Politics of Hate category archive

That’s not scripture.

That’s Republican policy.

Trumpling the Jack-in-a-Box.

Afterthought:

The great American bigot seems to have interpreted the Trump presidency to say, “You, just do you.”

Trumpling Veterans.

At the Bangor Daily News, Stefano Tijerina pens a lengthy analysis of what he believes has gone wrong with news coverage. He suggests that the primary issue is not “fake news,” but a much broader one of “useless news,” arguing that accuracy and well-reasoned analysis have been sacrificed to entertainment value and ratings.

As with a piece I posted a couple of days ago, I quibble that he uses the term “media” when the context of the piece shows clearly that his primary focus is broadcast media, particularly television. Nevertheless, the piece is well worth a read. Here’s an excerpt (emphasis added):

In the past it was common to read two or three newspapers on a daily basis, and it was normal to find well-researched news programs on radio and television. Journalists and media outlets were committed to fact-finding research and professionals in the field had high ethical standards that were shaped by social and democratic values and not the market. This was the case not only in the United States but also around the world.

Today global media and its professionals are motivated by market value systems that have replaced the integrity of the profession. Media relies less and less on research and more on speculation camouflaged by invited guests and “experts” that magically predict and loosely interpret the basic facts and rumors of the day. For example, instead of thoroughly explaining to the public the degree of interdependence that exists between the North American Free Trade (NAFTA) agreement partnership and the complexity of dismantling the trade agreement that has resulted in an energy, pipeline, telecommunications, infrastructure and industrial trilateral integration, media opts to water down the information in order to simplistically argue that either the Trump administration policies on NAFTA are good or bad.

The Southern Poverty Law Center reports on a recent study that shows a correllation between Donald Trump’s tweets and surges in hate crimes against Latinos and Muslims. A nugget:

Their (Karsten Muller and Carlo Schwarz–ed.) study used Twitter and FBI hate crimes data to come to a stark conclusion: hate crimes against Muslims and Latinos occurred shortly after Trump made disparaging tweets about Muslims and Latinos. Moreover these anti-Muslim and anti-Latino hate crimes were physically concentrated in parts of the country where there is high Twitter usage.

Follow the link for the transcript of an interview with the researchers.

Eugene Robinson calls out the hypocrisy of Republicans’ claims to represent “real Amurricans,” implying that others are somehow ersatz Americans. A nugget:

With world-class hypocrisy, Republican officeholders and activists are selling this load of bull while themselves, by and large, being “coastal elites.”

Via Job’s Anger.

Sunday’s New York Times had another article about Facebook and its effects on the discourse. The article focused on ethnic and religious divisions in Sri Lanka and a series of hate crimes and lycnhings.

As the briefest thumbnail, the authors examine how Facebook’s algorithm, designed to promote engagement with Facebook and consequently more on-line time for users, has a side effect of promoting hate speech; the authors theorize that this is because posts that incite strong negative emotions tend to be the posts that generate the most views. )To put it another way, hate sells.) They also discuss the obstacles Sri Lankan authorities encountered in trying to get Facebook’s attention to the issue.

The article is quite long, but I think it is worth your while. An excerpt:

We came to understand that Facebook’s algorithm-driven newsfeed, by pushing out whatever content drew the most engagement from users, does more than amplify existing prejudices or boost extremists.By pushing out content charged by negative, primal emotions like anger or fear — which, studies show, perform best on the algorithm — the platform can change how people see the world and relate to one another. In countries with weak institutions but where Facebook use is widespread, that can allow misinformation to run rampant. And in societies with histories of deep social distrust, it can turn deadly.