A few days ago I posted a story about the ShootingTracker.com website, which uses incidents involving minor injuries from airsoft pellet guns to pad their “mass shooting” statistics. One of our eagle-eyed readers noticed that the person in charge of that website — Reddit user Gnome_Chompsky — was recently appointed as the moderator of an area of the website that deals specifically with propaganda. In his acceptance speech he points to his prized website as an example of the fine propaganda work that he’s been engaged in . . .
From the thread:
Hey everyone, glad to be on board! If any of you know me its probably from /r/GunsAreCool , a sub that mocks the absurdity of American gun culture. I’ve helped mod there for a couple years now, I’m the one who owns our website www.shootingtracker.com a nice bit of work we’ve been able to get used on-air on MSNBC and CNN, in print at Mother Jones and Reuters, and cited in peer reviewed academic journals like the American Journal of Public Health among other places. I’m fairly heavily involved in politics, most recently being brought in to work with Everytown in the last election here in Oregon, helping Chuck Riley topple an incumbent in SD-15 for the express purpose of getting a stalled Universal Background Check bill on to the governor’s desk, a bill that was signed into law last week.
My fascination with propaganda began some years ago when I was studying journalism at Berkeley (fight on you Bears!) and continues unabated. The way it distills a message down to its basest form, and focuses its all on getting that message across and grabbing attention is what draws me in so much.
Deliberately including kids using (or abusing) airsoft guns along with actual “mass shootings” is prima facie agitprop. It’s a deliberate and calculated attempt to confuse the voting public in order to push a political agenda, which is basically the definition of propaganda. It’s nice when the creators themselves admit that their creations are deceitful, but I doubt that will stop willing accomplices like Reuters and CNN from continuing to use them in their “journalism.”
Any time a news site cites shootingtracker.com, carpet bomb their inbox with Chompsky’s own words.
Exactly!
Don’t let this quote die – screen cap, URL, archive.org; all these references should be tossed out when it’s used.
https://archive.is/OwCGF got the comment archived already.
Dang. I was a little late:
https://web.archive.org/web/20151009055415/https://www.reddit.com/r/PropagandaPosters/comments/380c0o/welcome_to_our_new_mods/crrau5k
https://web.archive.org/web/20151009060133/https://www.reddit.com/r/PropagandaPosters/comments/380c0o/welcome_to_our_new_mods/
Actually, it’s a site that links to the local news stories of the mass shootings. But, and it’s a big but, you need to do a second click to go to the actual story.
And, since the local story is written by the local progressive “authorized journalists” you have to decipher at times that the shootings, about eighty to ninety percent of the time, are by minority gang bangers shooting fellow gang bangers.
So, unless a person wants to do a little work and research, all they do is look at the synopsis of the tally of people shot, and it looks like a blood bath of just regular law abiding americans shooting each other for kicks. .
So , yes, it is taking a basic “truth” and twisting it to promote a certain agenda, very effectively. Otherwise known as propoganda.
The way to counter this is to publish a break down of each story, show the mug shots and criminal record of each shooter, and shootee and show that the majority of our mass shootings originate with our criminal class.
No different from the clowns at dogsbite.org.
One of the things I spend the most time on at my work is teaching online literacy to students and adults. How to identify quality sources of information and spot trash info.
When a national news outlet cites one of these garbage sites it makes my job so much more difficult.
In this “information age” society is splitting into know nothings and know somethings. What were once sources of know something information and data are quickly degrading into the major sources of know nothing garbage. It’s really too bad for society as a whole. It’s no longer hyperbole or humor to state that morons and fools are running the country because they absolutely are and will continue to do so. The inevitable result is that the closed loop feeds back and the few know somethings that are in charge of feeding the know nothings will become know nothings themselves as real data is lost to history. Idiocracy is happening just not the way the movie portrayed it would. It’s happening the way royal families become inbred.
“Chompsky” is everything we’re come to expect from a Berkeley grad. I will follow his blog with rapt attention, awaiting the coverage of his sexual reassignment surgery and his courageous struggle to become male.
Unfortunately, Noam Chomsky is a real person. See below: (whoever it is writing under the name “Gnome Chompsky” ought to be sued for libel) Might want to do some research regarding the real person. His writings and his achievements will put most others in this country to shame.
Political positions of Noam Chomsky
His ideological position revolves around “nourishing the libertarian and creative character of the human being”,[146] and he has described his beliefs as “fairly traditional anarchist ones, with origins in the Enlightenment and classical liberalism.”[147] He has praised libertarian socialism,[148] and has described himself as an anarcho-syndicalist.[149] He is a member of the Campaign for Peace and Democracy and the Industrial Workers of the World international union.[150] Chomsky is also a member of the interim consultative committee of the International Organization for a Participatory Society, which he describes as having the potential to “…carry us a long way towards unifying the many initiatives here and around the world and molding them into a powerful and effective force.”[151][152] He advocates popular struggle for greater democracy. He has stated his opposition to ruling elites, among them institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and GATT.[153] As a result of his views on the Middle East conflict, Chomsky has been officially banned from entering Israel since 2010.
Why sue for libel? The two guys probably find themselves in agreement more often than not. Or, to put it another way, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery; “Chompsky” chose that handle out of admiration, not disagreement. Or are you going to tell us that Noam is a gun-rights advocate? You might also try to tell us–or at least me–how “libertarian socialism” is even possible, given that under socialism, the state owns the “means of production”, not the individuals.
I respect Chomsky, but I don’t think he’s a fan of the 2nd amendment. In his own words:
“It’s pretty clear that, taken literally, the Second Amendment doesn’t permit people to have guns. ”
“Many people who advocate keeping guns have fear of the government in the back of their minds. But that’s a crazy response to a real problem.”
“Guns in the hands of American citizens are not going to make the country more benign. They’re going to make it more brutal, ruthless and destructive. So while one can recognize the motivation that lies behind some of the opposition to gun control, I think it’s sadly misguided.”
– https://www.reddit.com/r/Anarchism/comments/1cca41/chomsky_on_gun_control/
Chomsky is no friend of mine when it comes to the RKBA.
What’s to respect about someone who evidently can’t read plain English? The sentence structure of the Second Amendment is really not byzantine, it has an introductory dependent clause and a perfectly understandable independent (aka “main”) clause which, well, literally states that the right of the PEOPLE (not MILITIA) to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
So, if the real Chompsky is an anarchist and favors libertarian socialism, he probably wouldn’t mind giving me all his stuff because I don’t have it, and when a riotous crowd burns his house down because they don’t like its location, he’d be OK with that too?
Or he’s probably just another “one rule for me and another for thee” elitist.
Well, since more than one web site lists him as one of the wealthiest philosophers in the world, with earnings of close to 100 mil so far this year, I’m betting he’s just another elitist.
I can’t believe that he used the word Propaganda………….. on the Internet………….. it’s like he doesn’t care. Like he knows deep down that even if he stands on the rooftop and shouts that its all pure bullshit, nobody will care. He just told us that he is a liar or the closest thing to it without telling outright lies and that he’s pushed his special brand of recycled cow food straight into peer reviewed journals and the media.
I don’t have words for how badly I wish we could make this guy eat crow.
^ Or even if they don’t reference that site. We can use this to paint all the anti gun types with the paint brush full of paint he just handed us. We know they will lie and they will falsify the data….more and more government sites have been caught doing the same thing. For example NOAH admits they “adjust” data and that the results are showing global warming just by coincidence.
First off, it’s NOAA. Second, their adjustments have to do with the methodology behind sea surface temperatures, which have varied appreciably over time. This had led to inconsistencies in the measured temperature. They are trying to account for those issues as best they can. As the understanding of how methodology effects measurements changes, the measurements of necessity need to be updated. That’s how science works. Conflating that with the intentional skewing of “data” for propaganda purposes is foolish to say the least.
Or….they could be exploiting a legitimate finer point of data acquisition as cover to cook the books. We’ve already seen hacked emails from that Scottish university in which scheming global warming scientists discussed how to “hide the decline” in temperatures their data revealed.
Global warming as a whole is a hoax. That’s why they had to rename it “climate change.” Rather than argue sound science with reliable data, under that infinitely elastic label, now they can simply point to whatever happens, blame Man, and prescribe their statist solutions.
It’s monstrous and deceptive. None of these guilty climatology conspirators gets the benefit of the doubt. Everything they do must be viewed through the prism of their dystopic machinations.
Journalism at Berkeley.
Of course.
This place must the east coast mass shooting center, I would have guessed DC, B’more, NYC but it’s some hick town in VA. http://www.ballahackairsoft.com/ We need more common sense laws to prevent such carnage. 6mm pellets of pain inflicting pain and suffering every weekend has to STOP!!!
Where can I get the gnome?
Wow. No doubt this little shitstain never read any Orwell.
Good little statist, doing his part to keep we-the-people spoon fed garbage propoganda to further the political aims of power hungry tyrants.
Interesting.
NOAA tricked up the data to make push up the temperature data. This is not the first time they have changed the data to make the climate models look accurate.
See the site Watts up With That.
Do you, or any readers, have a link to the inclusion of airsoft in their phony calculations? Thanks.
Hahahha he even brags about his involvement in passing the law that confiscationists tout now, that did absolute zero for the kids in Oregon.
Congrats, dingbat…
If antis didn’t have lies and inflated statistics, they wouldn’t have anything–other than their “feelings” and unfounded assumptions, that is.
Chomsky is also a terrorist supporter, from Camera.org
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=8&x_nameinnews=97&x_article=1151
July 20, 2006 by Zachary Hughes
Noam Chomsky’s Support for Hezbollah
On May 8, 2006, MIT Professor Noam Chomsky began an eight-day visit to Lebanon where met with leaders of the terrorist organization Hezbollah . Chomsky received a hero’s welcome and effectively acted as a propagandist for the terrorist group as he repeated much of its rhetoric and lies on Lebanese television, including Hezbollah’s own Al Manar TV.
Chomsky expressed support for the arming of Hezbollah, in direct contradiction to UN Security Council Resolution 1559 calliing for “the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias”:
Hezbollah’s insistence on keeping its arms is justified… I think [Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan] Nasrallah has a reasoned argument and [a] persuasive argument that they [the arms] should be in the hands of Hezbollah as a deterrent to potential aggression, and there is plenty of background reasons for that. So until – I think his position [is] reporting it correctly and it seems to me [a] reasonable position, is that until there is a general political settlement in the region, [and] the threat of aggression and violence is reduced or eliminated, there has to be a deterrent, and the Lebanese army can’t be a deterrent. (Noam Chomsky, Al Manar TV, 13 May 2006)
At the time, Chomsky’s comment drew criticism from commentators in the Arab world who pointed out that, “Most Lebanese are against the Hezbollah arms…the Hezbollah arms scare the Lebanese people more than the Israelis.” (Ali Hussein, “Chomsky needs to learn a lot more about Lebanon,” Ya Libnan, May 13, 2006.) But Chomsky’s zeal in defending a terrorist organization that shares his own anti-American and anti-Israel sentiments outweighed any thought as to the practical implications for the wider Arab public.
I hope he is a victim of a violent crime and unarmed is made to reflect on his defenseless position.
It’s the only way to convince people they are wrong
Yes where can I get the gnome in the pic? It’s pretty cool.
Wow.
You’re blatantly lying. That was not an admission of using propaganda. He states how interested he was in it. After all, he’s fighting propagandists like you.
But keep sticking your heads in the sand and make up whatever lies you want.
How so? He comes right out and talks about how he is using his skills, and gives us a glimpse of where he developed his skills and why.
Its not like we were talking about football, and he suddenly interjects in detail how much he likes cake, and then switches back to football. It’s all related.
This article deserves a bump to the top again in a few weeks. Every time shootingtracker.com is mentioned as a source, people need to be reminded. whether its in a comment or twitter debate. Or sending a note along to the editors and writers at your local paper.
Who was the journalist at CNN who looked at the Everytowns own “74 school shootings” claim?
Emailed PRI about their use of that site and link to the Redit post.
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-10-08/piers-morgan-gun-control-me-doing-nothing-unconscionable#comments
Pretty funny he left out Canada in his list of countries that have been violent and now nice places.
I could read a book about this without finding such real-world aprhpacoes!
He made a comment about propaganda — in a subreddit called propagandaposters — and you guys are taking that to mean that the shootingtracker is, according to him, propaganda? Wow you are REALLY reaching. No person with an ounce of sense is gonna believe you. Because that’s not what he said.
Thinking for yourself is always good. Sometimes someone says it better.
“I’ve had enough of someone else’s propaganda. I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it’s for or against. I’m a human being first and foremost, and as such I m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”
Malcolm X
No double standards put DC politicians on Obamacare and SS.Thanks for your support and vote.Pass the word. mrpresident2016.com
I like how his crap website has been referenced in peer reviewed journals. That pretty much tells us the value of peer reviewed.