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In reply to the discussion: Guardian exposes Russian "troll center" where paid trolls spew Putin web propaganda. [View all]woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Thank you, Edward Snowden for revealing the contempt and manipulation with which we are now treated by our own corrupt, corporate-purchased government.
Those who build surveillance machines also build propaganda machines, and this administration has legalized propaganda targeted at Americans that used to be illegal. Massive effort and resources are being poured into trying to give the false impression that Americans support our own government's abuses of power against us, and that we have contempt for those who expose them.
It's no accident that what used to be liberal gathering spaces are now polluted with reliable attackers of liberals and defenders of every corporate outrage and assault on democracy itself coming out of this administration: the TPP, indefinite detention, secret laws, secret courts, assaults on journalism, drone wars, drilling, fracking, corporate education, privatization, deregulation, etc., etc., etc. And it is no accident that these very same 24/7 mouthpieces also swarm and smear any journalist or whistleblower who exposes or is vocal about our government's abuses of power against its own people.
We no longer have a representative government or a democracy. We have a criminal corporate oligarchy that is using outright manipulation to attack dissent and enable the cancer that is neoconservative and neoliberal corruption and subversion of our democracy itself.
Let's repost some reminders of what we are really dealing with here:
Obama taps "cognitive infiltrator" Cass Sunstein for Committee to create "trust" in NSA:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023512796
Salon: Obama confidants spine-chilling proposal: Cass Sunstein wants the government to "cognitively infiltrate" anti-government groups
http://www.salon.com/2010/01/15/sunstein_2/
The US government's online campaigns of disinformation, manipulation, and smear.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024560097
Snowden: Training Guide for GCHQ, NSA Agents Infiltrating and Disrupting Alternative Media Online
http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/02/25/snowden-training-guide-for-gchq-nsa-agents-infiltrating-and-disrupting-alternative-media-online/
The influx of corporate propaganda-spouting posters is blatant and unnatural.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3189367
U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News To Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023262111
The goal of the propaganda assaults across the internet is not to convince anyone of anything.*
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023359801
The government figured out sockpuppet management but not "persona management."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023358242
The Gentleman's Guide To Forum Spies (spooks, feds, etc.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4159454
Seventeen techniques for truth suppression.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4249741
Just do some Googling on astroturfing - big organizations have some sophisticated tools.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1208351