Real or fake

Saw this on Twitter…

I would say fake based on right side of photo and hand reflection.

But why?

IMG_20201004_083224

Depends on the source and what was going on in the photo.
Looks like the notebook was added, maybe.
As to why? Who really knows?

But here’s a thing no one would ever consider because it’s such a longshot as to “why.” I don’t know the source of the image, but if it was done in front of a chromakey green screen, a highly reflective surface like that often reflects the green and drops out. A lot of the studios we build have green screens at least somewhere in their layout and every desktop in the vicinity of one has to have a matte film applied to it to prevent that.

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Stupidly, I went on to twitter and tried to search for the photo again to get the source, should have saved it first! But there’s so many pics of Trump that it’s hard to find it.

Thanks for the explanation though, makes sense!

He’s also signing a blank piece of paper.

Because everything this regime spits at America is faked to some degree whether there’s logical strategy behind it or not. When you don’t want people to know the entire truth, you mitigate discernibility, and here, that’s been done quite successfully. There are now multiple, contradictory “truths,” and the probability of identifying objective truth is very low, even if it is readily available. As the election approaches, both sides have been convinced that if the other guy wins, America as we know it—the America we’re supposed to want—is gone forever. Both sides can’t be right, and neither side is.

We have entered an “age of hyperbole,” during which simple, good-tasting foods are “amazing,” anyone who though of something we didn’t is a “genius,” and everything is the best or worst ever.

The strapline accompanying that photo characterized the person as “RELENTLESS” in his insistence on working hard for every American, even while stricken with this deadly virus that used to be a hoax and would magically disappear. It’s simply not true. The statement isn’t true, the photo isn’t true, the state of health isn’t true.

The only thing we can know for sure is that we don’t know anything for sure. In that sense, America as (we thought) we knew it is already gone. Could be it was never here, for all we know.

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Before I go off on anything, I consider the source. Not knowing the source, I have no reason to suspect this photo is from the administration considering all the faked crap that shows up on social media. No I didn’t take the time to reverse search it. I don’t care that much.

It was posted on several social media platforms by Ivanka Trump('s account). So yes, consider the source. The setting in the photo is the “war room” at Walter Reed. I used to work there, and I’ve been in there.

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I went and looked for film of the event. I don’t see any particular reason to fake that image. The books are there, the paper is there. There is no greenscreen… So again, if something is appearing to be a faked, what else is going on that needs more attention paid to it?

Might be photoshopped to remove a reflection or add more detail.

It’s just that one hand image on the right bothers me. But why go to the lengths?

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Because he’s a despot and takes lessons from Putin & Kimmy on how to wag the dog.

Definitely don’t want this to turn to a political hate thread - more focussing on the image, if it’s real or a fake, and why go to the lengths to fake it - other than slagging off anyone, regardless of your feelings etc.

I’m looking at the areas you have indicated as being faked, but to me it appears to be an accurate reflection. Maybe I’m missing something?

The one hand appears to be above the book. I think it’s optical, not faked, but it sure looks weird.

As for wagging the dog, only if one allows oneself to be wagged. The media STILL has not learned that lesson after more than 3 years.

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I don’t see any particular reason for the Trump administration to have resorted to a bunch of Photoshop fakery. It’s just a quick photo released by the administration that was intended to show the world that the president isn’t deathly ill, is still in charge and capable of working.

What’s likely faked, I’m guessing, is that it’s posed. The flags, the jacket, the unbuttoned white dress shirt, the cufflinks, the notebooks are all just props for the photo op. I mean, what other possible reason would account for these things in a hospital? How many hospital patients wear sports coats during their stay? If we could see beneath the table, it’s entirely possible that he’s in his hospital gown with a catheter taped to his leg and draining urine into a bottle.

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My understanding is that there is a presidential office / suite at Walter Reed. This piqued my interest, so I did some searching trying to find images or a tour or insider information on the office. I couldn’t find anything specifically on the office, but I did see this wider image of the same photo shown in the first post.

That’s because it was taken months ago. It’s all propaganda.

Yes, that room is at Walter Reed. I’ve been in it. There are many preparedness measures in that facility to account for the possibility of a president and/or other officials being holed up there during a crisis.

Wow…

I’ve mentioned several times here that I used to work at a daily newspaper. I worked there for 15 years before moving on in 1999 — just before journalism took a big hit and needed to adapt to the new reality of the internet diluting their influence.

Back then, all the news was controlled by journalists who were professionals and who had graduated from journalism schools and who had made their life’s work reporting the news. Each morning at the paper, like every other news outlet in the county, all the senior editors would get together for an hour to discuss what the news was for that day. We would discuss everything that came over the wires, its relative importance, what would go where in the paper and how we could best balance out the stories to be as factual, objective and balanced as possible. There was rarely any disagreement over what the main points of what the news was for any given day and what was important and unimportant.

In other words, the news was curated by professionals, with relatively minor variations, in every news room in the country. Readers and viewers across the country got more or less the same national and international news.

The internet changed everything. It gutted news organizations’ revenue model, which relied heavily on advertising money, which was tightly tied to circulation numbers. News became available everywhere and circulation plummeted.

Everyone with something to say became a publisher on the Internet. Every amateur and wannabe journalist could write and publish anything they wanted on their websites, in forums and on social media. Good, serious, balanced reporting went out the window as highly biased, opinionated and made-up stuff competed with and often won against the regular, old news from the traditional media outlets. Sensationalism became the norm. Audience numbers and click-throughs made media stars out of nobodies. These people would (and still do) play into the fears, insecurities and biases of normal people.

Instead of everyone getting more or less the same news from professional journalists, everyone started focusing only on those news outlets that catered to their particular points of view. Everything became siloed so that entire segments of the population only read the news they wanted to read and saw almost nothing about contradicting facts and points of view.

With revenue dropping precipitously and with traditional news outlets threatened with bankruptcy, they finally hopped on the bandwagon in an effort to stay afloat. Liberal news outlets became more so. Conservative news outlets did the same. Almost any pretense of objectivity gave way to a new generation of journalists who got ahead by stirring up the passions of their readers.

The whole thing has turned into a giant, dysfunctional sh*tshow where it’s nearly impossible to separate the garbage from reality. The most unfortunate consequence of this is the polarization of society. One side is fully convinced their alternate view of the world is good and right and the other side’s alternate view is evil and wrong. The middle has been reduced to getting caught in the crossfire.

It’s an awful situation and I don’t see it improving. Unfortunately, it’s tearing the fabric of the country apart. It’s extremely worrying to me.

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As far as the reflection goes … I’m not sure how a full hand gets reflected UNDER a piece of paper or the top of hand UNDER a book. So many people fluff around with pictures now … who knows why they did it.

My question is why the thick Sharpie to sign the middle of a blank paper? :wink: :grin:

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