,
6 tweets,
3 min read
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1. Proud Boys tell police there were cement milkshakes
2. Police repeat the claim without evidence
3. Right-wing activists repeat police statement
4. Right-wing politicians (Ted Cruz!) repeat the claim to millions
Too late too debunk now.
2. Police repeat the claim without evidence
3. Right-wing activists repeat police statement
4. Right-wing politicians (Ted Cruz!) repeat the claim to millions
Too late too debunk now.
You can’t fight the far-right with good faith fact checks.
They design their lies to do maximum damage before they can be debunked. The best defense is an assumption of bad faith, and a refusal to repeat claims until they’re independently verified.
Strategic silence.
They design their lies to do maximum damage before they can be debunked. The best defense is an assumption of bad faith, and a refusal to repeat claims until they’re independently verified.
Strategic silence.
None of these people will be held accountable for perpetuating a hoax about "cement milkshakes."
There is ZERO penalty for spreading misinformation in the right-wing media ecosystem:
There is ZERO penalty for spreading misinformation in the right-wing media ecosystem:
If you're a Republican senator, there's very little incentive to fact-check stuff like this or wait for evidence. There's no meaningful punishment for spreading an unsubstantiated rumor.
It's not just right-wing outlets.
NBC and CBS also repeated the baseless "cement milkshakes" rumor. CNN ran a whole opinion column about it. These are still up!
NBC and CBS also repeated the baseless "cement milkshakes" rumor. CNN ran a whole opinion column about it. These are still up!
Right-wing actors gin up horror stories about antifa because they know mainstream journalists will overreact. It's the antifa trap, and we keep falling for it:
