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Trolls Are Still Actively Trying to Influence Brexit and US Elections (go.com)
TechCrunch reports:
A major new campaign of disinformation around Brexit, designed to stir up U.K. 'Leave' voters, and distributed via Facebook, may have reached over 10 million people in the U.K., according to new research. The source of the campaign is so far unknown, and will be embarrassing to Facebook, which only this week claimed it was clamping down on "dark" political advertising on its platform. Researchers for the U.K.-based digital agency 89up allege that Mainstream Network -- which looks and reads like a "mainstream" news site but which has no contact details or reporter bylines -- is serving hyper-targeted Facebook advertisements aimed at exhorting people in Leave-voting U.K. constituencies to tell their MP to "chuck Chequers." Chequers is the name given to the U.K. Prime Ministers's proposed deal with the EU regarding the U.K.'s departure from the EU next year.
ABC News reports: When the Justice Department unsealed criminal charges detailing a yearslong effort by a Russian troll farm to "sow division and discord in the U.S. political system," it was the first federal case alleging continued foreign interference in U.S. elections. Earlier Friday, American intelligence officials released a rare public statement asserting that Russia, China, Iran and other countries are engaged in ongoing efforts to influence U.S. policy and voters in future elections. The statement didn't provide details on those efforts. That stood in contrast with the criminal charges, which provided a detailed narrative of Russian activities...
The criminal complaint provided a clear picture that there is still a hidden but powerful Russian social media effort aimed at spreading distrust for American political candidates and causing divisions on social issues such as immigration and gun control.... Court papers describe how the operatives in Friday's case would analyze U.S. news articles and decide how they would draft social media messages about those stories. They also show that Russian trolls have stepped up their efforts with a better understanding the U.S. political climate and messages that are no longer riddled with misspellings.
CNN notes that one week before America's 2016 presidential election, "one of the Kremlin-backed accounts denied that Russian meddling, saying: 'Russia's Putin says Moscow not trying to influence U.S. election.'"
ABC News reports: When the Justice Department unsealed criminal charges detailing a yearslong effort by a Russian troll farm to "sow division and discord in the U.S. political system," it was the first federal case alleging continued foreign interference in U.S. elections. Earlier Friday, American intelligence officials released a rare public statement asserting that Russia, China, Iran and other countries are engaged in ongoing efforts to influence U.S. policy and voters in future elections. The statement didn't provide details on those efforts. That stood in contrast with the criminal charges, which provided a detailed narrative of Russian activities...
The criminal complaint provided a clear picture that there is still a hidden but powerful Russian social media effort aimed at spreading distrust for American political candidates and causing divisions on social issues such as immigration and gun control.... Court papers describe how the operatives in Friday's case would analyze U.S. news articles and decide how they would draft social media messages about those stories. They also show that Russian trolls have stepped up their efforts with a better understanding the U.S. political climate and messages that are no longer riddled with misspellings.
CNN notes that one week before America's 2016 presidential election, "one of the Kremlin-backed accounts denied that Russian meddling, saying: 'Russia's Putin says Moscow not trying to influence U.S. election.'"
Everybody I disagree with is a troll.
And then the question becomes, how do you get everyone to believe that everything online is over-rated?
--
Kindness and politeness are not overrated at all. They're underused. -- Tommy Lee Jones
Unfortunately there are a lot of gullible people in the world who just skim the headlines and don't bother to dig down in any detail on an issue. Lazy thinkers will always be with us and all we can hope for is there are enough people who aren't that way in order to counter them. Lately it's kind of depressing how much of this has distorted the political realm.
Disinformation implies falsehood. Those Brexit ads contain OPINION. That is not disinformation. In fact, by calling the ads disinformation, the claim of disinformation is itself disinformation.
Between every other article being a AGW piece and now this drivel, I'm convinced someone has a major hard-on for globalism!
Last week it was "hackers". Make up your mind.
Who knew?
The term trolls in this context just reeks of, "I need to denigrate everyone I disagree with." Certainly, there are entities that are out there to influence foreign affairs. Everyone does it to everyone else. It should be no surprise to anyone who has a pulse. How about "foreign meddlers"? Instead of using a completely unrelated word to suit an agenda, you can use existing terminology and really capture what is happening. Also, let's not forget the "hackers everywhere!" thing either. I hope many of you on Slashdot can at least understand the idiocy of using "hacker" every time something happens. I won't deny that these people are trying to sow discord among the citizens of the U.S. and U.K., but the media in either of those countries have been doing it for years as is, and very few people seem upset about it compared to this. Why is that? I don't need the media telling me, "orange man is bad", or "old lady is crazy and debilitated". I just need the media telling me the facts without their hyperbolic opinions. And they could try not omitting facts for a change so they're no longer spinning a narrative.
And we have to ask ourselves, what other entities, foreign or domestic, are targeting us? Do you really believe all domestic entities have our best interests at heart? Just look at AIPAC. They don't care about protecting the U.S. They care about protecting Israel. The U.S. is secondary in their overall aims. This should concern everyone. The U.S. certainly can't help everyone else if it can't help itself, and I would say this for any country. You need to ensure you're taking care of your own first, otherwise you let others drag you down. How many of you have seen this happen to those around you? How about yourself? The only difference is that geopolitics has a lot more factors going on to consider, but the basic idea stays the same.
The whole system is broken from the major details to the minor details. Submissions like the, "The Trolls Are Still At It!" do not help anyone, anywhere, at any time.
And my captcha was "circus". Salient.
Das Abhören ausländischer Sender ist ein Verbrechen gegen die nationale Sicherheit unseres Volkes. Es wird auf Befehl des Führers mit schweren Zuchthausstrafen geahndet.
It's odd that we [the us] do it to them and it's ok, but fuck them if they do the same thing to us. God I hate politics and politicians.
I doubt /. has escaped unscathed.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Funny how these trolls always affect the side the person writing the article doesn't support, isn't it? I mean, no one would dream of spreading misinformation on the Remain side - they're all saints devoted to the purity of Truth.
I'm sure Russian trolls are feeding out misinformation about all sorts of things. The real issue is whether it has any more effect than the lies politicians tell.
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
C'mon, folks. We all know by now that those giants are poisonous for our society (or whatever's left from that).
We need a new approach. Reboot Facebook. Reboot Google, Amazon, Apple. Kill Microsoft (and bury it face-down, at least six feet deep).
if we fail to fit in with our surroundings we'll surely disappear? cease fire stand down.. planet becoming big no-fly zone in cosmos?
Imagine people actually able to see differing points of view. They might just decide they don't like what their betters have planned for them
Why are we still talking about brexit ?
People vote for it. Period.
Deal with it.
I remember two years ago, in the poll booth, about to vote for/against Brexit; I was trying to sum up what the campaigns had told me. I came to the conclusion: a mass of emotional froth, little of hard reality upon which to make a decision. All sorts of contradictory predictions; few agreed facts. I remember listening to opposing politicians who could not even agree on, what should have been, basic facts. I came to the conclusion that both sides were lying (or at least greatly playing up their arguments), many others did also. The main agreement was that 'the other side are not being truthful' -- both sides said that!
Two years later: it is not hugely better. The problems that Brexit may bring have now been revealed & are being shouted loud but no one can say what will happen on 29 March 2019 (Brexit day), partly because exaggeration of dire consequence is a tool of political negotiation. The promised sunny uplands of EU-restriction free international trade are also being promised, but are nebulous.
Debate amongst politicians is at a level that would bring discredit to a bunch of squabbling 4 year olds at infant school.
I have not posted for a few years but this one really has annoyed me enough to say something regarding these Brexit ads.
For a start there are no new elections or referendums so it's hardly trying to influence a vote, the Guardian (left wing) newspaper would love to have a second referendum and reverse the vote and is most likely why they have flagged this up.
I can see how not knowing who is paying for these ads may be a problem for some, but like I said there is no public vote coming up and therefore as far as a I know campaign financing rules do apply, besides I did not see the Guardian kick up a fuss when Soros donated £400,000 to reverse Brexit.
Finally a large chunk of Conservative (the governing party) MPs themselves have said the same thing that this advert is saying so how is this fake news?
If there was any semblance that there was democracy in the UK, it has pretty much has been laid to rest.
Read the actual statement, nothing about "unity" on "gun control" or "immigration", that's added by selective ABC quoting:
From the statement:
"We are concerned about ongoing campaigns by Russia, China and other foreign actors, including Iran, to undermine confidence in democratic institutions and influence public sentiment and government policies"
Kavanaugh ruled in 2012 that it is OK for foreign governments to buy influence in elections, as long as they don't try to get individual politicians elected. The UAE alone spent $600 million, via a GOP fundraiser called Elliot Broidy (Google him), according to Kavanaughs decision that would be legal. I disagree. It *should* be *illegal* for the flow of vast amounts of PAC money to buy influence, and politicians seeking foreign help in winning elections.
Citizens united was a disaster, and foreign owned Delaware corps it created, is the inevitable result.
You should *not* be visiting Moscow or Riyadh seeking help in the USA elections, you should be visiting your constituency.
"...disseminating foreign propaganda."
Is it true? Or is it fake?
Did those 15 Saudi military officers, *accidentally* choke the Washington Post journalist as he fist-fought them, or did they they go to the embassy, equipped with bone saws, and a torture doctor, and dismember him while he was alive. Because my Occams Razor says if you take a bone saw to an embassy, you plan on dissecting someone, and if you have a doctor there, you plan on keeping him alive as you do it. Whereas if he died accidentally during a choke hold, you don't cut up the body, smuggle it out of the embassy and hide it. Yet this is the story Trump believes. One side it propaganda. One side is a lie.
Just to be sure, I'd like them to find the body parts, and I'd like the release of the evidence the Turkish say they have. The Turkish story has not changed, and if it was false, the Saudi's would know they didn't have the evidence they claimed and wouldn't admit it. The Saudi story has changed and they have admitted it, so I know that the Turkish claim is true and the Saudi one false. See? Occams Razor.
The logic is right there in the previous paragraphs for you to check or disagree with.
"causing divisions on social issues such as immigration and gun control"
This is added spin by selective quoting of ABC. I'll bite.
I'm still waiting for that vast army of immigrants heading for the border that only a wall can stop. Did they arrive yet? No? There's majority on immigration, nobody of either party is funding the wall. Neither party wants kids taken from parents, stuck in army camps, and forced to sign waivers of their legal rights. So how is there division? Where exactly is the split? Between Trump+Hannity vs the people + rest of the executive+ judicial + legislative branches. That's amazing unity!
80% want gun control, that's unity. NRA doesn't, gets Russian funding from a fake pro-gun lobby, that's not-unity. There is unity, but there isn't action.
You didn't mention healthcare? Can grandma get cancer treatment? Yes she can, that's unity, the repeal vote failed, even Republicans won't vote to cancel it. So why is it being defunded, when there's so much unity?
Mitch McConnell got booed out of a restaurant yesterday. How dare they! Mitch McConnell won't schedule votes if he doesn't want the legislation, even if the majrity of the Senate wants it. Do you think perhaps the undermining of the democracy has something to do with them not voicing their concerns via the democracy?
end rant.
"Trolls" (in this case) = "People who don't match the mainstream media ideology". Trolls should not give their unaproved opinion unless strictly interviewed by approved interviewer on specific TV programs
I remember, the the poll booth 2 years ago, trying sum up what I had learned from what the politicians has said over the preceding weeks. I remembered a huge amount of emotional froth but little by way of solid detail or summary of what would happen. I had listened to debates between politicians who could not even agree on basic contemporary facts - that should have not been hard to ascertain. The misinformation was more than political spin: it was outright lies. I am not the only one of that opinion.
The only agreement between the sides was 'the other side is lying'.
Now, two years later, things are not much better. We have been told of all sorts of horrible things that will happen after 29 March 2019 (Brexit day) but are well aware that these are being played up. Both sides have too much to lose if the hard lines being talked about come to be. Exaggeration of consequences and declarations of impossibility seem to be the way that political negotiations are done. The bright sunny post Brexit uplands, that we are assured (by the Brexiteers) will come to be, are equally nebulous.
What passes as debate between politicians would bring discredit to a bunch of squabbling 4 year olds at infant school.
Mainstream Network is run by the same people as the Daily Express. It took seconds to find that out on Companies House. So it's the TechCrunch article that is (an easily disprovable) piece of disinformation.
Its a outlet for them to spread attacks through false information. Social media is simply another way to do this, and like porn on the internet. It will always be there, its up to the individual to be smarter about it and for some who are not open to recognizing this behavior or simply cater to it and spread it because its what they want to believe is true. Then the ability to control something that many perpetuate is difficult if not impossible. Other then simply removing the avenue they have to spread it.
Read the US Constitution I-D-I-O-T-S. (And I'm not even American).
H. Clinton won the "prole" election, is she the regent?
In Russia elections are mainly for show. It's not even close to the same thing.
Hell, trolls are here trying to influence ppl. Multiple ones that are being paid by either Russia or China.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
How many russian trolls are active at all? I've heard numbers in the double and tripple digits.
But the Pentagon employs at least 27,000 people for PR purposes. Some of them certainly do advertisement and recruitment, but a lot of them are active on social media and to influence journalists, all to make sure the US military appears in the right light. Budget 2009: 4.7 billion
That begs the question who to trust at all. Certainly the mainstream media image of US politics is no more trustworthy than any troll posting or any fringe lunatic conspiracy theorists - just influenced by different motives and money.
In the end, it is all a show anyways. It just became even less clear who the performers are.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Just came here to watch in amazement as Slashdot turns into a Fox news / US government propaganda arm. Dear Americans: The Russians did not influence your elections, the Chinese did not mass- bug your servers, nir are they trying to control your elections now. The Israel Lobby on the other hand is BALLS DEEP in all levels of of your state apparatus and military industrial complex! But not a sibgle mention if them will appear in a Slashdot article. Not kosher...
Let's require that Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat have their access shutoff 3 months before any election in any country.
The West did overthrow a legally elected pro-Russian president in the Ukraine, leading to a civil war. I'd rather he get us back with online trolls using that horrible, horrible freedom of speech thing than with bombs and bullets.
They stood inline and got to vote.
The votes got counted.
The government then had take on what was voted for and that was passed.
Citizens all over the UK voted to get their laws back from the EU and to fully enjoy been normal nation of laws again.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
The whole basis of a democracy is the winner gets more votes than the loser. When that doesn't happen, it undermines the democracy.
She won, she has the democratic legitimacy. Saying the only system that matters is the corrupted version, is you defending the corrupted version.
The basis of the Senate is they vote on bills and if there is a majority the bill passes. When Mitch McConnell refuses to schedule votes on bill to block the vote, again that undermines the democracy. Again, why should the majority of Senators follow Mitch McConnell when Mitch McConnell uses procedure to undermine democracy.
Mitch wouldn't allow a vote on Obama's SCOTUS candidate, Merrick Garland. So SCOTUS authority is undermined. Do you think people should accept Kavanaugh's vote, on SCOTUS quietly, when Senate wasn't permitted to vote on Merrick Garland? Why?
Selective legitimacy is the problem here.
It's not OK to rig a democracy, just because your rigging is successful.
Clinton won, Trump lost. The people made the right choice. Mitch McConnell did not.
And put an end to all those pointless popular consultations. It should be clear to everyone with a minimum of intelligence that the layman is not able to understand the issues at hand enough to form an opinion. Decisions must be taken by a selected few, not beholden to the whims of the masses.
The russian communist party put up many signs encouraging the youth to boycott elections, and it must have worked because a conservative party got elected for the first time instead of the two big parties
however proper funny they think they can influence us rather than trigger the general nerdy binary response of walking away or blowing holes in their nonesense.
I think that this whole Russian bot thing is an excuse by the losing side.
And let trolls do their online propaganda,if the opposing side had substance in their arguments,they wouldn't have to fear online trolls
Npcs complaining about alleged bots. Could it get any more meta?
Jesus Slashdot.
Another item as MSM Propoganda.
Russia hasn't meddled in the American elections, and if it has, its somewhat down the line behind MSM, Oligarchs, Israel and the UK.
America does mess in everyone else's elections...FACT, so who gives a toss?
Lastly Brexit, inciting Brexiteers and not Remoaners.....your having a laugh aint ya?
You'll someday explain CAUSE and EFFECT when you finally get around to showing election meddling.
This is YET ANOTHER PIECE OF MSM PROPAGANDA THAT SHOULDN'T BE ON SLASHDOT.
Show some class, Slashdot. Don't just be another mouthpiece.
no coubtry but usa is guilty of influincing elections.
A lot of Slashdotters work for Big Intrusive Privacy Destroying Adware. When it turns out that this industry is destroying civil society, even if only in a small way, it kind of matters.
Just because you don't agree with the people that voted against your opinion doesn't mean they're russion bots, trolls, or anything else.
Get over the loss and start actually presenting the people with sensible solutions.
WaPo, LAT, NBC, MSNBC, ...
The "deplorables" and "bitter clingers" can't be allowed to win elections.
Fuck off, you little pink. We're nerds here. Go troll on a sports blog or something like a nice little vanilla.
Yes, the Russians shouldn't be spreading misinformation and sewing dischord, conflict, and polarising public discourse -- That's Congress' job!
Which is worse? The Russian trolls or the fact that people believe them? I think that people believe them is worse because no one does any independent thinking or research anymore. They take what is spoon fed to them as boiler plate. The fact that Russian trolls have been able to influence US elections is an indictment on the US educational system or lack thereof.
Maskirovka is creating division in your opponents by creating uncertainty, it's intent is to disrupt, to disbelieve everything, flat out lies and even present truths as lies.
This is well worth watching
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
What about the extreme right trolls that have taken over Slashdot's comment section? It is almost completely unreadable compared to 2-3 years ago.
There is a bit of American exceptionalism at play.
They don't want a whole bunch of knife wielding, acid throwing terrorists in their neighborhoods making no go zones and forming rape gangs. I don't think that qualifies as fake news. Fake news is suppressing real news about the rape gangs for a long time and calling them "asian males".
Witch hunting in its classic form. When we have nothing to say we start to shut up everybody around
In the US, you can run against the incumbent and very likely not get shot.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Shut up troll.
Came here to say this. I see "troll" used almost exclusively to silence debate and shut-up those you disagree with without having to make an argument against what they have to say. So, for me, "Troll" means, people who will eventually band together and start putting people in holes because they are being systematically silenced.
So basically any major news platforms? Yes, they are going to be trolls. That's how they make money. It's no different then the conservative main stream news platforms like Fox.
I laid out the very unpopular case before (on Slashdot) that trolls have zero effect. Look around Twitter, what kind of arguments could anyone possibly insert that would inflame people more than they are already inflamed?
Furthermore, I don't think trolls from other countries have the depth of understanding about where the buttons are to press to be nearly as effective as the actual people arguing in those countries. They can put up some generic arguments or whatever, but they cannot go for the really deep cuts that make people truly angry.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices – to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill – and suspicion can destroy – and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own – for the children – and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is – that these things cannot be confined – to the Twilight Zone."
The conclusion of your countryâ(TM)s military and intelligence apparatus is that the Russian operation sought to sow division while expressing a clear net preference for and against specific candidates. This is well documented; there is no reason to continually repeat false information in public.
You have to keep pro-Brexit Facebook ads in perspective:
This level of gaming the system clearly dwarfs a few Facebook ads
perl -e 'fork||print for split//,"hahahaha"'
Hell, Obama flew over personally to threaten Britain into voting remain and no one raised a shitfit about America "influencing" a British election.
That is the most moronic thing I have read here in years. And Obama didn't influence anything you fucking halfwit.
Here's why it's moronic and everyone who mod'ed the parent up are idiots.
Obama's job as POTUS was to protect the interests of the USA. BREXIT was against our interests. Obama went there in good faith and told the truth.
The Trolls are liars who hide behind screen names. Here is a list of their bullshit that got Trump elected - and anyone who believes them are morons ( Trump supporters)
1. Illegal immigration isn't that big of a problem. And what the ignorant morons ignored was that it was the OBAMA administration that had ICE round them up. That's why in my state, we don't have any of that problem. But the Republicans are still campaigning on it because their base are morons.
2. No, the "left" doesn't want to take anyone's guns. (I need healthcare not guns. And healthcare is a human right: NOT guns.)
3. There is no homosexual agenda.
4. No one wants to persecute Christians.
5. The ACA or Obamacare allows people with pre-existing conditions to get health insurance. And if the goddamn Republicans weren't so Hell bent on fucking over Obama, we'd have a slightly better system and affordable insurance. But thanks to Republicans wanting to fuck him over, they didn't take Federal money to expand Medicaid and fucking over people - making rates skyrocket.
6. The FBI didn't find any wrong doing by Kavanaugh and the same with Clinton. Think about that.
Jordan Peterson asked how are the Trumpers going to be included again in political discourse in America. What he fails to understand is that those people do NOT want to. They are off in their pathetic ignorant bubble and like it there.
We don't need a wall; we need healthcare for all. Israel is not our friend - and we give them tens of billions of dollars in "aid" every year and no one bitches about THAT welfare! Canada is our best trading partner and they never screwed us - but Trump treated them like jerks.
Trump is fucking over our economy. But his idiocy won't manifest until a few years from now - this tax cut isn't doing that much and whatever it has done is short lived (stock buybacks and bonuses for the CEOs). But the Republicans will tell their moronic base that the Democrats and the Liberals and Immigrants and gays caused it and they better vote Republican for control of the Supreme court because the Democrats are baby killing gun takers.
How do you talk to people whose world view is based on bullshit and lies?
BTW, shooting someone who wants to take your TV is barbaric. Pro-life my fucking ass!
The trolling wouldn't work.
This is all part of an overall strategy to destabilize NATO, with the ultimate goal being to weaken or completely destroy it, because NATO stands in the way of Putin building Soviet Union 2.0.
a meaningful discussion on the Internet practically impossible. They not only promote an opinion, but pose themselves as idiotic or over-aggressive opponents too.
I think an international UN anti-trolling agreement, or at least a declaration, could be beneficial for the whole planet.
The Internet plays into the swarm mentality that humans have. It's just that that swarm mentality is more exposed than ever now. People just go with whatever they are brainfed and are less diverse than they think. Let's look at some of the math:. Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Republican, Democrat, BBC and A small number of popular news agencies That's a very small number of sources that humans are swarming towards. Yes there are alternatives out there.... But they ellipse the competition. Who uses the alternatives? We've let a small number of groups take over how we get information and how we shop.
Social media was supposed to be a game wherein the pieces were real people, not actors.
Now, state actors are acting like real people.
Those who have their goddam heads covered with the plastic bag of Facebook are huffing the fucking propaganda.
How long does it take for all concerned to appreciate that Facebook is not a news SOURCE?
It's easy as hell to click one tab thataway ===> to get to actual news sites.
An example is the comment section of /. We learned long ago to avoid stepping on the bullshit.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
That is not very nice calling people Trolls....call them by their real name. Socialists, Communists, Progressives, Liberals, The Left, Anti-fa, Facists, totalitarians, Democratic Socialists.
If none work for you try "Douche Canoes"
I can't buy this. If people are smart enough they do with what they have and read between the lines, this becomes moot as it once was. It should be moot. We've never had so many alternative takes. We can make up our own minds. This is the mainstream trying to control people. People like to get to the source if they have a mind, and no, NYT is often not a source at all. You have to get to the source.
The sad but undeniable fact is that political trolls are here to stay, on every platform and for every agenda.
Influencing elections has been going on since forever, but now it's easier and much more economical to do, plus the scope/scale of the effects are vastly greater. It used to be impossible to reach 50 million people with a given message, but now with Facebook and Twitter and all the other social media platforms, it's both practical and cheap.
They saw how blissfully easy it was to disrupt the 2016 elections and truth be told, they got a lot of bang for their buck. There are a lot of Americans who are eager to follow anyone and anything that reinforces their current worldview, and who are also eager to accept new ideas or viewpoints that conveniently reinforce and amplify their existing prejudices and hatreds.
The whole "false flag" thing is back, bigger and better than ever- note how the Russians funded groups who were diametrically opposed to each other, attempting to stage rallies both for and against various issues on the same days and in the same locales in the hopes of fomenting division and violence.
And it worked. It was all basically just a covert advertising campaign, and it worked way better than they ever dreamed it would. Face it- advertising works, or they wouldn't spend billions of dollars every year doing it.
So yeah, it worked, and it succeeded like magic against a populace who was unfamiliar with the technique and also not inclined to critical thinking.
They're here to stay, so get used to fake people and groups touting their "grassroots" agendas. They'll get better and better at hiding their tracks and before long it'll be well nigh impossible to tell the real from the fake, which is exactly what they want.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
who inject propaganda viruses into the bloodstream of unsuspected voters
So so hows does shameless political propaganda fit in with "news for nerds"?
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
> I'd have to say that Hillary Clinton was one of the most qualified candidates I've every seen with experience in all sectors of the federal government.
Define "qualified"?
She didn't lead her campaign, she ran it into the ground. She took what should have been an easy victory and completely screwed the Democratic party. Make no mistake: she *wanted* to face Trump. They avoided attacking him early in the primaries because they thought he was the weakest candidate. He was her best matchup. Then they lost to him. They snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory. She thought she could just coast in without having to work for it. Yeah, sure, some stuff went wrong, but the Russians didn't cause any of the big campaign mistakes. They didn't keep her from campaigning in important states. They didn't tell her to suck up all the money from the state level races and give the Republicans everything. I don't think most people appreciate just how *badly* she ran that campaign. She basically tried to buy it, by taking money from all the state level races and doing no work and no campaigning. Her message was "it's her turn" which is the most selfishly entitled thing anyone could come up with.
I'd hate working for Trump, but no matter what you say about him, he's been damned effective in getting what he wants done. People often don't want him to get that stuff done, but he's effective at it. In past years, someone like Kavanaugh would've been withdrawn. Trump forced him through no matter what. It's funny when you see what he's doing and watch people get played by him without even knowing it. It's been years and half the country thinks he just has a stupid amount of dumb luck.
That's why he's so terrifying to everyone in the Democratic party and why the party keeps losing to him. Now, it's too late.
In the US elections are mainly for show.
In the US, you can run against the incumbent and very likely not get shot.
No, you'll just get accused of being a murderer, pedophile, illuminati, member of the deep state etc by a assholes like Roger Stone, Alex Jones and the gang at the Fox News propaganda machine and their legion of flying monkeys. Then you get to spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder scanning for unkempt nervous looking people in tacticool clothes planning to shoot you in the back or run you over with their truck because the aforementioned gang of media enabled shit-shovelers convinced them that you are a threat to Judeo-Christian culture in America and that you are running a pedophile ring out of the basement of your house (that does not even have a basement but let's not let 'facts' get in the way of a good conspiracy theory). All this is assuming you don't get beaten into a lifetime in a wheelchair by the Proud Boys first.
> Taking yourself out of a free trade block with your most significant trading partners is bad is lying?
You're putting words in his mouth.
He didn't specifically list the lies said by either side, so you just invented one and stuffed it into his mouth to attack something he never said.
Ironically, you just helped illustrate the sort of lies you were trying to argue against the existence of.
The trolling would not work.
If you distrust politicians or the media, you have been manipulated by Russia.
your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
Itâ(TM)s not trolls is libtards and demonrats and websites like this that continue to spread their nonsense
Me, Iâ(TM)d define it as mass media, including social media. They have completely lost the plot.
Did you come up with that, or are you just a troll?
Last time I checked my Monster Manual trolls weren't human. Every time you call someone a troll you're dehumanizing them. You're dehumanizing your enemies so that when you attack them, through censorship and violence, you feel like you're on the right side of history. Nazis did this.
The world would end if Brexit happens.
It wonâ(TM)t and hasnâ(TM)t. The only thing that will cause problems is the rest of the EU acting like vengeful pricks rather than respecting Brexit.
To me the only cause for concern with Brexit was how nasty the EU would be. Mind you, going that route is likely to cause its breakup
Way to 'dehumanize' people with opinions you don't like.
I the same people who wrote this article would get all lathered up about being called an NPC.
Utter horseshit.
You surely have a Proof of this gulag thing?
Uh. That happened a while ago now...
The elections are over, despite the remoaners bitching about how they want to continue voting until they get their way...
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
So, sure, you're a moron who just asserts that ANYONE who disagrees wit you is merely a troll, therefore enabling your continued ignorance.
Now prove that ANYONE who calls ANYONE a troll is doing so for the same reason YOU are.
Not really. Consider it like any war (or in this case a war of words) because ultimate foreign diplomacy works just like that. It's quite consistent to complain about the actions of your enemy while doing the same actions against them.
There's nothing uniquely American about this. In fact the same stories are coming out of every western country, you're just getting only the American side of the story. At the same time Russia was complaining about US meddling in the last election too.
Barely more than a third said to leave. So how is that democratic?
Yes, not voting is entirely valid: if you don't have enough information to vote rationally, you should not vote. The votes of those who voted to leave have forced their minority opinion on the majority who did not vote that way, merely because nearly a third of them were smart enough to know they didn't know enough.
Plus it was not a binding vote. Something that the brexiters then ignored. If it were binding, it would have had to be done differently, more stringently. Making the vote to leave or stay invalid.
So there you go, two reasons why remain should have stayed.
What SHOULD have happened is that after the referendum showing a majority of decisions were to leave was to either make it a party plank, therefore part of the next election result, OR to make it a binding vote and do it under that much stricter rule. If THAT had then voted to leave, with everyone knowing it would MEAN leave, then it would be democratic.
Lying to your voters is not democratic. And the referendum as a vote to leave or remain WAS a lie in and of itself.
Are they 'influencing the election' at all? Just asking for a friend...
...elections.
Who runs Google? Who runs Facebook?
Who owns 90% of the U.S. media? And most other white countries' media?
Why, the eternal Jew! And yet still THEY are whining about 'meddling' in elections, because 'their' candidate (Killary) lost!
Trolls from all sides have always been trying to influence elections and such. What difference does it make if a few foreign actors have now been "discovered" to be doing it too? I mean honestly, haven't there always been foreign actors doing this shit? There is nothing new here. Why all the hand wringing?
TL;DR, if it were so easy to influence change, it is already being used. There is nothing new here so why the sudden spotlight?
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
But the Founding Fathers and Jesus designed it that way ON PURPOSE!!
We were never meant to have equal representation, it was designed into the system so that you specifically wouldn't.
Sorry. When there are dozens of people spending 10+ hours in disqus posting about "leftists" and "obummer" it's obvious that something is wrong.
Even before we knew about russian trolls I figured they were either mentally unstable kooks, all ironically NEEts on welfare, invading from some nutbag forum somewhere. Or that they were paid posters, which I knew existed in Manila.
When the russian troll stories came out it all made perfect sense so fuck off Ivan.
The only thing the NPC meme proves is that you conservatards don't understand irony and hypocrisy. YOUR SIDE got their marching orders to spread the NPC meme and you guys did just that which is precisely what the meme accuses libtards of doing. It was like clockwork. A mere 6 hours or so after that meme got posted, slashtards started making comments calling other slashtards NPCs. There is a reason why the general mantra concerning conservatives has been that "whatever they scream the loudest about, is exactly what they are doing or are wanting to do at this very moment."
You may now proceed with your previously scheduled response of "nuh uh, NPC". Carry on.
I like how you couldn't win your argument so you called him a pedo. I also know for a fact that you, yourself, bitch at "libtards" on this website for doing exactly that.
Hypocrisy be thy name.