{"id":30200,"date":"2016-11-22T13:21:40","date_gmt":"2016-11-22T18:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=30200"},"modified":"2016-11-22T13:21:40","modified_gmt":"2016-11-22T18:21:40","slug":"the-facts-of-life-fake-news-in-its-sociopathic-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=30200","title":{"rendered":"The Facts of Life: fake news in its sociopathic glory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I smacked Eric Tucker for carelessly producing a fake news tweet that went viral.<\/a><\/p>\n

Today? These two characters are worse. Because they deliberately produce fake news and they do it for the money.<\/em><\/p>\n

That naked, that ugly.<\/p>\n

Disillusioned college grads find a lucrative niche with a site that stokes the alt-right and plays fast and loose with facts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Source: For the \u2018new yellow journalists,\u2019 opportunity comes in clicks and bucks – The Washington Post<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

LONG BEACH, Calif. \u2014<\/span> Fewer than 2,000 readers are on his website when Paris Wade, 26, awakens from a nap, reaches for his laptop and thinks he needs to, as he puts it, \u201cfeed\u201d his audience. \u201cMan, no one is covering this TPP thing,\u201d he says after seeing an article suggesting that President Obama wants to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership before he leaves office. Wade, a modern-day digital opportunist, sees an opportunity. He begins typing a story.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCAN\u2019T TRUST OBAMA,\u201d he writes as the headline, then pauses. His audience hates Obama and loves President-elect Donald Trump, and he wants to capture that disgust and cast it as a drama between good and evil. He resumes typing: \u201cLook At Sick Thing He Just Did To STAB Trump In The Back\u2026 .\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Ten minutes and nearly 200 words later, he is done with a story that is all opinion, innuendo and rumor.<\/em><\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Six months ago, Wade and his business partner, Ben Goldman, were unemployed restaurant workers. Now they\u2019re at the helm of a website that gained 300,000 Facebook followers in October alone and say they are making so much money that they feel uncomfortable talking about it because they don\u2019t want people to start asking for loans.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hot tip: Hey, folks, start asking them for loans. Because they can afford it:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy article got banned,\u201d Goldman says, explaining Facebook had removed a trending piece headlined: \u201cRight After LOSING The Election, Hillary Clinton Just Humiliated Herself In Worst Way Ever!!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cF— Facebook,\u201d Wade says, knowing its algorithms sometimes assume that rapidly shared articles are spam and temporarily blocks them if posted by an alternative outlet. \u201cThey had a spam filter.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Wade calls their server technician in Texas. \u201cI don\u2019t know what we have to do to get through these spam filters,\u201d Wade says into the phone. \u201cBut we\u2019ve probably lost thousands of dollars because of them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Goldman sits on the couch, logs onto an advertiser\u2019s website and looks up how much money they\u2019ve nonetheless made.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSuper great election sales,\u201d he says. \u201cThere were some days where we were getting $13, $14 per 1,000 views.\u201d Between June and August, they say, when they had fewer than 150,000 Facebook followers, they made between $10,000 and $40,000 every month running advertisements that, among other things, promised acne solutions, Viagra alternatives, ways to remove lip lines, cracked feet, \u201cdeep fat,\u201d and \u201cthe 13 sexiest and most naked celebrity selfies.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

All right, these guys are deplorable, but what does it say about the people who, like the woman who writes to them…<\/p>\n

“YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE I TRUST TO REPORT THE TRUTH,\u201d is one of the things she has written, and Wade doesn\u2019t need to look at her Facebook profile to have a clear sense of who she is. White. Working class. Midwestern. \u201cAnd the economy screwed her.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

What does it say about this woman who chooses to get “truth” from guys who are making a fast fortune pushing lies?<\/p>\n

And what does it say about the casual contempt Wade and Goldman have for this woman?<\/p>\n

A few more quotes from the mouths of these two:<\/p>\n

\u201cViolence and chaos and aggressive wording is what people are attracted to.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOur audience does not trust the mainstream media,\u201d Goldman, 26, says a little later as Wade keeps typing. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely easier to hook them with that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a ton of thought put into it,\u201d Wade says. \u201cOther than it frames the story so it gets a click.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cTrue,\u201d Goldman says.<\/em><\/p>\n

Takes my breath away.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I smacked Eric Tucker for carelessly producing a fake news tweet that went viral. Today? These two characters are worse. Because they deliberately produce fake news and they do it for the money. That naked, that ugly. Disillusioned college … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1175],"tags":[1182,1176],"class_list":["post-30200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-facts-of-life","tag-fake-news","tag-the-facts-of-life"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t