Please read this. Trolling is a deliberate strategy by #KremlinCruz and others to disseminate their views. They aim to get wider circulation of their ideas by getting progressives to comment. messagebox.substack.com/p/how-libs-can…
No matter how clever & devastating your comeback to a Republican tweet is, you’ve still helping them get out their message.
“I understand the impulse. Ted Cruz is incredibly annoying. He is one of the most transparently cynical human beings to walk the planet. If the two most annoying people in your high school class had a child, that child would be Ted Cruz.
“But every reply, quote tweet, and clever dunk aids them and gives them the thing they strive for most: attention. Every time someone yells at Cruz online, it makes him happy because it means his strategy is working.
“Cruz’s tweets are intentionally mockable. Cruz, or his staff, write these tweets for the specific purpose of baiting liberals into Twitter fights. The more angry, biting replies, the better. It’s not only Cruz who employs this strategy.
“ ‘Owning the libs’ by weaponizing liberal anger into online engagement is the primary Republican political strategy of the Internet Age. It’s how we got Trump, and it’s how we will get the next Trump if Democrats don’t figure out how to properly respond to the antagonization.
“Whenever I talk, tweet, or write about ignoring the trolls, people respond with some version of the Washington Post’s pretentious marketing slogan — ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness.’
“The gist of this argument is that the only way to stem the rising Republican tide of racism, authoritarianism, and conspiracy is to shine a light on it. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
“The point is not wrong. We cannot ignore these dangerous trends in Republican politics. But how we shine that light matters:
“QUOTE TWEET YOUR FRIENDS, SCREENSHOT YOUR ENEMIES: This is an online engagement rule from Dash: …
“If you need/want to push back on disinformation or highlight a dishonest or dangerous statement, using a photo of the statement allows you to make your point without giving the troll the information they need.
“DON’T SPREAD DISINFORMATION: If you respond to disinformation for the purposes of debunking it, you are inadvertently instructing the algorithm to show the offending disinformation to more people.
“You can either use the screenshot trick above or separately share a fact check or article that debunks the conspiracy theory.
“For more information on how to engage online in a constructive manner, check out my pre-election Pod Save America interview with Jiore Craig, a Democratic strategist, and expert in fighting online disinformation.”
This link takes you directly to that interview. podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6L…
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