Gavagai participated in a SEMEVAL shared task experiment to identify hyperpartisan news, i.e. news items that do not adhere to the neutral tone and argumentation commonly adhered to in news material. We wanted to investigate the possibility of hyperpartisan metatopics, topics which appear in rants even when they are less motivated by the topic or the argumentation, just because a hyperpartisan author is likely to bring up pet peeves in every piece they write.
We used Gavagai Explorer to find potentially interesting topics, discarded those that were obviously bound to time and place of publication (many concerned the 2016 presidential elections in the US) and retained those that were general in nature. We enriched them using the Gavagai Explorer concept modelling tool. The combination of such editorially defined metatopics with strong negative sentiment or other trigger attitudes is a generally interesting way of identifying hyperpartisanism. Our experiment did not produce as accurate results as did machine learning models trained on items more similar to the test set, but we intend to pursue this approach further.
Below you find the list of metatopics and trigger attitudes and the terms that define them in the experiment. Our paper describing the experiment in greater detail is here.
Trigger Metatopic List
| people | people, the people, of the people, some people, the american people, these people |
| u.s | u.s, america, the united states, americans, for america, across america, god bless america, america first |
| public safety | public safety, police, criminal, the criminals, incriminating, criminals, criminal activity, criminal records, criminal charges, criminality, criminal investigation, criminal aliens, criminal acts, criminal investigations, criminalizing, criminal record, criminalist, criminal contempt, criminal penalties, criminal intent, criminal convictions, criminal behavior, safety, safety precaution, organized crime, crime rate, crime watch, crimes, crime, crime rates, sexual predator, police officer, felon, misdemeanor, local police, gang activity, legal action, murders, police chief, police spokesman, murderers, police custody, police force, federal crimes, the criminal, arrests, felony assault, the accused, sex crimes, serial killers, policeman, police records, felons, felony, perpetrators, gang members, the offenders, the conviction, illegals, offenses, disorderly conduct, sexual predators, child porn, sex offenses, racial profiling, whistleblowers, sex crime, fugitives, involuntary manslaughter, rapists, the police, police officers, police department, police brutality, the police department, metropolitan police, police report, police commissioner, border police, police protection, hardened criminals, committing crimes, sexual harassment, harassment, serial rapists, sexual assault, sexual misconduct, sexual abuse, cops, assaults, predators, the law enforcement, cop, sexual violence, drug dealers, human trafficking, kidnapping |
| media | media, twitter, msm, mainstream, mainstream-media, mainstream media, mainstream news media, newspapers, newspaper, cable news, cable news network |
| support | support, supportive, supports, supported |
| women | women, woman, the women |
| Certainty | for sure, indeniably, absolutely, certainly, definitely, everyone knows, undeniably, legitimately, downright, flat-out, flat out, inevitably, perfectly clear, surely, definite, unquestionably, unarguably, unequivocally, provably, quite simply |
| Muslim | the muslim brotherhood, muslim women, muslim student association, muslim council, muslim-majority, muslim population, muslims, muslim terrorism, muslim ban, muslim leaders, muslim-american, muslim community, muslim brotherhood’s, muslim immigrants, muslim girl, muslim, muslim extremists, muslim-majority countries, muslim americans, muslim brotherhood, muslim american, the islamic world, islamic terrorism, islamist, islamic extremism, the islamist, islamism, radical islamist, radical islamic, islamic republic’s, islamists, islamic terrorist, islamic movement, islamification, islamic history, islamic extremist, islamic state, islamizing, islamist terrorism, islamic society, islamist extremists, islamic law, islamic, islamic religion, islamic country, islamic state’s, radical islam, islam, islamophobic, islam’s, islamo-fascism, islamophobia, isis, isis-aligned, isis-inspired, isis militants, isis-held, isis terrorists, isis fighters, british muslims, british muslim |
| movements | cultural marxists, cultural marxism, cultural conflict, political movement, fascism, fascist, anti-fascist, fascists, bolshevik, white nationalists, activist groups, white supremacists, reactionaries, marxist, communists, alt-left, the fascist, anarchism, useful idiot, social justice warrior, anti-fascists, globalists, sjws, militant group, multiculturalism, communist, social justice warriors, extremist, antifa, nazis, alt-right, virtue signaling, far-left, useful idiots, nazism |
| white | white people, white america, white women, white woman, white men, white man, white supremacist, white nationalist, white supremacy, white nationalist rally, white nationalism, white privilege |
| black | black people, oppresses black people, black america, black lives matter, black boys, black males, black children, black boy, black folk, black person, blacks in america, black republican |
| politicians | the politician, political leaders, political organizations, politician, political opponent, politicians, political life, political movements, political views, political parties, political party, party leader, party leaders |
| elites | elite, elites, establishment, establishment’s, political elite, elite’s, establishments, political establishment, intelligentsia, the elite, oligarchs, oligarchy, billionaires, ruling classes, elitist, bigwigs, ruling class, ruling elite, oligarchies, kleptocracy, political class, pundits, billionaire, millionaires, self-serving |
| freedom of speech | freedom of speech, free speech rights, free speech, free expression, press freedom, the first amendment, first amendment rights, 1st amendment, political correctness, politically correct, first amendment, self-censorship |
| sexual rights | sexual rights, lgbt, lgbt youth, lgbt community, lgbtq community, lgbtq, trans rights, gay rights, same sex, same-sex, same-sex marriage, same sex marriage, homosexuals, homosexual, homosexuality, homosexual marriage, queer, transgender, transgenders, gender fluidity, reproductive rights |
| populism | populism, populist, populists, populist movement |
Trigger Attitude List
| certainty | absolutely almost always almost certainly almost never almost surely blatant blatantly certainly certains certainty certanly clear cut clear-cut crystal clear deffo definately definetely definetly definite definitely definitly defintely defo doubtless downright everyone knows evidently flat out flat-out for sure glaringly hands down hands-down indeniably inevitably legitimately literally palpably perfectly clear provably quite frankly quite simply surely truely unarguably undeniably unequivocally unquestionably | |
| cynical | absurd bizarre deluded delusional disingenuous far from convinced far-fetched farfetched foolish idiotic ludicrous moronic nonsensical not convinced outlandish pathetic preposterous rediculous ridiculous unfeasible unreliable untenable unverifiable unworkable | |
| win and lose | anihilate annihilate annihilated annihilating bare-knuckles bareknuckled beatdown browbeat bruised bruiser champ clinched crush crushed crushes crushing crushing defeat defeat defeated defeating defeats demolish destroy destroyed destroying destroys devastate discredit discredited drubbing embarrass eviscerate frustrate gloves off hammering humbling humiliate humiliating humiliation humiliations ignonimous in the ring kill him knock out knock-out knockout looser loosers lose loser losers loses mauling obliterate oust outclass outclassed outflank outplay outsmart outsmarted outsmarting outwit overwhelm quash rout shellacking steamroll steamrolled take down the loser the losers thumped thumping vanquish vanquished winner winning wipe out | |
| weasel words | a recent study arguably arguably the greatest clearly critics claim critics say critics think everybody knows everyone knows everyone says experience shows experts believe experts claim experts declare experts say experts state has been claimed i heard that in most respects is widely thought it has been claimed it has been mentioned it is believed it is claimed it is considered it is known it is mentioned it is noted it is often reported it is often said it is regarded it is thought it is widely thought it was noted many are of the opinion many scholars state most feel officially known as overwhelming majority reportedly research has shown research shows scholars state science says scientists claim some people say somewhat the vast majority there is evidence widely considered | |
| puffery | acclaimed amazingly talented avant-garde award winning award-winning awesome best-in-class brilliant celebrated cutting-edge extraordinary famous ground-breaking groundbreaking honorable iconic incredibly talented industry-leading innovative landmark leading leading edge leading-edge legendary market-leading multi-award winning notable outstanding phenomenal pioneering prestigious remarkable renowned respected state-of-art state-of-the art state-of-the-art unique virtuoso visionary world-class world-famous world-renowned | |
| nonsense | absolute nonsense absolutely fantastic absolutely ridiculous absurd absurdity absurdly alternative facts appalling arrogance arrogant asinine audacity babble baffling balderdash baseless batshit batshit crazy belligerent bigotry bizarre blather blowhard blunder blundering bluster blustery bogus bollocks bombastic bonkers boorish brainless brainwashed brainwashing bs bull shit bullshit butt hurt butthurt buzzword buzzwords chumps circle jerk claptrap cliche cliched cliches clichè cliché clichés clownish clusterfuck conspiracy theories conspiracy theorist conspiracy theory contemptible contradictory cop out cop-out corny counterfactual crap crappy craziness criminal behavior cringe-worthy cringeworthy cringey cringy debunked deluded delusional demagogue demagoguery demagogues diatribe diatribes dickhead dimwit discredited disgrace disgraceful disgusting dishonest dishonesty disinformation disingenuous disproved disproven divisive divisiveness dog whistle dog-whistle doozy doss douche douchebag douchebags drivel dross dumbass dumbasses dumpster fire embarassing embarrassing empty promises empty words epithet epithets erroneous exaggerated exaggerating exaggeration exaggerations factually incorrect fake news fake-news fakenews fallacious false claim false claims false equivalence false equivalency false narrative false narratives falsehood falsehoods falsified falsify falsifying fanciful fantasies fantasize fantasized far-fetched farce fear mongering fear-mongering fearmongering fluff folly foolish foolishness fraudulent fraudulent transactions frivolous fucking bullshit fud fudged fudging gibberish guff hate group hoaxes hogwash hubris hyperbole hysterical idiocy idiot idiot's idiota idiotic idiots ignoramus ignorance ignorant ill-informed illogical imbecile imbeciles implausible inane inappropriate inappropriate behaviour incoherent incompetence incompetent ineffectual ineptitude innuendo innuendos insanity insufferable intemperate irrational irresponsible jackass jackasses liars libtard libtards ludicrous ludicrously lunacy lunatic lunatics malarkey malfeasance mendacity misdirection misguided misinformation misinformed misinterpreting misleading misreporting misrepresent misrepresentation misrepresented misrepresenting misrepresents moronic morons mumbo jumbo narrow minded non-sense nonsens nonsense nonsensical nothingburger nutjob nutters obfuscated obfuscating obfuscation odious off-putting offal out of step out of touch outbursts outlandish outrageous outrages outright lies overly simplistic pandering pansies patent nonsense pathetic piece of crap platitudes plebs pointless pointlessly polemical polemics political correctness posturing prattle preposterous presumptuous pretentious pricks propaganda puerile questionaire ramblings rant rantings rants rebuttal rebutted rebutting recipe for disaster rediculous reprehensible retard retarded retarder retards ridiculous ridiculousness rubbish scaremongering scum scumbag scumbags scummy shameful shit sandwich shite shitshow shoddy shtick silliest silliness silly slander sophistry stereotypes stereotypical stereotyping stinker stupidity subservience sycophants tirade tirades tosh tosser train wreck travesty tripe twat twats twits uninformed uninterested uninteresting unjustified unrealistic unreasonable unreliable unscientific unsubstantiated unsubstantiated claims untrue untruth untruthful untruths utter bullshit utter nonsense utterly ridiculous vacuous virtue signalling vitriol vitriolic wanker wankers waste of time whataboutism whiner | |
| failure | catastrophe catastrofic catastrophe catastrophes catastrophic catástrofe catástrofes complete failure desaster destructive devastating disaster disaster strikes disasters distructive failure fatal fatal1ty fatally katastrophe mess messy the catastrophe the disruption the failure the failures this disaster this mess | |
| exasperation | again and again and once again for some reason fuck shit up lose my mind time after time time and again time and time again unsurprisingly wrong again yet again |
