Here is a comment from a friend of mine, Tim Clancy, who is a PHD candidate in such:
A reminder that the Russian trolls continue to advance their art faster than we as a society are catching up to them. And they are not looking to advance one side over another. Rather their strategy, as summarized by those who study them are two fold. First they are seeking to:
"...further divide and polarize the United States along ideological lines. As long as we are fighting among ourselves, we aren’t paying attention to what Putin is doing in Ukraine and elsewhere. Second, it attempts to undermine our trust in the institutions that sustain a strong nation and a strong democracy. The media, science, academia and the electoral process are all regular targets of troll venom. The Russians want to push us further apart while causing us to lose trust in what has traditionally made us strong." (article source in first comment)
The article gives examples of a range of highly sophisticated and nuanced Russian troll-memes now being deployed. These are not the crude social media posts of Cambridge Analytica:
"IRA’s work is much subtler, often more palatable and always seemingly more organic than Americans may imagine. The operators in St. Petersburg understand the way information is spread on the platforms they use and, more important, they understand how to reach their American audience. On the theory that it is easier to catch a fly with honey, many troll messages are not negative. Instead, they are cute, or educational, or uplifting, all in an attempt to gain credibility and followers."
The article gives examples of troll-memes as subtle as a polite congratulation of First Lady Obama to throw shade on First Lady Trump (and thus increase division.) Another example is a fake account set up as parody-account to spread hateful memes about Islam under the cover of humor against ISIS. That's some multilayered inception shizzle right there. The article provides data showing that Russia influence efforts are ELEVEN TIMES more likely to be liked or retweeted than regular tweets and how Russian generated tweets have numerous "tweet-of-the-week" awards and showed up as quotations by tons of journalists.* They are better at this than the Kardashians.
We've reached the point where none of us will be able to detect these efforts just upon observation anymore than we can see a pathogen by looking hard either. And although scientists can detect the pathogen with the microscope and I'm sure experts will track these influence efforts with other sophisticated tools, (#hamilton60wherearthou?) how are the rest of us to protect ourselves?
I would submit that reason is the best vaccination against the pathogen which are wholly designed to trigger our affective responses. Resist reacting emotionally and you bypass the vector of infection. Wait for 72hours. Research multiple credible sources. Phrase your comments with an aim to furthering a goal rather than airing an anxiety. Remember Russia doesn't want us to improve on anything, what they want is the paralysis of division and retrograde of distrust.
Resisting Russian efforts is no longer just a catch phrase any side can invoke upon another without one's own personal investment, growth or personal change of conduct. Nothing about reason requires us to ignore what is unreasonable. It does not mean ignoring injustice or abandoning concerns over illegal immigration, whatever cause floats are personal boats will still be there after we remove the influence of tweets. The Russian influence operations are targeting real divides because that's what matters. We can still pursue our individual and collective interests under a reasonable flag as effectively, if not more so, than emotions standard. Athena vs. Ares and all that.
We all need to take defending our *own* agency with the same vigor we're willing to attack someone else's. It's a, to borrow the phrase, a bare minimum reasonable reaction to ensure that what we do, and why we do it, remains something roughly assembling our own intention and not being used as a sock-puppet by Russian influence efforts and the many copycats the article indicates are springing up.
Civility is not weakness. Reason is not a vice. Nothing can ever grow from division and if it comes to the point a side can only win by subtraction, well the Russians are the only victors there anyways.
WaPo
A reminder that the Russian trolls continue to advance their art faster than we as a society are catching up to them. And they are not looking to advance one side over another. Rather their strategy, as summarized by those who study them are two fold. First they are seeking to:
"...further divide and polarize the United States along ideological lines. As long as we are fighting among ourselves, we aren’t paying attention to what Putin is doing in Ukraine and elsewhere. Second, it attempts to undermine our trust in the institutions that sustain a strong nation and a strong democracy. The media, science, academia and the electoral process are all regular targets of troll venom. The Russians want to push us further apart while causing us to lose trust in what has traditionally made us strong." (article source in first comment)
The article gives examples of a range of highly sophisticated and nuanced Russian troll-memes now being deployed. These are not the crude social media posts of Cambridge Analytica:
"IRA’s work is much subtler, often more palatable and always seemingly more organic than Americans may imagine. The operators in St. Petersburg understand the way information is spread on the platforms they use and, more important, they understand how to reach their American audience. On the theory that it is easier to catch a fly with honey, many troll messages are not negative. Instead, they are cute, or educational, or uplifting, all in an attempt to gain credibility and followers."
The article gives examples of troll-memes as subtle as a polite congratulation of First Lady Obama to throw shade on First Lady Trump (and thus increase division.) Another example is a fake account set up as parody-account to spread hateful memes about Islam under the cover of humor against ISIS. That's some multilayered inception shizzle right there. The article provides data showing that Russia influence efforts are ELEVEN TIMES more likely to be liked or retweeted than regular tweets and how Russian generated tweets have numerous "tweet-of-the-week" awards and showed up as quotations by tons of journalists.* They are better at this than the Kardashians.
We've reached the point where none of us will be able to detect these efforts just upon observation anymore than we can see a pathogen by looking hard either. And although scientists can detect the pathogen with the microscope and I'm sure experts will track these influence efforts with other sophisticated tools, (#hamilton60wherearthou?) how are the rest of us to protect ourselves?
I would submit that reason is the best vaccination against the pathogen which are wholly designed to trigger our affective responses. Resist reacting emotionally and you bypass the vector of infection. Wait for 72hours. Research multiple credible sources. Phrase your comments with an aim to furthering a goal rather than airing an anxiety. Remember Russia doesn't want us to improve on anything, what they want is the paralysis of division and retrograde of distrust.
Resisting Russian efforts is no longer just a catch phrase any side can invoke upon another without one's own personal investment, growth or personal change of conduct. Nothing about reason requires us to ignore what is unreasonable. It does not mean ignoring injustice or abandoning concerns over illegal immigration, whatever cause floats are personal boats will still be there after we remove the influence of tweets. The Russian influence operations are targeting real divides because that's what matters. We can still pursue our individual and collective interests under a reasonable flag as effectively, if not more so, than emotions standard. Athena vs. Ares and all that.
We all need to take defending our *own* agency with the same vigor we're willing to attack someone else's. It's a, to borrow the phrase, a bare minimum reasonable reaction to ensure that what we do, and why we do it, remains something roughly assembling our own intention and not being used as a sock-puppet by Russian influence efforts and the many copycats the article indicates are springing up.
Civility is not weakness. Reason is not a vice. Nothing can ever grow from division and if it comes to the point a side can only win by subtraction, well the Russians are the only victors there anyways.
WaPo
