Trump Supreme Court Nominee Kavanaugh

The headline for the article I have chosen is Daughter of CIA Assassin Paymaster Tries to Bring Down Trump Supreme Court Nominee. The main claim of the article is that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's accusation of her attempted rape by Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh is actually false and that this is all a plot by the CIA to bring down President Donald Trump. It goes on to try to prove itself by claiming that Dr. Ford is actually the daughter and sister of CIA operatives and that she is actually teaching CIA tested brainwashing techniques at Stanford University.

The headline of the article accurately represents the article, as it tells the audience what the article will be about. Also, there is no specific original source cited in the article or website for this claim. However, similar claims has popped up on the internet ever since Dr. Ford's name became public, most likely, due to discontent by Trump and Kavanaugh supporters. The website that this news article was on is not from one of the fake news sites listed on The Daily Dot or Snopes, but confirmation involving the claim itself can be found on Snopes.

I was attracted to this article because of the claim in the headline. Being a woman, these kinds of claims of false sexual assault reports are concerning to me, because we are the ones most known to be prey to sexual assault and harassment. These kinds of claims would make future claims doubtful and therefore, detrimental to creating a safe society for women to thrive. It also casts a negative light on women in general, which would just fuel the gender inequality in this country. What amused me was that the notes at the end claim that the website is exposing the truth to Americans so that we won't be blinded, yet, the organization itself sounds like a cult of some sort. In addition, it's claims that governments discredit them to further their own agenda backs that notion even more. Though, I do not doubt there are governments like that, if their information really was true, the media would have mentioned it before, yet it is denounced as a site that fabricates evidence to prove their claims.

Other Sources

According to Snopes, this story about Dr. Ford being a part of a CIA plot is false. Dr. Ford is accused of teaching mind control to help the CIA and is linked by the CIA Internship program at Stanford. However, she not involved in the Internship program in any way. In addition, others try to connect her brother with the CIA and Fusion GPS. Yet, Dr. Ford's brother only worked in a company that resided in the same building as three other CIA-operated companies and left years before the company worked with Fusion GPS. In conjunction, Politifact also debunks the claim that Dr. Ford's brother works for or with the CIA. The third link theorists claim, was that Nick Deak was her grandfather. Not only is she a different person from her grandfather, and therefore wouldn't be the same person nor have the same interests, Nick Deak's only recorded child was a son named Robert Leslie. While her father is named Ralph Blasey Jr., and there is no one by that name on her mother's side of the family. Overall, the claim that Dr. Ford is a CIA operative is proven untrue by disproving the three main claims of the article.

Conclusion/ Lesson

Social media has developed into a wide array of connections with people separated by long distances and is able to carry news in seconds. And in this way, fake news is spread by unsuspecting people. Sharing and promoting a certain piece of news takes only a tap; fast, efficient, and easy. And because it has gotten so easy, people don't really stop to think or bother to search if something is true. The catchy title part of fake news is also contributed by the popularity chasers. Being popular has been a phenomenon for centuries, but it has not been as pervasive as now, with social media. Teens want to be popular even with other peers at the other side of the world, they might not have met before, and sharing catchy stories, true or not, is the easiest way. I personally, have never posted fake news, mostly because I'm not usually on social media sites, even if I have accounts on them. However, my takeaway from this assignment is to always check the facts before you post something online and doubt everything you see. After all, even credible news sites make mistakes, the reporters are only human in the end. My second takeaway is that fake news is easy to create and most people do so for immediate personal profits with little care for truth or crazy occultists.

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