Tag: media

The Wikipedia of the Alt-Right

Wired acknowledges the existence of Infogalactic:

Vox Day thinks that Wikipedia is the worst. But the things that bug him aren’t the typical complaints you’ll hear about the crowd-sourced encyclopedia—that it’s plagued by trolls, say, or that its pages on Pokémon lore are overly comprehensive.

Day is bothered because he believes that Wikipedia is a Democratic tool, run “by the left-wing thought police who administer it,” he tells me over email. Yet the millions of articles and stubs that make up the end product are used as fact. And that makes the science fiction writer and alt-right personality, who uses Vox Day as his pen name, angry.

So last fall, in the midst of a public debate about what, exactly, constitutes a fact, Day decided it was time to do something about the Wikipedia problem. He chose to launch his own version of it. He made a copy of the entire site and invited his followers to start rewriting its pages. “Wikipedia was the easiest and the most important of the social justice-converged social media giants to replace,” Day told me.

That site, Infogalactic, is made with Wikipedia’s MediaWiki software—so by design it looks a lot like Wikipedia. At first glance, so does its content. On the homepage is a featured article about peregrine falcons; a highlighted image of a Botticelli masterwork, housed in the Uffizi in Florence, is featured underneath.

But break into some of the more contentious topics and differences begin to emerge. On Infogalactic, Mike Cernovich is a respected bestselling author, “independent journalist,” “writer, attorney, and documentary filmmaker.” On Wikipedia, the Twitter pundit is a “social media personality, writer, and conspiracy theorist.”

The idea is that a stringent, Trump-supporting member of the alt-right shouldn’t have to read the same ideas as a Marxist, or a bleeding-heart college professor. (Day initially considered the tagline, “your universe, your view.”) But Infogalactic is only one of a number of crowdsourced encyclopedias tailored to various conservative factions….

On their own, none of these sites draws a huge audience. According to Alexa’s traffic rankings, Conservapedia is the 18,066th most popular site in the US. Infogalactic clocks in at 14,710. Wikipedia, by comparison, ranks fifth. But since last fall—just as the notion of alternative facts gained cultural primacy—such sites have seen a clear rise in traffic and interest.

Not bad, all things considered. I wouldn’t say the thought policing at Wikipedia makes me angry, but that’s pretty mild as the disqualify-and-discredit game goes. The reporter actually appears to recognize that there is a market for Infogalactic, he’s just not sure about the extent of its appeal; there are no gotchas or kill quotes, just an accurate presentation of the current facts. And while it would have been nice if they’d mentioned our perspective filters and other plans for Phase Two, we don’t have them up and running yet and so it’s entirely fair to leave them out.

I’m just pleased to be informed that in less than nine months, Infogalactic has already surpassed Conservapedia. And if you want to help Infogalactic continue to grow, please support it by joining the Burn Unit and signing up for a monthly donation.

The God-Emperor wins again

Funny, is it not, that Donald Trump keeps winning these “national referendums” on his presidency, even when the media’s polls predict otherwise.

Republican Karen Handel won the special congressional election in Georgia on Tuesday, fending off a challenge from Democrat Jon Ossoff in the heavily Republican House district.

Handel’s victory in the closely fought contest, which drew national interest and was the most expensive House race ever at over $50 million spent by both sides, comes as good news for President Donald Trump. Democrats had promoted the contest as a referendum on the president.

With 99 percent of the vote counted, Handel leads Ossoff 53 percent to 47 percent in a race that many expected to be much closer. Handel had 127,021 votes to the Democrat’s 114,390 ballots.

The thing is, even if Ossoff had won, that would have changed precisely nothing, except the media would be crowing rather than falling into a surly silence. Except that we would not have further proof that the media’s polls are reliably unreliable and we’re back to the old days of needing to reweight their reports four or five points in the Republican’s direction to predict the result.

Tired? Or still not tired?

Media Con #2

Philadelphia Magazine is running Media Con #2 on Jack Posobiec: I just want to give you the chance to tell your side of the story.

Here is hoping Jack has the sense to simply tell them no. Or, I expect, we’ll soon have a fourth illustration in why you Don’t Talk To The Media.

DTTTM: Gavin Mcinnes edition

Gavin McInnes‏ @Gavin_McInnes
I was wrong about @andrewmarantz. He’s a propagandist just like the rest of them. No more talking to liberal media #ProudBoys


They are all. It’s an act. They usually run one of three cons on you:

  1. I’m a big fan.
  2. I just want to give you the chance to tell your side of the story.
  3. Can you educate me on this thing I don’t know about?

They will be your best friend, contacting you multiple times per day and spending hours on the phone with you, right up until the moment they get their kill quote. Then, they’ll quickly vanish and only communicate with you via email, if they even do that. They are very good at this; they do it literally every week, if not every day, to all of the people they want to grind for the media mill.

Don’t talk to the media. No, your clever strategy won’t work. No, recording them won’t make a difference. No, you aren’t a special snowflake who is going to magically transform the ideology of the mainstream media through the sheer power of your presence.

#DTTTM

Clever Takes helpfully provides a cartoon reminder in case you’re having trouble remembering why you should not talk to them.

Don’t. Talk. To. The. Media.

Tommy Robinson is the latest to learn that it is a bad idea, even when it’s live television:

Piers Morgan blasted former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson for being a “bigoted lunatic stirring up hatred” as he clashed with the right-wing activist this morning.

As Robinson pulled out a copy of the Koran on Good Morning Britain, Piers blasted him, saying: “Show some damn respect for people’s religious beliefs.“You’re sounding like a complete lunatic. You’re sounding like a bigoted lunatic.

“You’re stirring up hatred.

“You’re being a complete disgrace.”

Holding up the Koran, Robinson branded it a “violent and cursed book” and said: “This book is the reason we are in such a mess.”

Piers responded: “We’re in this mess because people take Islam, they are terrorists and they abuse the nature of Islam and… perpetrate evil.”

And the former EDL leader refused to accept Islam was a religion, saying: “Islam is an idea – a bad idea.” Asked if he was Islamophobic, Robinson retorted: “There’s no such word as Islamophobia. A phobia is an irrational fear, it’s not irrational to fear these things.”

I don’t know if people’s egos are simply too tempted by the thought of appearing on camera or if they truly believe they are smarter than almost every single person who has been summoned to play punching bag before them, but it’s remarkable how whether a reasonable individual is conservative, Alt-Right, Alt-Lite, or simply nationalist, they are drawn like moths to the candleflame of the hostile media’s cameras.

Tommy Robinson complained on Twitter:

Tommy Robinson @TRobinsonNewEra
Piers Morgan usual technique of not letting the person he is interviewing actually answer any questions.  Just…

Supreme Dark Lord‏  @voxday
Do you really not understand that you were there to be a punching bag? He was virtue-signaling at your expense. Don’t talk to the media! 

When you are approached by the media, be it Megyn Kelly, Piers Morgan, Wired, The New York Times, or The Atlantic, you must understand that they see you as the content du jour. And the content is always folded, spindled, and mutilated to fit their current Narrative, which is NOT the reason they will give you when they try to get you to talk to them or appear on their show.

Here is the thing. You don’t need the media. As Mike Cernovich points out, they need you. It is Piers Morgan whose name is on the headlines because Tommy Robinson was willing to make Morgan relevant today, not the other way around. Who is more relevant and has a bigger platform, Richard Spencer, who leaps to talk to the media, or Stefan Molyneux, who will not even return their emails?

And as both Mike and I have noticed, mainstream exposure doesn’t even move the needle. Not in terms of blog traffic, Twitter followers, or book sales. It is probable pain for no gain. Whereas whenever he goes on Infowars or I go on FreeDomainRadio, we see observable bumps in one or more metrics.

In light of this, I should mention that I am modifying my media policy. Previously, I had been willing to answer written questions posed to me by reporters in writing. I have now learned that they will never run those answers because they cannot use them to fit the Narrative. So, I will not be replying to any mainstream media inquiries that do not specifically, and solely, concern Castalia House books, Infogalactic, or games for which I am the lead designer.

UPDATE: had to modify that and add Infogalactic since Wired is apparently doing a story on it. I don’t know if it is a hit piece or a tech piece yet, but their questions – which I have answered in writing – were solely focused on tech-related issues. We’ll see.

Zerohedge has hasbara

Apparently Robert Trip has been hired to run around to different right-wing sites and proclaim that Alex Jones and Mike Cernovich were “hog-tailed” by Megyn Kelly. From Zerohedge:

Robert Trip Jun 19, 2017 12:39 PM
The poor bastard didn’t stand a fucking chance going head to head with the Power Chick.

I’ve replayed the interview and I’ve never seen anyone get hog-tailed like that.

Robert Trip Jun 19, 2017 12:17 PM
Alex.

Take it like a man and stop whining.

You were had in spades, big time.

Raked over the coals.

Wow! What a total beat down!

However, he is NOT RobertT here. Robert is honestly dubious.

RobertT June 19, 2017 11:39 AM
Only idiots mess with the media. Cernovich, jones don’t seem to understand, when it comes to the media, sheer numbers outweigh everything else. Most people don’t even know what all the uproar was about, they just know what the MSM said. And even if they don’t trust the MSM, that is still all they know. My advice, just try to stay completely off their radar. Eventually they lose interest. If your reputation is still intact, count yourself lucky.

RobertT June 19, 2017 11:48 AM
People who are pretending Cernovich & Jones ‘won’ are mistaken. That’s not to say it’s not helpful to the movement for people to fall on their swords now and then. But in the final analysis, that’s what they did.

RobertT June 19, 2017 11:57 AM
The only things saving Trump is his twitter feed. And Rush. And the fact that he is constantly on the attack. The MSM is constantly responding. Believe me, they may hate his guts, but they enjoy the game. Cernovich and Jones tried to do it the old way, tried to win on the facts. In Trump’s world, what’s a fact? How could they miss that?

Keep this in mind whenever you’re running into commenters on a site who can’t be reasoned with, but stick firmly to their narrative. If they’re not an SJW, they’re probably paid hasbara.

The price of media exposure

Alex Jones is discovering that no matter how big your microphone is, the collective microphone of the mainstream media that can be arrayed against you is even bigger:

Megyn Kelly presented a highly critical 19-minute piece on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on her NBC newsmagazine “Sunday Night” after a week of harsh criticism over the decision to present his views on network TV.

Jones is notorious for saying the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., was staged to promote tougher gun control laws. Twenty-six people, including 20 children, died, making it the second-deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history at the time.

NBC News brought on its elder statesman Tom Brokaw to join Kelly at the end of the program to say the parents of the Newtown victims “should not have to hear the cruel claim that it’s a lie.” Brokaw’s appearance was clearly an attempt to assuage the Sandy Hook families who were outraged and even threatened legal action against NBC News.

Jones, a radio host who operates the right-wing website Infowars, repeated his theory in the interview. Kelly said he never disavowed his previous statements in their conversations and noted there was no evidence to back his claims.

Kelly interviewed Newtown parent Neil Heslin, who described the devastating loss of his son. “I think he’s blessed to have his children to spend the day with, to speak to,” Heslin said. “I don’t have that.”

Kelly did have several heated exchanges with Jones, who was sweating profusely during their sit-down. She opened by pressing him on why he called the victims of the terrorist bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, “liberal trendies” when many were pre-teen girls.

Jones tried to rationalize his statements in the interview but for the most part seemed frustrated by Kelly’s queries.

In a live-streamed video aired on his YouTube channel, Jones reacted angrily to the final taped “Sunday Night” piece as it aired. He lambasted Kelly and the mainstream media.

“This is a giant, evil misrepresentation,” he said. “They continue to misrepresent what I’ve said and what I’ve done.”

Still, he declared victory — popping a bottle of champagne and angrily vowing to keep up the fight against “globalism” and the lies covered up by the mainstream media.

On social media, reaction was mostly predictable.

Media colleagues and critics generally gave Kelly high marks for the toughness of the piece, which disputed nearly every theory Jones has promoted through Infowars.

Far-right commentators repeatedly called the interview a “hit piece.”

The rigor of the piece will likely take some of the sting out of critiques of Kelly, some of which suggested that her transition from Fox News to NBC News was off to a rocky start.

Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan wrote on Twitter: “Bottom line on NBC’s Alex Jones piece: Strong editing gave it an edge & made him look like a kook. Still a win for him; boosts his profile.”

Jones, likely sensing that NBC was going to toughen up the segment, had already sought to undermine Kelly by leaking taped phone conversations in which she assured him it was not going to be “a hit piece.”

Now, it manifestly was a hit piece. The “far-right commentators” were correct. The Post columnist openly admits as much when she refers to “strong editing” giving the piece “an edge” and making Jones “look like a kook”. That is always the media’s objective when profiling or quoting a Narrative denier. Notice how the LA Times piece takes its own shots: “was sweating profusely”, “tried to rationalize”, “seemed frustrated”, “reacted angrily”, and so forth.

This is why the average individual should NEVER speak to the media. Jones did everything people customarily recommend – he recorded the interview, he recorded the requests for the interview, he released some of the recordings, and he showed Megyn Kelly to be a liar – and yet that didn’t prevent NBC from doing the usual hit piece or the rest of the media piling on and declaring it to be a triumphant expose of a kook.

Notice, too, the way in which the rest of the media is praising Kelly for disputing Jones’s statements. But did she request a debate or an interview with him? And what sort of honest debate format has ever permitted one disputant to edit the statements made by both sides?

Now, the additional exposure may be worth it to Jones. It’s too soon to say. Sometimes these calculated risks do work out, as Cernovich’s appearance on 60 Minutes observably did. But the average individual must understand that it is a risk, and that even those with sizable platforms such as Alex Jones and Mike Cernovich are playing underdog. And really, what is the benefit of proving, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that Megyn Kelly is a liar? Is there anyone in America who didn’t already know that?

CNN cans Aslan

It took them a while, but CNN finally did the right thing:

CNN has dropped host Reza Aslan days after he called President Donald Trump a ‘piece of s***’ on Twitter.

‘CNN has decided to not move forward with production on the acquired series “Believer with Reza Aslan,”‘ the network said in a statement. ‘We wish Reza and his production team all the best.’

Aslan issued an apology on Sunday after he slammed Trump on Twitter for emphasizing the need for his travel ban in the wake of the London Bridge attacks.

Aslan called Trump a ‘piece of s***’ after the president responded to the London Bridge attacks by tweeting: ‘We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!’

On Sunday afternoon, the author and religious scholar apologized, tweeting: ‘I should not have used a profanity to describe the President when responding to his shocking reaction to the London Attacks.’

He also attached his full statement, which read: ‘When in the first few minutes of the terror attack in London, the President of the United States tweeted about his travel ban, I lost my cool and responded to him in a derogatory fashion.

‘That’s not like me. I should have used better language to express my shock and frustration at the president’s lack of decorum and sympathy for the victims of London. I apologize for my choice of words.’…

Apparently apologies aren’t working for SJWs either these days. The lesson: reprisals work. If the Right had responded by defending Aslan’s free speech rights, he’d still have his job as a propagandist with a major platform.

Always hold the enemy up to their own standards. They don’t share your standards, so they can’t claim the protection of them.

Sadly, as always, conservatives don’t understand how to fight or how to win. Nothing – literally nothing – is more important to them than to be seen taking what they foolishly believe to be “the high road”.

Fox News host Sean Hannity stepped in and defended the host, writing: ‘Reza calling the @POTUS a POS is bad form. Calling me the same fair game. I do not think you should be fired. You apologized #FreeSpeech’ 

Never grant your enemy the benefit of your superior standards when he does not recognize them. Play by the rules of his game.

Is MSNBC doing comedy now?

One can only hope that they were simply trolled. But this should underline, once and for all, the intrinsic unreliability of the mainstream media. I mean, how can you see this and then think that anything they say about the God-Emperor, Russia, or even Gross Domestic Product has any relation to reality?

Not that CNN is any better:

CNN has corrected a Tuesday report after the release of former FBI Director James Comey’s opening statement for his Thursday testimony in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee contradicted the reports’ sources.

The CNN report said Comey was expected to dispute President Trump’s claims that Comey said he was not under investigation on multiple occasions.

The report, titled “Comey expected to refute Trump,” was based on unnamed sources and said Comey’s conversations with the president “were much more nuanced,” and that Trump drew the wrong conclusion. The story was complied by four CNN journalists, including Gloria Borger, Eric Lichtblau, Jake Tapper and Brian Rokus.

CNN published a correction to its story Wednesday afternoon with the revised headline: “Comey unlikely to judge on obstruction.”

“CORRECTION AND UPDATE: This article was published before Comey released his prepared opening statement,” it reads above the original Tuesday story. “The article and headline have been corrected to reflect that Comey does not directly dispute that Trump was told multiple times he was not under investigation in his prepared testimony released after this story was published.

Mike Cernovich is right. The mainstream media is Fake News.