Are we even sure they're Russian bots? If so, are we sure that they're hired by the Kremlin and not the NRA or the Yanopopoulous Youth or something?
Pro-gun Russian bots flood Twitter after parkland shooting
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Re: Pro-gun Russian bots flood Twitter after parkland shooting
#12I can see how certain aspects of US politics are interesting to russian botnets (assuming they too are politically controlled to some extent, which I think is safe to say). Foreign policy is very much dependent on who is president, and US foregin policy is amatter of billions of dollars for Russia. But gun laws? What's the reasoning behind that? It doesn't add up. On the contrary, it would rather seem like some group…
>What's the reasoning behind that?
They want you to be at each others throats. Same reason they assisted brexit.
Re: Pro-gun Russian bots flood Twitter after parkland shooting
#13I can see how certain aspects of US politics are interesting to russian botnets (assuming they too are politically controlled to some extent, which I think is safe to say). Foreign policy is very much dependent on who is president, and US foregin policy is amatter of billions of dollars for Russia. But gun laws? What's the reasoning behind that? It doesn't add up. On the contrary, it would rather seem like some group…
I'm reminded of a quote from the show, "Peaky Blinders":
Tommy: "Why do you fuck with people when it serves no purpose?"
Tatiana Petrovna: "In Russia, because we were bored. In England, because we don't know how to stop."
Knowing a group of Russians (and calling them friends), this quote seemed so apt.
Re: Pro-gun Russian bots flood Twitter after parkland shooting
#14I can see how certain aspects of US politics are interesting to russian botnets (assuming they too are politically controlled to some extent, which I think is safe to say). Foreign policy is very much dependent on who is president, and US foregin policy is amatter of billions of dollars for Russia. But gun laws? What's the reasoning behind that? It doesn't add up. On the contrary, it would rather seem like some group…
Its absolutely to sow division and partisanship. Other analyses of Russian-bot propaganda during the presidential campaign showed that while the majority of content was targeted at conservative leaning positions, there was pro-Clinton content as well.
Russia certainly was hoping for a weak-on-Russia Trump to win the election, but just as important to their aims is to create discord in American domestic politics. If a country is entirely preoccupied with issues and perceived enemies at home, they won't have the focus or political willpower to interfere with Russian plans on an international stage.
Re: Pro-gun Russian bots flood Twitter after parkland shooting
#15I wish any news commentary about Twitter or Facebook or similar would include a big disclaimer about the 1% rule and sampling bias.
Re: Pro-gun Russian bots flood Twitter after parkland shooting
#16If I were a left wing group, trying to sow dislike of guns, this is exactly what I would do. Fits with the trump/russian thing, and looks kooky to explain. Why would russians care about our gun laws?
/tinfoil
Re: Pro-gun Russian bots flood Twitter after parkland shooting
#17Are we even sure they're Russian bots? If so, are we sure that they're hired by the Kremlin and not the NRA or the Yanopopoulous Youth or something?
Or even the left, looks clumsy even for those fools.
Re: Pro-gun Russian bots flood Twitter after parkland shooting
#18There will come a time when we will disconnect the international and intercontinental internet connections until we've figured out how to keep democracy functioning in a connected world. It may get to the point where activities such as these will be classed right along with acts of war, I have no idea what the solution is but clearly the downsides of our early days attempt at creating a 'hive mind' are starting to we…
Critical thinking. Teach critical thinking and information literacy. Teach students how to make an argument. Stop trying to teach people 'facts' as an equivalent to teaching understanding.
Work to reduce the number of people (i.e., conservatives) who seek an purely objective world view that makes them comfortable and is actually reinforced by facts that disprove their beliefs.
I, as a STEM educator, blame a lot of all of this on the reification of STEM education and the devaluing of liberal arts and humanities.
Re: Pro-gun Russian bots flood Twitter after parkland shooting
#19Are we even sure they're Russian bots? If so, are we sure that they're hired by the Kremlin and not the NRA or the Yanopopoulous Youth or something?
This area is rather murky. There is a lot of assumptions here. Not even clear these bots are working for Kremlin or for interests of other parties who are hiring them.
Re: Pro-gun Russian bots flood Twitter after parkland shooting
#20Are we even sure they're Russian bots? If so, are we sure that they're hired by the Kremlin and not the NRA or the Yanopopoulous Youth or something?
From everything I've read, it sounds like there's reasonable certainty, but that's admittedly anecdotal on my part and comes from mostly secondary sources.
I've read a small selection of the IC reports and declassified info as well that at least support the general tendency of the Kremlin to operate this way as of late.
As an aside, this is a site set up that tracks known Kremlin Internet Research Agency accounts and bots activity:
https://dashboard.securingdemocracy.org/
Also it's worth noting that the FBI is currently investigating Russian cash flow into the NRA:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/articl...