Some of our fellow citizens seem to voluntarily do the work of spreading fake news.
  • Stern@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1631·
    6 months ago

    It was played up for the show but I think many of us have a Peggy in our life.

    • Duamerthrax@lemmy.worldEnglish
      55·
      6 months ago

      I feel like Peggy was played down compared to the ones I know irl. If Peggy was realistic, she wouldn’t be likable.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.worldEnglish
        71·
        6 months ago

        So much hate for her. How can the Internet hate a woman who made Hank Hill so happy? Shouldn’t she get at least some points for that?

        • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.worldEnglish
          18·
          6 months ago

          Whenever l have run into snooty Quebequois that insist that I speak French, I channel Peggy and say “Jay parlay fran-says tray bee-en. Jay-tude on lay-cole quart ons.”

          That does the trick and they will beg me to speak English.

    • Drusas@kbin.run
      31·
      6 months ago

      Pretty sure she’s supposed to be in like her thirties, maybe forty-ish.

      • Stern@lemmy.worldEnglish
        331·
        6 months ago

        Karens are different imo. Peggy would never call the cops on a black person, or present some distorted/dishonest version of events to a store manager/911. Shes just a narcissist. I could see an B plot of her getting pulled into a Karen’s orbit though.

        Kahn I could definitely see doing some straight up Karen shit.

        • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.worldEnglish
          10·
          6 months ago

          "Hey Cotton, meet Kahn, he’s Japanese.

          NO HE AIN’T! He’s Laotian, ain’t you Mr. Kahn."

          Possibly the best interaction with Kahn in the show. Definitely Cotton’s best lines.

  • adarza@lemmy.caEnglish
    1383·
    6 months ago

    i worked on a pc used by an older, very “conservative” woman awhile back. needed help with her facebook accounts (plural), among other things. she had vpn clients, multiple browsers. tor, the whole bit on there.

    it would be one thing if she was just passing tracts, but she was all-in on the fake news, trump, anti-vax, the border, jan 6 and ‘the steal’… basically the whole far-right agenda. and she was spreading that manure far and wide.

    the kicker: she’s an employee of a local catholic parish.

  • veee@lemmy.caEnglish
    86·
    6 months ago

    So, it’s clear that a small subpopulation is preferentially tweeting links to sources of misinformation, and for many users, they’re the most significant source of exposure to these sites. So who are these people?

    They’re a bit more likely to be female. While both the comparison groups were roughly evenly split between male and female, the superspreaders were 60 percent female. They’re also older, on average 58 years old, nearly 20 years older than the sample as a whole. And, while much of the misinformation about the election largely circulated within Republican circles, only 64 percent of the superspreaders were registered Republicans (nearly 20 percent were registered as Democrats).

    • Technus@lemmy.zipEnglish
      1061·
      6 months ago

      This is hardly new phenomenon. Before Twitter and Facebook, it was email chains. I still have some from my mom claiming Obama was the Antichrist.

      • nahuse@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        39·
        6 months ago

        That specific email was when I knew my mom was irrevocably radicalized.

        She wasn’t, and still isn’t, religious. But she was fucking convinced that Obama was literally the antichrist.

        • ameancow@lemmy.worldEnglish
          18·
          6 months ago

          The right in general follows the Wrestlemania principle, wherein they exist in a strange quantum state of both believing the narratives and storylines with all their heart, while at the same time understanding enough about the world around them that they can function and understand complex concepts. IE: the vaxxine-skeptical nurses and climate-change denying scientists.

          If you’re old enough to remember having to argue with your friends that wrestling is scripted, and your friend doubles down that there really are necromancers and supernatural powers in professional wrestling events, but you also know that point where trying to convince them becomes less enjoyable because you see for a moment that their connection to this fantasy storyline is all they have and you just let them believe that the fantasy and spectacle is real.

          Because for wrestling fans and Trump fans, it’s not about logic and reason, it’s about emotion and validation for those emotions, and that validation doesn’t necessarily need to make sense to provide comfort for fear and anxiety and sadness.

          Those people never grew up and grew out of their magical thinking. We all have magical thinking about something, but this segment of the population stands out more because their belief is being steered by powerful criminal minds and shaping international policy.

      • ameancow@lemmy.worldEnglish
        101·
        6 months ago

        Before that it was fliers and classifieds in the paper for groups to meet up and discuss or have mailing chains.

        Although, I would have to admit that back when people who wanted to gather around a single idea had to make an effort and have leadership and infrastructure, you saw a LOT less bullshit nonsense in the world, people just kept their shit to themselves most of the time and it was a little better.

    • MajorHavoc@programming.devEnglish
      363·
      6 months ago

      Someone compare these stats with lead paint exposure stats. I’m so curious if we can finally get positive correlation.

      More honestly, it’s easier to accept that people we love are brain damaged, than just plain gullible.

    • Drusas@kbin.run
      193·
      6 months ago

      I’m going to guess a big part of the reason that older women spread misinformation more than older men do is that women are more chronically online at that age as opposed to trying to be active and out of the house, and/or less likely to be employed and therefore have a lot of time on their hands with no kids to take care of now that they’re all grown up.

      • livus@kbin.social
        253·
        6 months ago

        I think you’re right - women are also socialized to seek out social/interpersonal connections more than men; this is a big factor in why the suicide rate for elderly men tends to be significantly higher than for elderly women.

        This doesn’t explain the 60 year olds but with the elderly (70+) women in my life, the vulnerability to misinformation is also an artifact of their comparatively poor levels of education. They were schooled with the expectation that they would be SAHMs.

  • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.worldEnglish
    68·
    6 months ago

    I think many of us can remember when their grandparents got their first email account.

    FWD:FWD: don’t fall for this kidney harvesting scam!

  • 01011@monero.townEnglish
    652·
    6 months ago

    So the demo that likes to spread malicious gossip (and lies) in real life also does so online? I’m shocked…

    • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.worldEnglish
      14·
      6 months ago

      I was actually shocked when I found the quiet lady in accounting was actually a huge Twitter user who spewed such wild shit, at the level of JK Rowling toxicity.

  • Snapz@lemmy.worldEnglish
    101·
    6 months ago

    Boomers are intimidated by tech (which, fine…) and FULL of unearned pride and an always churning fear of being exposed as frauds who don’t deserve allv they have.

    The combination means they need to performatively “do tech” to prove to the kids (and to themselves, because of course they are also raging narcissists) that they “have the memes” too and can “do a post”.

    So they will do this misinfo spreading, likely often unknowingly, bit not for the obvious reason.

    • tempest@lemmy.caEnglish
      4·
      6 months ago

      Watching my parents age has made me incredibly ageist in my political views.

      People in their 60s and 70s should not be in office.

  • Blackout@kbin.run
    1753·
    6 months ago

    I like how we are blaming women for everything again. Feels real old school.

      • Blackout@kbin.run
        416·
        6 months ago

        I agree. They’ve been a scourge on society for far too long.

        • EatATaco@lemm.eeEnglish
          151·
          6 months ago

          I agree.

          Well, obviously, because that’s what youre doing.

    • qaz@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      6 months ago

      Considering it was only a 60% woman / 40% male distribution, this title is indeed a bit exaggerated.

    • alienanimals@lemmy.worldEnglish
      43·
      6 months ago

      Hiding misandry behind a bear/man comparison - cool use of statistics!

      Hiding misogyny behind stats showing older women using fake news - WOW THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!