The War on Reality
HW8
Fake Video
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article2505561/Motorcyclist-spends-100k-inventingTerminator-style-helmetGPS.html?ico=sciencetech^mostread
Aliens!!!
“Humans do NOT come from Earth – and
sunburn, bad backs and pain during labour
prove it, expert claims”
This article is in the Daily Mail Online, the #1
online news source in the UK!
Real Science?
Who is Ellis Silver?
PhD from where?
Why does the article call
him “Dr. Ellis”?
ideas4writers
http://ideas4writers.wordpress.com/category/m
embers-news/
“Hi, can you tell me more about Dr. Ellis Silver.
Where is his doctorate from? Where did he do
marine research in Texas (my home state)? I
can’t find a biography of him or information
about him anywhere. The Amazon page for his
book says that ideas4writers is his publisher. Are
you a publishing house?” – me
From the Article
“Dr Ellis says that humans might suffer from bad
backs because they evolved on a world with
lower gravity.”
Or maybe, it’s because we evolved from
creatures that don’t walk upright (apes).
From the Article
“He also says that it is strange that babies’ heads
are so large and make it difficult for women to
give birth, which can result in fatalities of the
mother and infant. No other native species on
this planet has this problem, he says.”
Yeah… and… how does this support the idea that
we’re from another planet?
“He also believes humans are not designed to be
as exposed to the sun as they are on Earth, as
they cannot sunbathe for more than a week or
two – unlike a lizard – and cannot be exposed to
the sun every day without problems.”
Sunburn
Tony Barthel, curator of the Elephant House and
the Cheetah Conservation Station at
Smithsonian’s National Zoo says, “Most any
animal that has exposed skin is susceptible to
sunburn.”
Reptiles like lizards die before they can get
sunburnt. They are cold-blooded and overheat.
From the Article
“Dr. Ellis says that while his idea is an extreme
evolution of that idea, it is intended to be
thought-provoking and he claims to have had a
largely positive response to it.
He is interested in whether humans came to
Earth separately, perhaps by arriving on meteors
and comets, before evolving into the species we
know today.”
Meteor Arrival?
TEAM THEMIS
The Good Guys
Julian Assange, Wikileaks
Glenn Greenwald
The Bad Guys
Bank of America was
concerned that Wikileaks
had secret bank
documents that showed
illegal activity.
They wanted to discredit
both Wikileaks and
journalist Glenn
Greenwald.
The Bad Guys
So the bank asked the US
Department of Justice for
help.
The DOJ sent BofA to HB
Gary, a private security
firm that it used.
The Plan
Here was HB Gary’s plan: create fake
documents, and leak them to Wikileaks and
Greenwald. Then, when they reported on the
fake documents, HB Gary would show that they
were fake. Finally, no one would trust Wikileaks
and Greenwald any more, because they report
fake things.
Manufacturing Reality
This is what some people have called
“Manufacturing Reality” or the “War on
Reality.” Powerful interests, like banks, oil
companies, and governments, try to create a
false public perception.
THE WAR ON REALITY
Astroturfing
Fronts
A “front” organization is a group that is funded
by special interests, but tries to hide this fact
and appear impartial.
For example a front for the Communist Party in
Hong Kong has the name “Hong Kong Youth
Care Association,” which makes it seem as
though it’s composed of local youth.
The Heartland Institute
The Heartland Institute
• “The primary American organization pushing
climate change skepticism.”
• Received HKD$6.2 million from ExxonMobil,
2nd largest publicly traded company in the
world.
• Pays money to climate change skeptics, writes
editorials against climate change, and puts up
advertisements against global warming.
Misleading Names
The Evangelical Free Church of China and the
Society for Truth and Light organized an
“Inclusive Love Praying Concert.”
Was the purpose of the concert including more
people? Was it loving more people?
Doublespeak
Doublespeak
“Doublespeak” doesn’t have a clear definition.
What I’m thinking about here is when you call
something the exact opposite of what it is.
Black is white, up is down, truths are lies…
New Ordinance in San Antonio
• prohibit city government, contractors, and
vendors from discriminating against LGBT
people in employment.
• prohibit housing and public accommodation
discrimination against LGBT people.
• prohibit City Council members from engaging
in discrimination or demonstrating bias
against LGBT people "while serving
in such public position."
Shannon Bream, Fox & Friends
“A First Amendment battle heating up in San
Antonio, Texas, as lawmakers consider a
controversial measure that could block business
owners from holding contracts with the city if
they speak out against homosexuality based on
their religious beliefs. That could include
Christians who believe that marriage is between
a man and a woman. So does this wind up being
a case of reverse discrimination, potentially?”
Freedom of Speech
One of the espoused virtues of many democratic
societies is freedom of speech.
But this is noticeably not the same thing as
freedom from criticism or freedom from
consequences.
Doublespeak
Kirk Cameron (the crocoduck guy) recently
received a lot of criticism for calling
homosexuals “unnatural” and “a detriment to
society.”
When he was criticized, he argued that the
criticisms violated his “freedom of speech.”
Doublespeak
“I should be able to express moral views on
social issues, especially those that have been the
underpinning of Western civilization for 2,000
years — without being slandered, accused of
hate speech, and told from those who preach
‘tolerance’ that I need to either bend my beliefs
to their moral standards or be silent when I’m in
the public square.” – Kirk Cameron
Sockpuppets
A sockpuppet is a fake
online identity used to
conceal biases and
conflicts of interest.
Sockpuppets
John Mackey, CEO of American grocer Whole
Foods posted on the Yahoo! Finance message
board without revealing his identity (his screen
name was “Rahodeb”).
He said that his company was great, and said
that one of his competitors, Wild Oats Markets,
had a bad business model and would fail.
Trust Me!
In 2004, a computer glitch
showed that many
authors were writing
reviews of their own
books, while hiding their
identity, on Amazon.com
Paid Reviews
Paid Reviews
“Burger Box was one of the first restaurants I
discovered on a recent visit to Hong Kong. Being
from the United States… I discovered that it was
much, much better than what I was used to back
home. The food at Burger Box is excellent. A meal
can easily be made of a large order of fries on its
own, though where the restaurant really shines is
with its burgers. The staff is extremely friendly and
prepares your burger on the spot, just how you
want it. The ingredients are fresh and high
quality…all the food is absolutely wonderful.”
Burger Box
“For the price, it's one of the better deals to be
found near the piers. Each visit, my dining
experience was pleasant and fulfilling.
While I dined at Burger Box many times during
my stay, I'm rating it based on a particularly
good visit shortly before my departure. I
recommend it highly.”
$ for Reviews
There are in fact entire companies, where for
between HKD$8 and $80, you can buy a positive
review for your business on Yelp.
The reviews are written by people from the
Philippines, Bangladesh and Eastern Europe.
Fake Web Traffic
• For HKD$0.0015 you can pay a computer in
Nigeria to visit your website. This increases
your ad revenue, and drives up your search
engine rankings.
• For $11 you can buy 1,000 fake Twitter
followers. If your band seems really popular,
it’s easier to get a gig.
Paid Protesters
http://www.scmp.com/news/hongkong/article/1051556/group-marches-againstfalun-gong-national-day
Paid Protesters
• Pro-Falun Gong march on National Day
• Anti-Falun Gong protest
• People in the protest bussed from China, have
no idea what protest is about.
• Organized by Hong Kong Youth Care
Association, a front for the Communist Party.
Disinformation
“A lie can travel halfway
around the world while
the truth is putting on its
shoes.” – Mark Twain
Disinformation
Disinformation is intentionally false or fabricated
“information” used to mislead the public.
Stupid articles in the newspaper about alien life
in the atmosphere are misinformation: false, but
believed as true by the people who say them.
Disinformation is distributed by people who do
not believe it, to manipulate the public.
Disinformation Campaign
The US government leaked documents to the
press suggesting that the government could not
access people’s iPhone messages.
This was successful: lots of newspapers reported
on it. But it wasn’t true.
Radar that Reads Minds
During the Iraq war, the US government
reported that Iraqis were rebelling against
Saddam Hussein in Basra.
"We have radars, that, by tracing the trajectory
of mortar rounds, are able to work out the
source, as well as the target location, which in
this case were civilians in Basra."
Censorship