ASTROTURF GONE WILD

A very interesting article that explains the meaning of astroturfing. The article then goes on to examine some of the political players and their hired services. The article is quite thorough in investigating recent incidents of astroturfing and the legalities involved. I would suggest the read as the small amount I will be quoting in this post will no way do this article justice.

The article has lots of links and sources, and explains how today's politicians are using astroturfing for marketing themselves to the public.

Not to be outdone this time around, Hillary seems to have systematically pieced together a formidable 2016 astroturfing offensive by striking up strategic partnerships with tech executives.

Clinton's Google connection, in particular, has flown low under the radar. According to this Quartz piece, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt helped form a company named The Groundwork to, as they say, ensure that the Hillary campaign has what it needs to succeed.

The marketing master known as @RealDonaldTrump is the King of Twitter, where he allegedly keeps his own personal army of Twitter bots. Because Twitter isn't just a place where marketing bobbleheads go to copulate. No, Twitter is where the media goes to manufacture consent take the country's temperature. Donald Trump seems to perfectly understand this, as illustrated in this article by Kemberlee Kaye at Legal Insurrection that documents his arsenal of tactical online weapons.

source

a reply to: AlaskanDad

I see SO MANY comments on FaceBook with people supporting Hillary, talking about how amazing she will be as President, using the #ImWithHer hashtags, etc. etc.

Sometimes I go to their profile out of curiosity. Often times the profile picture is not of a person, and it's evident that the profile is probably just a fake for propaganda purposes - you never know but I WILL say that I've seen more positive Hillary Clinton Facebook posts than any other candidate and more often than not (I actually can only think of a handful that looked legit), they read like fake comments and not real people posting them

my 2 cents

a reply to: AlaskanDad

IT does not matter what this article thinks AstroTurf is, what it is for, or what it looks like. The FACT is that there is only ONE acceptable meaning of the term AstroTurf, and that is a word which describes a particular type of playing surface, a synthetic replacement for grass normally speaking, upon which one may play football, hockey, tennis or the like. It has NO other meaning which is accepted by anyone with half a neuron to rub against the outer wall of their skull.

What the term appears to be mistakenly applied to in the article, is the tendency of political blocs to behave like SCUM and manipulate the voter base, rather than be lead by the voter base. It is not AstroTurfing, it is simply not. It is called power players taking advantage of the weak minded, and that is all it is. AstroTurf has a use, a legitimate use, making spaces where grass cannot be grown, appropriate for sporting events. This other stuff, this underhanded filth is something else.

Using a term like AstroTurfing to describe it, merely plays into the hands of those who perpetrate these manipulations, it softens and obfuscates the intent, meaning, and importance of the process, and how toxic and Machiavellian it is.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
Using a term like AstroTurfing to describe it, merely plays into the hands of those who perpetrate these manipulations, it softens and obfuscates the intent, meaning, and importance of the process, and how toxic and Machiavellian it is.

That's very apt since the real Astroturf is being investigated as a toxin and cancerous...on both sides of the pond.

www.forbes.com...

Very surreal!

The more Hillary and her dark tactics get exposed, the more the efforts will fail.

Good thread.

a reply to: smurfy

Agreed. The term is as apt in some ways, as it is entirely inappropriate and bogus in others.

Still, it ought only refer to playing surfaces, not what amounts to barrages of psyops and propagandist waffle.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: smurfy

Agreed. The term is as apt in some ways, as it is entirely inappropriate and bogus in others.

Still, it ought only refer to playing surfaces, not what amounts to barrages of psyops and propagandist waffle.

Yes, there should ba law agin' it..like there is here, but then free radicals are everywhere.