@SethCotlar That's what I meant when I wrote that social media isn't conducive to civil discourse and debate. I had been noticing and following strange activity on social media dating back ten years or more. A lot of patterns that added up to more than mere happenstance.
@SethCotlar One day, I created a faux right wing account and was quickly invited into some strange corners of Facebook where everything terrified me: lots of violent, racist stuff. I've been keeping an eye on that activity with varying degrees of scrutiny for the last decade.
@SethCotlar Before media began reporting on the "troll farms" that are operated out of Russia, Arizona and elsewhere, I was convinced there was some sort of group coordinating online to influence public opinion in the comments sections of Facebook. So I interacted with those accounts . . .
@SethCotlar Those accounts aren't interested in civil discourse. Those accounts pose as Liberals and Leftists to confuse audiences. Those accounts change their character to suit their objective. They're constantly tweaking their strategy and there's lots of them. They move in packs.
@SethCotlar That's the battlefield, the obstacle and the challenge. If you've attracted this sort of negative attention, perhaps you're doing something correctly, such as reporting on the modern history of fascism and white supremacy in the United States. They don't want you to do that!
@SethCotlar I'm not sure how to counter this phenomena . . . a multi-pronged approach is likely needed. Personally, I've decided to lift parts of their strategy, augment it with my own devices, and use it against them.
@SethCotlar Content creation is THE FORM of debate on social media, so maybe content creation is now debate. Period. And it appears one is as likely to influence the public narrative with a post as one is to influence it with a comment. That's demonstrably true.
@SethCotlar I'd prefer to live a simpler life, but I'd also prefer to live in a real democracy with healthy local economies supported by actual communities. 🤷♂️ When we're given lemons . . . throw them at fascists.
@SethCotlar One thing I've noticed: they create mnemonic devices, language-thought anchors, their own lexicon. This helps draw in converts. If you search "Beta cuck" on Google and follow that rabbit hole, it will pop you out in some Nazi Hell. That's why I've created my own lexicon of motifs
@SethCotlar The Liberal/corporate media does this as well with additional intent to obfuscate and obscure. They refer to oligarchs as "elites," for example, tho we know there's absolutely nothing "elite" about being born into money.
@SethCotlar @threadreaderapp, unroll please. Thank you.
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