You (Won't) Be Shocked How Much Clickbait Annoys Me/How a Seemingly Simplistic Practice Leads to Conspiracy-Level Problems--Plus, a Review of the Stellar Book, "Uncover Up," Too!

I've been at this blogging thing for over 15 years now. I've written opinions I later changed my mind about and ones I still stand by. I've admitted when I was wrong and been eager to point out when I was right. One thing I've tried to never do, however, is make annoying clickbait headlines. I started thinking about this when I saw an article today that announced, "‘American Pickers’ fans praying for Mike Wolfe after tragic news: ‘Heart is shattered’." That sounds horrific, doesn't it? Well, his dog died. That is sad, and I'm sure some dog-lovers out there are praying for Mike, but such a headline is just utterly crass considering Wolfe did lose a former co-host and friend (Frank Fritz) in 2024. I didn't link to the article because I refuse ot give them more clicks, but that's a tacky way to essentially trick someone into visiting your site and getting you ad revenue or such.

To give some other examples I refuse to be too specific about or link to, as I don't want to give the sites any exposure, one common trick is to make people worry a show has been cancelled by saying, "The fate of SHOW NAME has been announced," which sounds ominous because saying, "SHOW NAME renewed for another season," is less likely to inspire a panic-click. Oh, and there is the old chestnut where you say how, "This actor from SHOW NAME has sadly passed!" while showing a picture of the main cast...before revealing it was someone who played a bit role in a handful of episodes.

A Punisher movie? Oh, wait, misleading junk.

One site I will actually name, as it needs to be called out as often as possible, would be The Direct. Their headlines often are written in a misleading way, full of absurd theories, or flat-out lies designed to rile readers up. For example, saying something like, "Marvel Studios Unveils Its First-Ever Punisher Movie Poster," before you click the link for it to clarify, "Marvel Studios Unveils Its First-Ever Punisher-Featured Movie Poster," and revealing a Chinese movie poster for, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," which happens to have the Punisher on it. Basically, you get folks shocked/pumped at a headline hinting some kind of Punisher movie is coming only to go, "Ah, no, we totally just meant he's on a poster for the new Spidey flick. Barely. In another country. Ahem." This is pretty much the Standard Operating Procedure for the absolute hacks at The Direct. 

I mean, I'm critical of other sites such as Bleeding Cool, who have plenty of folks who hate them, but Bleeding Cool does get legitimate leaks/scoops/and so forth, with its owner, Rich Johnston, embracing the fact that some people find him an abrasive asshole. Bleeding Cool is a site prone to tabloid-style reporting, but they do not make stuff up. If Rich called me and said, "Hey, David, I'll give you a fat check to write some pieces for Bleeding Cool," I'd probably say, "First of all, how did you get my phone number? Oh, that time I emailed you I mentioned it? Fine. Second of all, if that check truly is juicy, you've got a deal." There are not enough zeroes you can put on the end of a contract for me to ever want to go near a site like The Direct (not that they want me, but the point stands). Considering how much misinformation, hearsay, and sheer bullshit that exists on the internet, posting misleading clickbait or outright guesses like, "The Batman 2 Set Photo Confirms Key Nightwing Easter Egg Connection In Sequel," because a photo from the set showed a van mentioning the city of Bludhaven (seriously, that's it), is moronic at best, malicious at worst.

Before clickbait, we had supermarket tabloids with eye-catching headlines. To the credit of my favorite tabloid ever, "The Weekly World News," it was an intentional parody of sensationalistic news, satirizing what the media and the rise of the internet would become before it could even realize how ahead of its time it was (it isn't totally dead thanks to an often funny website that unfortunately uses some AI imagery). TWWN knew it was a joke, though, and (almost) everyone reading it was in on it, knowing Batboy didn't actually help lead the troops to Saddam Hussein's Spider Hole or that P'Lod, an alien ambassador to Earth, did not exist. He also was not having an affair with Hillary Clinton (something she actually acknowledged and laughed about with Jay Leno). Now, however, people do believe all kinds of wild conspiracy theories, with AI deepfakes only making it worse. Now you don't just claim Barack Obama was born in Kenya (for whatever random reason you believe such nonsense); you share some AI slop video of a, "Doctor," confessing he delivered Barack Hussien (you always gotta mention the middle name for dogwhilste-esque reason) Obama in an African hospital. You see how it is a bit of a metaphorical snowball that grows into an avalanche of falsehoods. We've gone from (relatively) harmless claims about Elvis being alive and working in Burger King or some actor being rumored to appear in the next Marvel flick to someone reading that the vaccine for measles is more dangerous than the disease and going, "Yeah, I'll believe that." Clickbait is arguably a hop, skip, and a jump to conspiracy theories, after all. Which shifts us into my next segment of this short piece that grew into a bit of a long diatribe, my thoughts on, "Uncover Up: How to Think Clearly in an Age of Conspiracies."

Written by Lee Kuhnle and Nathan Radke, "Uncover Up," is releasing to all finer bookstores today. I was able to read an advance copy by my own request to the publisher, ECW Press, when I saw it solicited in their upcoming releases some months ago. It is a superb book that goes in-depth not as to what conspiracies are out there, but why conspiracies gain a following and grow in power. From casual reasoning leading us down rabbitholes of falsehoods to how the simple act of changing our minds when confroted with facts contray to what we believe is just so damn hard, I found, "Uncover Up," a superb read, whether it was diving into conspiracies from decades ago with Roswell, the Kennedy assassination, and the Moon Landings or looking into the Satanic panic of the past and more modern-day equivalents (like the Momo Challenge hoax). If you've ever looked at a conspiracy theory and wondered, "How could anyone believe that?" this is the book for you! On the flipside, if you've ever examined a conspiracy theory and said, "Wait, why do I maybe believe in this? What's going on with me?" then again, this is the book for you! 

I'm not saying falling for a simple clickbait article is going to turn you into someone who believes that the Earth is flat, but as page 175 points out, "Weirdly, as scientific evidence for a spherical Earth became overwhelming, the origins of the modern Flat Earth movement were starting to take root." The more evidence there is that something is patently false, the more fascinating it is when more and more people start to believe it, with the ideas only getting crazier. Okay, Zack Snyder is coming back to direct the DC Cinematic Universe any day now. Yeah, raw milk cures all kinds of medical ailments. Sure, the Democrats somehow stole the Presidential election in 2020 when Trump was President and his party controlled a ton of the government--yet, then Trump won in 2024 when the Democrats were in a position of power because we've got to, "Trust the plan." Whether we're dealing in questionable headlines that claim an innocent person gunned down by ICE for the, "Crime," of asking proof the agents were actually law enforcement was somehow a domestic terrorist or spending hours trying to prove that Jewish space lasers caused wildfires, it's turtles all the way down. "Uncover Up," is a great way to explore conspiracy theories, why they're so popular, and I rate it 5 out of 5 stars. A book such as this is a great way to try and gain an understanding of why we fall into conspiracies and how to avoid them (while acknowledging that some contain more than a kernel of truth as well). In closing, if any of these conspiracies are true, then why have I not been given my own space laser? Is the fact that I am more culturally Jewish and relatively unobservant a big disqualifier? If I need to keep Kosher in order to get my own space laser, I will strongly consider it. Maybe. Ah, I'm lying; I love bacon too much.

The Continued Fear of a Black First Lady, All These Years Later

I want to talk about June 14th, 2026. However, in order to do that, I feel a need to take us back to 1990, then 2008. Bear with me.

It's April 10th, 1990. Public Enemy has released their third studio album, "Fear of a Black Planet." The title is a metaphor for the growing anxiety of white folk--specifically in America--about the growing economic, political, and social power of black people. A critical and commercial hit, it was controversial, edgy, and is found now on many, "Best albums ever,"-type lists.

It's November 8th, 2008. Barack Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States. Everyone thought Hillary Clinton would crush him in the primaries, but Obama's amazing speeches, easy-to-like personality, laid-back demeanor, and general magnetism assisted him in beating John McCain for the office of the President. Some people use this occasion to remark that racism is somehow over. That remains wholly false. It shows that sometimes, racism can be overcome. If the person running for President is black, America will overlook/"Allow," it if he's super-smart, one of the best public speakers ever, has little to no skeletons in his closet. After all, "At least he's still a guy." 

Barack's wife is a beautiful, smart woman named Michelle who has spent her life committed to various causes aimed at helping others. Obama will serve two full terms, and before leaving office in January of 2016, will receive some of the most vicious, hateful treatment from the media and general populace any political figure could imagine. Arguably, the only person to get it worse during those eight years is Michelle.

Inauguration Day, January 20th, 2009

It's June 14th, 2026. Donald Trump is President, again, after serving from 2016 to 2020. He's only the second person to ever serve two nonconsecutive terms (the other is Grover Cleveland). It is the 250th birthday of America, and it also happens to be Trump's 80th birthday. The White House lawn is featuring a number of UFC bouts. The head of the UFC happens to be friends with Trump. The event is streaming exclusively on Paramount+, with its owner also happening to be a chum of Trump. 

A man named Josh Hokit wins his fight against Derrick Lewis, and during his post-match interview with Joe Rogan (because, of course, he has to be in this story somehow), Hokit randomly declares, “And lastly ‒ Michelle Obama is a man! Am I right, America?” It's 2026, but somehow it is simultaneously 2008, 1990, the Jim Crow era, and all the way back to the past when a white person first decided that a black person was somehow, "Less than," them. "Fear of a Black Planet," shifts into a smaller-scale but just as potent fear of a black First Lady. Almost ten years later, Barack and Michelle somehow still take up so much space in many conservatives' heads.

I sit here, now, on June 15th. I am not surprised in the least that Donald Trump had a bunch of people pummel each other on the lawn of the Capitol as a birthday gift to himself. I am also not surprised that someone said something horrific about the Obamas because even though it's nearly been a decade since Barack has held office with his wife as First Lady, Donald Trump and others just can't--as Elsa would sing, "Let it go." Let it go Obama was a good (but not great) President. Let it go people will always like him more than Trump. Let it go that he's just genuinely a better human than Trump, which might be part of the problem.

Barack and Michelle were too perfect for conservatives. There must be some dark secret. A popular conspiracy theory that started to spring up was that Michelle was somehow formerly a man, or still secretly a man. This rose to prominence along with the other old chestnuts that Barack was born in Africa or a secret Muslim. This way, you could also throw in some homophobia and transphobia with the racist/religious attacks. None of these ideas are rooted in facts, but to some people they just feel true. Falsehoods don't care about facts; they thrive on half-truths and imaginings.

Michelle Obama once said, "When they go low, we go high." A wonderful sentiment, a thought I respect. That said, I sadly disagree. I am more with popular radio personality Lenard McKelvey AKA Charlamagne tha God, who counters that statement with the idea that when they go low, sometimes you have to go down to the floor with them. Democrats and their philosophy that they are too good to, "...get down in the mud with the fucking elephants," (a great quote from the movie, "The Ides of March,") has resulted in the party looking weak, ineffective, and capable of earning defeat in situations where victory should all but be assured. 

The first time Trump, "Won," against Hillary Clinton, he lost the popular vote. That is true, despite Trump's loud protestations otherwise. The second time he ran, Trump lost to Joe Biden. On the third occasion, he handily defeated Kamala Harris (if America can barely stand a black first lady, it seems it will all but surely decline a black and female President), with Trump saying awful things and showing awful tendencies the whole time he was running. America wanted the (supposedly) rich, loud, angry fool--as long as he was white.

We're still here, June 15th of 2026. I still am not surprised at how bad things have become politically. I hold some hope, and a lot of rage. Rage can lead to destruction or simply feeling defeated. It can also inspire action to make things better. I've worked with political groups on smaller scales and larger scales quite recently in an effort to focus the anger positively. It is 2026, and America has a fear of a black planet, an LGBTQ planet, or frankly, any kind of planet with equality and diversity. That doesn't mean we'll stop fighting for it. We will go high, low, or any direction necessary to bring about positive change.

20 Years Ago Today

20 years ago today I was in a Junior High English class where we read popular short stories and discussed them. The class ended at 9AM and a teacher came into the room and told our teacher how something had happened at the World Trade Center. There had been a plane accident, or a bomb, or something. It had just happened but it seemed it was being addressed. 

We headed into our math class and were getting started with a lesson when it was announced that another plane had hit the other World Trade tower. Clearly, this was no accident and America was under attack. After that, we didn't really do any of our classes the rest of the day, instead, any televisions in the classrooms were broadcasting the news about what was happening as we all tried to make sense of it. The news came in about the Pentagon as well as a crash in Pennsylvania. I was just dumbstruck by it all and the true gravity of what had happened didn't really hit me until the next day as the deaths were continuously being tallied up and the faces of those killed or still missing filled our screens. It made me feel sick.

There was of course a surge in patriotism and unity, people these days still say they miss how wonderful it was on 9/12 that everyone came together. This of course is using rose-tinted glasses as plenty of people were not included in the loving embrace of nationalism, with Muslim individuals still facing persecution in the U.S. to this day. There was some sense of hope that we were going to go to Afghanistan and get revenge. Then for some reason, the war started to encompass Iraq for no (truthful) reason. 

Eventually, we killed the mastermind behind 9/11, Osama Bin Laden, but we still found ourselves wrapped up in Afghanistan until recently when we essentially abandoned it back to the Taliban, fleeing a country that any other government has consistently failed to adequately, "Help," such as previously in 1919 (the British gave up), 1989 (The Soviets gave up) and now in 2021 (we gave up). The failure in Afghanistan does not have a sole President to blame as much as those of us who hate Trump (or others who like to throw shade at Biden) would like. This mess encompasses Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden, with everyone taking some blame, although I'd say Bush deserves most of the scorn for the attacks even happening and Obama gets out with the least of this stink upon him. We didn't know everything that would be to come 20 years ago today though. We were just hurting, so badly, as a Nation. In some ways, the surge of patriotism and jingoism wasn't a surprise even if some of it is incredibly cringe-inducing today.

Now we have children learning about 9/11 in history classes as something that happened before they were born. It must be weird for them to hear about this major event that for them seems so distant yet for many of us feels so fresh in our minds--the only other comparison I can really make when it comes to a National tragedy is much older Americans who recall Pearl Harbor or when JFK was killed. I remember that day though, 20 years ago. I couldn't have predicted all it would have led to and 20 years out we sure do have a lot more clarity and understanding than we did before, for better or worse. I wish 9/11 hadn't happened, that it could have been stopped, and that our World could be a lot different (I would hope in a better way) than it is when it comes to the global politics of having a, "War on terror," or such. It all did happen though (despite what conspiracy theorists might tell you) and the best thing we can do on this day is look back and remember.

June 2020 News and Links for This Hot and Humid Summer

We're All Hot and Tired

It's hot, that's for sure.

I'm physically and emotionally exhausted this June, and one thing I like to do when I need a break is read the good ol' internet. With that in mind, I have some interesting news and links to share. It's a good way to beat the heat and humidity when we can curl-up with some neat articles.

Commence the New and Links!

The 2020 Eisners had some really questionable voting issues so they shut it down and are going to do the whole thing over again. I applaud them for doing this, but it obviously shouldn't have happened in the first place.

Currently, in the realm of both comics and video-games, there are a lot of people being revealed as harassers and predators. Polygon's Charlie Hall has a good piece providing quite a wide-ranging overview which has also been updated as necessary.

Because 2020 couldn't get any more insane, we have a massive dust cloud from the Sahara currently coating North America and giving everyone respiratory problems. At least it makes for beautiful sunrises and sunsets, right?

Another creator great sadly has passed. Joe Sinnott passed at the age of 93 and has far too long a history in the realm of comics for me to even begin to summarize.

Trump and his cronies like to complain everyone is too sensitive, but then they go and hop-on their own social media app called, "Parler," which is as miserable and nasty as you'd expect. They always end up back on Twitter, or else they wouldn't be able to complain about how they feel Twitter persecuted them for inciting violence and lying.

DC offering a 1:450 ratio variant cover for, "The Three Jokers," is just silly. Stores will have to order 450 copies to get one of that cover, making it something only massive retailers will bother with and then have to sell at a big mark-up to cover all the issues they may be unable to sell.

"Cyberpunk 2077," continues to look quite interesting, especially as multiple gaming and entertainment sites have had a chance to play it some. It got delayed a bit more from September into November to make sure its polished, so here's hoping it is a snazzy as we hope.

Shigeichi Negishi arguably invented Karaoke and is still alive at 95 and has his original, working model he can show-off. As someone who has enjoyed making a fool of himself singing "Superfreak," on stage for a mildly amused crowd I owe him thanks for the good times.

Finally, due to the fact he wants to undo everything Obama accomplished, Trump is trying yet again to undo the Affordable Care Act, also known as, "Obamacare." You'd think the multiple times he's failed before would convince him to stop acting like a moron, but this is Trump we are talking about, all he can do is act stupid.

Stay Cool and Relax

Aren't we all creepily excited to enjoy our AC?

Throughout this Summer heat make sure you work to just stay cool and get some relaxing in. 2020 is basically halfway done, and even though it feels like the longest year ever, we've got this. At least, I keep hoping we do.

My Favorite, "Assassin's Creed," Game is Getting More Respect Now

I've played a solid chunk of the, "Assassin's Creed," video-games, although not really any of the newer ones. With that said, my absolute favorite of the series is one that for a good long while many people scoffed at. Yes, "Assassin's Creed III/3." I adored many of the aspects people hated, from the extended intro with a character who turns out to be evil, to the tree-limb parkour, and my wife (who watched me play) and I even were big fans of the main character, Connor. Seriously, anyone who claims he was difficult to like clearly did not play the big, "Homestead," side-quests that really flesh his character out. As an article from Kotaku I finally made time to read discusses, now that some time has passed certain aspects of the game have really aged well, especially the political discourse.

"ACIII/3," originally came out in October of 2012. Obama was about to re-elected to a second term against his opponent Mitt Romney whom everyone had basically agreed at that point was doomed to lose. The World was an optimistic place. A game about the birth of America and how a lot of people were screwed-over by ideologues just seemed so pessimistic. Now it is 2019 and our political landscape has turned into a dumpster fire with President Trump eagerly pouring gasoline on it any chance he gets. The idea of a game calling-out the deeply-ingrained prejudices in our country with a half-White-and-British and half-Native American protagonist sounds extremely topical.

From its very inception the vow of our Nation being a land of equal opportunity for all has been a hollow promise if you aren't a White Male Christian. Perhaps some of the game-play was wonky (so, so many map-icons to explore with a good chunk being extremely buggy)) and the game took awhile to get the main story content. It still was an extremely fun and insightful, "Assassin's Creed," even if, "ACIV/4," of course gets a lot of positive press for the fun ship-sailing (which some people forget actually was introduced in this game too)! Yes, this was my favorite game in the series, I guess it just took a bit over half a decade for it to become even more relevant.

What Bugs Me the Most About Ted Cruz

It Isn't Just How Awful He Is As a Human Being...

Besides the never-ending hot-air-spewing machine that is Donald Trump (now endorsed by fellow idiot, Sarah Palin!) the Republican party doesn't really have a candidate that they consider reanonable to nominate  besides Ted Cruz. I mean, Ted Cruz still has plenty of people who hate him, but maybe hate him just a little bit less than Trump--although plenty Republicans would rather be rid of both. The thing is one aspect about Cruz really, really bugs me. It isn't his horribly outdated views on marriage equality, his claims he wants to repeal the ACA, or all that. I mean, those do bug me, but all the Republican candidates scream that nonesense. No, what bugs me is the startling hypocripsy on display within the party considering that a man born in Canada is being touted as a possible candidate for President after all the, "Birther," nonesense we put with regarding Obama.

Picture this, a man born in Hawaii to a mother who was a U.S. citizen (born and raised) and a father born in Kenya becomes President. A bunch of crazies claim he was actually not born on U.S. soil and therefore can't be President, despite countless evidence that he was born in the state of surf, sun, and volcanoes. To make this really clear, someone who could prove they were born in the United States, to a parent who was an American had a bunch of people claiming he somehow was the President illegally. This man is of course our current President Barack Obama.

"Oh, so now you all wouldn't have cared even if I were born in another country?"

Now, here's another picture for you. A man is born in Canada to a mother who was a United States citizen (born and raised), and a Father born in Cuba. This man who has never denied actually being born in Canada comes to the United States, works in politics, and then attempts to run for President. Suddenly, all the people who proclaimed the first man--actually born in the U.S.--couldn't be President shut-up for the most part, with only a few going, "Wait, isn't this new guy Canadian?"

Two men, both with American mothers and foreign fathers, one born on U.S. soil and one not. Wouldn't this mean that if the one who was born in Canada can be President than even if the one born in Hawaii was birthed in another country he still would eligible for the Presidency (or they both would be ineligible)? I mean, this is perfectly logical, right?

Well, maybe the fact that this is logical is why suddenly all the Republicans who decried Obama as some kind of, "Evil foreigner," are suddenly perfectly okay with a man who didn't renounce his Canadian dual-citizenship until 2014 becoming President, because Conservatives tend to eschew logic for Creationism and rallies dedicated to taking away a woman's right to choose. I guess depending on if you have a, "D," for Democrat after your name or, "R," for Republican that is a bigger factor in determining if you qualify for the Presidency in the eyes of conservatives as opposed to where you were actually, you know, born.

The hypocrisy of all this is mind-blowing. Besides people he poses a direct political threat to such as Donald Trump speaking-up about the Canadian-birth issue (and Trump of course led the rallying cry against Obama being a citizen, but this time has a leg to stand on), it suddenly seems the Republican party is perfectly okay with someone who was born in another country--but to an American parent--running for the Presidency. It really irritates me that the Republican party can't even be Xenophobic in a coherent way, and that is what bugs me the most about Ted Cruz.