美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump Retweeted A Racist Group, But How Did He Find Its Videos?

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This week, the president of the United States passed along malicious¹ messages from a racist², ultranationalist fringe group directly to 44 million people. Those 44 million follow him on Twitter and may have now retweeted those anti-Muslim messages to millions more. The president tweeted three videos posted by a leader of the group Britain First. All the videos blame Muslims for crimes or offenses³. But within hours, they were shown to make claims that are either false or wrenched⁴ out of context. Prime Minister Theresa May's office said Britain First seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives⁵ that stoke tensions. It's as if the British prime minister had passed along a tweet from David Duke, who, by the way, saw the Britain First videos and tweeted, thank God for Trump⁶. That's why we love him.

The videos are anti-Muslim screeds you would hope a middle-school student would recognize as unfounded and inflammatory. But they were tweeted without skepticism or comment by the president of the United States. The president has one of the largest Twitter followings in the world, though not as large, it may pain him to admit, as Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Barack Obama or Shakira. He boasts that tweeting directly to 44 million people enables him to reach the public without journalism⁷ getting in the way. He does not retweet cute cat or recipe videos or opinions that don't amplify⁸ his own. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, told reporters the president may not know much about Britain First but said, look, I think what he's done is elevate the conversation to talk about a real issue and a real threat.

Britain First, which habitually⁹ wins less than 1 percent of the vote in elections, thanked the president for elevating their party onto the world stage. How did the president even come across Britain First? I found the group on Twitter and, within seconds, received suggestions from the algorithms for other hypernationalist groups. That's how the platform works. If you look up cute cat videos - and I do - they put other cute animal videos into what you see on Twitter. The president may not have known about Britain First, but algorithms deliver their messages to the president based on what he reads on Twitter. No matter how many thoughtful people are put on the White House staff, the president may be getting his information about vital issues like immigration 280 characters or one deceptive¹⁰ video after another at a time.

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1 malicious   

adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的

参考例句：

• You ought to kick back at such malicious slander. 你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。
• Their talk was slightly malicious.他们的谈话有点儿心怀不轨。

2 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

3 offenses   

n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势

参考例句：

• It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

4 wrenched   

v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛

参考例句：

• The bag was wrenched from her grasp. 那只包从她紧握的手里被夺了出来。
• He wrenched the book from her hands. 他从她的手中把书拧抢了过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 narratives   

记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分

参考例句：

• Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning. 结婚一向是许多小说的终点，然而也是一个伟大的开始。
• This is one of the narratives that children are fond of. 这是孩子们喜欢的故事之一。

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

8 amplify   

vt.放大，增强；详述，详加解说

参考例句：

• The new manager wants to amplify the company.新经理想要扩大公司。
• Please amplify your remarks by giving us some examples.请举例详述你的话。

9 habitually   

ad.习惯地，通常地

参考例句：

• The pain of the disease caused him habitually to furrow his brow. 病痛使他习惯性地紧皱眉头。
• Habitually obedient to John, I came up to his chair. 我已经习惯于服从约翰，我来到他的椅子跟前。

10 deceptive   

adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• His appearance was deceptive.他的外表带有欺骗性。
• The storyline is deceptively simple.故事情节看似简单，其实不然。