What do you folks think are the chances of this profile belonging to a real person?
 

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100022846749304

see above. To me, it seems like a Russian opinion of what the average Trump voter looks like, as if the photos are intentionally chosen for their Wal-Mart-esque features and absurd yeehaw-isms.

Today I learned that Facebook, outside of my filtered, insular feed, is quite a horrifying desert of factless hot takes and idiocracy. I'm genuinely struggling with whether it's more likely that this many people can actually be this stupid, or if it's more likely that the lower intelligence quartile of Americans aren't actually this stupid, but foreign agents of misinformation are constructing caricatures of what a misinformed yokel might be like in order to sow dissent between the uninformed masses.

It's hard to connect with people when their views are so divorced from reality. For example, the notion that abortions are something that women get for fun on Friday nights, or that "socialists" want to steal your double wide and fill it with "illegals", or that the mafioso-in-chief was prophesied in the Old Testament and is doing God's will. But it's even harder to get past this shit and connect with people when a significant portion of them are not even real people acting in good faith, but are actually fake profiles created with the explicit purpose of manipulating my political views.

I realize there's a politics thread, but I'm not particularly interested in debating the finer tenets of Christian fundamentalism, xenophobia in America, or the meaning of the word socialism, rather I am interested in determining the extent of fake internet persons and the degree to which they shape online content in bad faith.

Follow up: the answer to the question of whether the person in question IS actually a person is irrelevant, as the idea of "non-person" is already in my head, and said person, real or otherwise, has already been dehumanized from the simple knowledge that fake profiles exist and are utilized to weaponise factless worldviews.

i bet she votes

My dude, like half of my relatives have pages filled with far more god-fearin', far-right, immigrant-hatin' and gun-totin' memes than this

looks like Shirley got a new job at the Scuba shop

anyone down for some Don-lovin' deep diving?

It's not obviously a Russian troll . Her profile seems to be pretty average American midwest boomer-age stuff.

i think this is one of my family members. They all look the same to me so I cant be sure

Even though there does exist a Russian disinformation campaign to try to influence and divide American voters, in the grand scheme of things, it's not very large or significant. The amount of influence Russian oligarchs have on American politics is nothing compared to the amount of influence domestic corporate interests have on American politics, and they're the ones who have been responsible for most of the spinning, framing, and obscuring of facts for decades. Russian influence in America also pales in comparison to American influence in foreign countries.

That's not to say that people shouldn't be concerned. Obviously, the Russian government trying to influence American politics is still bad. But the people who go to the extreme of acting like Russians are the primary reason Trump got elected just seem to be making excuses for why the Democrats fumbled the ball and lost an election to the worst possible candidate.

The problems of a misinformed electorate, cognitive bias, and irrational motivated reasoning didn't start in 2016, either. People have never been very good at divorcing their pre-existing prejudices from how they evaluate claims and evidence. I think what's different now is that there's an administration that barely even keeps the pretense of being interested in truth.

well...in terms of making claims or press statements that will never be verified and in many cases, falsified, I agree. But in terms of letting millions of desperate and politically illiterate voters know that what they're saying is a bunch of garbage, they still seem intent on maintaining a pretense in that sense, of being interested in truth.

Trump is impressive in how successful he has been, at using wedge issues to create a loyal fan base. So loyal now that he is not just a representative of Republicans or working class white Americans, or evangelical Christians under attack or whoever he claims to be a representing...but now the arbiter of the debate. So he can say anything without worrying what the 'other side' will say back. Nobody loyal to him will believe the 'fake news' anyway. I didn't see that lasting so long - I figured when he failed to deliver on his campaign promises, the tide would turn against him. Maybe it has.

I think the angry push back on the left is making it worse, too. People are digging their heels in on both sides and it just strengthens Trump's position I reckon. The left does half his work for him by being a bunch of assholes to anyone who doesn't agree with them, and then Trump points and says "See what a bunch of assholes these people are? I told you. And they're liars, too." facepalm

I guess I just don't see the benefit of smiling politely when republicans time and again vote for people who want to strip the rights of people i love.

there are only so many cheeks to turn before you just become a victim with a shit-eating grin. there is nothing noble about "agreeing to disagree" with people who refuse to acknowledge the very real impact their vote has on already disenfranchised people.

and i don't believe these are just "innocent people with differing viewpoints". at some point, you are actively hurting people with your vote, whether you "agree" with that statement or not. facts are facts.

You guys are gonna have him for another term, right?

D I completely agree about voting and responsibility, I just think that if Trump points at the left and says "Look what a bunch of assholes these people are" and then the left act like a bunch of assholes, it strengthens Trump's position, and vindicates those who support him - in multiple ways...because they think 'well I don't want to align myself with a bunch of assholes like that, so i'll do the opposite of whatever they're doing, I'll support Trump just to spite them' and because a lot of them also think 'man, Trump is right, I can trust him, he knows what he's talking about'

I dunno, maybe none of that is true. I have no evidence...it's just a gut feeling. I definitely hope I'm wrong because it doesn't seem to be showing any signs of changing

D and vixnix are both right. that's why we're in suck a pickle

such a pickle* lol

There is no way to communicate with the right though because they are insane brainwashed antiintellectuals. easier to just kill them all

IMHO

Wow, that will set the right wingers straight.

No wonder they hate the left wingers.