So, I’m going to try and stop posting on the Joy Reid issue in the hopes that her choosing to apologize for things she may not have done is enough for her to move beyond this, but I just want to say these same tactics will be used on others and we should remember.
First, remember that the best chaos agents will build their tactics around something true that cannot be denied wholly or outright. Joy had already owned and addressed bad takes of the past. This was used as an opening.
Next, remember that once there is room for doubt the goalposts and narratives can be shifted wherever the wedge issues allow. In this case when being a homophobe didn’t stick it became about “lying” about X.
Third, take note when a narrative is being stacked and misinformation is being mass repeated to try and force a no-win outcome that leaves no room for easy mistakes or misunderstandings to be at fault somewhere in the mix.
Finally, recognize what isn’t being mentioned by those claiming to be “experts” or who say they’ve done “exhaustive research” of a complicated issue in under a week.
I didn’t read a single article that mentioned research I found in a few minutes about how easy it was to manipulate Internet Archive results. Even though this research led to archives updating their security against the tactics and Wayback implementing timestamps in Oct 2017.
I read only a few articles that bothered to note that most other archives either took their data directly from Wayback or used similar gathering methods. Compared against how nearly every article mentioned there were multiple archives showing the same things.
It is unreasonable to expect a writer to remember every word they wrote in a daily blog. Most of us have surely written things that are problematic at one point or another. Apologies are going to happen.
But it isn’t unusual to recognize things that don’t feel like you’re writing. And once something happens, like a site hack, it’s easy to question whether you actually said something that doesn’t feel like your own voice.
Which is to say, it is absolutely possible that Joy is both telling the truth and mistaken. Which is why her multiple apologies are a good decision on her part.
But I am still deeply disturbed at how quick those behind this agenda attacked, shifted the goal posts, stacked the narrative, all while reporters ignored easily available research in favor of the most negative possible slant.
We live in a digital world that have proven itself to be compromised at every possible turn. Holding up any digital resource as unimpeachable is always going to be a mistake. As is insisting there is no room for shades of gray in any complicated situation.
At the end of the day I find the best path is to be skeptical, but be fair and know who your friends are.
And when all else fails remember that Glenn Greenwald is a garbage human being and the position opposite his is generally the right one.
And when all else fails remember that Glenn Greenwald is a garbage human being and the position opposite his is generally the right one.
For the record, the research I’m referring to is “Rewriting History: Changing the Archived Web from the Present” by Ada Lerner, Tadayoshi Kohno, and Franziska Roesner, Security & Privacy Research Lab, Paul G. Allen, School of Computer Science & Engineering, U of W.
