I don't understand why the people manipulated with lies aren't offended at the liars. They are primed to believe the lies, but aren't they mad that someone sought to manipulate them?
This keeps happening because it works. But why does it work? Why isn't there blowback?
It's embarrassing. Instead, they tell themselves, "well, it could have just as easily been real."
This has always been the case.
However, the more interesting thing going on is that we have never had to reckon with this problem anywhere near as much as we do now, since the barrier to creating fakes has been reduced from "skilled software user" to "all five billion humans who can write".
The ironic part is that the veracity of the debunking is being questioned, so depending on how this turns out, this could either be referring to "haha dumb right wingers falling for AI generated meme" or "haha dumb left wingers falling for AI generated debunking". Truly a rorschach test of a comment.
Do not address people in this way. You are contributing to the exact problem we're talking about (how easily it is for information to turn out to be wrong).
>Do not address people in this way. You are contributing to the exact problem we're talking about (how easy it is for information to turn out to be wrong).
It's pretty obvious the OP is a thinly veiled attack at whoever believed the "lie", dressed up as a question. The only saving grace is that the wording was so ambiguous that regardless of whether it was the debunking or counter-debunking that was correct, the comment would still be applicable.
As much as I hate to have to defend Jack Fucking Posobiec (aka EndWokeness), saving the "real" screenshot from this article and uploading it to OpenAI's verification tool[0] indicates that it, in fact, was AI-generated. I welcome any correction on this.
Of course it doesn't conclusively prove that the flag was definitely right side up, but you'd really have to bend over backwards to explain why Oregon Journalism Project's "debunking" is watermarked but the counter-debunkings aren't.
It's comical because I posted this knowing that the publisher was blatantly lying. You could literally look at the image they posted for 5 seconds and spot what was wrong with it. I just wanted to see how many other people would notice. It's interesting the retraction come shortly after I posted it, though.
Also worth noting at the time of this comment the lovely fact-checking website Axios is also still blatantly lying. Absolutely crazy this is all getting swept under the rug.
Candidate shouldn't have lied here (which seems likely based on the available evidence) and should have just owned it. Flying an upside-down flag is a perfectly patriotic thing to do in 2026, IMO, speaking as a white male, many-generational American. America is very much in distress.
But it is also ridiculous that the people predisposed to the other side (and who only made a big deal out of the original clip in the first place because they are racist misogynists) will hold up this relatively insignificant lie as some sort of an outrage while pulling the lever for the likes of Trump who lies as easily as he breathes.
> Flying an upside-down flag is a perfectly patriotic thing to do
It is a really dumb virtue-signaling protest thing. In fact, it has nothing to do with the actual "distress signal" that it is meant to be.
> America is very much in distress
But you don't invert the flag when your nation is in distress. You invert the flag when your vessel is in distress. Inverted flag is a 9-1-1 call to all who can see it. It indicates immediate and extreme danger to life, limb, or property.
Furthermore, it is not up to us dumb citizens to determine when our entire nation is in distress. Honestly, our nation is bigger than you or me, and she can fend for herself on her own merits, without us telling her how she should feel. If "all America is in distress" then who will come and save her, huh? We are sovereign and that means we take care of our own messes, and solve our own problems!
Let's leave the inverted flag for its true meaning, which is individual or vessel-wide distress. Anything else is just posturing and performative slacktivism.
Sorry you don't understand the concept of symbolism.
> Furthermore, it is not up to us dumb citizens to determine when our entire nation is in distress. Honestly, our nation is bigger than you or me, and she can fend for herself on her own merits, without us telling her how she should feel. If "all America is in distress" then who will come and save her, huh? We are sovereign and that means we take care of our own messes, and solve our own problems!
Nonsensical.
> Let's leave the inverted flag for its true meaning, which is individual or vessel-wide distress. Anything else is just posturing and performative slacktivism.
Running for office is slacktivism now? You gotta try harder to justify your fake outrage, this is just lazy.
Sorry, but I have been Roman Catholic for 54 years. I've deeply studied the liturgy, architecture, iconography and sacred art. I can assure you that I know "the concept of symbolism" pretty damn well by now.
My mom has a little American flag pin, and she's taken to wearing it inverted on purpose. At least one friend has tried to rotate it right-side up for her, and she had to explain what she's doing with it. I respectfully disagree. My father faithfully flew our flag on every prescribed day, very respectfully, and Dad, (unlike Mom) taught me a lot of respect for authority that was wasted on me in youth, but is beginning to make sense as I age and accumulate more wisdom.
So no, it's not "patriotic" to fly an inverted American flag. It's arrogant. It takes the idea that "our nation is in distress" and leaves it to the judgement of the individual who hoists the flag, rather than our leadership or someone in authority. That's not for us to judge. That's the arrogance.
It's foolish to abuse our national symbol like that. It's disrespectful. It's like calling 9-1-1 to order a pizza. It's not something that patriots do. Patriots fly the flag with respect, and according to the regulations. There are regulations for flying and displaying the American flag.
I've seen a guy at church with a big American flag shirt. It's got eagles and woo woo on it but it's substantially an image of a big American flag, but on his shirt. That's disrespectful. I am sure that he considers himself a patriot, and a conservative, but that is not how Americans should be displaying the flag, as a garment, as wrapping ourselves in something, and certainly not inverting it.
Now if the American flag is flown, inverted, outside an official's residence, such as one of the Supreme Court Justices, perhaps that should be taken with some gravitas. Unfortunately, that very Justice denied that he authorized that display, and apparently his wife did it without his input. So we are kinda back at the arrogance and judgementalism that individual citizens believe our nation is in distress, and therefore, they stretch symbolism to its breaking-point, in order to make a public statement. It's wrong.
I encourage you to try and dial 9-1-1 to order your next pizza, and see how the dispatcher treats you. And now imagine that some veteran comes home from deployment and sees your asinine "symbolism" in your front yard. Perhaps you might care to spit in her face, or give her a slap while you're at it?
I honestly could care less about the lie. I'm more offended about the upside down flag because, like the other person replied, it's not in fact an appropriate use. But I guess that automatically enrolls me into the racist misogynist group of people to simply disagree on the proper use of an upside down flag.
31 comments
[ 2.2 ms ] story [ 15.4 ms ] threadhttps://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://lookaside.fbsbx...
This keeps happening because it works. But why does it work? Why isn't there blowback?
This has always been the case.
However, the more interesting thing going on is that we have never had to reckon with this problem anywhere near as much as we do now, since the barrier to creating fakes has been reduced from "skilled software user" to "all five billion humans who can write".
It's pretty obvious the OP is a thinly veiled attack at whoever believed the "lie", dressed up as a question. The only saving grace is that the wording was so ambiguous that regardless of whether it was the debunking or counter-debunking that was correct, the comment would still be applicable.
[0] https://openai.com/research/verify/
e: Okay, now I feel stupid and AI-psychotic for even bothering to do that. Look below her name and you'll see the leftovers of the old flag.
https://x.com/kgallella/status/2112332869461045733
https://x.com/Honest_Bender/status/2112301833708519659
Of course it doesn't conclusively prove that the flag was definitely right side up, but you'd really have to bend over backwards to explain why Oregon Journalism Project's "debunking" is watermarked but the counter-debunkings aren't.
screenshot for posterity: https://i.postimg.cc/vTCTyYZ1/Screenshot.png
Also worth noting at the time of this comment the lovely fact-checking website Axios is also still blatantly lying. Absolutely crazy this is all getting swept under the rug.
It would be interesting to know where the "corrected" deepfake originated.
But it is also ridiculous that the people predisposed to the other side (and who only made a big deal out of the original clip in the first place because they are racist misogynists) will hold up this relatively insignificant lie as some sort of an outrage while pulling the lever for the likes of Trump who lies as easily as he breathes.
It is a really dumb virtue-signaling protest thing. In fact, it has nothing to do with the actual "distress signal" that it is meant to be.
> America is very much in distress
But you don't invert the flag when your nation is in distress. You invert the flag when your vessel is in distress. Inverted flag is a 9-1-1 call to all who can see it. It indicates immediate and extreme danger to life, limb, or property.
Furthermore, it is not up to us dumb citizens to determine when our entire nation is in distress. Honestly, our nation is bigger than you or me, and she can fend for herself on her own merits, without us telling her how she should feel. If "all America is in distress" then who will come and save her, huh? We are sovereign and that means we take care of our own messes, and solve our own problems!
Let's leave the inverted flag for its true meaning, which is individual or vessel-wide distress. Anything else is just posturing and performative slacktivism.
> Furthermore, it is not up to us dumb citizens to determine when our entire nation is in distress. Honestly, our nation is bigger than you or me, and she can fend for herself on her own merits, without us telling her how she should feel. If "all America is in distress" then who will come and save her, huh? We are sovereign and that means we take care of our own messes, and solve our own problems!
Nonsensical.
> Let's leave the inverted flag for its true meaning, which is individual or vessel-wide distress. Anything else is just posturing and performative slacktivism.
Running for office is slacktivism now? You gotta try harder to justify your fake outrage, this is just lazy.
My mom has a little American flag pin, and she's taken to wearing it inverted on purpose. At least one friend has tried to rotate it right-side up for her, and she had to explain what she's doing with it. I respectfully disagree. My father faithfully flew our flag on every prescribed day, very respectfully, and Dad, (unlike Mom) taught me a lot of respect for authority that was wasted on me in youth, but is beginning to make sense as I age and accumulate more wisdom.
So no, it's not "patriotic" to fly an inverted American flag. It's arrogant. It takes the idea that "our nation is in distress" and leaves it to the judgement of the individual who hoists the flag, rather than our leadership or someone in authority. That's not for us to judge. That's the arrogance.
It's foolish to abuse our national symbol like that. It's disrespectful. It's like calling 9-1-1 to order a pizza. It's not something that patriots do. Patriots fly the flag with respect, and according to the regulations. There are regulations for flying and displaying the American flag.
I've seen a guy at church with a big American flag shirt. It's got eagles and woo woo on it but it's substantially an image of a big American flag, but on his shirt. That's disrespectful. I am sure that he considers himself a patriot, and a conservative, but that is not how Americans should be displaying the flag, as a garment, as wrapping ourselves in something, and certainly not inverting it.
Now if the American flag is flown, inverted, outside an official's residence, such as one of the Supreme Court Justices, perhaps that should be taken with some gravitas. Unfortunately, that very Justice denied that he authorized that display, and apparently his wife did it without his input. So we are kinda back at the arrogance and judgementalism that individual citizens believe our nation is in distress, and therefore, they stretch symbolism to its breaking-point, in order to make a public statement. It's wrong.
I encourage you to try and dial 9-1-1 to order your next pizza, and see how the dispatcher treats you. And now imagine that some veteran comes home from deployment and sees your asinine "symbolism" in your front yard. Perhaps you might care to spit in her face, or give her a slap while you're at it?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49335863
You should probably not post racist garbage if you want to pretend otherwise.
Do you get so upset about the flag when it's used as napkins, plates, thongs, or toilet paper?
Oh wait, she is Somali and all the rabid racists right wing trolls latched on to it. Now I am supposed to be concerned about the fake edit. I'm not.