Broken enough that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion needs a warning label:
Extremely irresponsible for the @FBI to do this without offering context — that it's famous racist propaganda in their possession because they've investigated the people distributing it. Issuing it like this is vulnerable to "endorsed by the FBI!" spin on this infamous racism. pic.twitter.com/TZkoxSDVtx
— MadAtTiresHat (@Popehat) August 19, 2020
Per the Daily Dot:
The FBI’s Records Vault Twitter account is facing criticism after it tweeted out a link to a PDF that included the Protocols of Learned Elders of Zion, an anti-Semitic hoax, without any context.
The Records Vault account is automated, and tweets out links to Freedom of Information Act requests that are now public. However, the account tweeting out the hoax literature without context has generated a heap of criticism…
The PDF the FBI tweeted out does include a 1964 report from the Senate Judiciary Committee where it explicitly calls the document “fabricated,” however, it is toward the end of the 139-page PDF, after several copies of Protocols of Learned Elders of Zion, which the FBI apparently had in its records from when people sent it to them.
Given that the FBI’s tweet was just a link to a PDF with no context, it quickly was condemned online as “wildly irresponsible” and “vulnerable to ‘endorsed by the FBI!’ spin on this infamous racism.” …
Do better, FBI!
Context: FBI Records Vault tweets out files it is releasing by including the subject. Without context.
Judging by the responses, it did not go well this time. Quite the contrary.
The context of the antisemitic hoax is there, deep inside the documents.
Context REALLY matters. pic.twitter.com/pnSk2N3KtG
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) August 19, 2020
Baud
Looking forward to the 2027 tweet from the FBI vault on “The Investigation and Prosecution of Donald Trump.”
Roger Moore
I can understand how this happened: the FBI has an automated tool that tweets when it releases FOIA records. But it was incredibly foolish to set up the bot the way it was configured. A quick check shows it releases no more than a handful of records each week. They should have put a human being into the loop to make sure they weren’t making a mistake like this.
WereBear
Apparently cluelessness and incompetence is also catching.
MattF
Quite the famous hoax. However, a sad-but-true thing I’ve learned from recent events is that being a hoax doesn’t deter believers. We can, however, get the FBI to do the right thing. If they’re required to distribute this stuff, they should do it with context.
JPL
We live in strange times..
andy
I kind of have the suspicion that somebody in the FBI felt that the context was things pleasing to The Leader and his goons.
Calouste
The shitgibbon more or less endorsed QAnon today, so this is just a ripple really.
JPL
yup It’s part of the new normal. It’s the Westboro Baptist Church on double steroids, so buckle down.
Noah Brand
The replies to that tweet were appalling. Just a horrible fucking reminder of how many goddamned Nazis are out there.
JPL
Truthfully, let’s wait until Bret Hume says something.
MomSense
I’m afraid to look at the comments.
Kay
A week ago I thought QAnon was next-level Republicans but then an even bigger nutter won a primary.
I have no idea how bad they will get. None. QAnon may end up as the moderates.
Baud
@Kay:
QINO, amirite?
HumboldtBlue
Kamala talks about meeting the inlaws.
Ken
Would it really help to have it at the beginning? The just-released Senate Intelligence report starts by saying Russia influenced the 2016 election and worked with Manafort and others on the Trump team to do so, yet the Republican Senators who authored the document are out there denying it.
Kay
@Baud:
“While I believe Hollywood and Democratic elites take a psychedelic drug called Adrenochrome harvested from the fear of children, my opponent wants to wipe out an entire religion, so yes, I am the reasonable centrist in this primary and I don’t apologize for that”.
That just happened in the GOP.
I know what they mean with “from the fear of children” but it also sounds like the drug is harvested from people who are afraid of children.
Cheryl Rofer
Roger Moore has it right at #2.
There are things we really need to get fired up about, people. This isn’t one of them.
I’ve been on edge all the last week too – a combination of COVID cabin fever and general annoyance at a lot of things.
Deep breaths.
Baud
@Cheryl Rofer:
The only reason it’s an issue is because of who is president.
CaseyL
@Ken: IIRC, they did the same thing with the 9-11 Commission Report. The Democrats insisted on an Addendum that added up all the security policies which were defunded, the warnings which were ignored, the missed opportunities to prevent the attacks – and the GOP added an Addendum to **that** basically saying “La La La I can’t hear you.”
The GOP got away with so much during Bush II – including the theft of the 2000 election itself (and possible theft of 2004) – so no wonder it figures it can do so again.
Baud
@Kay:
That’s how you move the Overton Window, Kay.
SiubhanDuinne
@HumboldtBlue:
I can’t even begin to guess how many times I’ve watched that clip over the last year or so! I love her spot-on mimicry, and I could listen to her laugh on a continuous loop. It’s a wonderful laugh, deep from the belly, and blissfully infectious. Thanks for sharing it.
MattF
@Cheryl Rofer: That’s Automated Records Vault error message #3442.
catclub
@Baud: ChloroQino
SiubhanDuinne
The MSNBC Three are having fun tonight in their pre-game show.
NotMax
Lowest common denominator situational response devoid of context. Stuff like this another reason why self-driving cars are destined to be museum curiosities.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’m watching too. They are in a good mood.
Baud
@catclub:
I hope Quinoa sales don’t suffer due to customer confusion.
Ken
I assume the automated part is just the announcement. Having the release itself automated would be asking for trouble – that’s a rather high-value target for hackers of all persuasions.
(It would also mean that the FBI has PDFs of everything in its files ready to go, which seems unlikely.)
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: Why do you assume that there will be self-driving cars that are not flaming wreckage?
HumboldtBlue
@SiubhanDuinne:
I was laughing heartily.
This is really good advice on voting.
zhena gogolia
I’m excited about Liz, Hillary, Kamala, and Barack tonight!
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Me too. It’s going to be lit.
Jay
Wyatt Salamanca
I can’t wait until Biden wins so that we’ll finally have an adult in the Oval Office instead of this fucking child trapped inside the body of a bloated buffoonish 74-year-old:
h/t https://www.yahoo.com/news/official-briefed-trump-hurricane-florence-175730152.html
stacib
@zhena gogolia: and Pelosi. She’s also speaking tonight. trump’s* head should explode.
L85NJGT
@Baud:
That and the Director of the FBI abused his office and exerted undue influence on the 2016 election.
Barbara
@HumboldtBlue: “They are in California now but New Jersey is in them.” Cracked me up.
Baud
@Wyatt Salamanca:
Obligatory.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Because there are bound to be a few which never venture beyond the carefully controlled test track.
;)
SiubhanDuinne
@zhena gogolia:
Rachel pointed out earlier that all of them (“in addition to their day jobs” LOL) all live rent-free in Trump’s head.
ETA: Thanks, stacib. Nancy Pelosi for sure.
L85NJGT
@NotMax:
The test track attraction at Disney’s EPCOT tells us it is the future.
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: I see.
Matt McIrvin
Two observations:
HumboldtBlue
@Barbara:
Yup, particularly with her emphasis.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Wouldn’t that indicate that they are bots?
Baud
Apparently, Obama also warned us in 2016.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
I think there’s more to it than that. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion are a really touchy subject, since they have such a nasty history. For a government account to tweet them out without any context is enough to make a lot of people nervous. It turns out the context is relatively benign, but the initial reaction makes sense, and it would have made sense if it happened during the Obama Administration.
Also, IIRC, this is not the first time that account has caused some controversy. I don’t remember the thing it published before or who was upset about it, but I have some memory of a previous contretemps related to this account tweeting some kind of document that set people off. That by itself should have made the people in charge of the account realize it was a bad idea to leave people out of the loop. Hopefully they learn their lesson and don’t let it happen again.
RaflW
Someone on Ted Cruz’s social media team called Steve Schmidt ‘oleaginous’ yesterday. I think that may have caused one of the small tears in the space-time continuum.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@SiubhanDuinne: I love that one and the one where she’s cooking with Mindy Kaling. I love her laugh.
Baud
@RaflW:
Next, Cruz will call Schmidt the Zodiac Killer.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@MomSense: I reported 29 of them for hate tweets if that gives you an idea what they were like.
NotMax
@RaflW
Whereas Dolt 45 and Kushner & Co. are oleanderous.
;)
Roger Moore
@Ken:
Yes. FOIA requests all have to go through a vetting process to make sure they aren’t releasing something they shouldn’t be, that anything that should be redacted has been, etc. But the FBI has decided, to its credit, that some of the stuff released under FOIA is of general interest and should be made available to everyone rather than just the person who requested it. When that happens, they put it in a public archive of requested documents, and their Twitter bot tweets about it. That’s what happened here.
The problem is that tweeting process is automated and just lists the item that was added to the archive with no context. People who saw the tweet and didn’t understand the context were understandably concerned because it looked like the FBI was pushing discredited anti-Semitic propaganda. It turns out that’s not what is happening, but it shows flaws in the process.
Baud
Rachel just reported that Kamala will appear at the very beginning of the show as well as at the end. Don’t be late.
Jay
Wyatt Salamanca
@NotMax:
And they’ve transformed the executive branch of government into a doucheocracy.
NotMax
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
If they were capable of spelling it, some of the nyms would probably include Kaltenbrunner.
//
Jay
@Roger Moore:
but all sorts of nut jobs from Nazi’s to Qanon accounts on social media have seized on the tweet and are reposting it as a “confirmation” that the “Protocols” are real.
Kay
The movement.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Baud:
I can’t wait to flush Trump down the high flow toilet of his choice.
Jay
Jay
Wyatt Salamanca
@RaflW:
Someone from Ted Cruz’s staff stole that insult from George Will who used it against Mike Dense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UypXiV5frng
Jay
@Wyatt Salamanca:
nope, a Marine Vacuflush. It grinds the waste into mush, ( to minimize water use) while using generated chemicals to kill off the bacteria, and is USCG approved for immediate discharge in most marine areas.
Sebastian
Not the first time this bot is fucking up royally. Gotta work hard to have so many coincidences
MisterForkbeard
@SiubhanDuinne: I’ve always loved that clip. She such joy. :)
Jonas
I’d say that probably publishing the Protocols without context anytime over the past 100 years would have been a bad mistake, not just in 2020. But speaking of conspiracy-addled religious bigots and 2020, we have this lovely lady who just won a GOP primary in Florida who makes Baruch Goldstein look like Mr. Rogers. Fortunately it’s a heavily Dem district, so she has virtually no chance, but still, wtf?
Wyatt Salamanca
@Jay:
I’ll settle for any device that purges Trump and his confederacy of dunces out of our system.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Kay:
This might be the line that best sums up Trump. He’s an emotionally insecure basket case who constantly needs positive reinforcement and anyone who provides that must be a decent person in his mind.
jl
Everybody in states where we can expect voting problems and/or swing states needs to do early voting GOTV work, or contribute to people doing that. And in blue states, need to contribute. Need to get most of the vote in before election day. That is the only way to counter this stuff. Besides post office scandal, Trump campaign will be very inflammatory in last month, give people plenty of incentive to vote.
Bill Arnold
@Wyatt Salamanca:
Fuck his choice. I choose this one:
Magnificent steel toilet flushes forty golf balls with ease