Item pertaining to Public Diplomacy

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Weird News -- the "Fake"/"Real" News on the USA Internet? (updated)

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Gotta to give it in French to In-America-We-Speak-English-Only our MAGA President Trump: He has made fake news mots du jour. (And for more than one day!)

By fake news The Don is constantly referring to news he disapproves of.

Image from, with caption: Donald Trump - The DON

However many conscientious American journalists, those who seek to tell the public what's truly happening, would characterize that the important contribution of their profession is providing real news -- the result of serious, objective, fact-based reporting meant to enlighten the citizens of a democracy.

But, like it or not, real news is increasingly being replaced in the USA (and elsewhere) by weird news, with fake news its close cousin -- and real news, its sadly sometimes not-so-distant cousin.

WHY IS WEIRD NEWS TAKING OVER?

WEIRD NEWS

Masthead from The Huffington Post

Because in the USA much of reality, politics, and media has gone weird?

In all fairness to USA dedicated journalists: May I ask -- In the "real world" of the dog-eat-dog American "communications" business/industry with its $ bottom line, the media information exploited proletariat (writers, editors, proofreaders, even thinkers, etc.) has little choice on occasion but to "file a story," even if weird, in order to make sure that a check will come from "the top-floor management" from an upsurge of "clicks" on the 'Net -- so that the prols can hope they'll be able support the family, pay the mortgage, and feed the household pet.

Indeed, if you see real news media articles on the web, many (but not all) of these "serious" items from "respected" media outlets will be followed, on the same link (at the bottom of the page), with weird news that quickly become, in their omnipresent, ever-growing weirdness, in fact less and less weird and "normal" over time-- which means they have to be weirder and weirder by the second to stay really weird and eagerly consumed by the masses?

Guess who'll scroll down to see what's the latest weird? Too many of us Americans? (I plead guilty).

Weird news about, like, out-of-control sports stars, foreign-born drugged-out billionaires, sexually challenged people of all genders, the universe's strange composition, odd weight-losing food choices, a North Korean dictator ...

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***

One of the main reasons for the popularity of weird news in America includes ILLITERATE, CAPITALIZED TWEETS WITH EXCLAMATION MARKS! revelations on what he likes/doesn't like by Donald J. [for Jenius  -- (see below footnote 1)] Trump.

The media can't stop blabbing/"reporting"/involuntarily (?) propagandizing? the Chief Executive's often weird electronic messages. Example:

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are.....

6:46 AM - May 3, 2018

• 72.3K
• 37.4K people are talking about this

Twitter Ads info and privacy

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

...very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair,......

6:54 AM - May 3, 2018

• 74.6K
• 35.2K people are talking about this

Also consider, as a sample of Trump as an indirect inspiration for weird news, this item regarding The Don's Male Organ (what would the Trump "Tower" mean without it?) from a quite respected men's magazine (citing the British daily The Guardian):

She [Stormy Daniels, a porn star -- off-the-street prostitute? -- who had a fling with Trump years ago and just written a book about her professional activities] describes Trump's penis as "smaller than average" but "not freakishly small."

"He knows he has an unusual penis," Daniels writes. "It has a huge mushroom head. Like a toadstool..."

"I lay there, annoyed that I was getting fucked by a guy with Yeti pubes and a dick like the mushroom character in Mario Kart...

"It may have been the least impressive sex I'd ever had, but clearly, he didn't share that opinion."

image from Facebook on the internet

These passages can be found in Stormy's soon to be published book, about which a reviewer who read an advanced copy notes:

Reading Daniels’s book, I found myself alternately appreciating her crass and self-aware humor, and cringing at her shameless self-aggrandizement. It struck me, repeatedly, that she’s a bit like the female flipside of Trump: fixated on her greatness, unabashedly bragging about her achievements and a touch vain.

No wonder our dear leader Dealmaker, before serving the Republic, starred in the Tee-Vee show "The Apprentice" -- a true expression of weird news: the essence/secret of which is posing as real (or too "real" to be true).

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In the opinion of many, including well-intentioned increasingly American weird people, our weird leader is reflecting what the internet weird media is reflecting about us, the US -- our very own weird homeland?

So, can't it be said that in the Internet Homeland Today that weird news are:

The "News"! 

(Forget about the "fake"/"real" dichotomy.)

Stay weirdly uninformed about weirdless important issues, so you can keep the president/media moguls/advertisers happy.

Have a nice,weird day!

***

(1) From Roger Cohen, New York Times, "Democracy Will Still Surprise Us":

Which brings me to President Trump, the flamethrower who makes headlines even by falling silent. A joke is making the rounds. When Putin and Trump met in Helsinki, Finland, they shook hands. “I’m Vladimir Putin, president of Russia,” Putin said. “I’m Donald J. Trump, president of the United States,” Trump said.

“Oh,” said Putin, “what does the J stand for?”

“Jenius!” said Trump.

This is the Age of the Genius.

Posted by John Brown at 12:11 PM; updated 9/23

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