Social Media and the Russians

I was thinking about putting this post in the "Rant" section or even another political forum, however, I ultimately decided to put it in here as a social issue because to me it is just that...a social issue.

I absolutely and unequivocally don't care if Russians or any other foreign country tried to influence U.S. elections via Social Media. Social Media *should* at its core be a tool for free speech...all free speech. I don't consider Facebook or Twitter to be strictly American platforms, in fact, they are used by the entire world. If another Government or foreign entity wants to use their right to free speech on an international platform...I don't care.

I am NOT okay with election tampering in a more traditional sense or Russians changing votes by co-opting voting machines or some such nonsense. I suspect that is NOT what happened and is a much more likely scenario for our own U.S. Government to do to someone else than those pesky Russians.

I believe the main problem or concern those of you that think Russians meddled in our elections via Social Media have is that the average American is too stupid to make up their own mind and is giving undue influence to opinions on Facebook, Twitter etc. I don't share that opinion.

I believe we as Americans should protect free speech first and trust in our fellow citizens to make up their own minds. I also find it just as disconcerting that complete assholes like Tom Steyer, Soros and the Koch Brothers have undue influence, yet most of you don't care that these individuals have an unfair advantage to influence elections or if you do aren't trying to stop their influence from corrupting the minds of your fellow Americans.

My basic point is that I believe the voting public possesses the basic intelligence necessary to make an informed decision and that even if some of them ARE influenced by morons like Steyer, Russians or Disney (another evil influencer) that the importance of Free Speech trumps the danger from the influence peddlers and policy makers.

I don't see one thing wrong with anyone in the world using a Social Media platform to their advantage and to using it to speak to and influence whomever they please. If you do, then I believe you are being disingenuous.

Russians? Who cares.

a reply to: Metallicus

They are setting up the whole "Russians said something on Twitter so that's why we lost the Mid-Terms" meme.

As well as continuing to undermine trust in our voting process. Something Progressives always do.

I read recently that the AP found out that someone had been buying domain names to use against Republicans this cycle. Domains like BuyMeRandPaul. They were setting up email accounts to make it look like 27 Republican politicians were OK with taking bribes.

They were hot and heavy on the story because they thought "The RUSSIANS" were behind it.

Then they found out the DNC was behind it, so dropped the story.

The DNC wants to make sure the average American no longer trusts the voting process.

S&F... and I just busted my 1K posts cherry. Woot!!!!!

a reply to: Metallicus

I absolutely and unequivocally don't care if Russians or any other foreign country tried to influence U.S. elections via Social Media. Social Media *should* at its core be a tool for free speech...all free speech. I don't consider Facebook or Twitter to be strictly American platforms, in fact, they are used by the entire world. If another Government or foreign entity wants to use their right to free speech on an international platform...I don't care.

I agree. After all, Hillary Clinton admitted a long time ago to using Facebook to encourage young people to protest in order to oust Assad in Syria. Look how that turned out. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

originally posted by: Metallicus

I believe the main problem or concern those of you that think Russians meddled in our elections via Social Media have is that the average American is too stupid to make up their own mind and is giving undue influence to opinions on Facebook, Twitter etc. I don't share that opinion.

I believe we as Americans should protect free speech first and trust in our fellow citizens to make up their own minds.

My basic point is that I believe the voting public possesses the basic intelligence necessary to make an informed decision and that even if some of them ARE influenced by morons like Steyer, Russians or Disney (another evil influencer) that the importance of Free Speech trumps the danger from the influence peddlers and policy makers.

.

i dont give a # about the russia thing either.
never did.

i disagree with some things though.

i think the average citizen is too stupid to make up their own mind and a lot of what they know comes from twitter and facebook.
i dont think the majority of the people out there are digging into the issue or digging into the peoples platforms.

i think the majority read a headline and get a tweet so it is the gods truth gospel.

how many people even do what we do? i think a small number.
as much as we all disagree a lot discussion does happen. links and sources are passed around. information is traded.

not so much with twitter and facebook. it is sort character meme bull# that becomes truth.

i agree that free speech should be protected first.

Well said. I normally ignore any political orientated thread

We have a whole Department of the CIA, which influences foreign elections. It's all Political Theatre, which was started by Hillary Clinton's bidding. A lot of folks forgot that part, but this was a final death throw out of her mouth right before the election. The only collusion, was the Treasonous machinations of the Obama Administration to influence the election.

a reply to: Metallicus

pretty much anyone that has a FB or twitter tried to influence the election.

a reply to: Metallicus

This one of those times I have nothing more to add but am commenting to say excellent post and well said.

a reply to: TinySickTears

i think the average citizen is too stupid to make up their own mind and a lot of what they know comes from twitter and facebook.

This is easily a debatable point.

The issue is when we think people are 'too stupid' and then we use that excuse to exert more control of their lives by Big Government. Just because someone is stupid doesn't mean we need to co-opt their freedom.

a reply to: SecretsoftheBlueApples

It started long before Billary. Read about some of the older elections, the term "Yellow Journalism" was born in the late 1890's. Elections have always been subjected to meddling from our own media, our own government and of course outsiders.

originally posted by: Illumimasontruth
a reply to: Metallicus

This one of those times I have nothing more to add but am commenting to say excellent post and well said.

Yes, and thank you Mr. Metallicus for utilizing paragraphs.

I Wonder if these millennial 140-character Twits even know what paragraphs are anymore...

originally posted by: six67seven

originally posted by: Illumimasontruth
a reply to: Metallicus

This one of those times I have nothing more to add but am commenting to say excellent post and well said.

Yes, and thank you Mr. Metallicus for utilizing paragraphs.

I Wonder if these millennial 140-character Twits even know what paragraphs are anymore...

There is nothing more intimidating to an avid reader than a "Wall of Text".

originally posted by: Metallicus
a reply to: TinySickTears

i think the average citizen is too stupid to make up their own mind and a lot of what they know comes from twitter and facebook.

This is easily a debatable point.

The issue is when we think people are 'too stupid' and then we use that excuse to exert more control of their lives by Big Government. Just because someone is stupid doesn't mean we need to co-opt their freedom.

with you 100%
not what i was getting at at all.

not saying we need to control their lives in any way.

just that i think most people are too stupid

I agree with everyone else here, Great Thread!

But can't you see the fear in their eyes? The fear of not having an external enemy to blame. Then we would be forced to face ourselves for our own failures. If we didn't have external enemies, people might actually start questioning our MIC budget.

I can't wait until the illusions are dispelled so we can finally get down to business.

originally posted by: TinySickTears

originally posted by: Metallicus
a reply to: TinySickTears

i think the average citizen is too stupid to make up their own mind and a lot of what they know comes from twitter and facebook.

This is easily a debatable point.

The issue is when we think people are 'too stupid' and then we use that excuse to exert more control of their lives by Big Government. Just because someone is stupid doesn't mean we need to co-opt their freedom.

with you 100%
not what i was getting at at all.

not saying we need to control their lives in any way.

just that i think most people are too stupid

I suppose each person will have their own empirical research to support their position.

I would rather take the positive outlook.

I agree on most of your points except the part where you equate people being manipulated by actors on social media, both foreign and domestic, with intelligence. It doesn't matter how smart you are, you can still be subject to manipulation. Most of the people who are brainwashed into cults and manipulated into giving over their entire lives to insane causes are typically above average intelligence.

As I've stated before, we don't have an ideological problem we have a psychological problem. These actors couldn't care less about what you think, it is how you think.Which in this day with social media tends to lean toward the myopic, self-centered and over-emotional.

originally posted by: sooth
I agree on most of your points except the part where you equate people being manipulated by actors on social media, both foreign and domestic, with intelligence. It doesn't matter how smart you are, you can still be subject to manipulation. Most of the people who are brainwashed into cults and manipulated into giving over their entire lives to insane causes are typically above average intelligence.

As I've stated before, we don't have an ideological problem we have a psychological problem. These actors couldn't care less about what you think, it is how you think.Which in this day with social media tends to lean toward the myopic, self-centered and over-emotional.

All valid points, however, the solution isn't censorship or a witch hunt nor is the problem limited just to social media. The American Press has proven itself to be just as much of an enemy as any Russian or foreign government. I would go so far as to say the actual media is more corrupt than social media.

The sad, unfortunate truth about the whole "RUSSIAN MEDDLING!" thing is if you look at what they actually did they didn't do anything we weren't already doing to ourselves. They simply observed us stepping backward toward a staircase & encouraged us to take another step.

The Russians weren't just posting their opinions on social media, they were posing as Americans and infiltrating or even creating their own social media groups on both the liberal and conservative side to create division. This is dishonest and goes a step further than just posting their opinion.

Think of a Russian operative infiltrating ATS and posing as an American. They would be trained extensively in the arts of manipulation and propaganda and could probably persuade many people on these forums to become more extremist than they already are, or even spread disinformation and lies. Is this healthy?

originally posted by: darkbake
Is this healthy?

is this illegal?