• kescusay@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    That’s true. But…

    We know there is an extensive campaign by the Russian government to divide the left and attempt to get Trump re-elected. And given the nature of our current electoral system, there are only a few reasons why someone would try to get people not to vote for Harris:

    • They are an honest Trump supporter. Fine. I disagree vehemently, of course, but such is life.
    • They are a true-believing third-party supporter. Very rare, given the low numbers for fringe candidates from third parties. Of course, these people are incredibly naive, because they don’t understand how third parties in a FPTP election system empower their own ideological opposition, but at least they’re honest, too.
    • They are a Trump supporter, but not honest, and for whatever reason, they consider it morally and ethically acceptable to misrepresent themselves and try to get folks on the left playing a game of “let’s you and him fight.”
    • They are a paid actor. I think this is the majority of the supposed leftists posting vehemently and continuously against Harris, while ignoring the grotesque abomination and clear threat to the country that is Trump.

    I mean that. I think the majority of people playing that particular game are paid to. Doesn’t mean they all are, of course, but it’s impossible to ignore the massive uptick in content from them right now, especially from shiny new accounts and from accounts that have been mostly inactive until now. There just aren’t that many third-party true believers or Republicans who want to spend all day, every day, pretending to be abrasive leftists.

      • kescusay@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Given the much greater size of the population that plans to vote Democrat, not likely.

        Let’s take this out of the realm of politics for a sec, and bring up a topic nearly everyone can agree on: Chocolate. A full 90% of Americans like chocolate and prefer it to other candy categories. (Seriously, look it up. Americans fucking love chocolate.) Now imagine if you went to a candy discussion forum, and found that there was a flood of similarly-phrased and comments from a bunch of new accounts, all extolling the virtues of gummy bears and denigrating chocolate as a candy choice.

        Would you find that believable? Or would you suspect some gummy bear aficionado had set up bots to spam the forum?

        • Socialist Mormon Satanist@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          But is everything a fucking conspiracy?! I mean, a full HALF of the country is not voting for Harris. Half.

          Are there some people paid to promote? Yeah, I’m sure there are. For EVERY party. I just don’t think it’s nearly as much as you do.

          Also, it would be a total fucking waste of money to pay someone to shill on Lemmy. Lemmy hates third-parties with a passion anyway.

          People hate me so much, that when I have posted non-political posts to say a science community, within 30 seconds there will be 10 downvotes. And not from the science community, because even they get confused why so many downvotes so fast.

          Why? My name. And why? Because I posted third-party articles.

          I’m very proud to vote third-party, but the amount of bullying and false accusations I get from Democrats are much more hateful than what I get from Republicans. I mean, Republicans hate me too, but nothing like the Democrats on Lemmy. lmao

          And I promise you, any slight motivation I had for even considering switching to Democrat, was obliterated by the comments and hate I get here. I’ll never vote for Harris now. I don’t care what happens. lol

          • kescusay@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            I don’t hate you. I think you’re incredibly naive, and I think you’ve likely inadvertently consumed Russian propaganda specifically designed to split the left in the United States, but that doesn’t make me hate you.

            It just makes me sad.

            I have a couple kids, as I mentioned, both LGBTQ+. People like you, I don’t think you intend my kids harm. But your vote will potentially boost Donald Trump. And your rhetoric online, if successful, would further boost Donald Trump. And Trump is a direct threat to my kids.

            So no, I don’t hate you. But I’m scared of what you and people like you could do to my kids in the name of ideological purity.

            • Socialist Mormon Satanist@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              inadvertently consumed Russian propaganda

              But half of the country is not voting for Harris. Not everyone is under the influence of Russian propaganda. Lots of people just have a different opinion.

              • kescusay@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                I’m going to blow your mind:

                https://www.prri.org/press-release/new-prri-report-reveals-nearly-one-in-five-americans-and-one-in-four-republicans-still-believe-in-qanon-conspiracy-theories/

                It’s certainly not half the country, but a shockingly, disturbingly large portion of the Republican electorate fell for “QAnon” junk being spread largely by Russian sources posing as conservatives. The left is far less susceptible to outright propaganda tactics like that, but Russia is pushing for division extremely hard.

                • Socialist Mormon Satanist@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  And from how many people here who think that every single poster who isn’t voting for Harris, is some paid russian agent, it seems like a pretty big chunk of the Democrat electorate is gullible and paranoid too.

                  • kescusay@lemmy.world
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                    2 months ago

                    You need to account for sampling bias. This is a forum that strongly attracts a self-selecting group comprised almost entirely of those on the left. Very few Republicans actually find their way here, and the few that do are typically downvoted into oblivion.

                    At the same time, there’s a flood of supposedly leftist accounts, most new, trying desperately to get Trump elected, at the same time as news comes out that… well, that Russia is doing an awful lot of that shit.

                    So people here are suspicious.

    • Socialist Mormon Satanist@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      There just aren’t that many third-party true believers

      Me and most of the people in my social circle. Look at the campaigns of socialist Claudia De la Cruz and the crowds of people showing up at her demonstrations. You think most of those people are getting paid?

      And how do you think people just magically get paid to start posting articles? The reason I am asking is because I get accused of this DAILY. lol

      • kescusay@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Me and most of the people in my social circle.

        That’s a statistically insignificant blip unless your social circle is, for example, Delaware.

        Look at the campaigns of socialist Claudia De la Cruz and the crowds of people showing up at her demonstrations. You think all those people are getting paid?

        No, of course not. I was referring specifically to online, where a single person can operate thousands of bots spamming nonsense. You can’t do something like that at a physical event.

        That said, her rallies attract hundreds of people at best. Harris’ rallies attract tens of thousands of people, with thousands more standing outside. And De la Cruz is polling in the low single digits. She’s barely a statistical blip. Yet online forums are absolutely flooded with support for her and for Jill Stein.

        • Socialist Mormon Satanist@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          And I know people like myself get accused of getting paid daily. And why? Because we post news articles about third parties. Not everything is a conspiracy.

          And also, to your point, if these third parties are such a statistical blip, then you have nothing to be worried or angry about. So why even get mad at posts that aren’t pro-harris?! Such small statistical blips shouldn’t affect the outcome of the election at all, right?

          • kescusay@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            I’m not mad at posts from actual people, which I do think you are. You’ve engaged in ways that thoroughly convince me you’re not a bot or troll. I happen to disagree with you, but that’s okay.