Did you ever wonder why so many websites and comment threads are crawling with right wing climate denying trolls? There’s a reason. They are an organized movement, promoting ignorance, and hatred for curiosity, knowledge, and expertise.
The clip is from a longer film, “AstroTurf Wars”, which describes how democracy is being distorted and hobbled by corporate funded “citizens” whose full time profession is to spread lies, confuse voters, and disrupt the democratic process with bad information.
Of course trolling is a global problem.
My favourite haunt is the Guardian newspaper. It is riddled with right-wing trolls who are funded by the usual suspects: The coal, oil, gas and nuclear industries.
Fortunately they are making changes to the comments system and the public are largely aware of attempts at trolling.
As for Amazon, I rarely visit the site since they bowed to Republic pressure and took Wikileaks off their EC2 cloud server.
I think the most damaging effects are on politicians. Obama has hardly mentioned climate change, completely avoiding the subject in his state of the union address. Bowing to pressure to be seen to be looking after American jobs instead of addressing the greatest threat to mankind will leave the public unprepared for the scale of changes coming at them.
Denial it seems is a creeping problem.
the real creeping problem is ignorance of science, and the attitude that reality is some kind of cafeteria. The media compounds this by treating every imaginary, paranoid, right wing diversion as if it is worthy of equal consideration with actual fact.
The media is corrupt. Rupert Murdoch controls a great deal of the media in the US and Britain. Fortunately we can all make a difference by reporting facts and supporting reliable media such as your good self and the likes of the Guardian, Real Climate, Climate Progress and Skeptical Science.
I am also a Greenpeace activist and believe that NGOs like GP are a reliable source of information. GP USA recently reported on the issue of Pat Michael’s funding from the Koch Brothers.
An interesting article appeared in the Guardian a few days ago about scientific integrity. It compared the way Richard Lindzen and the scientific community deal with mistakes:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/25/case-study-climate-science-integrity
Of course when real scientists make mistakes they acknowledge it. Their peers are always only too keen to make sure this happens. This is not the case with the brotherhood of denial though.
Of course Lindzen did not retract his errors when they were pointed out to him. That did not stop them appearing like a bad rash all over the internet. One of the main culprits here is “Weatherman” Watts.
Information is a powerful weapon. Keep up the good work!
bluecloud9:
> Fortunately they are making changes to the comments system…
Can you share details of the changes? I’ve not seen any mention of it other than a thread a few months ago acknowledging that the astroturfing is a problem.
P.S. Thanks for your recommend of ‘Into Eternity’ – d/led immediately and watched it. Part terrifying, part amusing (in a terrifying sense!) the way that everyone looks so puzzled about what could happen when future generations discover it.
Peter, you might want to take a look if you’ve not seen it before:
* http://www.intoeternitythemovie.com/
* full version – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RurTvL7NWGc (also on torrents)
It comes as no surprise that this type of thing is happening… but the smug, self-congratulatory attitude from that Teabagger trainer is hard to comprehend. He’s basically admitting, “I’m a liar, I have no interest in facts, I will use any tactic to push my ideology and smother dissent.”
These people are simply unreachable – and appear to be multiplying. As Bluecloud9 says, the Grauniad is riddled with ACC deniers, nuclear shills, fossil apologists – and they return every day with the same script and the same spoiling tactics.
P.S. From Hansen’s latest newsletter – Heartland Institute action flowchart: http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/20110126_HeartlandChart.png – note:
“Ping allied bloggers to … influence online coverage -> Greater attention to free market ideas”
Translation: “send out wingnuts to disrupt progressive conversations while promoting and defending our corporate interests”
Thanks Bluerock for the link to Hansen’s work. Sometimes light does shine through dark clouds.
The Heartland Institute is just one of many which push the denial agenda.
Here is Jim Hansen writing about the issue of paid denial:
“Yes, it may be said, but young people are free to also influence public opinion. However, consider this Heartland chart as an example of what young people are up against. People carrying out these tasks are professional warriors for special interests, well-funded to make the case that global warming and climate disruption are a hoax. Their message is repeated relentlessly. Note that the “free market ideas” phrase in the Heartland bottom line is Orwellian double-speak. They mean the opposite, they want business-as-usual, with fossil fuels subsidized and not required to pay their costs to society.
Dear grandchild, this is a monster that you must face. You will need to figure it out. I am sorry. But it is the shape of our democracy today, which we bequeath to you.”
Regards,
Bluecloud
We know that ‘citizens’ are doing this. What about radio talk show hosts?
Rupert Murdoch owns many influential media outlets including radio stations.
Fox News reporters for example have to immediately question any news they report about climate change.
In marketing there is an expression that says: Use as many media outlets as possible. Even complete garbage can become believable if enough people tell you it’s true.
The fight against ignorance is sometimes as tough as the fight against greed.
I had no idea such guerrilla warfare existed.
“So, literally 80% of the books I, uh, put a star on I don’t read. So, that’s how it works. Ok?”
“So, that’s guerrilla tactics. If there’s a place to comment, a place to rate, right?, a place to share information, you have to do it. That’s how you control the online dialogue and give our ideals a fighting chance.
He talked about health care, but are they doing this against climate change as well? I suppose climate change would fall under a “liberal” idea that would get only one star.
It sucks that a branch of science has been branded with any political marking whatsoever. That is the primary impediment for my father and some of my coworkers from accepting any part of the science with an open mind. They view it as a liberal idea and immediately withdraw. I do have my father to the point where he accepts that the climate is changing, but it is just “nature’s way of taking care of itself”. As a farmer, he has actually noticed that the average spring planting has come a few weeks earlier over the past decade or so.
Al Gore needs to team up with a Republican or two (McCain or Rep. Roscoe Bartlett). Al Gore is one guy that completely shuts conservatives down. Some will refuse to believe in anything he believes, even when he has good intentions. Maybe there needs to be a letter writing campaign to Al Gore on this?
what they hate about Al Gore is that he has been proven right so many times.
Right about the internet. Right about Iraq. Right about climate.
So no wonder they go ballistic at the mention of his name.
I see so many comments that start out blathering about Al Gore instead of the science.
It’s another way for deniers to say ” I got nuthin’…”
Hah, right there, but still even if their gripes with Gore are completely unfounded we gotta find a way to remove the climate science stigma from their minds (or at least enough of them to get a critical mass of folks to get behind a renewable future).
I actually think that Gore has been keeping a lower profile lately because he is such a polarizing figure, and because climate deniers use him as a dodge to keep from talking about science.
I do think he is very active in the background.