Russians Sure Have Americans Pegged
Revelations about Russian infiltration of social media are starting to creep me out. The Huffington Post looked for now-known troll accounts in online media and found scores of references to cut-out accounts like the now-notorious Jenna Abrams.
And it’s still going on, especially in the heated Virginia governors race, where Russian bots are frantically retweeting racially charged campaign ads. Could it be that not all the racists in America are actually in America?
It sure seems that way in light of the stunt the trolls pulled off in Houston last May. One Facebook page called Heart of Texas announced a “Stop Islamification of Texas” rally outside an Islamic center, while another called United Muslims of America advertised a “Save Islamic Knowledge” rally for the same place and time. Poof! Instant conflict!
A big culprit, as the HuffPo story makes clear, is media’s reliance on tweets to replace the old man-on-the-street interview. Fewer journalists leads to short-cut journalism.
That Houston story is chilling. It is as if we are not only not stopping Russia – but inviting Russia to spread mayhem and take over.
FOX news message boards are crawling with Russians. It’s like a bed bug infestation.
Somebody told me this morning that he gets lots of friend requests on Facebook from “people” who have no friends listed on Facebook.
“A big culprit, as the HuffPo story makes clear, is media’s reliance on tweets to replace the old man-on-the-street interview. Fewer journalists leads to short-cut journalism.”
This is true, but it’s a chicken and egg. Twitter is the consequence of the rise of the sound bites instead of analysis and the promotion of critical thinking. “Buying an election” means spending vast sums of money, not on the time honored practice of buying votes. Rather it is on the 30 second spot that is devoid of context and is employed primarily to scare people. In replacing the 30 sec ads, Twitter is cheaper, and has a wider reach because of the followers and the retweets. Facts and context are not just optional, there simply is no room for them. This is nothing more than using technology to continue the dumbing down of America.
Absolutely. The total expenditure for that Houston fiasco was $200.