Reading mainstream news sites online, I absolutely cringe when I look at the comments sections. It makes me sick to my stomach. Either this country is chock full of seriously deranged people who have been brainwashed to the point of no return, or our tax dollars are going to a massive social media/online forum astroturfing campaign the likes of which we cannot even imagine.
I suspect that it is both.
I suspect it’s rather more of the latter. Watch for key themes and phrases used to advance their position. At this point filter out the ad hominem attacks as they’re meaningless in this context. You will begin to notice themes and key words repeating from a wide variety of users and across a broad spectrum of sites. The more you look for it, the more apparent it becomes.
These are not random bots grasping the daily meme from Dear Leader. They are paid, true believers working from a list of approved talking points typing their way into hearts and minds of the rhetorically challenged.
Once you’ve mastered this element of the exercise, turn your attention to the personal attacks. Their number and ferocity is an indicator of the importance and priority assigned to that particular subject. Here, the particular language is not as important as its emotional heat. The more quickly they’re willing to jump to calling you an idiot, moron, teabagger, or racist, the more critical the subject is to the agenda of their owners.
Hope this helps! Happy hunting.
Depends on what your paper decides to print.
If the liberal Indianapolis Star gets 95 Conservative letters to the editor and 5 Liberal ones about a certain topic; it'll print the 5 liberal ones.
The bias is so blatant, it has ceased to be funny.
I’ve reached a point in my life where I can’t help but be convinced that a large chunk of the human race is just plain f***ing stupid.