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The Atlantic

The Atlantic

The Internet Is Worse Than a Brainwashing Machine

The Atlantic
Summary
Nutrition label

68% Informative

Writers: January 6, 2021 , is a powerful example of how the internet has warped our political reality.

Writers: Even before the rioters were out of the building, a fringe movement was building a world of purported evidence online to justify the attack and rewrite what really happened that day .

They say the internet function as a brainwashing engine but as a justification machine.

As the mob stormed the Capitol on January 6 , the justification machine spun up, providing denial-as-a-service to whoever was in need of it, in real time.

The current internet, a mature ecosystem with widespread access and ease of self-publishing, is not aided by the adoption of conspiracy theories.

Frida Ghitis : The justification machine thrives on the breakneck pace of our information environment.

She says every event becomes little more than evidence to score political points in a culture where you never have to change your mind or confront uncomfortable information.

Ghitis says January 6 was overblown, but the events of January 6 were ancient history.

VR Score

66

Informative language

60

Neutral language

31

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

56

Offensive language

possibly offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

detected

Time-value

short-lived

External references

22

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