence of alt-right communication on various social media platforms, from Twitter to YouTube to Reddit to Facebook.

What is interesting is the way that rants and memes and other alt-right tirades have major success in shaping public opinion. And while there is a through line between these outbursts and fake news, it is important to point out that the rants are likely far more influential than fake news in shaping political perception.

This means that the real lesson for CNN and other mainstream news outlets is not that the president is immature enough to share a stupid meme attacking the news but rather that their focus on fake news has distracted them from the real story: the rise of emotional, aggressive, inflammatory, bigoted communication on social media and the power these posts have had in shaping the ideas of the Trump-supporting alt-right.

Forget going after trump and telling him to stop tweeting stupid mundane shit! Don't learn your lesson! Time to ban reddit!

[Vexilius]

Thank you for linking an article that will directly contribute to President Trump being reelected.

[Zeta333]

or maby people can grow a spine and realize there is offensive shit in the world and no it doesnt need to be removed because it offends you.

[Mister Cheese]

Thank you for linking an article that will directly contribute to President Trump being reelected.

Trump will be re-elected if the democrats continue to double down on bullshit like this and don't learn why he got elected in the first place.

[Fat Mac]

haha memes are kind of funny though and help me make decisions

[Misuteri]

Oooooh social commentary from Salon!

How valuable and relevant!

[Sentynel]

Praise Kek.

[Video Games]

I've noticed people who have mister chef as their avatar, at least sort of, like trump. Coinkydink?

[Arewn]

Well.. they're right about "the rise of emotional, aggressive, inflammatory, bigoted communication on social media and the power these posts have had in shaping the ideas of X."

But they're missing out on 4/5 of the scope of whose actually doing that lol (hint: people on every side)

[Super Kami Dende]

Ahahahah. I'd say 99% of these memes being made aren't even from Alt-Righters, but just people with a sense of humour.

[Perkunas]

Trump will be re-elected if the democrats continue to double down on bullshit like this and don't learn why he got elected in the first place.

Large parts of their base were apathetic towards a candidate that's had a cult of hatred against festering for like 25 years and they were unable to see that you could have run a Christian cyborg with the personality of a bitter praying mantis named Ted Cruz and he would have won. She's lucky the Republicans ran Trump and made it as close as it was. If it were Kasich they probably would have won the popular vote too.

[Ironhorn]

Trump will be re-elected if the democrats continue to double down on bullshit like this and don't learn why he got elected in the first place.

Its in the bag then.

[Doctor Funkenstein]

Trump will be re-elected if the democrats continue to double down on bullshit like this and don't learn why he got elected in the first place.

They know why he got elected in the first place. Because entirely too much of the population is comprised of self-hating idiots.

[Super Kami Dende]

They know why he got elected in the first place. Because entirely too much of the population is comprised of self-hating idiots.

Which bitch and moaned until the people that weren't voted for Trump.

[Mister Cheese]

They know why he got elected in the first place. Because entirely too much of the population is comprised of self-hating idiots.

Won't deny that. But more of it is that Hillary was an extremely unlikable person that even after the election was over she continues to blame her loss on everything but herself. She could have easily won those swing states if she had campaigned in them more. But she never bothered, she assumed she would get those votes automatically. Most people interviewed that were Obama/Trump voters were disillusioned that Hilary didn't hold rallies there. She didn't seem to care.

[Mittens]

It's a pretty interesting article, shame that the OP is not interested in discussing it.

[Dastreus]

Jesus christ. Memes won't burn our democracy. Those memes are still a creation of the alt-right, so it's still them if you believe they are such a threat. The rest of us will continue looking at the alt-right like the bunch of ignorant retards who think they get the world, but really live with childish notions.

[Mister Cheese]

It's a pretty interesting article, shame that the OP is not interested in discussing it.

First post derails my topic immediately. You're doing the same. Try again.

[Saucexorzski]

This is so sad, its just a continuation of violent video games/music/movies cause violence. Stupid folks with stupid logic at it once again.

[zebreck]

First off, I'm a socialist and Salon is a fucking cesspit of a website. It's Breitbart level bad over there, stop reading it. Secondly if the rise of Trump should have taught anybody anything its that our collective media landscape is hopelessly rotten. They've been gleefully televising their own self immolation since that angry yam rode his escalator. He hates them, he's always hated them, he's been open about destroying them, and they handed him billions in free advertising and priceless legitimacy in return. They could have ended his campaign by simply not covering it, but they didn't, because they can't, because they don't care about anything but their ratings. These are not the actions of a self respecting free press. Memes or no memes the media is living on borrowed time until someone or something takes up the mantle of what it should have been doing for the last ~10 years.