Language and Propaganda - an example

@layman,

layman wrote:

Ya think it could be "trolling" to accuse someone of being a "troll?"

No one answered that question for me, but according to the next thing I see at wiki, apparently the answer is "sho nuff."

"Like any pejorative term, it can be used as an ad hominem attack, suggesting a negative motivation."

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I think maybe I'm starting to get the idea of what a "troll" is. Says here:

"At times, the word ["troll"] can be abused to refer to anyone with controversial opinions they disagree with."

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@maporsche,

" a troll is a person who...[has] the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response..."

The more I think about it, this would seem to apply to just about every great writer throughout history: Shakespeare, Dickens, whoever.

Such writers often tend to (and intend to) provoke an emotional response which may be said to "cause discord."

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@blatham,

Quote:

my experience demonstrates that those who don't put some others on ignore are out for a fight.

I dont have anyone on ignore. But there are more than a few that I dont converse with because I have found it to be counter productive to talk with them, and a huge waste of time.

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@layman,

Quote:

Ya think it could be "trolling" to accuse someone of being a "troll?"

Not if they are indeed a troll.

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@RABEL222,

RABEL222 wrote:

Quote:
Ya think it could be "trolling" to accuse someone of being a "troll?"

Not if they are indeed a troll.

And how is that determined? As noted, wiki says: "Application of the term troll is subjective. Some readers may characterize a post as trolling, while others may regard the same post as a legitimate contribution to the discussion, even if controversial."

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Haven't listened to this yet but will tonight. Two smart guys here.

Quote:

Dartmouth College Political Scientist Brendan Nyhan has studied the ways information and disinformation affect political processes extensively. He joins us to explore why propaganda and conspiracy theory are so prevalent today, how this plays neatly into Trump’s hands, and what can be done about it.

Podcast

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Quick note on trolls/trolling.

It's a serious problem for anyone who runs a large site. Lots of publications with an online presence or online entities with no print capacity have dropped comments because of this problem. There's lots of study and discussion on the phenomenon that's easily accessible if you take the time. One current group of people working on ways to minimize the problem (it's one of the key issues they deal with) is the Coral Project.

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@blatham,

blatham wrote:

Haven't listened to this yet but will tonight. Two smart guys here.

Quote:
. He joins us to explore why propaganda and conspiracy theory are so prevalent today, how this plays neatly into Trump’s hands, and what can be done about it.

I wonder just what conspiracy theories he has in mind. Could it be the one about movement conservatism?

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@georgeob1,

Quote:

I wonder just what conspiracy theories he has in mind. Could it be the one about movement conservatism?

Not even mentioned once. But by all means, avoid listening to it.

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The "War on Kellogg’s" is another example:

Quote:

[Breitbart's] Editor-in-chief Alexander Marlow called for a boycott of the company’s products, saying: “For Kellogg’s, an American brand, to blacklist Breitbart News in order to placate left-wing totalitarians is a disgraceful act of cowardice.”
[...] “Kellogg’s: #WAR”

Source

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@Walter Hinteler,

Yes, I saw that one yesterday.

Quote:

The right-wing news site Breitbart has declared “#WAR” on Kellogg’s, calling for a boycott of the cereal company’s products after they decided to cease advertising on the site.

On Tuesday, the Kellogg Company pulled their adverts from the site, saying that it wasn’t “aligned with our values”. Recent inflammatory stories include “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive And Crazy”; “Data: Young Muslims In The West Are A Ticking Time-Bomb” and “Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism Or Cancer?”.

Why might anyone get upset about truth-telling? This is just another attack on political correctness. Also, Steve Bannon is a wonderful human.

How much of what's going on in the US now is scaring the hell out of you and others you know in Germany, Walter?

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@blatham,

Why is it that in every picture I see of him, Bannon looks like he's on drugs? Seriously.

Who was that Nazi leader who wore makeup? Goering. He also had weird facial expressions, like Bannon.

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@Blickers,

Quote:

Why is it that in every picture I see of him, Bannon looks like he's on drugs? Seriously.

He's a scruffy dude, no question. And often unkempt in appearance. But I can't hold that against him as I'm often much like that myself. Drugs? Certainly possible as he spent a lot of years in Hollywood and lots of people don't escape the drug temptation there but if there's some problem like that, I suspect alcohol. Still, no reason I know of to suppose such a thing. I really haven't looked into the guy very much. There's the Goldman Sachs history, the wealth from some investment in Seinfeld, etc and that has some potential relevance now but I'm not sure how much. The welcoming of extremist white nationalism is relevant. What does interest me most acutely is his propaganda product and its techniques.

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On another thread here, there was a brief discussion on trolls/trolling. Some of you will be familiar with the "gamergate" story. It's relevant. And it's ugly. I'm not going to do any further on this particular item but I'll toss it in here for educational purposes.

Quote:

It’s understandable that the world didn’t much care about Gamergate. The 2014 hashtag campaign, ostensibly founded to protest about perceived ethical failures in games journalism, clearly thrived on hate – even though many of those who aligned themselves with the movement either denied there was a problem with harassment, or wrote it off as an unfortunate side effect. Sure, women, minorities and progressive voices within the industry were suddenly living in fear. Sure, those who spoke out in their defence were quickly silenced through exhausting bursts of online abuse. But that wasn’t why people supported it, right? They were disenfranchised, felt ignored, and wanted to see a systematic change.

Is this all sounding rather familiar now? Does it remind you of something? If you’re just discovering the world of angry, anonymous online dudes masquerading as victims – hi, come in. Some of us have been here for a while.

The similarities between Gamergate and the far-right online movement, the “alt-right”, are huge, startling and in no way a coincidence. After all, the culture war that began in games now has a senior representative in The White House. As a founder member and former executive chair of Brietbart News, Steve Bannon had a hand in creating media monster Milo Yiannopoulos, who built his fame and Twitter following by supporting and cheerleading Gamergate.

http://bit.ly/2fPmekg

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@Blickers,

Quote:

Who was that Nazi leader who wore makeup? Goering. He also had weird facial expressions, like Bannon.

Obviously that means Bannon is a goose stepping Nazi?

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@blatham,

Quote Blatham:

Quote:

. The welcoming of extremist white nationalism is relevant. What does interest me most acutely is his propaganda product and its techniques.

Well, yeah, but I find it relevant that the guy who engineered Trump's ascension to the White House might be on something. And it likely would be more than alcohol, since up until the last 30 years ago or so Western leaders traditionally drank like fish but they didn't go around looking weird and wacked-out like Bannon.

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@Blickers,

Only before iPhones and ubiquitous cameras.

I didn't back either of them but the evolution of the published pictures of Trump and Hillary both before and after the election was very interesting to me. Pictures can be propaganda too.

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@Leadfoot,

Most of the pics you see in the many propaganda pieces on the internet, (you know, the ones that say things like "The TRUTH that (blank) wouldn't let us know"), are doctored up. The pics I've seen of Bannon from different legit news sources over these few months aren't. And while anybody can look bad in a specific photo, they all seem to show the same thing on his face. Which is that he is mentally off somewhere.

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@Blickers,

Blickers wrote:

Why is it that in every picture I see of him, Bannon looks like he's on drugs? Seriously.
Who was that Nazi leader who wore makeup? Goering. He also had weird facial expressions, like Bannon.

It is truly remarkable how little real information is required to persuade small minds that they actually know something that is quite obviouly beyond their reach.

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Language and Propaganda - an example

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