r/TrueReddit • u/wiredmagazine Official Publication • 5d ago
Politics How Disinformation About the Minnesota Shooting Spread Like Wildfire on X
https://www.wired.com/story/disinformation-minnesota-shooting-x/69
u/OptimisticSkeleton 5d ago
Tl;dr Twitter has become a propaganda machine for republicans.
Edit: to make this comment long enough to be posted I’m adding some stuff about how Elon Musk will be remembered for 1000 years as one of the men who destroyed American democracy.
We were beaten by incels. That should be embarrassing for all of us.
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u/Individual_Bear_3190 5d ago
I genuinely do not understand why anyone continues to use that site. The most common answer I receive when I ask this question is, "well, my favorite artist is on twitter"
ok, why are your favorite artists on there? I don't hang out at nazi bars, and if I found out my favorite artists were hanging out at nazi bars, they would not be my favorite artist anymore.
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u/Arael15th 4d ago
Yup. Bluesky works fine and is no longer invite-only. I get that some artists might be terrified of giving up their following that they worked so hard to build, so the consumers may need to lead the way here.
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u/shellexyz 2d ago
More terrified that if they (rightfully) give up on Twitter, the MAGA lunatics among their followers will scream far louder than the non-maga-lunatics over blue sky.
They’ll be all over the news, Cheeto jesus will twist things about them,…
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u/ScandalOZ 6h ago
Why not have both? I know some alt journalists that still are on X but no longer post there. They moved to blue sky and that is where they post. Or substack for longer posts.
Diversify is the key.
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u/InnerWrathChild 5d ago
Bots, a network of right wing media hacks, and the generally uneducated and everything non -white phobic viewership. It’s been festering for a while, Musks ownership just let it go wild.
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u/wiredmagazine Official Publication 5d ago
Under Elon Musk's leadership, X has become the perfect platform to supercharge the spread of dangerous disinformation during breaking news events.
Read the full story: https://www.wired.com/story/disinformation-minnesota-shooting-x/
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u/SueDunham76 5d ago
Your magazine is going out of business because of stupid articles like this. We, the people, reject you.
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u/LetsJerkCircular 5d ago
Troll account, I hope…
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u/SueDunham76 5d ago
Conservatism is the counter culture. Don't be sad, maybe in twenty years it'll be cool to be a limp wristed soy boy and you can pretend you are the cool ones again.
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u/Individual_Bear_3190 5d ago
low effort ragebait lmao
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u/Upper-Post-638 4d ago
Imagine thinking controlling every part of the federal government and a majority of state governments makes you a counterculture. The stupidity
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u/LetsJerkCircular 5d ago
Furthermore, I doubt this account is used by a real person. In other words, you a bot.
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u/valegrete 5d ago
Lol you have no mandate and you don’t speak for the people. Over half the country dislikes Musk.
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u/AquietRive 4d ago
The owner of twitter is a raging transphobe and loves spreading transphobic misinformation. That’s all this article really needed to say.
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u/ToriGirlie 5d ago
I've heard some wild arguments trying to assert that the shooter being trans can be tied to some developing trend of trans shooters. Looking mass shooting data, the data doesn't support the conclusion.
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u/HWHAProb 4d ago
Also for what it's worth, the shooter seems to have been part of the far right anti LGBTQ detrans movement - not actively a trans person.
He identified as a cis white neo-nazi when he shot up the school. We should respect that as his identity
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u/bluvanguard13 3d ago
I thought the far right liked trump?
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u/HWHAProb 3d ago
Most do. Not all. There's factionalism like in any movement. Some white supremacists wish he'd go full 'bring back slavery'
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u/Purple_Science4477 2d ago
To a lot of them he isn't mask off enough and he still fully cooperates with Israel so they "hate" him for that
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u/Hefty-Reaction-3028 5d ago
Given the small portion of people who are trans, where is your data source that says we have a definitive amount of data to show one way or another that trans people are under- or over-represented as shooters?
Without that, the only reasonable position is to have some agnostiticism on the issue
Note that such a correlation wouldn't automatically mean it's a cause, too
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u/ToriGirlie 5d ago
USA today corroborated findings from the National Study of terrorism and responses to terrorism reaches that conclusion. From other news articles there have been like 4 definitively trans shooters out of thousands of shooters
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u/posthuman04 4d ago
The fact it’s the most likely demographic to commit suicide and specifically a demographic demonized by the majority political party that is imitating Nazis is enough reason to recognize the probability of extenuating circumstances in any public case. That these instances of recognized violence are even less common than the instances of the demographic relative to all violence is just the cherry on top
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u/Ok-External6314 2d ago
So they're not going to name any supposed misinformation? This is a cope article
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u/bliceroquququq 5d ago edited 5d ago
Title of the article: "How Disinformation About the Minnesota Shooting Spread Like Wildfire on X"
Actual examples given of the "dangerous disinformation" that spread on X: None.
Literally none.
Edit: You know I'm right, but that makes you upset, so just smash that downvote button.
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u/asmrkage 5d ago
The ‘disinformation’ was people claiming to know the shooters motives, which were later shown to be unlikely (ie angry trans vengeance against Catholics). But by then it’s too late to clarify anything because social media does its thing. But, speculation is nothing new. I suppose the difference now is that political propaganda machines/bots can spread their “speculations” far and wide with no consequence on platforms like X, and so it becomes a stronger version of speculation, ie explicitly political propagandic misinformation, because they never have a need to correct their speculations when proven wrong because X doesn’t give a shit. It’s part of our ongoing post-Truth societal collapse, and there’s no doubt that X is a large driver of it.
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u/bliceroquququq 5d ago
were later shown to be unlikely (ie angry trans vengeance against Catholics)
Wut? What part of that sentence has been "shown to be unlikely"? Please be specific.
Were they not trans?
Were they not angry?
Did they not deliberately murder Catholic school children, after drawing a detailed map of said Catholic school as part of their planned attack on it?
Please, which part of this was "dangerous misinformation"?
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u/Big_Dinner3636 5d ago
Theres no evidence the shooting was a deliberate attack against Catholics.
The claim that trans people disproportionately commit mass shootings is disinformation.
The claim the attack was antisemitic is disinformation.
The claim the attacker was "radicalized by Islam" is disinformation.
The shooter explicitly stated, multiple times, that there was no ideology behind the shooting other than a desire to commit violence. The school was chosen because the shooter had a prior history at the school and knew the layout, making it an easier target.
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u/bliceroquququq 5d ago
Theres no evidence the shooting was a deliberate attack against Catholics.
I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone split hairs so finely. It was a deliberate attack and it was against Catholics, but your claim is that there is "no evidence it was a deliberate attack against Catholics", and the very suggestion that it might be is "disinformation".
M'kay.
When Dylann Roof murdered 9 African Americans at a black church in Charleston in 2015, is it also unclear to you whether he was deliberately targeting African Americans, or if he just happened to pick a convenient place to shoot people at?
When Timothy McVeigh blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, was he really expressing antigovernmental sentiment by murdering 168 people, or was the parking situation just really handy to leave an explosive-laden truck next to?
When 9/11 happened, were the hijackers truly expressing anti-American sentiment, or was it maybe just that the World Trade Center was the simplest building to crash multiple commercial airliners into?
Any sort of mental gymnastics to avoid facing reality I guess. On-brand, really.
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u/Big_Dinner3636 5d ago
The shooter chose Annunciation because they had a history there and knew the location. Nothing in their manifesto or video expressed an intention to target Catholics specifically. Their ideology was just to kill and the school provided an easy target which they had an extensive knowledge of.
Every example you mentioned explicitly stated why they were attacking where they were attacking and who specifically they were attacking, so your retort is just so disingenuous, it really can't even be taken seriously.
Dylann Roof explicitly wanted to kill black people to start a race war.
Timothy McVeigh explicitly wanted to kill federal employees, specifically ATF and FBI agents, over Waco and Ruby Ridge.
The 9/11 hijackers explicitly wanted to attack US symbols of American economic and military power.
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u/bliceroquququq 5d ago
They also knew the layout of the local Starbucks, the local grocery store, and the local shopping mall.
Why not any of those places?
Why did Audrey Hale go murder nine year olds at their former Christian school?
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u/Big_Dinner3636 5d ago
The shooter explicitly had a desire to kill children and idolized mass shooters, school shooters specifically. This is all public knowledge, my guy.
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u/subLimb 4d ago
In 2025 we are now accused of "splitting hairs" if we apply even the most rudimentary amount of nuance or critical thinking to our understanding of a situation. Wild times.
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u/Aman-Ra-19 3d ago
More like you’ll propagandize and lie and anything. The guy wrote mocking slogans against catholics and then killed them and their children at a mass. Reddit just refuses to accept Christian’s could be the target of hate.
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u/Aman-Ra-19 3d ago
Literally 1984 vibes from leftists with this talking point. He had slogans on his gun and in his notebook mocking Catholics. He might have had other targets of his hate too but he only killed Catholics school children.
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u/bliceroquququq 3d ago
In leftist orthodoxy, only they are allowed to be victims. They cannot, by definition, be an oppressor; their entire worldview and mentality is organized around their perpetual victimhood.
So we all have to endure the endless mental gymnastics. Luckily I don't think anyone outside of Reddit even listens to it anymore.
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u/asmrkage 5d ago
So, should I assume you just pretended to read the article in your original reply? Wow, I am very shocked. Stick with your political cult subs, it’s easier to mentally digest.
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u/im-obsolete 5d ago
Ummmm almost all of those claims turned out to be true.
And wasn't X supposed to fail under Musk? Remember all of the claims that it would be bankrupt in months? Now it's estimated worth is 44 billion.
Whoops.
Maybe censoring people for wrongthink turned out to be a bad decision? Now it's more powerful than all of the pitiful mainstream media outlets combined.
Never go full fascist.
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u/donvito716 5d ago
If you should never go full fascist why are you defending Twitter
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u/im-obsolete 5d ago
The fascist censorship happened under the Biden/Harris regime when the company was run (very poorly) by left-wing lunatics.
It's now the free-speech platform, which is never good for the left.
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u/Big_Dinner3636 5d ago
According to internal Twitter data, did Twitter approve more or less government requests for censorship after Elon took over?
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u/donvito716 5d ago
Hahaha, what a funny fantasy world you live in. How dare the Biden/Harris regime force Twitter to censor content... when Trump was president during his first term...
WHEN THE WHITE House called up Twitter in the early morning hours of September 9, 2019, officials had what they believed was a serious issue to report: Famous model Chrissy Teigen had just called President Donald Trump “a pussy ass bitch” on Twitter — and the White House wanted the tweet to come down.
That exchange — revealed during Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing on Twitter by Rep. Gerry Connolly — and others like it are nowhere to be found in Elon Musk’s “ Twitter Files” releases, which have focused almost exclusively on requests from Democrats and the feds to the social media company. The newly empowered Republican majority in the House of Representatives is now devoting significant resources and time to investigating this supposed “collusion” between liberal politicians and Twitter. Some Republicans even believe the release of the “Twitter Files” is the “ tip of the spear” of their crusade against the alleged liberal bias of Big Tech.
But former Trump administration officials and Twitter employees tell Rolling Stone that the White House’s Teigan tweet demand was hardly an isolated incident: The Trump administration and its allied Republicans in Congress routinely asked Twitter to take down posts they objected to — the exact behavior that they’re claiming makes President Biden, the Democrats, and Twitter complicit in an antifree speech conspiracy to muzzle conservatives online.
“It was strange to me when all of these investigations were announced because it was all about the exact same stuff that we had done [when Donald Trump was in office],” one former top aide to a senior Trump administration official tells Rolling Stone. “It was normal.”
https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/115286/documents/HHRG-118-GO00-20230208-SD010.pdf
"The free speech platform" is absolutely hilarious. Want some reading material so you can feel like the dope you are?
Elon Musk criticizes censorship, but his X grants more government requests than Twitter did
https://qz.com/elon-musk-x-twitter-transparency-brazil-turkey-tesla-1851656960
Elon Musk, King of Censorship: 10 Times the ‘Free Speech Absolutist’ Silenced Twitter Usershttps://gizmodo.com/10-times-elon-musk-censored-twitter-users-1850570720
Elon Musk has become the world’s biggest hypocrite on free speech
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/15/elon-musk-hypocrite-free-speech
But hey, there's no way YOU were mislead by disinformation on Twitter! Hahaha.
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u/Steamer61 5d ago
The Biden administration tried to create a "Ministry of Truth," and you think the Republicans want to censor people? You really should listen to yourself!
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u/donvito716 5d ago
You should try reading literally anything that was written before responding like a dope.
The board's stated function was to protect national security by disseminating guidance to DHS agencies on combating misinformation, malinformation, and disinformation that threatens the security of the homeland. Specific problem areas mentioned by the DHS included false information propagated by human smugglers) encouraging migrants to surge to the Mexico–United States border, as well as Russian-state disinformation on election interference and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinformation_Governance_Board
Wow, how EVIL! Really Orwellian to not want Russian-state disinformation affecting government agencies!
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u/im-obsolete 5d ago
Riiiight because pulling down a post from Christy Teagen is the same as the mass de-platforming and censorship that was aimed at Republicans for years. These are all examples of false equivalency.
The main thing is, Elon won in the end. The left went too crazy even for him, and not only did he resurrect the platform and make it better, but it also directly helped Donald Trump win the presidency.
All to police thought. Hope it was worth it.
,
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u/donvito716 5d ago
"Its not censorship when Republicans censor you, its only censorship if Democrats censor ME! The main thing is Elon won, and that's all that matters because I don't care about censorship as long as I get to censor you."
The content that was censored on Twitter before Elon was outright Nazi posts, death threats, and Russian bots. That you are equating that with impeding Donald Trump winning the presidency says a lot about your interpretation of who Republicans really are.
So go on, keep moving those goal posts to another country with how transparently pro-censorship you really are.
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u/im-obsolete 5d ago edited 5d ago
GTFO. People were being taken down for calling people their correct gender, typing the words "learn to code", and telling jokes. You're so full of shit.
https://reason.com/2019/03/11/learn-to-code-twitter-harassment-ross/
HA! The same groups that had been screaming about censorship straight up put their tails between their legs and ran away, whimpering when Musk caught them in the act. Like rats from a sinking ship.
Now they're almost defunct.
https://www.advocate.com/news/media-matters-existential-crisis
That is what happens when the truth is actually exposed, not hidden. And it's only going to get worse for groups that can only survive by controlling the flow of information.
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u/donvito716 5d ago
GTFO.
Uh oh, making the big baby throw a tantrum now that he has to face the fact that he loves censorship as long as he gets to do the censoring!
People were being taken down for calling people their correct gender, typing the words "learn to code", and telling jokes.
No, they were getting "taken down" (which as your own source confirmed meant they were temporarily limited in making new tweets) for TARGETED HARRASSMENT CAMPAIGNS. Again, that you think this is ESSENTIAL for Republicans to do-- TARGETED HARRASSMENT CAMPAIGNS says a lot about Republicans. Mostly that you're shitty people.
"Twitter is responding to a targeted harassment campaign against specific individuals—a policy that's long been against the Twitter Rules," said the spokesperson in an email to Reason.
From your OWN SOURCE.
HA! The same groups that had been screaming about censorship straight up put their tails between their legs and ran away, whimpering when Musk caught them in the act. Like rats from a sinking ship.
Now they're almost defunct.
Ah so all Elon had to do to make them defunct is use his unlimited money to SUE THEM INTO BANKRUPTCY. Why, what a free speech warrior he really is!
The crisis began in November 2023, when Media Matters published research showing ads from Apple, IBM, and other brands appearing alongside neo-Nazi content on Musk’s platform X, formerly Twitter. The report contributed to a major advertiser exodus. Musk responded with lawsuits in multiple countries and promised to pursue not just the organization, but its funders.
Again, you're not against censorship. You've repeatedly shown how much you LOVE censorship. Just be honest with yourself. Everyone can see it.
That is what happens when the truth is actually exposed, not hidden. And it's only going to get worse for groups that can only survive by controlling the flow of information.
I think your brain might literally be damaged if you don't see you're talking about yourself.
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u/im-obsolete 5d ago
"No, they were getting "taken down" (which as your own source confirmed meant they were temporarily limited in making new tweets) for TARGETED HARRASSMENT CAMPAIGNS. Again, that you think this is ESSENTIAL for Republicans to do-- TARGETED HARRASSMENT CAMPAIGNS says a lot about Republicans. Mostly that you're shitty people."
Um you're the one throwing a tantrum over jokes, buddy. But thanks for proving my point.
"Ah so all Elon had to do to make them defunct is use his unlimited money to SUE THEM INTO BANKRUPTCY. Why, what a free speech warrior he really is!"
No, he exposed their blatant defamation, and everyone ran for the hills. Media Matters has plenty of money to defend itself, but knew they were done. Good!
"Again, you're not against censorship. You've repeatedly shown how much you LOVE censorship. Just be honest with yourself. Everyone can see it."
Except you can point to any legit instances of real, targeted, sustained censorship like the left did under the Jack Dorsey reign. Chrissy Taegan?? Seriously??
Ya'll thought you were all badasses, and Musk made you his bitches- just by opening up the platform.
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u/donvito716 5d ago
Um you're the one throwing a tantrum over jokes, buddy. But thanks for proving my point.
You're throwing a tantrum that Republicans weren't allowed to perpetuate targeted harrassment campaigns against people and you think that proves your point. Again, shitty people.
No, he exposed their blatant defamation, and everyone ran for the hills. Media Matters has plenty of money to defend itself, but knew they were done. Good!
Not a surprise that you think its defamation to tell people that Neo-Nazis...are Neo-Nazis. Media Matters does not have $400 billion. Elon Musk used his wealth to censor a news organization because he didn't like their free speech. Just like you, he is against free speech and is pro-censorship.
Except you can point to any legit instances of real, targeted, sustained censorship like the left did under the Jack Dorsey reign. Chrissy Taegan?? Seriously??
I gave you MULTIPLE websites to read through and you were unable to even do that. The President of the United States demanded, from Twitter, that tweets be taken down. You were enraged that Joe Biden did that...but you find it funny that Donald Trump did the same thing. You are pro censorship.
Ya'll thought you were all badasses, and Musk made you his bitches- just by opening up the platform.
Again, you just keep proving this has nothing to do with hating censorship. You just wanted the control to censor. No one thought they were "badasses" when they were trying to stop people from being the target of harrassment campaigns by tens of thousands of Nazi fans like yourself. Your brain is mush and you're unable to admit how much you love censorship because you can't be honest with yourself. Your brain has been poisoned by social media disinformation...
...Which proves the exact point of OP's article. You're the textbook case.
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u/BKLounge 5d ago edited 5d ago
They said the same things about 'disinformation' during the pandemic and most of it turned out to be true. 'Safe and Effective' is literally unwinding as we speak. Scott Gottlieb has finally been ousted for major conflicts of interest that were called out on X YEARS ago.
Just more Musk smearing and left wing narrative damage control. That's all disinformation is and most of reddit honestly.
These authors would never write an actual article going into the families of those affected or about the actual perpetrator who murdered innocent people, but would rather just spin hate and blame towards someone else to push an agenda. Garbage.
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u/betterthan911 4d ago
Was it the vaccines that made you this stupid?
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u/BKLounge 3d ago edited 2d ago
Gotta love a completely hidden post and comment history
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u/betterthan911 2d ago
Is that what you genuinely think is going on.
Here's a hint big brain, you can still read my above comment..
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u/BKLounge 2d ago edited 2d ago
too scared to show their own comments because the astroturfing and assholery will be too obvious
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u/excaligirltoo 5d ago
Paywalled for me. What was the misinformation? Was he not trans?
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u/GWS2004 5d ago
You post in r/libtears..... You are not here for facts.
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u/excaligirltoo 5d ago
Probably because you don’t have any.
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u/Sands43 5d ago
You post on that sub? Definition of agit-prop.
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u/excaligirltoo 5d ago
Lib tears are so tasty though.
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u/betterthan911 4d ago
You think the bodily fluids of other men are "so tasty"?
Sorry but that sounds gay as fuck.
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5d ago
[deleted]
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u/dantevonlocke 4d ago
Why should we read them when it's obvious you didn't
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4d ago
[deleted]
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u/dantevonlocke 4d ago
Because they were a nothing burger tossed out by elon. They were hyped up as some big smoking gun to to prove some huge conspiracy and it all turned out to be standard business related emails for that field. You and everyone like you who went looking for a conspiracy, and wanted and needed one soooo bad to justify your shitty behavior and views just can't accept that.
Because what happened after they were put up? Nothing. It was a distraction. A "see you were being targeted for no reason, not becuase you were in fact bigots shitheads". But keep rolling with that sunk cost fallacy and believing every stupid asinine bullshit thing that drips from the political right.
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