This latest conspiracy theory is one of the dumbest yet. If such emails exist, they obviously weren't created to evade detection, as one would - with burner phones, secret servers etc. - if acting nefariously. Because then they *wouldn't be included in the National Archives!*
I mean, the right-wing rant is "this MUST be where Biden hid his corrupt dealings and ran the global crime operation through Hunter!"
And then he included it all in his official papers?
@ProjectShadow And they still are. Fox constantly calls Biden the head of a the biggest global crime operation in history, yet applauds the Trumps claiming they're the only family ever to make no money out of politics.
@RationalLeft: Ah, yes. That old beacon of journalistic excellence, The Examiner. π
@thedisasterautist Which appears to have gotten it from that bastion of truth, the New York Post.
(Even the NYP story is desperately couched in "possible" "could be" "claimed" etc., despite a definitive-sounding headline.)
@thedisasterautist The media was actually worse then... it was basically all Fox-esque distortion, competing from different agendas. Reliable coverage was even more scarce than now.
@RationalLeft: I know. I was commenting on the style of the current "journalism" in question.
@thedisasterautist Murdoch would make Hearst proud.
@RationalLeft: I kinda have the notion that Hearst wouldn't pay much mind to Murdoch other than as an also-ran. I do figure, though, that Murdoch fancies himself a Hearst type.
@thedisasterautist Probably true - Hearst rated no one but himself.
Still, they have similar mentalities.
@RationalLeft This lost me at the DCexaminer. For Right wing rags, that one is more threadbare than most
@SentinelOfTruth I believe they got it from the NYPost, which had a screaming headline an article filled with "possible" "could be" "might" etc. And of course the NYP has a long track record on these conspiracy theories.
So far actual media has ignored the whole thing, so I don't know what the NARA FOIA response actually says. But like I said, no one uses "secret emails" to disguise criminal conspiracy... and includes them in their official papers.
@SentinelOfTruth Needless to say, I don't fully trust the mainstream media not to amplify this or some other stupid conspiracy theory, if they feel the need for a new "EMAILZZZZZ!!!" to balance Trump's criminal morass.
But so far, they haven't bitten.
@RationalLeft To coin a term they use: It is a nothingburger.
@SentinelOfTruth So are all the conspiracy theories.
That often but not always stops the media.
@RationalLeft Right, but it being a conspiracy theory is almost immaterial. They drag these things out into the open regardless if they hold water or not, because the people that'll buy it, will quote it as fact blindly.
Just a erroneous factoid regurgitated by their base as equal to fact. There's a Issac Asimov quote that fits this perfectly:
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
Column in Newsweek (21 January 1980) β "A Cult of Ignorance"
@SentinelOfTruth Well, right-wing media, sure.
Mainstream media is usually less credulous about these BS claims... but you never know when they'll suddenly bit on crap.
They started to get attracted to the whole "IRS whistleblowers" thing, e.g., until their testimony fell flat and the "real" news sites mostly lost interest.
@SentinelOfTruth But RW media will say anything. It's become an article of faith on Fox that the Jan 6 committee "destroyed all its evidence," because TFG picked that up from the fever swamp and therefore they treat it as true. Real media haven't touched that because it's total BS.
@RationalLeft They know they're full of shit. Part of why they say things like that is so we'll have an apoplexy, and it clearly works. We fall for it every time.
@AskTheDevil Actually, their chief goal is to goad the wider media into treating their conspiracy theories as legitimate.
In recent years, they've usually failed, but not always.
@RationalLeft I think they've succeeded quite enough to do damage. And the fact that most "news" media has profit as their mission, not "news" makes it easier and easier all the time.
Outrage and upset makes people look at articles, and that sells ads.
So why not have some Bozo on claiming that Hurricanes are because Jesus hates Ellen DeGeneres, or that climate change is fake. Or that it's called "climate change" instead of global warming.
@AskTheDevil Enough to do damage? Yes. The media loves a "cloud over a D" insinuation game.
@RationalLeft Most of the time, that paper that reports the news with the slant that you like, whether left or right, isn't doing it because they are with you. They're doing it because that is the branded demographic they sell to advertisers.
When you look at who actually owns stake and stock in both "left" and "right" leaning news sources, it's often the same people.
CNN isn't liberal for instance. They just market to them. They practically _created_ President Trump.
@AskTheDevil There isn't and never has been a "liberal media." There is openly right-wing media. The rest plays games for attention and profits... though quality journalism sometimes makes it through. (Once upon a time even Fox occasionally did real work. Not in recent years, though.)
@RationalLeft I'm running out of news I trust hardly at all. I still read The Guardian, but I wonder even if jaded and cynical me is merely _wanting_ to believe they're still trying to be good guys because I've been reading them for so long.
@AskTheDevil I sympathize. I look at news sites more to see what line is being pushed to the voters than for information as such (though there are often exceptions when quality stories get through).
Who, what, where, why, & how. That's my focus for current event news, I focus on that and cut away the rest.
It is foundational both reporting and how society should interpret news. The punditry that has found a way to slither into journalism finds no purchase with me.
To use another analogy here; I do not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
@SentinelOfTruth @RationalLeft So many papers fill their front page with editorials nowadays. Or press releases.
@RationalLeft I love how they're trying so hard to get Joe on anything, but TFG was literally criming out in the open and they were dead silent.