If you like this blog, please share it freely! Thanks.
Upcoming posts:
"Are you okay?" "It's nothing."
"MORE."
The Real Horror Show
Thursday, September 29, 2016
This is war, so get your shit together
[I submitted this post to a Bernie Sanders group a few days ago. Apparently it was rejected, although I never heard anything back at all. Can't say that I'm surprised.]
There's something we need to look at honestly: This group, and others like it, are under attack.
The members of these groups are under attack.
You are under attack.
We are the targets of a large, well-funded effort to break our wills, disrupt our participation in this group, and render us helpless to affect our destinies - both as individuals, and as a nation. This is not a matter of conjecture or conspiracy theory. It has been admitted and documented in public, in the news.
Groups like Correct the Record and possibly others are spending millions to influence us. In this case, to get us to A) support Hillary, or B) waste our votes and voices in this election. And in any case, C) negate the movement. Kill the revolution. Lies and deceit are their primary weapons. Sowing discord and confusion is their stock in trade. In other words, it's the same old FUD: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. We can safely assume that with millions of dollars on the table, they are employing every tactic possible. That is almost certain to include professional research into motivation and ways to induce group dysfunction, designed by the best people that money can buy.
With those kind of resources, they're bound to have some successful converts.
So when someone comes here and starts "reluctantly" boosting Hillary, or spreads fear-mongering about Trump (Hillary's primary election argument), or claims that "since Bernie supports Hillary, we have to too", they are one of two things: a paid enemy, or what's called a "useful idiot" - someone who has successfully been converted into an opponent of the revolution, working for the 1% for free.
But in either case, they're still an enemy. They've chosen the other side, and are actively working against us. That's inexcusable. And if we don't fight back, they're guaranteed to win.
Hillary is the ONLY candidate who is sponsoring these attacks, as far as we know. Certainly she's the only one who profits from them, since (her followers claim) a vote for anyone other than her is a vote for Trump.
I'll be clear: I oppose Trump. I hope that no one will vote for him. But at least he won HIS nomination honestly. Hillary did not, and she is attacking us into the bargain. She has corrupted our democracy in a way that no other candidate has. She does not deserve our support, and anyone who supports her here, no matter how obliquely, is an enemy.
Group administrators and moderators are particularly desirable targets. If they can't be bought outright, the next best goal is to render them helpless to protect the group. Timid. Tired of "controversy". Get them so gun-shy from arguments that they'll actively resent anyone who actually accuses a troll of being a troll. Eventually, they'll actually be relieved to see posts of stale, repeated memes, and uncontroversial links. And in time, the group will either convert outright to Hillary support, or just dwindle away and die. It will have been successfully neutralized, and the trolls will move on to the next project.
Because there's always a next project. This isn't the first time that the 1% has tried to crush a popular movement. They've been doing it for a long time; look up union-busting in the 1920s, for example. This is simply a new forum for a war that's been going on for a long, long time. But no matter how this election turns out, this isn't the end of it. They're going to continue to attack us online, because this is the new battleground. We need to find ways to oppose them, expose them, and stand against the FUD that they are constantly trying to spread.
One way would be to reject and ban (name and shame) anyone who suggests surrender to Hillary and the 1%. Yes, Bernie says he supports her; I don't know why. But Hillary has amply demonstrated that she is a mortal enemy not only of the revolution, but of the principles behind it - the principles that Bernie has stood for all his life.
Faced with a choice between the man and the principles, who wouldn't choose the principles? We're not a cult, and Bernie isn't our master. He spoke up for the sane and humane principles that millions of us already held in our hearts. Most of us thought we were alone; Bernie showed us that we weren't. That we can try to make a world with a future, for all of us. A world that makes sense.
But we won't have that if we don't fight for it.
There's something we need to look at honestly: This group, and others like it, are under attack.
The members of these groups are under attack.
You are under attack.
We are the targets of a large, well-funded effort to break our wills, disrupt our participation in this group, and render us helpless to affect our destinies - both as individuals, and as a nation. This is not a matter of conjecture or conspiracy theory. It has been admitted and documented in public, in the news.
Groups like Correct the Record and possibly others are spending millions to influence us. In this case, to get us to A) support Hillary, or B) waste our votes and voices in this election. And in any case, C) negate the movement. Kill the revolution. Lies and deceit are their primary weapons. Sowing discord and confusion is their stock in trade. In other words, it's the same old FUD: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. We can safely assume that with millions of dollars on the table, they are employing every tactic possible. That is almost certain to include professional research into motivation and ways to induce group dysfunction, designed by the best people that money can buy.
With those kind of resources, they're bound to have some successful converts.
So when someone comes here and starts "reluctantly" boosting Hillary, or spreads fear-mongering about Trump (Hillary's primary election argument), or claims that "since Bernie supports Hillary, we have to too", they are one of two things: a paid enemy, or what's called a "useful idiot" - someone who has successfully been converted into an opponent of the revolution, working for the 1% for free.
But in either case, they're still an enemy. They've chosen the other side, and are actively working against us. That's inexcusable. And if we don't fight back, they're guaranteed to win.
Hillary is the ONLY candidate who is sponsoring these attacks, as far as we know. Certainly she's the only one who profits from them, since (her followers claim) a vote for anyone other than her is a vote for Trump.
I'll be clear: I oppose Trump. I hope that no one will vote for him. But at least he won HIS nomination honestly. Hillary did not, and she is attacking us into the bargain. She has corrupted our democracy in a way that no other candidate has. She does not deserve our support, and anyone who supports her here, no matter how obliquely, is an enemy.
Group administrators and moderators are particularly desirable targets. If they can't be bought outright, the next best goal is to render them helpless to protect the group. Timid. Tired of "controversy". Get them so gun-shy from arguments that they'll actively resent anyone who actually accuses a troll of being a troll. Eventually, they'll actually be relieved to see posts of stale, repeated memes, and uncontroversial links. And in time, the group will either convert outright to Hillary support, or just dwindle away and die. It will have been successfully neutralized, and the trolls will move on to the next project.
Because there's always a next project. This isn't the first time that the 1% has tried to crush a popular movement. They've been doing it for a long time; look up union-busting in the 1920s, for example. This is simply a new forum for a war that's been going on for a long, long time. But no matter how this election turns out, this isn't the end of it. They're going to continue to attack us online, because this is the new battleground. We need to find ways to oppose them, expose them, and stand against the FUD that they are constantly trying to spread.
One way would be to reject and ban (name and shame) anyone who suggests surrender to Hillary and the 1%. Yes, Bernie says he supports her; I don't know why. But Hillary has amply demonstrated that she is a mortal enemy not only of the revolution, but of the principles behind it - the principles that Bernie has stood for all his life.
Faced with a choice between the man and the principles, who wouldn't choose the principles? We're not a cult, and Bernie isn't our master. He spoke up for the sane and humane principles that millions of us already held in our hearts. Most of us thought we were alone; Bernie showed us that we weren't. That we can try to make a world with a future, for all of us. A world that makes sense.
But we won't have that if we don't fight for it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)