Earlier quoted context omitted.
No but foreign influence does help when any comment pointing out that there are things more important for the country to fix than mass shootings(heart disease and obesity) are immediately downvoted and mocked.
Again, it doesn't suggest anything about foreign influence for a person to disagree with you. Telling people not to worry about (increasing) spectacular violence because they're more likely to die in a car accident reads as if you're changing the subject because you don't want to talk about it.
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/crim...
Thats my entire point. You’re talking about something that simply does not exist. But when nearly all of the online discourse acts as if we are less safe now, it’s easy to believe that is true. Even being aware of the statistics sometimes I feel that way.
Sensationalist media has always been a thing. Yet, at the exact same time geopolitical opponents were given a direct input to the media consumed by the average American, sentiment becomes much more negative.