Professional Discussion Board Posters... Issue Drivers...

[Miss Chybil]

Does anybody have any information on professional discussion board posters? I have recently begun reading and posting on a discussion board catering to certain members of the medical profession. There are about two, maybe three, regular posters who toe the Republican Party/Christian Right line so closely, on EVERY ISSUE, I'm beginning to think they are professional political operatives. One, in particular, has very detailed, and seemingly prepared responses to issues such as labor issues, i.e. overtime and unions. As for, abortion - he would let a woman die who had come into the ER after having a half-finished and botched abortion, as opposed to helping her. Maddening. He has long arguments for why doctors should have the right to refuse emergency contraception. Etc., etc.. Have you seen any articles about people like this whose job it is to post this stuff. (He posts A LOT.) Or, is this how some "normal, everyday people" really think?

[rzemanfl]

1. Maybe Agent Mike knows this guy...n/t

[Miss Chybil]

3. Who's agent Mike? nt

[rzemanfl]

4. The mythical (?) federal agent who monitors DU for BushCo. n/t

[Poll_Blind]

2. Sometime in the last few years the manufacturing of consent shifted into..

...a higher gear. There were some posts about a company that did this. It's tough to tell who's paid and who's not though. There was, for instance, a poster who is nolonger with us, who I know 100% was not paid but they basically replied with actual stock messages for almost everything. And then re-used them with frequency. Of course, this was in the I/P forum where you arguably should support your assertions with citations of some sort, especially if they are controversial in any way (which they usually are).

  If you want a glimpse into how far back this thing goes, go to the WikiPedia entry for Serdar Argic. I've been on the Internet since 1989 and I got to see "his" postings first hand. Since then, things have gotten much more elaborate and subtle. Sometimes dangerously so. Still, reading everything with a critical eye is the only sure-fire way of determining if someone's trying to put a shot over on you (or others) in a post or with a series of posts.

  Information has been, still is, and always will be power. If they cannot keep the power (information) your of your hands they will do their best to manipulate opinion so that you don't find it (the information) attractive. I also find spotting logical fallacies helps immensely.

PB

[Miss Chybil]

5. Well, what makes it really hard is the information itself is being

manufactured. Clean Skies... No Global Warming... These people post all these references but besides just reading those, you have to try to figure out who paid for its production.

We have a political ad going on in our city right now. It goes like this: Yellow background behind the word "Hogwash." An announcer says, "What is hogwash?" He then goes on to read words that populate the screen like, "Balderdash." "Gobbledeegook." "Rubbish." "Prop 201" "It's all Hogwash." I still don't know what Prop 201 is! (I will when they send me the book listing all the props before the election, but right now all I know is it's Hogwash. At the bottom of the screen at the end of the commercial, there is very small white print (on yellow background) that says this ad was paid for by the Cattle Ranchers Assoc.. Hmmmm... I wonder what it is.

Anyway, the reason I tell this is it is just so hard to know who to believe anymore. I'm frustrated to the point I just want to ignore it all and hope nothing blows up. Of course, things will blow up, whether I pay attention, or not, anyway. We just don't seem to count anymore. I'm just... I don't know. I don't know, anymore. What happened to my country and why are so many people bent on lying to me and the rest of us?

[Poll_Blind]

8. Here's how I go about things- I know exactly what you're feeling.

It's like living in a Philip K. Dick novel. Maybe you can get something from my approach which will help.

It's the best model that I've been able to create for myself so that I can still function as a critical thinker in a sea of disinformation.

Good luck, truly.

And a new word for you: weltsmertz.

PB

[Miss Chybil]

10. Weltschmertz.

Weltschmertz

\Welt"schmertz`\, n. Sorrow or sadness over the present or future evils or woes of the world in general; sentimental pessimism.


How apropos. And to think I can specifically remember driving home from school one night in 1999 thinking about how lucky I was to have been born in these times. I should have knocked on wood!

I will do my best to remember your advice.

[Poll_Blind]

13. Here's a slightly better definition, which I wasn't able to find before:

Weltschmertz--Sorrow or sadness over the discrepancy between an ideal version of the world and its actual existing state, a depression over present or future evils and woes of the world in general.

PB

[madfloridian]

6. Ok, do a search on paid, astroturf

And maybe professional, astroturf.

You will come up with some very interesting stuff. It goes on here and at every forum where a person can post freely.

Here is the link to the results of paid, astroturf

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=paid+astroturf&btnG=Search

It covers all areas. One you see mentioned here is a former Clinton advisor named Mike McCurry who was advocating against Net Neutrality.

http://mediacitizen.blogspot.com/2006/05/mccurry-sells-out-to-att.html

It is everywhere.

[Miss Chybil]

11. Very enlightening.

I wonder if I could get a job cutting and pasting talking points... Maybe, I should just write up a bunch of arguments ready to post in response to people like this? Maybe, it would be nice to have a library to draw from - complete with citations and links. I don't think it's really a job for me, though. I actually have a life. I think.

[union_maid]

7. I don't know, but I've suspected

I used to post on mixed board. It was part of a larger online community and there were all political perspectives on the politics boards. I noticed that the rightwingers had tomorrow's RNC talking points today, so to speak. If they started repeating a new meme it would soon be all over the MSM. Of course, that could easily just be that they were on mailing lists, etc. What I also found odd was that they mostly claimed to be very successful business people, but had unlimited time for posting on messageboards.

[bemildred]

9. It is obvious this goes on.

It is a tribute in a way, it means we are considered important, a threat.

[htuttle]

12. Marketing corporations have been doing this for even longer...

...than politicians. Not just the cigarette companies, but appliance manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, etc...

It's gone way beyond Video News Releases (which are still everywhere).

[JNelson6563]

14. We have some on DU

and they can be so irritating!