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OMG, that Trinidad and Tobago part is so eye opening, even for middle aged cynic who thought he saw it all.

by grujicd 5y ago

dleslie 5y ago
Now ask yourself what grass roots campaigns you supported were likely created by agencies like this.
- grujicd 5y ago
  Yup. There was an Otpor (resistance) movement in Serbia which helped overturn Milosevic at the end of 90-ties. It was later found out it was assisted by several US agencies. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otpor https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otpor Its goal was the oposite from the Trinidad and Tobago one, to motivate as many people to take a vote. At the time noone knew they got outside help, but in retrospect, such help was very needed to overthrow a dictator.
lotsofpulp 5y ago
My cynicism is running the other way. I have been burned too many times by “factual” documentaries that leave our context and information that run counter to what the documentary is selling. Especially all the Netflix garbage which is designed to just increase the number of hours of content they have. The audio seems to be from a sales pitch, so Cambridge Analytica has incentive to lie that they did something. The “Do So” movement seems to have started due to someone not allowing the incumbent, extremely unpopular prime minister onto their property: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Villafana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Villafana I have not found any good evidence that Cambridge Analytica orchestrated anything. At best, I am guessing they acted as an advertising firm and used an organically growing movement against an already extremely unpopular leader. But the Netflix documentary attempts to make it seem like Cambridge Analytica started the movement and succeeded in swaying an outcome that would not have gone the way it did without Cambridge Analytica. Maybe it did, maybe it did not, but a sales rep from Cambridge Analytica trying to sell their services is certainly no proof of anything.

OMG, that Trinidad and Tobago part is so eye opening, even for middle aged cynic who thought he saw it all.

dleslie 5y ago

Now ask yourself what grass roots campaigns you supported were likely created by agencies like this.

grujicd 5y ago
Yup. There was an Otpor (resistance) movement in Serbia which helped overturn Milosevic at the end of 90-ties. It was later found out it was assisted by several US agencies. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otpor https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otpor Its goal was the oposite from the Trinidad and Tobago one, to motivate as many people to take a vote. At the time noone knew they got outside help, but in retrospect, such help was very needed to overthrow a dictator.

lotsofpulp 5y ago

My cynicism is running the other way. I have been burned too many times by “factual” documentaries that leave our context and information that run counter to what the documentary is selling. Especially all the Netflix garbage which is designed to just increase the number of hours of content they have. The audio seems to be from a sales pitch, so Cambridge Analytica has incentive to lie that they did something. The “Do So” movement seems to have started due to someone not allowing the incumbent, extremely unpopular prime minister onto their property: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Villafana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Villafana I have not found any good evidence that Cambridge Analytica orchestrated anything. At best, I am guessing they acted as an advertising firm and used an organically growing movement against an already extremely unpopular leader. But the Netflix documentary attempts to make it seem like Cambridge Analytica started the movement and succeeded in swaying an outcome that would not have gone the way it did without Cambridge Analytica. Maybe it did, maybe it did not, but a sales rep from Cambridge Analytica trying to sell their services is certainly no proof of anything.