The episode involves a story on based on an alarming complaint that an anonymous person posted on Reddit about Verizon. The story, “Verizon denies allegations that it’s degrading mobile data service for Hurricane Florence victims,” was written by business and technology policy reporter Brian Fung. It provides a curious case study of how one comment from an anonymous agitator can generate a negative headline in one of the most authoritative newspapers in America.
Fung’s article relied on a single Reddit post from an anonymous source alleging that Verizon deprioritized his mobile data in the wake of Hurricane Florence. The implicit justification for writing a Post story was that a popular website BoingBoing linked to the Reddit post.
The Post lent this allegation its institutional legitimacy by asking Verizon to respond to the anonymous complaint. The story did not mention that the critical comment was posted by a self-identified “serial liar” on a subreddit dedicated to promoting socialist thought and dismantling capitalism.
http://thefederalist.com/2018/09/24...unverified-comments-anonymous-internet-crank/
further commentary ABOUT Reddit .......... [and yes Reddit is Over Run with Progressives and ShareBlue Types where you can be kicked out of a Sub-Reddit just for having posted or subscribed to r/Conservative or r/The_Donald]
Amplifying People Who Want to Ruin Capitalism
The Reddit post Fung cited in his story was authored by user “AbeFroman21,” a reference to the fictional “Sausage King of Chicago” in the 1986 film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” The post has multiple comments advocating the assassination of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and general criticism of “capitalist phone networks.”
A cursory glance at the post shows it was posted in a subreddit called r/LateStageCapitalism, described as promoting a “SAFE SPACE for socialist discussion.” The subreddit explicitly promotes its philosophy as rooted in “broad-based anti-capitalist though, with an underlying Marxist tendency that is steeped in intersectionalist Critical Theory.” The guidelines for posting in the subreddit—along with prominent links to the communist writings of Karl Marx, Friederich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin—might have raised a red flag that this source may have a particular bias worth mentioning (or simply discounting this source altogether).
“Support for capitalism—and the political parties which uphold it—is strictly prohibited… anti-socialist and anti-communist comments are also forbidden,” according to the subreddit’s rules. “This is a space for all comrades and all leftists. You are allowed to offer nuanced critiques of other leftist positions, but undermining socialism and/or communism as a whole is not permitted.”
Fung’s article relied on a single Reddit post from an anonymous source alleging that Verizon deprioritized his mobile data in the wake of Hurricane Florence. The implicit justification for writing a Post story was that a popular website BoingBoing linked to the Reddit post.
The Post lent this allegation its institutional legitimacy by asking Verizon to respond to the anonymous complaint. The story did not mention that the critical comment was posted by a self-identified “serial liar” on a subreddit dedicated to promoting socialist thought and dismantling capitalism.
http://thefederalist.com/2018/09/24...unverified-comments-anonymous-internet-crank/
further commentary ABOUT Reddit .......... [and yes Reddit is Over Run with Progressives and ShareBlue Types where you can be kicked out of a Sub-Reddit just for having posted or subscribed to r/Conservative or r/The_Donald]
Amplifying People Who Want to Ruin Capitalism
The Reddit post Fung cited in his story was authored by user “AbeFroman21,” a reference to the fictional “Sausage King of Chicago” in the 1986 film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” The post has multiple comments advocating the assassination of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and general criticism of “capitalist phone networks.”
A cursory glance at the post shows it was posted in a subreddit called r/LateStageCapitalism, described as promoting a “SAFE SPACE for socialist discussion.” The subreddit explicitly promotes its philosophy as rooted in “broad-based anti-capitalist though, with an underlying Marxist tendency that is steeped in intersectionalist Critical Theory.” The guidelines for posting in the subreddit—along with prominent links to the communist writings of Karl Marx, Friederich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin—might have raised a red flag that this source may have a particular bias worth mentioning (or simply discounting this source altogether).
“Support for capitalism—and the political parties which uphold it—is strictly prohibited… anti-socialist and anti-communist comments are also forbidden,” according to the subreddit’s rules. “This is a space for all comrades and all leftists. You are allowed to offer nuanced critiques of other leftist positions, but undermining socialism and/or communism as a whole is not permitted.”
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