http://CynLibSoc.com Stating The Obvious #139 -- Clicks are more important than accuracy. "Trust Me, I'm Lying" by Ryan Holiday -- part 1 of 2 I just finished reading the book Trust Me I'm Lying Confessions Of A Media Manipulator written by Ryan Holiday. This podcast will mostly be about the things he discusses in that book and variations on those themes. Why is this shit important? Because false knowledge creates false realities. How to get your information regardless of its truthfulness into the mainstream media. 1. Send your information regardless of its truthfulness to smalltime bloggers looking to make a name for themselves. They will not verify whether or not your information is either true or important. 2. Larger blogs will pick up this information from the smaller blogs because larger blogs are on an even worse deadline and have even less time to actually fact check any information. 3. The major news media will see the information in the larger blogs and assume that it's true and run with it. The link economy. Why linking to another website is not the same thing as doing research or verifying. On the internet accuracy doesn't matter. Being first and getting clicks matters. Sharing matters. You get clicks and shares by being sensational not by being accurate. You can lie your ass off 'cause no one will remember. People have short attention spans. The Messiah promised to close Guantanamo but no one remembers that. The myth of corrections. It actually benefits bloggers to publish false information and then to publish corrections. Most people don't actually read corrections. They read a blog post and then never go back to that website again. But if they do go back to read the corrections this generates additional hits for the website. Blogging websites are driven by the number of hits. Not the quality of their content. Snark as a replacement for reasoning. Much blogging isn't about any type of useful news you can act upon, it's about the process of blogging or sharing. Example all of the blog post about how the Osama bin Laden murder was broken on twitter. Osama bin Laden being killed is somewhat useful information. The fact that Osama bin Laden's death was first announced on twitter is simply bullshit masquerading as useful information. Yellow press versus the subscription model. Context and reputation matter. A real-life example of many of these things in action along with the absurdities of "intellectual property". ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDiNllAhgEs

Stating The Obvious #052 -- Cell phones, taxes, and statist "ideas". Shove your opinion up your ass, that way your head has something to keep it company. I am The Great One, Himself! Fuck you. I was sucked back into the world of theatre, but I have escaped. Everyone in theatre is a fucking Democrat. Yuck. Republicans are actually more into sexual experimentation than Democrats. An idiot when to Africa and had to live a whole year without a cell phone. Wow . . . I remember when everyone went without a cell phone all the time. I fucking hate cell phones! What the fuck is wrong with you people. I hate text messaging too, especially when I'm talking to you. How rude are you? And put your fucking cell phone on vibrate when you go into a meeting. The bitch learned that she can talk to strangers instead of talking on your cell phone all the time. Wow! But wait, it gets better. Without her cell phone she learned to show up on time because she didn't have a cell phone to call and say she would be late. You are a FUCKING LOSER BITCH!!!!!! Having a cell phone is not an excuse to be late. Having a cell phone is not an excuse to disrespect other people by wasting their time. But wait, it gets even better. She starting to, when using a land line & calling card, "actually listen to everything the person on the other end was telling me." Why don't you write a fucking book bitch! "I didn't have sex with *that* woman." Hillary Klinton, under sniper fire. Too bad they didn't get her. Shape Magazine polls are some scary shit. You people should not be allowed to vote. Should tanning bed be banned? 24% say yes. Fuck me. "Anything that's been linked to skin cancer should be banned." Really? How about the sun? Should designers be allowed to hire underweight runway models? 36% say no. I am The Great One, I don't have role models. Should over-weight travelers be required to buy an additional airplane seat? How do really fat people wipe their asses? Should energy conservation be mandatory? 79% say yes. The snowpack in Colorado this year was 120% of normal. Global warming? My ass. If you want to be carbon neutral, kill yourself. You can't link marijuana to lung cancer because the government will not allow anyone to do any scientific studies with marijuana. The kids in California are some of the dumbest in the nation, and dumber than the ones in Texas. I have faith that the Democrats can lose an election to McCain. I don't get the whole body mutilation thing. Sticking metal in your face and getting tattoos is not going to make you more attractive. You are still ugly. 53% of Americans depend on the government for their living. The richest 1% paid 36.9% of all federal income taxes. I'd call that a "fair share". The richest 5% of all tax payers pay ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGa6nPWz-Og