COINTELPRO on the WWW - How it works, various examples

Re: World's Saddest Internet Argument Techniques

Alma.Innovadora said:
And this?!!!... It may be a small example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzKgRa46UhU

In a way, that is one of the scariest videos I have ever seen. For those others here interested, it is a video of a german boy, I would say around 12-14, who has a meltdown because the computer will not behave as fast as he wants it to, and he wants to play a video game. The translation has a lot of profanity, fyi, and it is in German. However, it is shocking.
 
Re: World's Saddest Internet Argument Techniques

EmeraldHope said:
Alma.Innovadora said:
And this?!!!... It may be a small example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzKgRa46UhU

In a way, that is one of the scariest videos I have ever seen. For those others here interested, it is a video of a german boy, I would say around 12-14, who has a meltdown because the computer will not behave as fast as he wants it to, and he wants to play a video game. The translation has a lot of profanity, fyi, and it is in German. However, it is shocking.

Wow...just...wow... a disturbing comment from the page, sMooVe1982 says, "@schnips074 it was staged. I've seen other vids from this kid and I'm German ;)" If it was staged, then the kid was acting out, playing up his reactions to the nth degree, but to what purpose? It implies that such behavior is "cool", and is to be emulated. Very disturbing.
 
Re: World's Saddest Internet Argument Techniques

WhiteBear said:
EmeraldHope said:
Alma.Innovadora said:
And this?!!!... It may be a small example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzKgRa46UhU

In a way, that is one of the scariest videos I have ever seen. For those others here interested, it is a video of a german boy, I would say around 12-14, who has a meltdown because the computer will not behave as fast as he wants it to, and he wants to play a video game. The translation has a lot of profanity, fyi, and it is in German. However, it is shocking.

Wow...just...wow... a disturbing comment from the page, sMooVe1982 says, "@schnips074 it was staged. I've seen other vids from this kid and I'm German ;)" If it was staged, then the kid was acting out, playing up his reactions to the nth degree, but to what purpose? It implies that such behavior is "cool", and is to be emulated. Very disturbing.

LOL, it could very well be fake, but your post made me think of one of The 8 Most Obnoxious Internet Commenters from the last page:


#8.The Non-Believer


Typical Comment

"FAKE! Did you see how that guy exploded just BEFORE he hit the tree. Fake, don't waste my time."

Who Are They?

They like to think of themselves as the jaded skeptic in a world full of gullible sheeple, determined to be a flickering light of truth in a dark internet full of lies and fake viral videos. "No one could really fart on a birthday cake that way!"

Why We Hate Them:

The guys we're talking about here are the knee-jerk skeptics, the ones who take it too far. They have an automatic reaction to call "fake" on pretty much any video that shows anything remotely remarkable happening. They're not doing it in some grand quest for truth, they just want to feel smarter than the room and generally suck all of the wonder out of the world.

This is the internet, if we want to believe some dudes can catch sunglasses on their face like that, who are they to take that from us, dammit!
 
Re: World's Saddest Internet Argument Techniques

EmeraldHope said:
WhiteBear said:
EmeraldHope said:
Alma.Innovadora said:
And this?!!!... It may be a small example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzKgRa46UhU

In a way, that is one of the scariest videos I have ever seen. For those others here interested, it is a video of a german boy, I would say around 12-14, who has a meltdown because the computer will not behave as fast as he wants it to, and he wants to play a video game. The translation has a lot of profanity, fyi, and it is in German. However, it is shocking.

Wow...just...wow... a disturbing comment from the page, sMooVe1982 says, "@schnips074 it was staged. I've seen other vids from this kid and I'm German ;)" If it was staged, then the kid was acting out, playing up his reactions to the nth degree, but to what purpose? It implies that such behavior is "cool", and is to be emulated. Very disturbing.

LOL, it could very well be fake, but your post made me think of one of The 8 Most Obnoxious Internet Commenters from the last page:

That vid really is staged, apparently. According to another Cracked article "7 Viral Videos You Didn't Know Were Staged (And How They Did It)":

The story repeated in that last comment, the one about the father that secretly set up the camera to capture his son's out-of-control behavior, is the one you most often see tacked onto the video (athough another variation is that he himself left it on, which is the one PC World went with in their coverage). Both of these stories appear to have been created purely to make the video scarier.

After all, it would be supremely uninteresting to find out, for instance, that the kid has made many videos, all of which feature him playing some goofy exaggerated character. Well, too bad, because that's the truth.

The kid (often referred to as "Leopold" but his name has generally been kept out of the press since he's a minor) made the video in the wake of Germany's own violent video games controversy, when lawmakers were campaigning to restrict their sale. Leopold did his impression of the politician's worst nightmare, slamming around the keyboard and laughing maniacally as he killed opponents.

Germany's Focus TV saw the clip, and got permission from the kid to use it on the air. Leopold and his father then watched as the TV show manufactured a backstory--the one about the father secretly recording his bloodthirsty, ADHD son--which then followed the clip as it swept across the web. Holy crap, maybe we owe Fox News an apology.

Once the clip reached English-speaking audiences, even more of the context was stripped away since all they got was incoherent, enraged babble. If you get a correctly subtitled version, on the other hand, and watch it all the way through, the joke becomes fairly obvious (See the bit with the lost Escape key and him telling his opponent to eat his "melted s***").

So it looks like the culprits here are the German mainstream media. They presented the video deceptively to push a political agenda. What a shock. :rolleyes:
 
Re: World's Saddest Internet Argument Techniques

These were very good posts. I need to study personality disorders a lot more. I may have pulled off a "Great Defender" maneuver twice this year. Thanks for the post and the transcript it was very helpful.
 
Re: World's Saddest Internet Argument Techniques

eonstg said:
These were very good posts. I need to study personality disorders a lot more. I may have pulled off a "Great Defender" maneuver twice this year. Thanks for the post and the transcript it was very helpful.

Yeah, the "Great Defender" is my major tactic, too. I've done it a couple times on YouTube, jumping in to defend someone who's being attacked in the comments... and it's never turned out well. I've even caught myself doing it on this forum. I've since learned to curb my drive to do it (although I still struggle at times). I guess it's not the worst of those "argument techniques," but it's still a program playing itself out. Plus there can be a lot of self-importance involved.
 
Re: Twenty-Five Ways To Suppress Truth: The Rules of Disinformation

This topic deserves to stay at the top so I've stickied it.
 
Technique #2 - 'CONSENSUS CRACKING'

A second highly effective technique (which you can see in operation all the time at _http://www.abovetopsecret.com) is 'consensus cracking.' To develop a consensus crack, the following technique is used. Under the guise of a fake account a posting is made which looks legitimate and is towards the truth is made - but the critical point is that it has a VERY WEAK PREMISE without substantive proof to back the posting. Once this is done then under alternative fake accounts a very strong position in your favour is slowly introduced over the life of the posting. It is IMPERATIVE that both sides are initially presented, so the uninformed reader cannot determine which side is the truth. As postings and replies are made the stronger 'evidence' or disinformation in your favour is slowly 'seeded in.' Thus the uninformed reader will most like develop the same position as you, and if their position is against you their opposition to your posting will be most likely dropped. However in some cases where the forum members are highly educated and can counter your disinformation with real facts and linked postings, you can then 'abort' the consensus cracking by initiating a 'forum slide.'

Hmm... I've done this in real life during debates. Feigning neutrality but gradually inserting points that support or seem to support my position. It's a pattern that I can fall into sometimes when I feel insecure about my position; subtly sway the "opponent" toward my side rather than be pointed out as "wrong" or show my uncertainty. It can crop up after I've reflexively made a hollow argument, probably another attempt to mask myself. These are predatory tactics that I'm trying to stop in myself. They are cold, calculating, cowardly, and hollow.
 
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