I was fighting that battle right there alongside you, but yes the astroturfing was enormous. Sometimes I felt like I was the only sane person out there.
It helps to remember that there were hundreds of millions, potentially billions, of dollars going specifically to shilling for trump and putin and disparaging the democrats.
I tagged loads of accounts at the time, thinking they were just bots or plants, but a couple are still around and now I think maybe they’re just well-meaning morons who couldn’t quite figure out the implications…
Yes, some well-intentioned people may have been duped into spreading the propaganda. The goal of astroturfing is to convince ordinary people of what they’re shilling, ultimately getting others to repeat it.
The trolls only inject the mind virus, but once it’s accepted by an (un)critical mass, it kinds takes on a life of its own…
It’s weird though. One of the accounts I tagged has just become more and more reasonable and I feel like. Idk. They certainly weren’t all bad or deceptive people – and being mean to and about them won’t really help them figure it out … OTOH fuck ppl who do stupid shit because they’re too proud to accept inherent complicity in the evils of the lesser.
Right? Having to deal with all those bots showing all the times the democrats supported Israel’s actions and refused to support Palestinians and refused to call or support any sanctions or supported BDS
Must have been exhausting particularly since you had zero evidence to the contrary. I can see how that would be an uphill battle when facts aren’t on your side.
You do realize your tactic here was literally the same tactic as when MAGAs call something “fake news,” right? Uncannily identical.
The amount of that shit that was going on even here showed it worked. Pretty much all of those accounts are silent now. Shows you how the russian bots poisoned the election.
I was fighting that battle right there alongside you, but yes the astroturfing was enormous. Sometimes I felt like I was the only sane person out there.
It helps to remember that there were hundreds of millions, potentially billions, of dollars going specifically to shilling for trump and putin and disparaging the democrats.
I tagged loads of accounts at the time, thinking they were just bots or plants, but a couple are still around and now I think maybe they’re just well-meaning morons who couldn’t quite figure out the implications…
Still can’t.
Excellent username btw
I misread the spine of a book when I was 10 and looking for my first username. George Eliot is fucking phenomenal though and no regregts.
Yes, some well-intentioned people may have been duped into spreading the propaganda. The goal of astroturfing is to convince ordinary people of what they’re shilling, ultimately getting others to repeat it.
The trolls only inject the mind virus, but once it’s accepted by an (un)critical mass, it kinds takes on a life of its own…
Damn, I wonder how you managed to lose the election with such compelling messages as “anyone who opposes us has been mind controlled by foreigners”
Centrists didn’t lose the election. They circumvented the only one they cared about winning: the primaries.
It’s weird though. One of the accounts I tagged has just become more and more reasonable and I feel like. Idk. They certainly weren’t all bad or deceptive people – and being mean to and about them won’t really help them figure it out … OTOH fuck ppl who do stupid shit because they’re too proud to accept inherent complicity in the evils of the lesser.
Right? Having to deal with all those bots showing all the times the democrats supported Israel’s actions and refused to support Palestinians and refused to call or support any sanctions or supported BDS
Must have been exhausting particularly since you had zero evidence to the contrary. I can see how that would be an uphill battle when facts aren’t on your side.
You do realize your tactic here was literally the same tactic as when MAGAs call something “fake news,” right? Uncannily identical.
The amount of that shit that was going on even here showed it worked. Pretty much all of those accounts are silent now. Shows you how the russian bots poisoned the election.
Scroll up, there’s more than a few sunk cost fallaciors still about.
Yea I just noticed after I posted…
Some people still deny it, but it’s not like you need to wear a tinfoil hat to realize it. The kremlin openly admits to doing this shit.
“People who oppose genocide can’t possibly be human: they must be foreigners”
You guys I just as fascist as MAGA you know
“People who oppose genocide can’t possibly be human: they must be foreigners”
You guys I just as fascist as MAGA you know