Wonkette now employs the former head of Snopes to do fact-checking and commentary on things more-or-less related to fact checking. That woman, Brooke Binkowski, wrote a piece for Wonkette on this very topic. I really think you should read it b/c she has a lot of insight into this situation beyond just, “That’s so funny,” (which, admittedly, it is).
Thanks for the link CD. An excellent read with just enough snark. I too despair at the state of journalism that is often little more than a venue to spread every stupid thought of the disgraceful former guy while never reporting on the current POTUS without adding in some negative comments.
I haven’t seen much in the way of glowing articles with factual headlines like ‘Biden crushes Covid and rejuvenates the economy!’
John Moralessays
I myself find Wonkette to be too… um, try-hard at the snark.
I get very irritated when reading articles there (often cited and quoted in TET).
(I do wish they got that, sometimes, less is more)
—
Example, from the above link, with my markup:
This week, something extremely predictable yet extremely funny occurred: A tweet appeared with an astonishing, yet extremely believeable claim that immediately caught fire on social media and beyond.
“Can’t say for sure,” mused Twitter (whatever) account rickrudescalves, who has since very understandably locked down his account, “but [JD Vance] might be the first vp pick to have admitted in a ny times bestseller to fucking an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions (vance, hillbilly elegy, pp.-179-181).”
After this statement, several teachable moments emerged that were also extremely funny, and very satisfying to yr friendly neighborhood debunker who lives on spite and schadenfreude, and oh, am I dining out in style today.
Fucking grates. Extremely so.
(Please, give the fucking intensifiers a rest!)
John Moralessays
[Or, I hate being told what to think. Freethinker, I]
John Moralessays
Also, if one is gonna adduce a citation to some effect, either quote it or provide a link.
I am 100% getting the vibe that this is a bullshit claim, not supported by the citation.
(Fucking Wonkette, it’s for other people, those who like blurb instead of facts)
sonofrojblakesays
“I am the lord of the dance settee”.
Katydidsays
@John Morales, what do you think of the intensifier “almost”? I’ve noticed it’s crept into everyday speech--including fiction. Nothing is or it isn’t, it’s got to be “almost”.
Katydidsays
As for Vance and the couch, well…these stupid stories have been popping up against Democrats for decades now, so turnaround’s fair play?
John Moralessays
Katydid @7, I think ‘almost’ is a mitigator, not an intensifier.
Holmssays
Intensifier means more of the thing being modified. Almost does the opposite.
seachangesays
Sarcasm is a very useful defense against power. Heavy sarcasm is needed when the power is especially nasty and (deliberately?) obtuse and needs the exaggeration to be extreme before they ‘get it’. We in the United States at least are living in a massive thousands of miles in diameter soup of fake news all of which are repeating the fascist lines as hard and as often as they can *just like this* only they are pretending that they’re words aren’t massively fucked up and hilarious. And the people who read their words, they kill people, don’t they?
Wonkette’s slatherings of shit upon those who deserve it is both useful and therapeutic. It also expresses an editorial POV, ‘you should feel this way’. Unlike the fuckweasels who own most of the media in the United States and pretend they are neutral when they are in fact spewing fascist dogvomit, Wonkette *does not pretend* that they are unbiased.
So it is necessary in order to establish what they are saying is true, more likely to be true, and full of truthiness in a world where even the most logical and dispassionate people *must* make conclusions with insufficient information. Because Goedel. It’s the nature of ‘what it means to know things’. One could read the whole very long articles on Pro Publica, take them very seriously like they do mean one to take them, and then blow out their heart with blood pressure at the sheer outrage of the power-abuse that is going on, I guess?
Matt Gsays
Paraphrasing Dick Cheney: a lot of people seem to think the Iraqis have uranium. Gee, why is that , Dick? Don’t think of an elephant….
I hate that this non-issue is an issue (it’s indiscriminate, in addition to being intellectually dishonest), but if anyone deserves it….
birgerjohanssonsays
I am pretty certain Reublicans are as guilty as everyone else at making jokes about Appalachians.
Every reference to Vance should be listing his many execrable beliefs, ending with “but, to his credit, he never f*cked a sofa”.
> Unlike the fuckweasels who own most of the media in the United States and pretend they are neutral when they are in fact spewing fascist dogvomit, Wonkette *does not pretend* that they are unbiased.
Agree. I have no ill will towards those who dislike Wonkette. it’s a specific taste. But I absolutely loathe the New York Times’ professed professionalism disguising carefully crafted propaganda. Reading their work on climate change or trans health is a particularly noxious exercise.
I think the NYT and too many other outlets masks their position while carefully choosing only the framing that supports a particular viewpoint they wish readers to share. Wonkette is unabashed, true, but the NYT does the same by less honest methods.
And nothing is stopping anyone from disagreeing with Wonkette. Indeed, by making their case up front, I think it’s easier for people to find and express points of disagreement.
Now all that is apart from the profligate insults or other quirks of writing style, which might drive a person away from the site (as it has John Morales), and is clearly something that enhances the appeal for some and lowers it for others, but doesn’t affect the quality of the fact checking or opinion writing.
As a trans person constantly demonized in the press (groomer does mean sexual abuser of children, after all, and supposedly respectable outlets feel free to profligately quote right wing figures referring to me and mine that way), I don’t see any reason to celebrate an outlet that limits such disgusting attacks to the marginalized by the religious and or the politically powerful. They’re printing the attacks, whether crafted by their own reporters or gathered in quotes. The Times and other outlets — should they find such quotes newsworthy — could fit them into stories about how deranged fuckfaces are making horrific allegations that they know or should know are false. Instead they put them into stories about how the right wing accuses me of being a sexually abusive pedophile, and therefore maybe trans people shouldn’t have health care anymore.
I was disgusted myself with how often this very week people reported on Elon Musk’s comments denigrating his own daughter. The fucking interview was pushed to over 100 million users’ accounts, and still the entire goddamn media had to go and repeat what he said.
Can you just imagine being Vivian Wilson, choosing not to use X because you want nothing to do with your fuckface father, and then he does this and the entire rest of the media landscape covers itself with those words so you can’t escape them?
The very ethics of that disgust me.
And yet you didn’t see Wonkette repeating his words, not even to criticize them.
No, Wonkette tells you what they think up front, and they feel free to print insults, but that’s not what makes them unique in an environment where thousands of politicians and religious leaders get their insults of trans people printed in “respectable” papers every week.
It’s impossible to be the subject of such constant disparagement and still respect the fucking New York Times.
An intensifier is a word that strengthens or weakens another word (usually the word immediately to its right). An intensifier has no real meaning by itself and can usually be removed from the sentence.
Wonkette now employs the former head of Snopes to do fact-checking and commentary on things more-or-less related to fact checking. That woman, Brooke Binkowski, wrote a piece for Wonkette on this very topic. I really think you should read it b/c she has a lot of insight into this situation beyond just, “That’s so funny,” (which, admittedly, it is).
Here’s a link:
https://www.wonkette.com/p/guess-news-organizations-shouldnt
Thanks for the link CD. An excellent read with just enough snark. I too despair at the state of journalism that is often little more than a venue to spread every stupid thought of the disgraceful former guy while never reporting on the current POTUS without adding in some negative comments.
I haven’t seen much in the way of glowing articles with factual headlines like ‘Biden crushes Covid and rejuvenates the economy!’
I myself find Wonkette to be too… um, try-hard at the snark.
I get very irritated when reading articles there (often cited and quoted in TET).
(I do wish they got that, sometimes, less is more)
—
Example, from the above link, with my markup:
Fucking grates. Extremely so.
(Please, give the fucking intensifiers a rest!)
[Or, I hate being told what to think. Freethinker, I]
Also, if one is gonna adduce a citation to some effect, either quote it or provide a link.
I am 100% getting the vibe that this is a bullshit claim, not supported by the citation.
(Fucking Wonkette, it’s for other people, those who like blurb instead of facts)
“I am the lord of the dance settee”.
@John Morales, what do you think of the intensifier “almost”? I’ve noticed it’s crept into everyday speech--including fiction. Nothing is or it isn’t, it’s got to be “almost”.
As for Vance and the couch, well…these stupid stories have been popping up against Democrats for decades now, so turnaround’s fair play?
Katydid @7, I think ‘almost’ is a mitigator, not an intensifier.
Intensifier means more of the thing being modified. Almost does the opposite.
Sarcasm is a very useful defense against power. Heavy sarcasm is needed when the power is especially nasty and (deliberately?) obtuse and needs the exaggeration to be extreme before they ‘get it’. We in the United States at least are living in a massive thousands of miles in diameter soup of fake news all of which are repeating the fascist lines as hard and as often as they can *just like this* only they are pretending that they’re words aren’t massively fucked up and hilarious. And the people who read their words, they kill people, don’t they?
Wonkette’s slatherings of shit upon those who deserve it is both useful and therapeutic. It also expresses an editorial POV, ‘you should feel this way’. Unlike the fuckweasels who own most of the media in the United States and pretend they are neutral when they are in fact spewing fascist dogvomit, Wonkette *does not pretend* that they are unbiased.
So it is necessary in order to establish what they are saying is true, more likely to be true, and full of truthiness in a world where even the most logical and dispassionate people *must* make conclusions with insufficient information. Because Goedel. It’s the nature of ‘what it means to know things’. One could read the whole very long articles on Pro Publica, take them very seriously like they do mean one to take them, and then blow out their heart with blood pressure at the sheer outrage of the power-abuse that is going on, I guess?
Paraphrasing Dick Cheney: a lot of people seem to think the Iraqis have uranium. Gee, why is that , Dick? Don’t think of an elephant….
I hate that this non-issue is an issue (it’s indiscriminate, in addition to being intellectually dishonest), but if anyone deserves it….
I am pretty certain Reublicans are as guilty as everyone else at making jokes about Appalachians.
Every reference to Vance should be listing his many execrable beliefs, ending with “but, to his credit, he never f*cked a sofa”.
> Unlike the fuckweasels who own most of the media in the United States and pretend they are neutral when they are in fact spewing fascist dogvomit, Wonkette *does not pretend* that they are unbiased.
Agree. I have no ill will towards those who dislike Wonkette. it’s a specific taste. But I absolutely loathe the New York Times’ professed professionalism disguising carefully crafted propaganda. Reading their work on climate change or trans health is a particularly noxious exercise.
I think the NYT and too many other outlets masks their position while carefully choosing only the framing that supports a particular viewpoint they wish readers to share. Wonkette is unabashed, true, but the NYT does the same by less honest methods.
And nothing is stopping anyone from disagreeing with Wonkette. Indeed, by making their case up front, I think it’s easier for people to find and express points of disagreement.
Now all that is apart from the profligate insults or other quirks of writing style, which might drive a person away from the site (as it has John Morales), and is clearly something that enhances the appeal for some and lowers it for others, but doesn’t affect the quality of the fact checking or opinion writing.
As a trans person constantly demonized in the press (groomer does mean sexual abuser of children, after all, and supposedly respectable outlets feel free to profligately quote right wing figures referring to me and mine that way), I don’t see any reason to celebrate an outlet that limits such disgusting attacks to the marginalized by the religious and or the politically powerful. They’re printing the attacks, whether crafted by their own reporters or gathered in quotes. The Times and other outlets — should they find such quotes newsworthy — could fit them into stories about how deranged fuckfaces are making horrific allegations that they know or should know are false. Instead they put them into stories about how the right wing accuses me of being a sexually abusive pedophile, and therefore maybe trans people shouldn’t have health care anymore.
I was disgusted myself with how often this very week people reported on Elon Musk’s comments denigrating his own daughter. The fucking interview was pushed to over 100 million users’ accounts, and still the entire goddamn media had to go and repeat what he said.
Can you just imagine being Vivian Wilson, choosing not to use X because you want nothing to do with your fuckface father, and then he does this and the entire rest of the media landscape covers itself with those words so you can’t escape them?
The very ethics of that disgust me.
And yet you didn’t see Wonkette repeating his words, not even to criticize them.
No, Wonkette tells you what they think up front, and they feel free to print insults, but that’s not what makes them unique in an environment where thousands of politicians and religious leaders get their insults of trans people printed in “respectable” papers every week.
It’s impossible to be the subject of such constant disparagement and still respect the fucking New York Times.
As per https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/intensifier.htm
Damn fucking right it can be.
Harrumph! intransitive verb
Or at least, you like to think so! I have you down as more of a contrarian.
birgerjohansson@13
FTFY. After all, no-one except Vance himself can possibly know that he never fucked a sofa.
And, I might ask, when are we going to hear from the sofa he allegedly never fucked?