this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2024
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"Specifically designed" means exactly what you're saying it means. Nobody said Russians; they said artificial. This article gives a quick overview of what's been academically analyzed about it, which in my un-expert opinions is a few years' behind in terms of how it actually works in the modern day:
I can only speak for my observations on Reddit and Lemmy, but it is absolutely undeniable to me that there are fake users on both platforms who are pushing specific narratives, and I 100% believe that "don't vote it doesn't do anything" is one of them.
Are they saying "don't vote", or that voting isn't as effective as other means for social change. There is a difference.
Have you actually looked at that community? You think those are russian bots? Please. 🙄
No... but I understand how I might have given that impression. I think the slrpnk community is kind of an outlier in that it actually does have some anti-electoralism that's a legit outgrowth of honest anarchism, that I honestly don't really have a problem with. I don't think that community is bots, Russian or otherwise, no. (Edit: Well... not all bots. I do think there are a couple propaganda accounts on slrpnk but that almost all of the discourse is organic, and the nature of the landscape means that the propaganda can afford to be a lot less obvious.)
For the most part, I actually think the propaganda accounts on Lemmy are more subtle than coming out and saying "don't vote." They say things like, both parties are the same, or "Genocide Joe," or they could never support a genocide, or it feels so unfair that we have to do this every four years and nothing ever changes, things like that. I just grabbed one random example to answer your question about, are they saying "don't vote".
Do you want me to find an example of something I think is explicit propaganda that is also explicitly saying "don't vote"? I can do that too; that one maybe poorly chosen example is just the first thing that popped into my mind.
No, I don't want you to do that. As an anarchist, I felt misrepresented, that's all. But since you say that you don't have a problem with anarchism, we're cool.
Yeah, makes sense. Like I say I think I chose my example poorly; it was just the first and most explicit thing that came to mind.