The not-so-secret-story about how a country interfered to win an election

What bothers me more than news outlets all but ignoring other examples of election interference (including our own) is that they rarely quantify how influential Rassia may have been in interfering in the 2016 election.

Reporting that Russia interfered with a US election is like reporting that water is wet... when have they not attempted to interfere in US politics in the modern era?

The question is how successful were they in 2016?

From a joint study on the subject regarding the 2016 election by Princeton University and Dartmouth College:

Specifically, we find that approximately one in four Americans visited a fake news website, but that consumption was disproportionately observed among Trump supporters for whom its largely pro-Trump content was attitude-consistent. However, this pattern of selective exposure was heavily concentrated among a small subset of people — almost six in ten visits to fake news websites came from the 10% of Americans with the most conservative information diets. Finally, we specifically identify Facebook as the most important mechanism facilitating the spread of fake news and show that fact-checking largely failed to e↵ectively reach consumers of fake news.

www.dartmouth.edu...

Based on this study their influence was rather minor. Their fake news was consumed primarily by far right wing people... who would have never voted for Clinton even if she was running against a patato.

As for the rest of us the study shows that while we might have been exposed to fake news (you cant go on Facebook with out seeing it) it really has no effect.

Those swing states that tipped for Trump did so because of moderates not the far right who consumed the fake news from Russia.

And if the Dems keep pushing this idea that even the moderates where duped I imagine they might get peeved enough to send another message to the Democrats.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: Kharron

Please.

The hyperventilating and pearl-clutching going on over this is ridiculous.

Russia does this to us, we do it to Russia.

They whack our pee-pee when we get caught, we whack theirs when they get caught.


I haven't seen this many people actually sh#tting themselves since I put ex-lax in a pitcher of hot chocolate in college.


What damage was done?


They didn't influence the election.

If they didn't influence it...ok...who knows? But they DID try. They did interfere.

What damage was done? Just that. That they CAN interfere, and do.

If we do it to them too, so what? Is that your stance?

It's not alright. And going about everything as if it is...is what is ridiculous.

originally posted by: DexterRiley

originally posted by: Kharron
I don't think I've seen this argument before, bravo!

It's usually -- everyone does it so it's ok for ME to do it! Or for US to do it!

But this one is -- everyone does it, so it's ok if it's done TO US!

In what universe should we be ok with this?

I agree. I'm dumbfounded by this bizarre justification for Russian meddling in the US election.

Basically "we did it to them, so it's okay that they did it to us."

-dex

So what's your solution? We should continue to do it and take action that other countries can't do it to us? None of it is ok. But i will ask you, the same question I have asked others in this thread. Why do you think NOW, after all this time is suddenly foreign influence is such a problem that not a single day can pass without talking about Russia meddling. where was all this conversation before? What event caused it to take the spotlight? Answer this honestly and you will get a grip on the situation.

originally posted by: TheLead
a reply to: DBCowboy

The words influence/interfered conflated and extrapolated mean rigged- fact

so you are saying every election, including 2016 was rigged?

a reply to: DexterRiley

All was thwarted except those that disregarded their own protocols, government protocols, and laws to hand their information to whatever potential enemy was willing.

a reply to: DBCowboy

Hyperventilating? If it makes it easier for you, call it whatever you like.

What you are doing is damage control and deflection, which is what a number of folks here do when any scandal is announced. You try to paint it as ok, even when it is a blatant attack against our country, or if it's not ok it's not that bad. Nothing to see here.

This is an attack on our country. A decade or two ago, something like this would have provoked WWIII. I am not for war, I am not for violence, but I will also not wear blinders. This is a hostile act and probably only one of the first ones we'll find out about.

Are going to make them all look ok from now on? We've been bad for years, so, oh well, whatevs, we have it coming. That's what this sounds like, defeatist deflection, and I am in shock that I'm reading it from so called patriots and nationalists.

originally posted by: Nyiah
a reply to: DBCowboy

How about enough's enough and it's high time we adhere to our own standards of integrity instead of kicking the can down the road because standing up and denouncing the unethical is too skeery?

You're expecting, demanding ethical behavior from politicians?

a reply to: DBCowboy

Been saying this on here forever. No one ever listens. The only reason it's even an issue is because it's the political flavor of the season.

a reply to: keenmachine

/sarc

originally posted by: Kharron
a reply to: DBCowboy



This is an attack on our country. A decade or two ago, something like this would have provoked WWIII.

originally posted by: Puppylove
a reply to: DBCowboy

Been saying this on here forever. No one ever listens. The only reason it's even an issue is because it's the political flavor of the season.

Yep.

a reply to: TheLead

me2

originally posted by: DBCowboy

originally posted by: Nyiah
a reply to: DBCowboy

How about enough's enough and it's high time we adhere to our own standards of integrity instead of kicking the can down the road because standing up and denouncing the unethical is too skeery?

You're expecting, demanding ethical behavior from politicians?

It can be done if we make them do so. However, it would require an extreme incentive to kick off, such as the threat of life imprisonment or execution for being found guilty, so it's a lesser of 2 evils choice to make after you figure out which is the lesser.

Edit: I seem to recall a lot of rightwingers on ATS insisting that the government should fear it's people, not the other way around. You haven't given them much reason to fear us.

a reply to: Nyiah

So the unethical politicians are going to create a law punishing unethical behavior.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: Nyiah

So the unethical politicians are going to create a law punishing unethical behavior.

Hey, I didn't say I figured out how to enact it. But a nationwide referendum would be a better bet than crossing your finger & toes, and tying your wang in a bow hoping politicians pass something themselves. However, we can't do that on a federal level, so it'd be worth looking into on a state level.

a reply to: strongfp

"We came, we saw, He died"

"What difference does it make"

"You mean with a cloth".

I didn't need the Russians to tell me Hillary should never be trusted.

a reply to: Nyiah


We can't even get the bastards to end the sexual harassment Congressional Hush Fund or even get them to expose the names of the rat-bastards who used it.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: Nyiah


We can't even get the bastards to end the sexual harassment Congressional Hush Fund or even get them to expose the names of the rat-bastards who used it.

And who's fault is that?

Ours.

Our lazy asses let this deformed cretin spring forth to do whatever it wants while we shovel our money at it. Then we point fingers back and forth at each other across the isles and kick the blame can back and forth. How about we do something about this s# instead of playing more Kick the Can?

originally posted by: Admitted
But it's simple, as you say, everyone does it.

We just know about it now because Trump?

Well, ok. I'm glad we know about it now. We should do something. Trump should do something. Not meet with the guy on equal terms.

Equal terms? Do you even comprehend the OP? If Russia meddled we are on equal terms when it comes to meddling in elections.

Nationalism is a disease that infects the minds abilty to be rational.

What moral high ground does the US sit on when we brag about election meddling?

I'll take diplomacy over wartime rhetoric.

originally posted by: TheLead
a reply to: DexterRiley

All was thwarted except those that disregarded their own protocols, government protocols, and laws to hand their information to whatever potential enemy was willing.

If I understand you correctly, you're saying that US attempts at meddling in other elections were unsuccessful except in those cases where the government in question was complicit in the tampering. If I parsed that correctly, then I'm glad that the will of the people, as reflected in the final results, was independent of US influence.

In our case, there is ample evidence to show that Russia attempted to interfere in US elections. I'm not happy about that. I did not personally condone the US government tampering in foreign nation's elections. So, I don't accept any other government's attempts at altering our elections.

-dex