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posted by takyon on Tuesday April 26 2016, @01:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the just-my-hundred-million-cents dept.

Current Affairs published an in-depth editorial on recent revelations about a $1 million astroturfng campaign by Correct the Record:

Astroturfing makes me angry. It should make you angry. It should make you fucking well see red. It's marketing evolved into something incredibly scary, sophisticated, and evil. It's essentially thought warfare, or psychological warfare, which takes away much of what was supposed to make the internet a new and beautiful frontier of communication. Worse yet, if you actually identify and approach these operatives, they'll gaslight you and deny that they are such an operative. These are people who are paid to psychologically abuse you. Do you get this? It's an ugly and evil thing, and not only does it take away our ability to take information and fact at face value, but it takes away our ability to take opinions, feelings, and personal stances at face value as sincere and legitimate.

takyon: For some additional context, "Hillary-supporting super PAC invests $1 million to hit back at online Clinton critics":

Correct the Record, a super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton's bid to become US president, has promised to invest more than $1 million to respond to users criticizing its candidate on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, and other social media services. The super PAC says its new "Barrier Breakers digital task force" will to respond "quickly and forcefully to negative attacks and false narratives found online," in addition to thanking major supporters and "committed superdelegates" directly.


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  • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday April 26 2016, @02:26PM

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Tuesday April 26 2016, @02:26PM (#337506) Homepage Journal

    Just so you know, I'll never be at a TED talk, let alone watch one on youtube. Videos are for illustration, the written word is the best method of communication. I only mention it because I've seen several links to youtube here today, and I don't WANT to listen to a talking head, I'm listening to music and READING on a photo and video-free site. Do you have a link to that content that doesn't involve using my ears?

    --
    mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
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  • (Score: 2) by Vanderhoth on Tuesday April 26 2016, @05:23PM

    by Vanderhoth (61) on Tuesday April 26 2016, @05:23PM (#337565)

    Videos can have they're place, they can be really informative. Written arguments can be hard to follow because you lack the non-verbal cues that go into an argument. That's not to say they're bad, but it's just not always the best way to get a point across, especially if someone, that's hell bent on misrepresenting you, shows up and starts taking everything you say out of context, conflating issues and/or derailing a topic.

    --
    "Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
    • (Score: 3, Touché) by MostCynical on Tuesday April 26 2016, @09:01PM

      by MostCynical (2589) on Tuesday April 26 2016, @09:01PM (#337626) Journal

      And some times a video is just a video, or, as here, people being silly.

      --
      "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday April 27 2016, @03:40PM

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Wednesday April 27 2016, @03:40PM (#337988) Homepage Journal

      Videos can have they're place

      I see by that sentence that you're not a reader.

      they can be really informative

      Yes, if it's something like this [hubblesite.org] but nearly always it's a talking head.

      Written arguments can be hard to follow because you lack the non-verbal cues that go into an argument.

      The written word is FAR more understandable than the spoken word, as poets have pointed out for centuries. "Lets all get up and dance to a song. That was a hippie four. Your mother was born, though she was born a long, long time ago".

      Or Robert Service's "Dangerous Dan McGrew" which comes out as "dangerous damned McGrew" when read out loud. But if you don't know the difference between there, they're and their then yes, the written word might seem unwieldy.

      --
      mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
      • (Score: 2) by Vanderhoth on Wednesday April 27 2016, @04:17PM

        by Vanderhoth (61) on Wednesday April 27 2016, @04:17PM (#338005)

        I see by that sentence that you're not a reader.

        You know I follow you right, for quite a long time actually, and read your Mars, Ho series when you were posting it in your journal.

        Some times people just make spelling mistakes. I often am just doing too many things at one time and screw things up without thinking about it. But your response actually makes my point. Sometimes, during a conversation, how people are posturing toward each other can convey a lot of a conversation that would be over looked or misinterpreted when written.

        None of that is to say that written words aren't also important or that you can't make a point without body language.

        --
        "Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
        • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday April 28 2016, @06:11PM

          by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Thursday April 28 2016, @06:11PM (#338576) Homepage Journal

          Body language is good at conveying emotion, but that's all. Body language won't explain microbiology or cosmology, only words and maths will do that.

          --
          mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
          • (Score: 2) by Vanderhoth on Monday May 02 2016, @10:22AM

            by Vanderhoth (61) on Monday May 02 2016, @10:22AM (#340175)

            Body language won't explain microbiology or cosmology, only words and maths will do

            Pictures help, graphs, cell diagrams, charts.

            And sometimes having someone point to what they're talking about as they run through demonstrations and examples.

            --
            "Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe