Behold the Reverse Idiot Funnel: https://t.co/V3Pzbn2G9l
— Karl Bode (@KarlBode) March 11, 2022
Click over and read the whole (not very long!) post:
The Biolab Theory Just Won’t Go Away
Many years ago, it was common to come across a weird guy’s website. Sometimes it would be about how the earth was flat or how trees aren’t real or how lizard people built the pyramids. When you came across a site made by a weird guy (and they were typically guys), you might have laughed uncomfortably and maybe even emailed it to a friend or two, and then you probably moved on with your life. There were a few message boards in the early 2000s that were particularly good at documenting the internet’s various weird guys, like Something Awful or 4chan, but, for the most part, the weird guys lived off in their digital fantasy land of choice and the rest of us were none the wiser.
Around 2012, new, more mainstream parts of the web were being built atop the ashes of Myspace, and they had fancy recommendation algorithms that made sure your grandma wouldn’t accidentally see Goatse. But these platforms had a problem. It turns out that the anonymous chaos of the weirder parts of the internet are actually good for creating content. A totally sanitized web is actually very boring. And so these platforms tried to fix this by signing partnership agreements with news publishers and by fostering a creator class of users who could make and curate content for others. But the problem continued.
Squeaky clean creators doing brand-safe content and vetted New York Times articles are not conducive to a good time online. And, around 2013, certain publishers and certain creators started to understand that there was a serious market for taking the weird stuff from the weird guys and bringing it inside the walls of a platform. This was Steve Bannon’s main trick during his time helming Breitbart, but it was equally true for the zillion other websites that would make lists of viral images from Reddit and repackage them for Facebook users. And, over the last decade, this process — finding some idiot who said something ridiculous and aggregating whatever they said into a form that fits a trending algorithm — is now, hilariously, how all of American culture works.
And, most importantly for us, here in 2022, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many governments have now also figured out how to use this to create and promote propaganda. In fact, Russian and Chinese state media now have an entire playback that is built around exploiting what I’m going to call The Reverse Idiot Funnel (RIF)…
…[M]isinformation, disinformation, and more formalized conspiracy theories, regardless of what they’re about, all basically start with one idiot. That user posts something dumb, either on purpose or because they don’t care enough to factcheck themselves, and then other idiots and your general rogue’s gallery of internet goons latch on to it. These people then amplify it in their own ways — Telegram channels, Facebook groups, YouTube videos, etc., and then usually at this stage things get confusing. This is when it becomes impossible to tell who believes what they’re posting and who is just mindlessly sharing stuff because it’s fun. By the next stage of the RIF, the dumb thing has become so spread out and ubiquitous that it’s now made its way into the screens of millions of normies, who are usually on Facebook, but also Instagram and WhatsApp. I also drew a small line in there for children on TikTok because this is increasingly true for them, as well. From here, you get right-wing publishers, with Fox News being at the top, and thousands of smaller blogs beneath them. And, then, usually, finally, you get Russian and Chinese state media. Though, there’s a lot of back and forth between Fox News and Russian media because the internet is a non-linear system. This chart also works if you read it in reverse tbh.
And this Reverse Idiot Funnel (RIF) is just as true for something like the Freedom Convoy as it is the Ukrainian biolabs theory, which is now everywhere this week. It popped up within the first 24 hours of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I actually mentioned it in my first post about the conflict. It comes in different versions and is constantly evolving, but it usually goes like this: Russia is not invading Ukraine simply to conquer it, nor is the country just indiscriminately killing civilians. Instead, according to the theory, Russia is attacking key research facilities that the Ukrainian government was using to create dangerous new COVID variants…
…[E]xcept, this time, the consequences could not be higher. Russia seems poised to keep pushing the biolab theory as far as they can take it. According to The Guardian, Russia plans to take their completely baseless claims of Ukrainian and American biolabs to the United Nations. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy even mentioned it in a speech last night.
“As if we’re developing biological weapons,” he said. “As if we’re preparing a chemical attack. This really worries me, because more than once we have found if you want to find out Russia’s plans, you should look at what Russia is accusing others of.”
Tomorrow’s news today, I’m afraid. As with the GOP, for Putin, every accusation is a projection.
Martin
Someone measured traffic and figured out that Greenwald is funneling more traffic to Russian propaganda about this than RT is. Credit for the accomplishment, I guess.
opiejeanne
A couple of hours ago I saw a report that the US consulate in Erbil, Iraq had been attacked by rockets, but now, crickets?
Did it happen? I would think it would be all over the news, but it’s not showing up.
Gin & Tonic
“Now”? Now? Was this article written by Rip van Winkle?
Martin
Also, people need to watch Dan Olson’s video “In Search Of A Flat Earth” about this for help filling in some of the space in the funnel.
His newest video about NFTs is also excellent, if quite dense in content.
Yutsano
@Martin: Someone lost access to their Russian sugar daddy and is quite upset about it.
debbie
Wasn’t this yesterday’s meeting where everyone insisted the claim was absurd?
SpaceUnit
I’m actually surprised that Russian propaganda hasn’t become official Republican boilerplate. My guess is that if Russia’s invasion had been more successful Putin would be getting hailed as a hero by pretty much everyone on the right.
zhena gogolia
I thought this comment on Adam’s thread was excellent:
raven
The “millions of old people on Facebook” really hits home. I had a post show up asking for money from Herschel because the Hollywood Elite was supporting Stacey. The post was bad enough but the fucking comments by old people are astounding. These people really think we are communists and want us wiped out.
Steeplejack
@debbie:
The RIF piece was just published yesterday, so it was probably written before any U.N. meeting.
KrackenJack
“Rogues gallery of Internet goons” glosses over the fact that the amplification is intentional and well-funded to damage democratic societies.
Furthermore, the bioweapons lab BS is not some random idiot being picked up and repeated. It is direct information warfare crafted to justify mass murder.
Making this sound like a novel, bottom-up process when it is a propaganda technique that long predates the internet is doing a disservice. Certainly we’ve built an almost perfect delivery mechanism for propaganda, but let’s be clear about why it is a threat to the republic rather than a nuisance.
Baud
@raven:
You balance them out, man.
raven
@Baud: Well Athens is pretty blue but the surrounding area. . . whew!
Jeffro
This strikes me as something that could use a few nights of prime-time TV coverage aimed at educating the American public. Not President Biden speaking (no offense Uncle Joe!) Either a 60-Minutes type of news reporting and interviews, or the way the 2020 virtual DNC was handled, or both.
inform people and engage them. The vast majority of Americans, even the non-voters, and some portion of Republican voters, would at least have some sense of what us higher-info folks have been talking about for years and how it plays into Russia v Ukraine.
trollhattan
@opiejeanne:
Can’t find any verification for it. Meanwhile, this is the top Middle East story.
81, sheesh, couldn’t they round it up to a hundred? [Texas secretly jealous]
Brachiator
In a way, it has. Fox News personalities Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson keep pushing this crap as a way to highlight Biden’s supposed foreign policy weakness. I don’t know if many GOP politicians have explicitly pushed back against Russian misinformation.
Reminds me a lot of Trump continuing to push his stolen election lie. The difference here is that Putin doesn’t really care whether his baseless claims are rejected by the West. It still gives him time to attack Ukraine and to claim more territory. Unless the sanctions or other measures bite him hard, Putin will only stop when he decides to stop.
Also, Putin can spit back our “Weapons of Mass Destruction” performance back in our faces. Also performed in front of the United Nations and elsewhere.
dmsilev
@Martin: Hopefully, he gets paid in rubles. Or in “exposure”.
Winston
Retribution for the Kung Flu. Thanks pfg.
JPL
@raven: that blue area helped elect the best Senators that GA has had.
debbie
@Steeplejack:
Thanks.
dmsilev
@Brachiator: Oddly enough, some of Fox News’s actual reporters have been pushing back directly against Hannity etc.. So the viewers of those shows are getting some taste of reality along with the tidal wave of propaganda.
Steeplejack
@Martin:
debbie
Winston
Watched “The Adam Project” on Netflix this morning. Not the same as the one on BJ, but it is offbeat time travel if that appeals to you.
debbie
Another Scott
@opiejeanne: Reuters:
Maybe VVP wants to try to distract the US from what’s going on in Ukraine. Dunno.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Another Scott: weird time for Iran to be fucking with teh US, unless some faction is looking to (re) scuttle the JPCOA
Cameron
@Another Scott: Maybe that’s what his “Syrian” recruits are up to. I can’t see them making a whole lot of headway in Ukraine.
SpaceUnit
@dmsilev:
Yeah, overall the Republicans response has been mixed. And again I think this is only because Russia’s attack has been so poorly executed.
If the invasion had been a swift victory the whole party would be man-crushing on Vlad.
ETA: I also think this was part of Putin’s calculus. He was counting on a wholesale takeover of the American right and a Republican Party perfectly happy to abandon NATO.
Sure Lurkalot
@Jeffro: Anecdotal, but my RWNJ brother would not watch 60 minutes. He won’t read anything from the NYT or WP (ad Infinitum), all liberal rags. He is educated, accomplished and completely enmeshed in the puke funnel. He doesn’t want to leave.
Martin
@Steeplejack: That’s the one! Couldn’t find it. thank you.
Kalakal
@Winston: There’s a coincidence. We watched it this afternoon. Rather fun. Some good jokes as well
Another Scott
Cheers,
Scott.
Winston
This site dates back about 10 years or so but has been updated and includes a lot of current comments that I found interesting relating to Ukraine.
Martin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: US is unlikely to do anything substantial, wanting to keep focus on Ukraine.
Sounds like they didn’t even hit the US consulate, just stuff around it.
Another Scott
Short Thread:
Brilliant.
Slava Ukraini!
Cheers,
Scott.
opiejeanne
@Another Scott: Thanks. The only report I found was an Israeli site, then later one on Al Jazeera, but no details.
Some family members are currently having meltdowns over the advent of WWIII, and thinking this will be the tipping point. They’ve been saying various things were the tipping point for the past two weeks, but this is an attack on us so the hyperventilating is so much more.
Gin & Tonic
Gin & Tonic
@Another Scott: Unfortunately not a current photo.
Martin
@opiejeanne: NATOs restraint is entirely about avoiding WWIII. They aren’t apathetic toward the Ukrainian people.
Ken
Yet if that Social Security payment were even one day late….
Benw
OT but here is the band that’s currently opening for SMKC on tour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOCU5IcDbxQ
They’re really great! If you’re into heavier rock n roll give them a listen.
HumboldtBlue
Whoever is providing the Ukrainians with intelligence is doing a helluva a job and the Ukrainians are using it very effectively.
White & Gold Purgatorian
@SpaceUnit: The Republican base hates losing and losers. Even Trump is having trouble getting past the 2020 loser stink, which is why he will never admit he actually lost. Yeah, if Putin rolled up Ukraine in a week or less he would have been the darling of every Republican in America.
Kay
@SpaceUnit:
It won’t stick. This was like the period immediately after January 6th when they all denounced it. They’re already moving back into the pro-Putin fold. In a month they’ll all be reciting the “bioweapons” conspiracy theory as fact, except for Romney, Cheney and Kinzinger.
Kay
@SpaceUnit:
Today Fox is telling them Ukraine tried to have Donald Trump removed, so is therefore their enemy.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
in re Erbil
Jeffro
Choice quotes from trumpov’s rally in SC tonight:
I know we do this every hour on the hour, but…can you imagine anyone else offering this much aid and comfort to the enemy, or fomenting domestic violence, like this?
Brachiator
@dmsilev:
Yep. I have seen both Hannity and Carlson get pushback from an on air expert.
But I fear that this is disingenuous. Hannity and Carlson do not appear to have changed their positions on the matter, and they still use this stuff to try to undermine the Biden administration and US intelligence sources.
It would be different if they had the guest on and said “here is an expert to tell you why all this stuff is nonsense and we fully support her.”
Instead one clip I saw had Carlson giving full play to the lie and his guest trying to play catch-up.
So Fox News is trying to have it both ways.
Winston
@Ken: Fake old people. Propaganda to make you think old people don’t care. They do and most of us want to bomb Russia before they bomb us, because Russia retaliation would be minimal. Not that it matters much to us, because we are not going to live that long anyway. Think of the children, though.
SpaceUnit
@Kay:
Probably. God help us.
Brachiator
@Jeffro:
I would shut Fox News down and have Trump and traitorous members of Congress thrown into Gitmo.
Yeah, I know it is “illegal,” etc. but it’s just the Internet talking.
Chetan Murthy
@Brachiator:
As one does. As one does. Faux Noise has always had “straight” reporters: they’re “beards” for the agitprop, so they can point at Shep Smith, or Chris Wallace, or this new lady reporter, and say “hey, we’re real journalists, and we report the news straight !! harrumph!!” But really, these reporters *enable* SHannITy and Cucker (and Ilsa, and Judge Alcoholic) to be the propagandists they are: without the beards, it’d be more obvious that Faux is just propaganda.
SpaceUnit
@Benw:
Females currently rule the rock scene. It’s not even close.
Kalakal
@Brachiator:
Absolutely it is. They’re covering their asses against any blowback. They know full well who their audience is listening too and it’s not the experts
raven
@Winston:
because Russia retaliation would be minimal.
Say what??
Dan B
@opiejeanne: I believe Reuters had it on their feed. There is video as well.
Jeffro
Fox and the GOP don’t know what to do: Putin among most hated figures in world history
90% of Americans have an unfavorable view of Putin. Back when trumpov held office, it was 22% favorable (37% of Republicans, btw).
I know some of this is folks telling pollsters what they think they want to hear, and some of it is Rs not picking up their phones, etc, but still: DEMS, YOU HAVE ROOM TO RUN HERE. MAKE THE GOP PAY.
Martin
@HumboldtBlue: Yeah, by all accounts Ukraine is fighting this professionally and in a manner that maximizes their abilities given the matchup.
I read that US special forces had been in Ukraine for quite a while between 2014 and now training the Ukrainian military how to fight a Russian invasion. There were some reports that US trainers left frustrated because they didn’t think Ukraine was paying attention, but pretty clearly they were.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
Even with S&M, some good things are getting done. Let’s celebrate our victories and keep pushing forward because there’s much more to do.
Cheers,
Scott.
opiejeanne
@Martin: I know why NATO’s not jumping right in, I understand. The family really wants the US to do something, anything, but also scared of kicking off WWIII. This is just one more thing they can worry about.
Martin
@raven: Important to understand the definition of ‘us’ here. Is ‘us’:
Somewhere on that list you do get to minimal repercussions.
Martin
Took a few reads to find the non-obvious (yet still accurate) form of S&M you were alluding to.
Kalakal
@Martin: Even as we speak Governor Deathsentence is rushing iodine tablets to the villages
opiejeanne
@raven: I’m 72 and I remember learning the definition of Communism in my sophomore year of HS, and I was only half listening because boys! and hormones!.
These people wouldn’t know a Communist if one bit them on the butt.
mrmoshpotato
@Martin:
So RT was wasting money when Spleenwald would do it for free. Well done, RT!
Martin
@opiejeanne: We are trying to remove Russia from the category of nations that can openly threaten their neighbors. That might be small comfort to Ukrainians today, but it will pay dividends to them in the future, and to all of Russias other neighbors. This is the same kind of realignment that took place in 1945 as well as with the formation of the EU.
Ukrainian citizens are pretty fucked no matter what we do. That’s all on Putin. All we can do is make sure it doesn’t spread any further. Some things just can’t be undone.
raven
@opiejeanne: We’re the same age but I got the definition at Ft Campbell in 1966.
Winston
@raven: Look. Wargamers have been hashing it out since the sixties. There is a good discussion here. A pre-emptive assault would wipe out 90+% of the ability to counter attack of either combatant so the theory goes. Maybe all of the ability if the CandC of the recipient were destroyed in the first wave. Most of the world would be preserved and civilization might recover in 10 or 20 years rather 100 to 500 years.
gwangung
@opiejeanne: Actually, they act like Communists did in the 40s, they talk like them, and they probably walk like them.
They just changed what they called themselves, but by any definition, they are not American patriots.
Chetan Murthy
@Winston: Barking madness.
HumboldtBlue
@Martin:
The Ukrainians have done a fantastic job so far. I am under the impression that NATO is giving UA intelligence, and I suspect we are the main source.
raven
@Winston: Thank you Col Ripper.
Winston
Lyrebird
@Winston:
Hard pass.
raven
if there was a snake here I’d apologize
Martin
@Winston: Expressed another way, all it would take is for the US to pre-emptively murder 100 million or so Russian civilians, and cross fingers that a single Russian ballistic missile sub doesn’t get its… checks Wikipedia …96-120 nuclear warheads off on US targets.
raven
@Martin: He’s not saying we wouldn’t get our hair mussed.
Kalakal
@Winston: Are you channelling Edward Teller?
raven
Adam is on the case
Brachiator
@Winston:
We have seen how the pandemic disrupted the supply chain. And this was without the destruction of any cities or having to recover from even a small nuclear war.
We have no clue what recovery might be like or what the interim period might be like.
Benw
@SpaceUnit: so many killer bands right now with women. Here’s another of my favorites, The Pretty Reckless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W-nlfhh8Uo
SpaceUnit
@Benw:
Yep, I’m familiar with them.
I’m a couple beers in right now so I won’t try to do the links, but I’d offer up:
Wolf Alice
Meg Myers
Hands Off Gretel
The Warning
Loz Campbell
Obviously, I’m more into the Alt / Indie / Underground / Punk sort of stuff, but the ladies are straight-out killing it right now.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
I got a fair idea of the kind of personal emotions that some of you fella’s may be thinking. Heck, I reckon you wouldn’t even be human beings if you didn’t have some pretty strong personal feelings about nuclear combat.
Omnes Omnibus
@SpaceUnit: Love Meg Myers.
Dopey-o
We have no idea, because the scale of destruction and suffering is inconceivable to the human mind. The worst descriptions in the most horrific dystopian SF don’t come near.
If you could envision it, you would immediately want to kill yourself.
No one can discuss the issue of nuclear war rationally. As Adam states, it cannot be considered. So the real question becomes: what are we going to do after Putin nukes Ukraine?
Matt McIrvin
It took me a while to figure out that the “Ukraine biolabs” bullshit is based on the long- running US efforts to clean up old Soviet biolabs there. Of course they’d turn that upside down into a claim that the US and Ukraine are doing something sinister. It flatters Greater Russian nationalism– better get those back in good hands (Russia’s)! They can take actual old quotes and twist them. Remember BiP’s hate-on for Victoria Nuland? Some are from her.
WaterGirl
@JPL: Georgia elected two of the finest senators in the entire senate, in fact.