What Do To With Brietbart Story On Christian Massacre (1 Viewer)

[joffer]

Congratulations, Joe.

can’t imagine that was his intent

 

[joffer]

RECENTLY BROWSING   10 MEMBERS

joffer, waiver wire, Radical Larry, lardonastick, timschochet, BassNBrew, Joe Summer, bananafish, Rove!, David Dodds

 

[Slapdash]

Wow. Even after you spell out F-A-K-E N-E-W-S in giant capital letters, they still fall for it. They want to believe SOOOOOOO badly.

It is incredibly sad

 

[msommer]

You may have seen this too but I get friends posting this on Facebook and asking why it goes unnoticed.

And for sure, it's Breitbart. That's understood.

What do you think the appropriate response is?

Telling them "It's Breitbart and everything the publish is garbage" doesn't work. 

Do you think these stories are true? If so why aren't they published?

My friends say it's because they're poor Africans and people care way more about New Zealand people than they do poor African people. I don't know that's true. 

But if true, it's pretty crazy it's not getting attention. What do you think?

After reading the posts preceding the appropriate response appears to be: 

Research the story.

Quote more nuanced version back, noting the origins of the conflict and previous attacks

Refer to Lincoln county range wars, note the farmers won that one

Point out much of what goes on in Africa is underreported in the US

Or you csn just ignore it and become part of the problem of propagating fake news

 

[Joe Bryant]

After reading the posts preceding the appropriate response appears to be: 

Research the story.

Quote more nuanced version back, noting the origins of the conflict and previous attacks

Refer to Lincoln county range wars, note the farmers won that one

Point out much of what goes on in Africa is underreported in the US

Or you csn just ignore it and become part of the problem of propagating fake news

I think those are reasonable things to do when you see a story like that.

Not sure on the last one though. I don't know people have the time or the responsibility to scour their facebook feed every day and reply to every post they see.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Congratulations, Joe.

 

 

[msommer]

I think those are reasonable things to do when you see a story like that.

Not sure on the last one though. I don't know people have the time or the responsibility to scour their facebook feed every day and reply to every post they see.

To which agency do you wish to outsource checking whether news is factual? 

How will you verify their biases over time?

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

I don't know people have the time or the responsibility to scour their facebook feed every day and reply to every post they see.

And it won't do any good if you did.

"In the choice between changing ones mind and proving there's no need to do so, most people get busy on the proof." 

~John Kenneth Galbraith

 

[Joe Bryant]

And it won't do any good if you did.

"In the choice between changing ones mind and proving there's no need to do so, most people get busy on the proof." 

~John Kenneth Galbraith

I think there's some truth there too. 

I don't like to "give up" and ignore it, but I also realize I'm not able to dig into, research, determine the answer and then correct every post I see where I don't agree. 

Not sure of the answer. 

The other factor in play unfortunately on the tragic stories like this where people have been murdered or have died in a storm or flood is just that - you're talking about people who have died. Few topics are more sensitive. So charging in with a bunch of links to why people really shouldn't be that upset over the people being murdered is a delicate thing at best. Which requires even more time and skill. We've seen some of that here even.

Not sure. 

 

[[scooter]]

The other factor in play unfortunately on the tragic stories like this where people have been murdered or have died in a storm or flood is just that - you're talking about people who have died. Few topics are more sensitive. So charging in with a bunch of links to why people really shouldn't be that upset over the people being murdered is a delicate thing at best.

The sad reality is that this is exactly what your Facebook friend did.

They charged in with the Breitbart link to why people really shouldn't be that upset over the people (in New Zealand) being murdered.

And they weren't delicate at all.

 

[Joe Bryant]

The sad reality is that this is exactly what your Facebook friend did.

They charged in with the Breitbart link to why people really shouldn't be that upset over the people (in New Zealand) being murdered.

And they weren't delicate at all.

I don't think it's even close to "exactly" the same thing.

An accurate analogy would be someone responding to a Black Lives Matter with All Lives Matter. It's a "What about us over here that nobody seems to care about?"

Definitely uncool. But nowhere near like telling a Black Lives Matter person, they really shouldn't be so upset and here's a bunch of links why. 

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

So charging in with a bunch of links to why people really shouldn't be that upset over the people being murdered is a delicate thing at best.

I don't think this is the point. I agree you do not need to make it your mission to stop bad postings on FB. However I don't see the problem with sharing useful information about the actual situation with people who do care. People should care. It's a horrible situation. They should also care enough to learn what is going on.

 

[[scooter]]

The sad reality is that this is exactly what your Facebook friend did.

They charged in with the Breitbart link to why people really shouldn't be that upset over the people (in New Zealand) being murdered.

And they weren't delicate at all.

I don't think it's even close to "exactly" the same thing.

An accurate analogy would be someone responding to a Black Lives Matter with All Lives Matter. It's a "What about us over here that nobody seems to care about?"

Definitely uncool. But nowhere near like telling a Black Lives Matter person, they really shouldn't be so upset and here's a bunch of links why. 

Consider, for a moment, that perhaps the reason why you don't think it's the same thing is because you're not from New Zealand, you're not Muslim, and you have virtually no connection to the murder victims there.

 

[Joe Bryant]

I don't think this is the point. I agree you do not need to make it your mission to stop bad postings on FB. However I don't see the problem with sharing useful information about the actual situation with people who do care. People should care. It's a horrible situation. They should also care enough to learn what is going on.

Agreed. It's not a problem. I'm just saying it's super sensitive and delicate whenever you start telling people they shouldn't be upset over people they care about or feel a connection to being murdered. Not saying not to do it. But it takes skill and some work. 

 

[Joe Bryant]

Consider, for a moment, that perhaps the reason why you don't think it's the same thing is because you're not from New Zealand, you're not Muslim, and you have virtually no connection to the murder victims there.

Understood. I think we all can help ourselves by being more empathetic. 

 

[timschochet]

By putting the phrase “Christian massacre” in the title of this thread you’re implicitly agreeing with the Breitbart argument- that this story was underreported because it was Christians and not Muslims who were killed. I would have used “African massacre”, because the real distinction here is not one of religion but of race: the story was underreported because they weren’t white. 

 

[The Commish]

What do you think the appropriate response is?

Late to this thread.  First, I see if ANY other news source is covering it and attempt to validate everything claimed in the breitbart story by other, much more reliable, sources.  If I can't find that sort of support, I dismiss them completely and without hesitation as I am 95% confident the story has significant pieces missing that are important at best or completely made up at worst.  If I can find others covering the story, I'd link to those accounts/coverage of the events and suggest my friend use those sources and go on to list the reasons why breitbart shouldn't ever be given the time of day.

 

[Joe Bryant]

By putting the phrase “Christian massacre” in the title of this thread you’re implicitly agreeing with the Breitbart argument- that this story was underreported because it was Christians and not Muslims who were killed. I would have used “African massacre”, because the real distinction here is not one of religion but of race: the story was underreported because they weren’t white. 

I'm not agreeing with any argument. I'm not sure how I could have been more clear. I posted what I'd seen on my facebook and asked:

What do you think the appropriate response is?

Telling them "It's Breitbart and everything the publish is garbage" doesn't work. 

Do you think these stories are true? If so why aren't they published?

My friends say it's because they're poor Africans and people care way more about New Zealand people than they do poor African people. I don't know that's true. 

But if true, it's pretty crazy it's not getting attention. What do you think?

We had excellent discussion on it I thought and I learned a good bit. 

 

[roadkill1292]

Breitbart may get something right once in a while. But it's all in the name of pursuing an agenda, and mostly a commercial one at that. The head guy has admitted in court exactly what they are.

 

[shader]

There is simply no way to fully cover the firehose of deaths we humans unleash on each other every minute of every day. It's impossible. 43000 people will be killed this month and that's killings the WHO specifies as murders not conflict deaths. That's 1 a minute every minute of every average day. Every one a tragedy. Every one deserving of notice. But no way to actually accomplish that.

There are currently 45 active conflicts in the world ranging from major wars to minor shooting wars. 

Then add in there will be another mass shooting here at home somewhere this week if it's an average week.

It's a tsunami of death and destruction. 

Still rooting for the asteroid.

Great post.  War is everywhere.  CNN simply can’t cover it all.  There are too many dumb Trump tweets to talk about.

One big issue is that Breitbart wants to accentuate the “Christians massacred” events that happen.  The ironic thing is that many of what Breitbart would call Christians are directly responsible for massacres throughout history and even into today. Most religions spawn fighting and the majority of “Christian” religions are right in the middle.  

Yet many evangelists in this country really want the “Christians are persecuted” narrative to be true, despite the fact that it hasn’t been true (for “mainstream” Christianity) for over 1,000 years.  A quick study of history shows that Christianity (id call it false Christianity) has its hands filthy dirty with bloodshed.

Sorry Breitbart, this absurd narrative gets no traction.  There are real religious groups getting persecuted, but it’s not mainstream Christianity 

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Agreed. It's not a problem. I'm just saying it's super sensitive and delicate whenever you start telling people they shouldn't be upset over people they care about or feel a connection to being murdered. Not saying not to do it. But it takes skill and some work. 

Ok maybe I said this wrong or maybe I misunderstood.

I'm saying your FB friends *do care. They obviously *are interested in the Fulani conflict in Nigeria. Inform them about it. That's not *gotcha*, that's recognizing their interest and desire for more information, those are positive values. I see nothing wrong with that. Again yeah I think they do care about suffering. Focusing on the negative and attacking people is how we fall into that nihilistic trap.

 

[Joe Summer]

Joe,

It doesn't take very much skill or work to say, "Hey, if you are interested in this subject, here are a couple of good resources" and then provide links to articles by the BBC or Reuters or The Guardian or any other international news organization that doesn't have a reputation for pushing propaganda or fake news.