Starting to feel really worried by all the NSA "defenders" on reddit.
85 2013-07-05 by [deleted]
Hey, I didn't really know what other subreddit to post this, but I figured you guys would be rather versed/more aware of it.
I don't post on reddit much, if ever, and I usually delete my comments not too long after I've made them (I feel paranoid about being looked up). So I'm usually not one to judge. Recently though, I've been starting to see a LOT of very strange posts in regards to the NSA. While it's strange enough that people would defend it, justify it by saying "all nations do it, this is normal", etc., the most worrying posts are those actually calling Snowden a traitor and the like.
So, moving on, I decided to click on the name of a redditor who defends the U.S., calls Snowden a traitor and proceeds to say that Snowden is "at fault" for this cat and mouse game (suggesting he should have stayed and faced prosecution in the U.S.)
This is a link to his profile:
http://www.reddit.com/user/IAmIdahoJoe/
Notice anything? He's made 4 posts, been registered since today. As of writing, he's been a redditor for 2 hours. Not to mention the style of writing he used in that first post. It feels extremely... formal? Might just be me.
I'm getting extremely worried. I feel like many American redditors are impressionable (The amount of them suggesting that the protests were a waste of time and only losers would attend, for example) and that the government is actually going out of their way to astroturf on reddit in order to sway public opinion in their favor. This was apparenty with Manning in the media, despite Manning being welcomed as a whistleblower by the public initially. The current opinion on Manning seems to be that he got what he deserved (This kind of opinion is the one with upvotes on reddit, and the ones defending manning or in favor of assange are downvoted!), and that seems to be in large part due to people consistently being told that this is okay.
Now, some of you might remember that recently a report was published showing that the state department had spent upwards of 600000 dollars on facebook likes. Similarly, another recent poll said 6% of Americans online uses reddit. All in all, this seems like an awful lot of "coincidences" added together, and I'm very worried that the U.S. government is really trying to sway public opinion by social media infiltration. Am I extremely paranoid?
33 comments
15 SuperBump 2013-07-05
They are swaying public opinion across all major platforms. Why not social media as well? I think most Reddit users have pretty good heads on their shoulders though. And due to the majority of users being liberals, I doubt they would be able to gain much steam here. As for IAmIdahoJoe, I would guess this is a throw-away account. Likely he knew his comments about the NSA would be getting down voted to oblivion, so he created that account to keep his karma in tact.
1 Xoth_Bnug 2013-07-05
Yar, anyone can make multiple accounts on Reddit, I'd be surprised if there weren't shills on here trying to sway opinion. I think anyone should be able to say whatever they want and let the users up/downvote however they feel. With that said, I have noticed topics here and there where the top comment has 4x the votes of the next one, for no logical reason, and I can only chalk that up to shill votes. Soo that kinda sucks
1 dsprox 2013-07-05
Yeah, "A Majority" of redditors doesn't even matter, because a majority of all reddit posts come from Elgin AF Base.
They are OBVIOUSLY using puppet accounts to sway opinion and spread disinfo and all that shit.
Reddit has been co-opted for a long time now, remember people, they're owned by Conde Naste.
9 Glitchless 2013-07-05
There are many people (like myself) that lurked Reddit casually until an issue popped up that they were vocal about so they signed up. I think that he mi-
Nah, he's a dipshit shill.
6 Pennywheel23 2013-07-05
I'm sure a portion are paid for...but yeah...
6 Meistermalkav 2013-07-05
well, let's me express my standpoint:
Not saying that this is not your fukkn right, and that you are most likely correct. Just saying that calling everybody with a dissenting opinion a paid government shill is kind of like the government goons calling every single fart against them terroristic activity. It devalues the word itself, and makes you look like a joke everytime you hit someoine who honestly just had a dissenting opinion.
HOWEVER, keep strong. Now more then ever, the american political landscape needs an opposition, and not only one that is just tea party terrorists and racist ron paul, but more of a bipartisan opposition that is in favor of actuially placing the safety back on the secret service, the police and the 3 letter agencies.
I may not agree with your methodfs, but I 100 % agree with your core stance.
Greets from germany.
2 smelly-hooker 2013-07-05
I down voted every single one of his posts.
1 oohcomely 2013-07-05
Whoever he is, it doesn't look like you have to worry about him swaying opinion since he's already being down-voted. He doesn't seem to think much of reddit or its 'randoms' though.
1 cbark19 2013-07-05
I applaud your concern, really. But we cannot just go on some McCarthy witchhunt for NSA members, that's just foolish
1 podkayne3000 2013-07-05
I think I've seen other NSA shill posts, but, to me, it looks as if this Redditor might just be an NSA employee or the equivalent who sincerely supports the NSA side.
If there are NSA employees who just use PRISM to catch bad guys and see colleagues doing the same, I can understand why they might wonder what the fuss is all about.
The problem, of course, is that it's hard for outsiders to read about this without thinking about East Germany.
1 mothereffingteresa 2013-07-05
Nope. Reddit is a leading social media site, and it is heavily propagandized by the US government and others.
1 podkayne3000 2013-07-05
Were the downvotes automated or from live humans? If from live humans: they're naive or they're truly shills.
I can believe the guy who posted the NSA folks is just a proud NSA employee, but anyone who claims Reddit isn't a hot bed of propaganda is pretty odd.
1 DZP 2013-07-05
The same people spying on you are waging war through social media on your ability to know. Take that as a given. You are in the fight of your life for freedom, and losing.
In an era where Google pays AdBlock to whitelist Google ads, I'm sure Reddit is paid to allow government shills to spread disinfo and try to shift the perception of public opinion.
1 LordoftheGodKings 2013-07-05
Reddit looks more and more like /x everyday. Next time you make a disinfo post make sure to use a spidey picture please.
1 [deleted] 2013-07-05
You should just try having some convos about this stuff in real life then. If you don't live in a ridiculous small town or in Europe, you'd be shocked at just how many people actually agree with it in person as well.
1 R4F1 2013-07-05
Most of them are Progressive/Democrat shills. They are annoying the shit out of me, because the ones on r/conspiracy keep downvoting anything to do with Israel or Zionism.
0 Onepossibility 2013-07-05
Don't worry about it -- it's fine if NSA defenders do what they want -- the important thing is that we're in it for real. If they get the feeling that we're in it for mass numbers and real honest-to-goodness change -- 100 for every one of them -- they'll get the idea. But we have to make it stick -- which is why I'm it in for real. Are you?
3 [deleted] 2013-07-05
[deleted]
1 [deleted] 2013-07-05
Yep. It's funny watching a new post on reddit and people start going crazy about whatever misdeeds the gov't is doing, but as time goes on and more people add opinions that say they can do no harm, they go from the bottom to the top. If it gets posted enough, reddit doesn't care if it's right or wrong. The people here don't want the truth, they want whats popular.
0 Pentdad 2013-07-05
You are probably right, but shills are common. Not long ago on here it was revealed that Microsoft had a team of people on reddit upvoting, downvoting, correcting others etc before the xbox1 reveal. Telling someone they are wrong about something doesn't help anyway, it only entrenches their opinions deeper.
1 OakTable 2013-07-05
The r/gaming mods investigated that. Tl;Dr If that's what Microsoft was trying to do, they completely failed. Besides that, the person making the accusation provided no proof or evidence whatsoever, and was, by all available evidence, trolling.
0 BobLoblawl 2013-07-05
Good catch, he's either bought or dumb
0 nightputting 2013-07-05
Somewhat related: Reviewing the comments on a local news website article on Gabby Giffords and crew coming to town to promote gun control (in a very pro gun state), I noticed after every pro gun comment that was made, a certain user would post anti-gun arguments. This went on for hours and for every comment (as I could see when the post was made). I logged in and made the observation that I was rather suspicous that said user was consistently trying to negate any pro gun comment, and that there was a possibility they were paid to comment like that by those in favor of gun control (or worse, government). Ironically enough, my post was deleted soon after.
1 podkayne3000 2013-07-05
I know I can be passionate about something and look come off like a relentless paid poster when I care about an issue, so, I think it's wrong to be rude to suspected shills who are otherwise respecting the rules of netiquette.
But someone downvoted you just for expressing that view before I upvoted you, and I think that's pretty odd. You seem to be making a reasonable point politely. Who other than the head of an astroturfing team would object?
0 hanahou 2013-07-05
Welcome to the "SHILL" world of reddit. Now that you logged on here. You too can be bestowed the crown of a lunatic with the rest of us crazies.
You are now a brother or as we Hawaiians say a hoahānau kāne (brother in the same club).
0 danxmason 2013-07-05
Google "military sock puppets"
0 [deleted] 2013-07-05
i seem to have attracted a genuine 'downvote' campaign for merely suggesting that the NSA astroturfs reddit in order to manipulate public opinion.
(edit - linkage)
-1 Weedtastic 2013-07-05
please don't ban me again flytape...
-2 bhuddamonk 2013-07-05
ALot of these new reddit users are shills paid for by the US government. NSA, FBI you name it. They have multiple accounts and most of the time, after reading beyond their talking points and interacting with them, turn out to be not so intelligent.
I had a fight with a Ron Paul shill a while back where he was posting the same talking points on almost every positive Ron Paul thread on Reddit. Once you slap them around a little bit, they fall apart.
I wouldn't worry too much. Just do your part and own these fools.
1 [deleted] 2013-07-05
[deleted]
3 bhuddamonk 2013-07-05
http://weaselzippers.us/2011/02/19/us-government-software-creates-fake-people-on-social-networks-to-promote-propaganda/
1 podkayne3000 2013-07-05
I think I've seen other NSA shill posts, but, to me, it looks as if this Redditor might just be an NSA employee or the equivalent who sincerely supports the NSA side.
If there are NSA employees who just use PRISM to catch bad guys and see colleagues doing the same, I can understand why they might wonder what the fuss is all about.
The problem, of course, is that it's hard for outsiders to read about this without thinking about East Germany.