The New Snake Oil: Outrage and Validation in the Digital World

Social Media, So-called News, Bots, Algorithms, and digital snake-oil salesmen—this episode of An Ounce exposes how misinformation spreads, why outrage sells, and how your clicks keep it alive.

Bots aren’t the villains—they’re the tools. The real players are the agenda-drivers who profit when we stop thinking. In this episode, Jim Fugate pulls back the curtain on the modern confidence game: how a single bot whisper becomes a viral foghorn of fake urgency.
You’ll learn how emotional bait hooks us, how algorithms reward fear and anger, and how to spot digital “bull snot” before you share it. It’s witty, a little dark, and all too true.
So grab a dose of skepticism—and a laugh—because the cure starts with awareness.
👍 Remember: verify before you amplify.
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Watch next:
Historical Facts? Myth vs Truth https://youtu.be/GDqhQF3nHgc
Discovering The Truth Behind Famous Historical Myths https://youtu.be/JpHTMQV-XPQ
#AnOunce #Misinformation #SocialMedia #Bots #CriticalThinking #DigitalAge
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📚 References
• Facebook Transparency Reports (2024) – estimated 3–5 % fake accounts.
• Pew Research Center (2020) – two-thirds of shared links from automated accounts.
• Carnegie Mellon University (2020) – bot activity analysis during major events.
• Independent analyses of Twitter/X bot prevalence (2017–2023).
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🕒 Chapters / Timestamps (estimated for YouTube)
00:00 Hook – The Digital Con
00:40 Meet the New Con Men
01:18 The Psychology of the Hook
02:11 The Recycling Plant of Lies
02:58 The Agenda Factory
04:33 The Scale of the Scam
06:20 How They Recruit the “Useful Idiot”
06:54 The Real-World Damage
08:38 Quick-Spotting Guide to Bull Snot
09:45 The Laughable Cure & Closing Reflection
10:22 An Ounce

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Credits:
Visual: An Ounce Studio, iStock, Getty
Audio: Music This is Not IDM and This is not a Ballad by True Cukoo via YouTube