tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4433144336299288135.post6771023720411688945..comments2024-03-26T13:27:26.499+00:00Comments on Zelo Street: 200,000 Extra Lockdown Deaths AREN’TTim Fentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00726447899972084146noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4433144336299288135.post-78798506261268924482020-07-22T17:01:57.868+01:002020-07-22T17:01:57.868+01:00You make a good point about repetition, one I had ...You make a good point about repetition, one I had overlooked.<br /><br />As to the problem of the gullible being fooled, I'd say it's a feature and not a bug of democracy. And it has been since before democracy was established in this country. It's the topic of Shakespeare's Coriolanus, after all. As you say, no easy solutions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4433144336299288135.post-40993335660158834242020-07-22T15:19:16.160+01:002020-07-22T15:19:16.160+01:00The other strand of the troll modus operandi is th...The other strand of the troll modus operandi is the tactic of exhausting and frustrating genuine actors by repeating nonsense ad infinitum. There is no real counter to this, other than to ignore them, as they will always have the last word long after exhausting good faith actors. The problem of the gullible being fooled is a hazard of democracy that may actually undermine democracy and I see no easy solutions to counter any of this.grim northernerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06550636800966418400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4433144336299288135.post-21468535485424855152020-07-22T10:51:19.127+01:002020-07-22T10:51:19.127+01:00Thanks for the reply. I wasn't considering th...Thanks for the reply. I wasn't considering the possibility of convincing trolls that they're mistaken. I doubt they even believe what they're saying themselves; they just want to muddy the waters and create doubt in order to sway casual viewers rather than forum regulars. Given the scandals surrounding the use of facebook, for example, I think it's reasonable hypothesis. In the run up to the last election, I noticed a lot of people regurgitating the same erroneous talking points that had been on social media the day before when these people did not know each other. It's not like the old days when trolls would go away if you didn't feed them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4433144336299288135.post-67783520304338306182020-07-21T19:17:23.263+01:002020-07-21T19:17:23.263+01:00He's not going to convince anyone on this blog...He's not going to convince anyone on this blog of anything, so replying to him here will just encourage him and his ilk. <br />I agree that this won't apply in other circumstances, but I have personally lost the will to convince anyone daft enough to be convinced that the current government is the dogs bollox that they are mistaken.grim northernerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06550636800966418400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4433144336299288135.post-67839825864337848582020-07-21T16:38:36.143+01:002020-07-21T16:38:36.143+01:00@15:53
"people on line daft enough to engage ...@15:53<br />"people on line daft enough to engage with his silly witterings"<br /><br />I recognise the irony but I have a question: do you not think it's important to challenge trolls regurgitating talking points rather than allow them to stand and give the impression that there are two sides to the debate? The BBC have shown where the latter gets the left. Genuine question BTW, not snark.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4433144336299288135.post-90296635928017564112020-07-21T15:53:54.005+01:002020-07-21T15:53:54.005+01:00It's a bit late for that as the guy is a retir...It's a bit late for that as the guy is a retired boomer. His sad fate is to spend his final days annoying people on line daft enough to engage with his silly witterings.grim northernerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06550636800966418400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4433144336299288135.post-32945496690997004902020-07-21T01:40:51.113+01:002020-07-21T01:40:51.113+01:00Grow up, 15:07.Grow up, 15:07.Nnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4433144336299288135.post-56365764817722390352020-07-20T23:11:10.370+01:002020-07-20T23:11:10.370+01:00The Guardian accidentally published a good article...The Guardian accidentally published a good article today in which Richard Coker, emeritus professor of public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, noted that "In the 19th century, when vaccination for smallpox was made compulsory, dissenters writing in 1854 declared that such a measure, 'unspeakably degrades the freeborn citizen, not only depriving him of liberty of choice in a personal matter, but even denying him the possession of reason.'"<br /><br />Like Dominic Cummings, I don't want to engage in counterfactual history but I'm pretty sure that there would have been idiots in 1854 arguing that 'I predict that Mr George S. Gibbs will be proved correct over time, like he's been about everything else. And how you dare call him a "miserable contrarian", better that than a manic lover of authoritarianism.' Mind you, in 1854 they'd have probably correctly spelled the name of their oracle of truth since the standards of trolling were so much higher.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4433144336299288135.post-43498912934249613082020-07-20T15:29:11.815+01:002020-07-20T15:29:11.815+01:00The anti-enlightenment is gathering pace.The anti-enlightenment is gathering pace.grim northernerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06550636800966418400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4433144336299288135.post-34413938178984255712020-07-20T15:07:40.771+01:002020-07-20T15:07:40.771+01:00I predict that Mr Peter Hktchins will be proved co...I predict that Mr Peter Hktchins will be proved correct over time, like he's been about everything else. And how you dare call him a "miserable contrarian", better that than a manic lover of authoritarianism.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com