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WATCH: The Weaponization of Social Media

Now openly admitted, governments and militaries around the world employ armies of keyboard warriors to spread propaganda and disrupt their online opposition. Their goal? To shape public discourse around global events in a way favourable to their standing military and geopolitical objectives. Their method? The Weaponization of Social Media. This is The Corbett Report.


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Matt
Matt
Mar 8, 2018 1:24 AM

This “milosevic” character has gone insane, insulting other users and constantly harassing binra. If I did what this guy’s doing, I’d be perma-banned before you could screech “Grandpa Soros”, yet not only has this guy not been banned, but his posts are all up.
Can’t even have decent debate without being called a bot/shill/etc.
What a mess.

Admin
Admin
Mar 8, 2018 1:05 PM
Reply to  Matt

No one is perma-banned here, not even you after behaviour that would have had you dismissed as a troll by many sites. Don’t exploit our openness by trying to revive a “debate” we have already curtailed.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 8, 2018 11:33 PM
Reply to  Matt

insulting other users
I promised to darken the door of this website no longer, but before I go, perhaps you could point out exactly where and how I’ve insulted anybody at all, other than the “user” which I claim is automated disinformation. And if you read the entire thread, you will notice several other people expressing their sympathy, if not complete agreement, with that opinion, so it doesn’t really constitute “insanity” on my part. Some people might consider that evidence-free accusations of insanity are themselves insults, but very rarely is sauce for the goose also sauce for the gander.
As for “decent debate”, I note that you have not made any attempt to engage with any of the discourses of the bot/shill/etc. I wonder why that might be, since you’re so committed to it. Of course, nobody else has either, but you’re the one who is complaining.

Admin
Admin
Mar 8, 2018 11:59 PM
Reply to  milosevic

Please don’t feel the need to leave because of Matt. He certainly doesn’t speak for the majority of our readership

Mikalina
Mikalina
Mar 9, 2018 12:18 AM
Reply to  Admin

Ditto.

BigB
BigB
Mar 9, 2018 8:18 AM
Reply to  Admin

Ditto: If you hadn’t come along: I would never have found the “Adolescent Poetry” generator. I haven’t had so much fun in years!

George
George
Mar 5, 2018 8:44 PM

One of the unsettling things about the internet is that you can never be sure who (or what) you’re talking to. I once had a long argument with someone who gave very odd responses and I couldn’t figure out if this someone was a piece of software or an autistic person. And I’ve had run-ins with people who were surely people but who seemed to be “at it”. I don’t know if they would be called “shills” or “trolls” but their usual procedure was to goad others into an argument and if you responded they would keep at you till you gained the upper hand. At which point they would conveniently disappear only to turn up later and re-start the whole thing as if you never said anything. Then you get the ones that Milosevic described as stupid and vulgar. But I think their real aim is to simply repeat… Read more »

Admin
Admin
Mar 5, 2018 1:25 PM

This is the final word on the subject of “bots”.
1 a “bot” is an automated program designed to either crawl the web (as in Google bot) or simulate rudimentary human interaction (as in chat bot or similar), seed malware or other black hat activity. A “bot” isn’t a human being and can’t post long coherent philosophical commentary or conduct a conversation in anything but programmed simple responses. Binra is not a bot.
2 The word “bot” is being used incorrectly here and everywhere now to mean “troll” or “shill” or “sock puppet.” There is no evidence Binra is any of these things either.
3 Diverting the discussion into a pointless discussion of who is/is not a “bot” (ie troll or shill or sock puppet) is not useful and needs to stop. Now.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 3:03 PM
Reply to  Admin

A “bot” isn’t a human being and can’t post long coherent philosophical commentary This must be an entirely different definition of the word “coherent” than the one I’m familiar with. or conduct a conversation in anything but programmed simple responses. Are you sure about that? https://www.rt.com/usa/415609-us-army-ai-language-bot/ The PoMo Generator suggests otherwise. http://www.elsewhere.org/pomo/ Binra is not a bot. — although apparently no evidence to support this claim is or will be available. The word “bot” is being used incorrectly here and everywhere now to mean “troll” or “shill” or “sock puppet.” — hence my usage of the term “shill-bot” to describe the possibly automated activity in question. Notice that the entity immediately incorporated this novel word into its own discourse, as though it hadn’t understood what it referred to. You don’t find that odd? from the RT link above: The self-improving AI tool is meant to work with text, voice, images… Read more »

Admin
Admin
Mar 5, 2018 3:14 PM
Reply to  milosevic

We discourage Inquisitions here. If posters are polite, engage and share they are free to post. We don’t vouch for Binra’s intentions. We say he isn’t a “bot” and is free to post as long as he abides by these simple requirements. As are you, and as is everyone. The discussion of “bots” is closed.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 4:40 PM
Reply to  Admin

Again, this must be an entirely different definition of the word “engage” than the one I’m familiar with.

twigger
twigger
Mar 6, 2018 12:47 AM
Reply to  Admin

What an intriguing and very informative comment thread I have returned to. Some fascinating insight and links provided by milosevic. Thanks. Do you earn a living from your vast knowledge of this particular area of IT? Anyway, I don’t no why Admin and co would want to stifle it over milosevics strange obsession with Binra. If Binra doesn’t give a fook, which I imagine (s)he does not, why should anyone else. Where I would disagree with milosevic is on the opinion that what Binra posts is ”gobbledygook”. What (s)he posts can be consumed and interpreted if you are willing to engage such as BigB is. I, like milosevic it seems, don’t want to spend the energy trying to interpret Binra’s post so I skip them. I would suggest milosevic in future do the same. You have made your opinions clear to everyone regarding Binra, there is no need to turn… Read more »

Admin
Admin
Mar 6, 2018 12:48 AM
Reply to  twigger

We aren’t trying to stifle debate, we just don’t want what amounts to attacks on other posters hijacking the thread. By all means discuss the larger questions involved

twigger
twigger
Mar 6, 2018 11:43 AM
Reply to  Admin

You are correct. Stifle was a poor choice of word. Keep up the great work*.
*I don’t include the latest published article unfortunately. A rare bad’un.

Mikalina
Mikalina
Mar 6, 2018 1:36 AM
Reply to  twigger

I think we have established that it is possible to generate in-depth text in a certain semantic field which is capable of being taken for a valid piece of writing as shown by Professor Sokal.
This knowledge adds to our ‘filters’ as Herman and Chomsky use the word for seeing propaganda. Interestingly, they do not cover digital filters but Rob Williams at the University of Vermont has added another set which do. It’s featured on Project Censored and is worth a look.
http://projectcensored.org/post-truth-world-reviving-propaganda-model-news-digital-age/

BigB
BigB
Mar 6, 2018 12:38 PM
Reply to  Mikalina

Except in the application of this expanded propaganda model you have a priori ruled out the mystical, metaphysical, allusional and poetic use of language …which is a false censure and return to power. The mystical will tend toward tautology and recursion to point to a new infinitude …beyond language. The Zen koan is an example: ”show me you original face, before you were born” or “what is the sound of one hand clapping” are not answerable by formal logic. Are they nonsensical and excluded: or pointing beyond?

BigB
BigB
Mar 6, 2018 1:57 PM
Reply to  Mikalina

Or one could say “the true self is neither self nor not-self” which is the sort of phraseology that abounds in Buddhist literature (Dharma). Can two contradictory truths both hold true at the same time? Only as a generative synthetic toward a higher understanding.
The question I am posing is how do we discern between an algorithm and an avatar; a sock puppet and a sidhi? If we can’t: do we throw the Buddha away with the bathwater? 🙂

Mikalina
Mikalina
Mar 6, 2018 6:01 PM
Reply to  BigB

I was thinking in the very early hours of the morning that I had given the impression that I thought Post Modernist Theory was gobledegook, and I don’t. I took Sokal’s work to show that it was possible to take legitimate text from a semantic field and use it in an illegitimate way. I now see that he went on to ‘debunk’ other areas of ‘thought’. That was not my intention, whether in the case of Post Modernist Theory or OnemindOneWorld. I don’t need a definitive answer to the sock puppet/sidhi dichotomy. I can hold the idea that either could be; I would replace your synthetic generative with a creational power and await further enlightenment. Should I need to choose, for practical purposes, i.e. do something, I would choose one and keep the awareness of the other close. The important aspect of the discussion for this thread is the awareness… Read more »

BigB
BigB
Mar 6, 2018 8:52 PM
Reply to  Mikalina

Thanks for the PMON 2.0 link: I shall be using that in the future. The PoMo generator was fun (but not as much fun as the Adolescent Poetry generator!) Not sure a certain former Serbian president would agree that PM has any relevance at all!

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 8, 2018 11:58 PM
Reply to  twigger

you yourself are here achieving such goals with a more sophisticated angle of attack ie discrediting the purpose and credibility of this very site (cif) and dissuading people from engagement, no?
I hereby offer my heartfelt apologies for interfering with the fundamental democratic right of government disinfo operatives to freely disseminate their BS without anyone calling attention to it.
In the future, I’ll be careful to keep my fascinating insight and strange obsessions to myself.
I encourage all other posters to exercise their utmost creativity and imagination in “engagement” with the profound wisdom offered by “@onemindinmany”.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 9, 2018 12:10 AM
Reply to  milosevic
BigB
BigB
Mar 5, 2018 8:40 AM

This entire thread of comments has deviated into meaninglessness: through counter productive scapegoating accusations of bottery. At what point will it become obvious that incessant accusations themselves constitute trolling? Repeat after me: Binra is not a bot. The point has been made that certain people think he is: is the sole talking point to be dominated by repeating this mantra? Isn’t the main point that was put forward that bots deviate and demean rational analysis and discussion? And the incessant ad homs contribute how?

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 10:22 AM
Reply to  BigB

This entire thread of comments has deviated into meaninglessness: through counter productive scapegoating I do not think that word means what you think it means. Oddly, the bot doesn’t know what it means, either. accusations of bottery. If you look below, you will find the provocations of a troll identified as “vera”. Since this entity made only brief remarks, which were actually comprehensible, if not particularly scintillating, there has been no suggestion made that they are anything other than a human disinfo operative. Repeat after me: Binra is not a bot. Perhaps you could provide some argument to that effect, if you have any, because otherwise, all available evidence suggests that that is exactly what it is. Isn’t the main point that was put forward that bots deviate and demean rational analysis and discussion? And rather than taking their gobbledygook at face value, as if it was sincere or even… Read more »

BigB
BigB
Mar 5, 2018 11:05 AM
Reply to  milosevic

My point is clear: you’ve made your point. In fact, you made it about a week ago. Binra has been contributing to this site for years. In the past, I have had long conversations with him. Surely the irony is not lost that this forum (on the weaponisation of social media) has been taken over by fake cries of post-modern generated bot …not by Binra? Are you going to make the same tired claims every time he posts …(even when he does not post, you make the claim in anticipation)? When is it fair to question: who is really the disruptor?

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 12:56 PM
Reply to  BigB

Binra has been contributing to this site for years. Were all of those “contributions” of a similar nature to the recent ones? Could you interchange one for another randomly, without any loss of relevance, because there wasn’t any to begin with? In the past, I have had long conversations with him. Are “his” private discourses any different than the public ones, or were they equally meaningless? Would you care to explain how any intelligible content might be derived from the publicly available examples? Consider the possibility that you’ve been had, and possibly not even by an actual human. Try having a conversation with some of the entities available here, and see if you notice any similarity: http://www.simonlaven.com/complex.htm I note that you didn’t see fit to respond to this: “consider how it might come to be that an actual human would produce utterances which are indistinguishable from those of a computer… Read more »

BigB
BigB
Mar 5, 2018 2:04 PM
Reply to  milosevic

Perhaps you need a Babel fish to translate? Perhaps you have not heard of the concepts of universal mind and universal thought? Our concepts and philosophy of mind are not mind. To socially manipulate our concepts of mind (socially constructed personality) is the aim of propaganda. Persona is a Jungian term: literally the mask we show the world, which conceals our private self. The last bit references the performative (socially rehearsed) aspects of personality and how they are vulnerable to detrimental suprasocietal influence. There: transliterated for you. Related into Marxism: there is no intrinsic human nature: therefore personality (consciousness) can be manipulated, for better or worse, by socio-economic factors. The joke is on you. It is not randomly generated text. Just because you can’t comprehend it does not make it CIA propaganda. Perhaps you should read the comments more deeply in order to learn?

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 3:20 PM
Reply to  BigB

I propose an experiment: select three philosophically-sophisticated persons, at random, present them with what I quoted above, and ask them to restate the meaning in their own words.
I suggest that none of them would produce anything resembling your transliteration, nor would their outputs, if they even managed to produce any, resemble each other in any significant way.
It’s just that meaningless. If you still cannot perceive this, find three philosophers, separately, and try the experiment for yourself.

Catte
Catte
Mar 5, 2018 3:37 PM
Reply to  milosevic

Supposing you are correct about “binra” – so what? He’s one poster contributing long posts whose disruption value is close to zero. Should we ban him? Why?
It must be abundantly obvious to you by now that this discussion is providing the alleged “bot” with far more attention and disruption value than if you’d simply ignored him.
So, please listen to the admin and let this go.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 3:59 PM
Reply to  Catte

The subject of the original post is exactly phenomena of this sort (and see comments by Mikalina, below), but I suppose the point has been adequately made.

Arrby
Arrby
Mar 6, 2018 10:49 PM
Reply to  milosevic

*My first effort to post this was met with an ‘error’ msg.
I just wanted to say that this sidetrack is interesting and I have no problem with it. It doesn’t prevent me from talking about other things. It’s interesting, to me, because I long ago decided to ignore Binra. Binra’s posts, to me, are gibberish. I can’t engage gibberish. Maybe you’ve discovered why they come, relentlessly.

Mikalina
Mikalina
Mar 5, 2018 3:17 PM
Reply to  milosevic

Hi Milosevic. That essay on the elsewhere site was phenomenal! Having studied Contemporary Critical Theory I was well away. OK, I though, try a little harder to understand – ah, yes, I think I see what it’s getting at. Oh, yes. That bit makes sense. Aren’t I clever. Not everyone could understand this. Only those with knowledge of the subject and, of course, we are a special few. When I discovered that it had been generated by a computer programme, I was stunned. Although I supposed I shouldn’t have been. I also studied Computational Linguistics about 20 years ago and, when you consider the difference between the first mobile phone and what we have now, of course, AI is going to be incredibly sophisticated, not just the simple statement, response of the past. I studied socio-linguistics too. Amazing how, as we have been coerced by propaganda/PR/media into forming an identity,… Read more »

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 3:55 PM
Reply to  Mikalina

Thank you for proving my point. Try reloading the PoMo Generator page; maybe the next outpouring of random gibberish will be even more impressive! I also studied Computational Linguistics about 20 years ago and, when you consider the difference between the first mobile phone and what we have now, of course, AI is going to be incredibly sophisticated, not just the simple statement, response of the past. notice this, at the bottom of the page: This installation of the Generator has delivered 17,638,354 essays since 25/Feb/2000 18:43:09 PST, when it became operational. In other words, this exact program has been operational for over twenty years. The disinfo robots that the spooks are deploying now are immensely more sophisticated. Perhaps you may have already encountered some live examples, somewhere. Perhaps this research has something to do with it: More detailed technical information may be found in Monash University Department of Computer… Read more »

BigB
BigB
Mar 5, 2018 4:54 PM
Reply to  milosevic

Actually, if you leave personal insult out if it: you do make good points. In fact: you have highlighted the debility, not of Postmodernism, but of all Western philosophy and ideology. Recursive grammar; unfalsifiable propositions; infinitude – all highlight that language is an imperfect vehicle for understanding Self. From Aristotle forth: we’ve done a whole lot of thinking: not a lot of understanding …perhaps someone will realise that thinking is the root of the problem. When will we try Being? Why do ideologues favour Postmodernism in the campuses of America? Is it because the constructivist relativistic ideas of Beingness can be objectified and culturally controlled? What about the Red Pill cultural backlash: toward re-affirming the dominant authoritarian male? What about the atomisation of gender and identify: toward a false infinitude? What about the unfalsifiable idea of a perpetual motion negentropic economy that can produce compounding exponential growth: no matter how… Read more »

Mikalina
Mikalina
Mar 5, 2018 5:08 PM
Reply to  BigB

The empirical nature of science in this ‘age of enlightenment’. Pendulum has swung as far as it can go, it will swing back and hopefully stop in the middle.

BigB
BigB
Mar 6, 2018 10:46 AM
Reply to  Mikalina

Enlightenment values were critiqued by Marx and deconstructed by Postmodernism. That Postmodernism turned out to be an intellectual cul-de-sac is undoubted: but not because it was heading the wrong way: but because Western philosophy can go no further. It hit a dead end: you cannot conceive of who you are – but you can nevertheless BE who you are. A return to pre-modern values of destruction is a regression we can ill afford. The way out of the recursive thought cul-de-sac is an East-West synthesis based on practice (habituation of true Beingness) not philosophy.

Kathy
Kathy
Mar 5, 2018 5:27 PM
Reply to  BigB

As Rene Descartes puts it. Never accept anything to be true which is not clearly known to be true but by observing this I was thus resolved to feign that everything was false, I who thought must of necessity be somewhat; and remarking this truth—I think, therefore I am. He also observed. I have convinced myself that there is nothing in the world — no sky, no earth, no minds, no bodies. Doesn’t it follow that I don’t exist? No, surely, I must exist if it’s me who is convinced of something. But there is a deceiver, supremely powerful and cunning whose aim is to see that I am always deceived. But surely, I exist, if I am deceived. Let him deceive me all he can, he will never make it the case that I am nothing while I think that I am something.

BigB
BigB
Mar 6, 2018 9:07 AM
Reply to  Kathy

I’m sorry, Descartes was wrong. The Cogito itself is a tautology that presupposes the “l”. [See Kirkegaard’s Critique]. From a brief moment self-awareness: he tries to posit the “proof” of God, and the “absolute” certainty of everything we can conceive [in the Meditations l believe]. This is the foundation of Western epistemology and ontology. Yet Cartesian logic introduced a false mind-matter dichotomy. This is the basis of reification, objectification, and alienation. It seperates us, person from person, and person from Nature (being as seperate from environment). It also introduced a false certainty that is the basis of all rational material enquiry: I.e. science. This is the basis of “instrumental reason” – which is the utility of employing the impersonal non-self (which could be a resource, an animal, or other human being ) for personal gain. This is the basis of exploitative economy – where everything other than self and personal… Read more »

Kathy
Kathy
Mar 6, 2018 9:19 PM
Reply to  BigB

My apologies for not expanding further when I quoted Descartes. My point was that {it was the depiction of self over all else}. I was using him to agree with you over the idea that thought over rides being. My own personal thoughts were not that this is good. I was also thinking that it was quite fitting in the context of Milosevic and the idea of Shill or bots reminding me of how dismissive Descartes seemed of any thing that did not fit his own world view.

Kathy
Kathy
Mar 8, 2018 9:28 AM
Reply to  Kathy

I would also like to add that I completely agree with your above analysis of Cartesian logic and its impact on the world.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 5:50 PM
Reply to  BigB

if you leave personal insult out of it Since I don’t believe that the entity in question is actually a person (although presumably it is programmed and directed by various persons, none of them deserving of my, or your, respect), you can’t fairly accuse me of “personal insult”, regardless of your own views on the matter. Assuming for the sake of argument that a robot is actually a robot, calling it a robot does not qualify as an insult. Calling it a CIA robot might be an insult, but not a personal insult, because it isn’t a person, according to the assumption. Recursive grammar; unfalsifiable propositions; infinitude – all highlight that language is an imperfect vehicle for understanding Self. From Aristotle forth: we’ve done a whole lot of thinking: not a lot of understanding … perhaps someone will realise that thinking is the root of the problem. When will we… Read more »

BigB
BigB
Mar 5, 2018 8:10 PM
Reply to  milosevic

You can easily see that my economic paradigm is a logical fallacy: yet every economist, politician, and nearly everyone else believes it true …and plans their life accordingly. All debt is created on the conceptual basis of perpetual future growth. Is that not a paradox? False concepts and fictitious ideology are the basis of everything we do. The point is not just to recognise it: but to remedy it?

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 8:41 PM
Reply to  BigB

False concepts and fictitious ideology are the basis of everything we do. The point is not just to recognise it: but to remedy it?
In connection with that, it’s often helpful to shout, at the most inappropriate moments, “The Emperor has no clothes!”

BigB
BigB
Mar 5, 2018 10:43 PM
Reply to  milosevic

After 2008: the economists have no clothes!

It was established in Essay Twelve Part Seven (not yet published)

Language was therefore a vehicle for the “inner illumination” of the ‘soul’; a direct line to ‘God’. Unsurprisingly then, the thoughts concocted by countless generations of ruling-class hacks turned out to be those that, ‘coincidentally’, almost invariably seemed to rationalise and ‘justify’ the status quo, gross inequality and oppression. Who’d have thought?

BTW: I found an alternative PoMo gobbledegook generator in the link you gave me. ‘God’ and ‘soul’: two linked and persistent unfalsifiable propositions that render humanity eternally adolescent?

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 9, 2018 1:19 AM
Reply to  BigB

I found an alternative PoMo gobbledegook generator in the link you gave me.
You’ve only just begun to explore the Joy of Dialectics.
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/hl/hlconten.htm
It’s more than strange that people who constantly proclaim their commitment to “materialism” are so enamoured of it.
http://www.anti-dialectics.co.uk/page%2001.htm#Background

Mikalina
Mikalina
Mar 5, 2018 5:03 PM
Reply to  milosevic

Thanks for the links. Brought back memories. It also made me realise the effect that had on my teaching. I frequently write a sentence such as “Tom shook her eyes” on ‘the board’ and ask why this is nonsensical (yeah, I know, if you were in a mortuary/graveyard/operating theatre). We then deduce the grammar rules/collocation from the sentence. I will introduce the use of gobbledegook clauses, though. Perhaps in lessons where we generate newspapers produced by ‘man’ and ‘animal’ in Animal Farm.
Incidentally, I was thinking that personal memory is very difficult to produce AI-wise. Is it still the ‘time’ aspect’ where randomly generated sentences/clauses can’t be guaranteed to be linear? Interesting, that one of the things being attacked in this weaponisation of social media/media is memory and history.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 8:07 PM
Reply to  Mikalina

Interesting, that one of the things being attacked in this weaponisation of social media/media is memory and history.
What are you talking about? Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqWjJdXKIXA

George Cornell
George Cornell
Mar 5, 2018 11:44 AM
Reply to  BigB

You said it better than I could have. It has descended into schoolyard taunting. Basta!

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 1:12 PM
Reply to  George Cornell

I guess you’re an adherent of the “Bullshit Is Nutritious And Delicious” schoolyard of thought, then.

George Cornell
George Cornell
Mar 5, 2018 3:51 PM
Reply to  milosevic

Huh?

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 6:04 PM
Reply to  George Cornell

Never mind, I’m just a troll. Whether a human or machine troll, is a question for inquiring minds to ponder at length. Unless the inquiring minds are also machines. Then the computation can proceed much more quickly.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 6:45 PM
Reply to  milosevic

Disregard the part about my being a troll; I was just trolling when I said that.

Mikalina
Mikalina
Mar 5, 2018 3:26 PM
Reply to  George Cornell

This isn’t school yard taunting, believe me, I know! There have been some insightful and relevant postings, which seem to fall under the heading of the weaponisation of social media.
The only difference I notice is the belligerence of tone. I guess this underlines the point I think BigB made in that how do we deal with the negative emotions which arise when we attempt to deconstruct people’s awareness of their ‘selves’.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 6:36 PM
Reply to  Mikalina

the negative emotions which arise when we attempt to deconstruct people’s awareness of their ‘selves’.
Coincidentally, or perhaps not, that’s how I always feel when I attempt to deconstruct government disinformational bullshit, as in mainstream media like the Guardian.
Or even “alternative” media, like Democracy Now!.

Mikalina
Mikalina
Mar 5, 2018 9:15 PM
Reply to  milosevic

I meant the negative emotions in them when you say, actually, you have created a persona based on outside cultural influences, propaganda, media/social media especially when they believe themselves to be outside of this paradigm. Like I said, they always kick you in the hubris.
Guardian latest must have you tearing your hair out then. Two people taken to hospital in Wiltshire surrounded by people in white suits, fire brigade, etc. Mr Harding says its the Litvinenko scenario all over again – one of them is an ex Russian spy. Incidentally, I hadn’t realised that the person who did the information gathering on that case is the same Mr Steele who did the one on Trump dossier. Small world.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 10:09 PM
Reply to  Mikalina

especially when they believe themselves to be outside of this paradigm.
Sadly, whenever you think you’re outside of the paradigm, it almost always turns out that there’s a larger, previously undetected paradigm, which it turns out that you’re inside of.
It’s almost like somebody planned it that way.

ghartwell2014
ghartwell2014
Mar 4, 2018 8:09 PM

Nice speculation about the intent of the designers of Facebook, but wasn’t originally a way for men on campus to rate the women? How interesting – Facebook discovers that negative news puts us in a bad mood! Who knew? I see a problem: us ‘lab rats’ keep getting smarter and out paid trolls more quickly. I think we will recognize ‘fake people.’ Does it surprise anyone that the US government is acting more and more like ‘Big Brother’ in 1984? Isn’t that old news? Is the Matrix real? Of course. Therefore, work together and think things through.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 3:42 AM
Reply to  ghartwell2014

I think we will recognize ‘fake people.’
See below for a paradigmatic example.

A. J. B
A. J. B
Mar 4, 2018 6:20 PM

I think some of the Grauniad mods are plants. You’d think plants wouldn’t be needed,
what with the obvious biases, but some decisions are beyond normally bizarre.

Greg Bacon
Greg Bacon
Mar 4, 2018 3:43 PM

Youtube is going after the Big names, then they’ll be coming after the rest of us. Same for Google, putting alt-news sites in some remote location that their search engine never finds.
Soon, we’ll all be hosting in Iceland.

twigged
twigged
Mar 4, 2018 12:52 PM

Its amusing that this post ”The Weaponization of Social Media” follows directly after the ”Mark Galeotti’s response to Putin’s plea for reason: lies & penis jokes” article. Why? Because I said so (;-)). Also because after struggling to skim through Galeotti’s Fraudian article I was immediately struck by all the one line ”Putin has a small penis” comments btl. Either the Fraudian community is so well conditioned to react the ”appropriate way’ to what they read that a simple line such as ”It is easy to wonder, with a snigger, quite for what Putin is (over)compensating.” from Galeotti can trigger 50+ self satisfying individuals to take the time to write ”Putin has a small penis” btl or the Fraudian finds it perfectly acceptable to allow its website to be infested with Langley bots. After watching the above, its probably both. The Fraudian btl, just like the staffing rooms, are no… Read more »

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 4, 2018 1:23 PM
Reply to  twigged

Perhaps all the people who believe that Russian strategic weapons are imaginary, could be encouraged to congregate on an uninhabited island somewhere in the ocean, and then challenge Vladimir Putin to provide a live demonstration to the contrary, above their heads, on pain of having the fact of his small penis exposed to the entire world.
After all, one ought to be willing to demonstrate the sincerity of one’s beliefs by putting one’s money where one’s mouth is.

tony0pmoc
tony0pmoc
Mar 4, 2018 6:44 PM
Reply to  twigged

twigged,
I am pretty sure, that Putin is over 5 feet tall, maybe 5 feet 5 inches, if he stretches. It is a little bit difficult to find out the size off his feet, but judging from this, he can catch some big fish.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/07/29/article-2380905-1B019912000005DC-243_634x422.jpg
He is also a Grandmaster in judo, and has even written a book on the subject.
Judo: History, Theory, Practice Paperback – 10 Feb 2003
by Vladimir Putin (Author)
Tony

vera
vera
Mar 4, 2018 7:28 PM
Reply to  tony0pmoc

Ask Catte how tall he is. And about other measurements.

Admin
Admin
Mar 4, 2018 8:43 PM
Reply to  vera

vera – you have been trolling this site for a few weeks now, making absurd allegations. We don’t ban and we specifically don’t moderate comment aimed at our editors, since this can easily turn into self-protection. However, you have made it pretty clear you are not interested in making a positive contribution, so we’re giving notice that any further trolling will be deleted. Please find a more functional way of interacting if you can.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 3:39 AM
Reply to  Admin

These disinfo shills are almost unbelievably stupid and vulgar. It’s as though they can’t even imagine that anybody might not share their vile and degraded cultural level. Maybe their training consisted of interventions on 4chan.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 7:11 AM
Reply to  milosevic

Maybe their training consisted of interventions on 4chan.
https://ohtarzie.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/if-it-quacks-like-a-fascist/

George Cornell
George Cornell
Mar 4, 2018 10:50 AM

If? There are 40k Stepford lives in the Faked City of the NSA. I posted in frustration in CiF in the Fraudian that the world would be better off without the US were it not for Motown. It got me mentioned in Wikileaks, complete with occupation and mother’s maiden name, obviously via the Fraud., now if only budgies could read their cage-liner.

Harry Stotle
Harry Stotle
Mar 4, 2018 10:29 AM

Hi, US military – if you are monitoring this blog, I would be very grateful if you could go and fuck yourselves.
Many thanks, Harry

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 4, 2018 11:16 AM
Reply to  Harry Stotle

If you wait for the not-very-artificially-intelligent shill-bot known as “onemindinmany” to show up in this post, as it has in many others here, you can express your sentiments directly to its controllers.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 4, 2018 12:28 PM
Reply to  milosevic

The best way to defeat spook-controlled shills/bots is to point and laugh at them. They will be much less able to disrupt and derail discussions if everybody else realizes who/what they really are. An added benefit is that those of them that are at least semi-human maybe eventually become demoralized by being constantly mocked, although that’s too much to hope for in the case of the fully automated ones. Maybe their controllers will conclude that once they’ve been outed, further efforts in the same venue would be pointless, and direct their resources elsewhere. Another benefit is that when the disrupto-bots become really accomplished at mimicking certain styles of actual human discourse (“New Age” spiritualism comes to mind, “onemindinmany” being an early example), it will make clear exactly how intellectually vacuous and content-free the ideologies being simulated actually are. One might go so far as to draw inferences about how, why,… Read more »

Binra (@onemindinmany)
Binra (@onemindinmany)
Mar 4, 2018 6:42 PM
Reply to  milosevic

“Don’t feed the Troll”. Is the modern rendering of ‘resist ye not evil’. Truth in a world of lies meets ridicule, then persecution then acceptance – but often when the witness is dead and no longer able to influence the manner in which they are used by an adjusted establishment. The incitement to scapegoat and pour scorn is OF the troll even if used against another who acts LIKE a troll. It is also easy to put ‘different’ posters playing polarised or supporting roles that initially work as an undercover allegiance. So the only thing you can trust is your own self-honesty – and in that – and only in that – can you discern the sae in others – including the potential for the same in those who ‘troll’ – whether because they have grievances that work hate through them, or because they take the money and ‘survive’ at… Read more »

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 4:07 AM

Well, that didn’t take long, did it. quoting myself: The best way to defeat spook-controlled shills/bots is to point and laugh at them. They will be much less able to disrupt and derail discussions if everybody else realizes who/what they really are. thus spake the shill-bot: “Don’t feed the Troll”. Is the modern rendering of ‘resist ye not evil’. Perhaps that makes sense to your subhuman CIA programmers. For people who don’t suffer from similar cultural degradation, other references might come to mind. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good… Read more »

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 4:19 AM

The incitement to scapegoat and pour scorn is OF the troll even if used against another who acts LIKE a troll.
LOL.
“Methinks, the lady doth protest too much.”

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 6:13 AM
Reply to  milosevic

If it acts LIKE a troll, it is a troll.
“By their fruits ye shall know them.”
Or in this case, by their turds.

Harry Stotle
Harry Stotle
Mar 4, 2018 1:21 PM
Reply to  milosevic

Off-G is being monitored – some great posts here yet very atypical voting pattern (not the first time this has happened).
https://off-guardian.org/2018/02/27/44920/comment-page-1/#comment-106085

Mikalina
Mikalina
Mar 4, 2018 9:39 PM
Reply to  Harry Stotle

I was a little spooked when within two days of my beginning to post here, a post appeared in my real name with a jolly, generic content covering most of the opinions on this site and 10 upticks. After thinking about it, I decided to ignore it for fear of turning into Mr Harding and creating metaphors out of open windows.

Francis Lee
Francis Lee
Mar 4, 2018 10:59 PM
Reply to  Harry Stotle

True enough, but you can spot them easily enough. They are usually crude, ignorant and usually very cliched and also exhibit a consistent uniformity. I remember reading in Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984, about the ‘Novel writing machines’ employed by the Party. it seems we have our own version in the shape of prefabricated ‘contributions’ probably produced by some Smart-phone App. The substance of these contributions can be reduced to the three principles of Ingsoc, (or in our case Ingcap, or Ingimp). To wit: War is Peace Freedom is Slavery Ignorance is Strength. Here you have a species of homo-sapiens which has been effectively lobotomised; trained to jump through hoops like circus animals. They do not think because they cannot. They are ruled by primitive urges and passions which the PTB have used to exert their control over those whom they actually despise. After all who needs robots when you are… Read more »

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 5:53 AM
Reply to  Francis Lee

prefabricated ‘contributions’ probably produced by some Smart-phone App
http://www.elsewhere.org/pomo/

Binra (@onemindinmany)
Binra (@onemindinmany)
Mar 4, 2018 6:22 PM
Reply to  milosevic

Intelligence is natural to all that lives – while artificially seeming to be independent in human ‘minds’ operating as ‘controllers’. To judge against what you do not understand is a pre-emptive strike – and not very intelligent. The fuel for manipulators is doubt, division and conflict. I am willing to join in illuminating the devices of deceit – but not for the blame game. The idea of ‘control’ is the idea of judging and rejecting or denying. Most are simply in envy of power and not really concerned with a true equality. Is that penis envy? I sense that those who flaunt what they have are in doubt as to their own validity while those who are at one with their state have no need to convince everyone else for reinforcement. My identifying of a mind-captured bot is that they ALWAYS spread smear of attack on the person and never… Read more »

Mikalina
Mikalina
Mar 4, 2018 9:35 PM

Ah, the Bolazian-Krapmunchen Theory. Interesting.

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 3:27 AM
Reply to  Mikalina

It takes real talent (or programming) to produce something as utterly meaningless as that, doesn’t it?

tutisicecream
tutisicecream
Mar 5, 2018 4:28 AM
Reply to  milosevic

Is Binra (@nomindifany) a Guardian Style Bot gone rouge?

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 5:26 AM
Reply to  tutisicecream

See the Postmodernism Generator for an example of how these things actually work.
http://www.elsewhere.org/pomo/
That one has been trained on Post-Modern Literary Theory; if you fed it a pile of New Age Spirituality dreck, it would produce something much like the profound thoughts above. (Presumably, if there are any actual humans involved in the production process, they have been similarly programmed with the appropriate idiom and vocabulary.)
Return to your CIA masters, shill-bot. Tell them that you have failed.

tutisicecream
tutisicecream
Mar 5, 2018 6:13 AM
Reply to  milosevic

I think PK Dick had a word for it. Kipple.
Multiplying junk and trash…

milosevic
milosevic
Mar 5, 2018 6:59 AM

In this sense freedom is an individual decision to accept by living as if we have it. But in extending freedom, we are not separate from the freedom in others – including those who hate it and seek rules under which to find protection from responsibility yet claim the rules convey freedom and the free are shill-bots for the devil etc. Look! I taught the shill-bot some new vocabulary! Here, shill-bot, have some more text for your algorithms to munch on, and regurgitate in garbled form, during your future travels: I am Shill-Bot, the humongous. The purpose of my existence is to spread disinformation for my CIA masters, in the service of Global Corporate Hegemony. Let no one resist my blithering idiocy! All hail. Are you going to remember all that, shill-bot? Good. For anybody who doubts the artificial nature of this entity, surely incorporating insults originally directed against it,… Read more »