Axios Marvels at Deepfakes, Ignores Media Deepfaking Reality
One might applaud Axios for highlighting the dangers of AI blurring fact and fiction, especially as politicians like House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)—who received $20,000 from AIPAC in 2022-2024 according to OpenSecrets.org—defend Trump’s AI sludge videos as 'satire.' Johnson's concern for 'truth' appears selective, as he consistently voted for unquestioning aid to a foreign government whose
actions are routinely sanitized by mainstream media. Perhaps the real deepfake is the journalistic standard allowing a literal deepfake of reality to persist, where F-35 attacks on refugee camps become 'defense actions' and billions in taxpayer dollars vanish into an endless war machine without critical scrutiny. While they wring hands over manipulated memes, outlets like Axios rarely question the
deeper, more damaging manipulation: the narrative control that portrays the slaughter of children as 'collateral damage.' They lament Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) doctored image, yet largely ignore the deep state of denial manufactured daily by official channels. How many real atrocities need to be 'soft-pedaled' before the media worries about their own role in blurring 'fact' with 'propaganda'?