Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

What Do We Do When the Internet Mob Is Wrong?

Posted by Soulskill on from the blame-it-on-everyone-else-and-walk-away-whistling dept.

New submitter cornicefire writes "By now most people have heard the news and seen the picture of the boy who was killed over the new Nike sneakers. There are Facebook pages devoted to fist-shaking protests about materialism and greed. Yada yada yada. But while the scuffles over the shoes were real, the death was not. The photo was just a stock photo of some kid in a lab. We know this because of some old school reporters — Steve Earley and Justin Fentin of the Baltimore Sun. In the rush to celebrate crowdsourcing, many of us pooh-pooh the old media as 'gatekeepers,' but there are times when keeping that gate locked is a good idea. After all, if one of the crowd discovered the error, the signal would barely rise above the noise. There are people claiming that anyone questioning the facts is being disrespectful. Is there something we can do about the mobocracy? How can we support the best traditions of journalism while fixing the worst? How can we nurture accuracy?"

5 of 361 comments (clear)

  1. It's important in other cases too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Take the OWIES, who committed acts of terrorism because they thought the 1% weren't paying their fair share...

    http://visualizingeconomics.com/2010/02/12/how-much-taxes-are-paid-by-the-poor-middle-class-and-rich/

    The top 1% may make 18% of the wealth, but they pay 27% of the taxes!!!

    Yet this lie has persisted, despite overwhelming facts. Why? Because of idiots like PK and Obama. Though idiot may be too strong a word. They know what they are doing, and they lie and cheat to lure helpless fools into their plans and machinations.

    1. Re:It's important in other cases too by sycodon · · Score: -1, Troll

      You need to rethink your reasoning for taxes. Taxes enable the government to function and fulfill its enumerated responsibilities. Its enumerated responsibilities does not include making everyone equal to make sure someone "gets something out of society". That is the job of the someone.

      And tell me, how much is enough taxes for "the richest?" Why? Do you have any reasoning behind it other than they have more than you?

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    2. Re:It's important in other cases too by sycodon · · Score: -1, Troll

      And cable, frankly, I call bullshit all over that one. I know hardly anyone that has cable anymore, and of those people that do, almost all of them have it because it's bundled with their internet service.

      ROFLMAO!

      Poor "poor" people. Cable TV forced on them because of their internet service.

      Tip...AT&T "nakid" DSL. $20 a month.

      The rest of the post is bullshit.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  2. Cjhange the question by SYSS+Mouse · · Score: -1, Troll

    Change the question to "What to do when the Republican is wrong?"

  3. Re:Not much to be done by LostCluster · · Score: -1, Troll

    Hello Nike PR Shill, you must be new here.