3 ms·
The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! By bot, by bot! Good god, this mass delusion needs to stop. Or perhaps people need to read up a bit more on
by thrower123 8y ago
The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! By bot, by bot!
Good god, this mass delusion needs to stop. Or perhaps people need to read up a bit more on history and realize that influencing each others' internal affairs to nudge popular opinion about is what great powers do to each other and everybody else, going back to Sumer and Akkad.
I do find myself asking cui bono? with this this whole situation. There are such extensive efforts to pump up the story.
- everdev 8y agoHistory is full of foreign influence, true, but that doesn't mean it was a good thing. The US has laws protecting against it because we fear the subversion of our independence. In fact, many countries fight civil wars between a national group and a foreign backed group. In history, foreign interference is rarely healthy. That's why people care about this.
- Cthulhu_ 8y agoIt's different with the Russians though - remember how they had an arms race for the better part of last century and how they were very close to basically annihilating the whole world?
- jcriddle4 8y agoSpeaking of delusions, the dollar amounts and timing of the spending indicate this was more likely a click-bait farm and/or social experiment and not an operation focused on influencing the outcome of the 2016 election. You could argue they were practicing up and getting data to do operations for future elections.
- meowface 8y agoThe hacking of the DNC and of Podesta, and release of their emails, suggests they did try to influence the election. The social media campaigns may not have started off as a way to help Trump/hurt Clinton, but they probably turned more in that direction as the election approached.