Leftists surging on the internet

[brandon]

But worst of all, they all agree with each other and it's as if their views are written in stone. In other words, if you go to Reddit, this is what you believe. The whole "hive mind" thing is pretty interesting / scary. But they obviously don't realize that. I just wonder how it affects people psychologically. Some people spend hours and hours a day on Reddit. They must rarely see an opposing view that has any validity.

Yea they seem to view the site as some little secret private club. But really it's really anything but that. Most of the content comes from 4chan and the site is anything but exclusive, it's the 50th ranked site in the country. The whole phenomenon is just really strange and lame.

 

[thedude]

Reddit? More like Neverheardofit...

this^

 

[Jeremy]

The great thing about Reddit is the subreddits. If you have an account just take /r/ politics off of your frontpage and go here instead
http://www.reddit.com/r/Libertarian/

Although that may be useful to the libertarians, it doesn't actually do anything to convert apathetics. The liberals have the opportunity to do that since they control the main page and the rest of the site.

 

[specsaregood]

I have spent a lot of time on reddit over the last 6 months or so, and I can tell you that the people there absolutely suck. Not just when it comes to politics either...it's just a really lame group of people nowadays.

Is that a result of the big digg invasion? back when digg screwed the pooch on their promotion system?

 

[brandon]

Also I am pretty convinced that there are Democratic party operatives that spend massive amounts of time manipulating the popular political content on reddit. Other groups could counter it with some organization and dedication.

 

[Jeremy]

Is that a result of the big digg invasion? back when digg screwed the pooch on their promotion system?

I came over with the Digg exodus, so I personally don't know what it was like before. But one of the reasons I was getting frustrated with Digg was also because it was too liberal. I'm sure Reddit was the same, but it's just really, really bad now.

 

[easycougar]

It should be interesting who they will fall in love with for a presidential candidate. I don't think they are very fond of Obama right now, but I think they will jump back on the obama bandwagon at any given moment. I agree with the whole "hive mind" collectivist thing being creepy though.

 

[Jeremy]

Also I am pretty convinced that there are Democratic party operatives that spend massive amounts of time manipulating the popular political content on reddit. Other groups could counter it with some organization and dedication.

When conservatives apparently tried that on Digg and Reddit, people got really pissed and it did the exact opposite of what conservatives would have wanted. I'm assuming "conservatives" includes libertarians.

It should be interesting who they will fall in love with for a presidential candidate. I don't think they are very fond of Obama right now, but I think they will jump back on the obama bandwagon at any given moment. I agree with the whole "hive mind" collectivist thing being creepy though.

Yeah, that sounds accurate to me.

 

[RonPaulwillWin]

This one isn't too bad.

http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/gxin0/ron_paul_launches_presidential_campaign/

 

[RonPaulVolunteer]

No time to read this thread, but these are not leftists, they are PAID provocateurs. This is the old form of cold-war warfare revised - Propaganda. Don't engage these people, just post the truth and leave it at that. Their goal is to sap your energy and bring out your worst and keep you occupied from winning this race.

 

[libertybrewcity]

Who cares about the internet. Yes, it is a good place to organize, but its not a place to win votes.

 

[libertybrewcity]

No time to read this thread, but these are not leftists, they are PAID provocateurs. This is the old form of cold-war warfare revised - Propaganda. Don't engage these people, just post the truth and leave it at that. Their goal is to sap your energy and bring out your worst and keep you occupied from winning this race.

paid for by who and how do you know? I don't think there's much evidence for that..

 

[Jeremy]

No time to read this thread, but these are not leftists, they are PAID provocateurs. This is the old form of cold-war warfare revised - Propaganda. Don't engage these people, just post the truth and leave it at that. Their goal is to sap your energy and bring out your worst and keep you occupied from winning this race.

Sorry, but that is not remotely true. Why is it so hard to believe that there are people on the internet who don't like Ron Paul? We don't need random conspiracy theories like this.

 

[JoshLowry]

Reddit was way pro Ron Paul up until the first primary.

After that it went towards the Dems as the lesser of two evils vote.

That post is in the r/politics subreddit which leans heavily to the left. I wouldn't worry about it.

I think reddit is going to swing back to supporting the ideas of liberty and peace but there will be many comment wars over it. I've noticed that things have actually gotten better.

 

[Jeremy]

Reddit was way pro Ron Paul up until the first primary.

After that it went towards the Dems as the lesser of two evils vote.

That post is in the r/politics subreddit which leans heavily to the left. I wouldn't worry about it.

I think reddit is going to swing back to supporting the ideas of liberty and peace but there will be many comment wars over it. I've noticed that things have actually gotten better.

That's exactly what happened on Digg too. It was very pro-Paul, and then it was almost like it switched over night to pro-Obama. And I don't think we are going to have that period of pro-Paul on those sites this time. That's why I'm saying the internet doesn't support Ron Paul as much as it did in 2007. It means less chances to convert people in that way. We will need other ways. Hopefully offline.

 

[IDefendThePlatform]

Yeah, but it actually converts people to agree with the mindset. Because they make anyone who disagrees feel stupid. It might be hard for us, who are philosophically stable, to see how someone could be captured by a community like Reddit. But I view it as a serious problem. And they hate Ron Paul, which is the point of this thread.

I agree. And while not exactly the same dynamic, ronpaulforums.com can serve this same purpose for any apathetic people who come here. Granted, that will be many fewer than the number of apathetics who go to reddit. We need as much SEO as possible to get this forum to the first page of regular news searches and whatnot, if at all possible. This site is probably even better than the ronpaul2012.com site in that regard, IMO.

 

[easycougar]

I agree. And while not exactly the same dynamic, ronpaulforums.com can serve this same purpose for any apathetic people who come here. Granted, that will be many fewer than the number of apathetics who go to reddit. We need as much SEO as possible to get this forum to the first page of regular news searches and whatnot, if at all possible. This site is probably even better than the ronpaul2012.com site in that regard, IMO.

Here, we can at least offer rational discussion to opposing viewpoints. If you have an opposing viewpoint on Reddit, you just downvoted into oblivion and your voice isn't even heard.

 

[JoshLowry]

Here, we can at least offer rational discussion to opposing viewpoints. If you have an opposing viewpoint on Reddit, you just downvoted into oblivion and your voice isn't even heard.

People are reading even if you get downvoted. We just have to turn this election into a lesser of two evils. And the two choices are Paul and Obama.

 

[Jeremy]

Here, we can at least offer rational discussion to opposing viewpoints. If you have an opposing viewpoint on Reddit, you just downvoted into oblivion and your voice isn't even heard.

It's also a good example of why democracy in the real world fails. The majority controls everything.

People are reading even if you get downvoted. We just have to turn this election into a lesser of two evils. And the two choices are Paul and Obama.

Not too much. The highest rated ones go to the top. The least popular ones are hidden or go to the bottom. Plus if someone sees a comment that says +361 and then sees another comment that says -2, which one do you think they will trust more?

 

[American Idol]

Sorry, but that is not remotely true. Why is it so hard to believe that there are people on the internet who don't like Ron Paul? We don't need random conspiracy theories like this.

Ah yes, you have been hanging with the Groupthink crowd too much. You're pulling out the ol' "conspiracy theory" card awfully fast there, Cap'n. They've had an influence on you.

Whether they're paid or not, he's right: Debating or trying to reason with them is a waste of time and will sap your energy.