"Curiosity" and Fake News

Below is a lengthy series of tweets from Laura Sesana‏(@lasesana) I found her perspective clarifying on a number of topics. Her explanation of “curiosity” and Fake News are helpful as we continue to wade through more and more information. Hence my sharing it with you! I formatted it into paragraphs for ease of reading. Any punctuation or missing letter errors are entirely my fault, not hers. You can see her original 16 tweets on Tweeter.

“Pieces like this are a classic example of how Fox News creates #FakeNews and promotes false Pro-Trump narrativeshttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/08/29/fbi-shuts-down-request-for-files-on-hillary-clinton-by-citing-lack-public-interest.html …

From the headline you’d think that the FBI shut down a FOIA (Freedom Of Information Act) request because it claims the public is not interested in HRC's (Hillary Rodham Clinton) emails. Everyone knows that there is more than sufficient interest in HRC's emails on the part of Fox, Trump, and the GOP. So citing insufficient public interest as a basis for denying a FOIA is outrageous & makes FBI look partisan and biased in favor of Democrats. However, the piece confuses the legal definition of public interest (which applies in this case) with the general everyday definition. FBI's denial cites the legal definition of public interest, referring to the welfare of the general public. In this sense, the public interest-when it refers to the welfare of the general public-warrants recognition & protection from government.

FBI’s response does not refer to public is *curiosity* or whether the public is curious about HRC’s emails or not. The public is certainly curious, but mere curiosity does not rise to the level of public interest in the legal sense. In this case, FBI determined the FOIA request didn't show that “the public’s interest in disclosure outweighs personal privacy interests.” At no point did the FBI state that they were denying the request because people weren’t interested in it. That’s #FakeNews. The article is deliberately misleading readers, making them think that the FBI is blatantly lying by saying there is no interest when we can all see Republicans from Trump on down shrieking about Hillary’s emails at every opportunity. This is a deliberate smear of the FBI, using a mistaken perception of their actions and shaping them to fit a narrative and an agenda. Trump has been trying to discredit the FBI since the investigation of his campaign became public and Fox News is amplifying Trump’s lies and baseless attacks on American institutions.”

“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.” Helen Keller
1st Amendment - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.