I’m trying to keep this out of the pit, just something that’s been bugging me today.
No matter what news site you go to, the comments under any story will usually have someone unironically chiming in with “You can thank Obama’s socialist America for this!” even when the story has no relevance, no political content at all.
I don’t get it. Do people really think this way? What does this achieve? Does pervasive negativity (justified or not) have the desired effect of influencing general opinion?
What’s hard for some people to realize is that people that post comments on the internet are not really representative of society as a whole.
It’s nothing new. People have aimed sarcastic calls of “Thanks, <name of politician I disagree with>” for longer than any of us have been alive.
Cite (Youtube link)
It’s also important to note that the site you’re perusing is not necessarily indicative of anything. There are still news sites that at least try to present actual news, as opposed to spin and crap and editorial content that you need to believe because Megyn Kelly is pretty and Hannity has good hair.
My high school guidance counselor says I don’t qualify for financial aid because dad makes too much, but dad says he just spent $4800 upgrading our iPhones off-contract and he’s “all tapped out.”
THANKS OBAMA!!!1
I definitely get that, but I read a lot of websites and these types of comments are everywhere… on Facebook, on local news sites, on technology review blogs, on “unbiased” news sites, it’s just … oddly pervasive. Or maybe I just never really paid attention before, I don’t know.
It’s not always as unironic as you think. Most of the times I come across it, it’s obviously a joke.
Well, the comments sections of virtually everywhere on the internet reminds us just how lucky we are to be under the benign jackboots of the SDMB mods. But it’s also just possible these comments are not the acts of random individuals but random acts of astroturfing. If you wanted to convince the world that, for example, Obama is the worst thing evar to happen to America, it probably wouldn’t cost all that much to pay a handful of people to cruise the internets and pepper the comment sections with your political outlook of the day.
Then again, I’d like to think that, just because I have trouble reconciling some of the internet comments with the demonstrated ability to log onto a computer and type sentences – the intelligence required for one would seem to belie the other.
What unmoderated comments section of any popular site is not full of trolls? Or morons. My solution is to just not read them.
My question is where do these people find the time to spew out this idiocy?
It’s often sarcastic.
Obama has a Nobel Peace Prize that he didn’t earn, or deserve. What’s wrong with giving him thanks that he didn’t deserve? Obama’s a big boy, sarcastic comments are not going to effect his elect-ability.
One of my favorite internet meme photos is of a hand dipping a cookie into a glass of milk. But the cookie is too big for the glass. The text says, “Thanks Obama!” It absolutely slays me.
And people are still blaming Bush, too.
Yeah, he’ll probably figure out some way to run again. Thanks, Obama!
In many comment sections I get the impression it’s an organized campaign of some sort. I’m always curious whether the politico-trolls who bang out endless anti-Obama “jokes” in the comment section of every article (no matter how unrelated or apolitical the topic) are actually being compensated for it somehow, or are just useful idiots with infinite time on their hands.
My theory made more sense from a practical standpoint when he was running for re-election, as a massive disinformation campaign to associate Obama with stupidity/failure/racism/Islam/whatever in the mind of the electorate. But he ain’t running again, and it seems the slurs are still coming full bore. So I’m leaning back toward the uncomfortable conclusion that there are just an awful lot of angry, bored, possibly racist low-information trolls out there, with keyboards and fingers and not much else.
Especially the ones whose children were killed in Iraq.
I don’t buy the planned stuff, since when I see suggestions to write letters they usually include the request to be somewhat coherent.
There are a lot of people out there very upset about the white and male-dominated society they grew up in is going away. I think that is enough to inspire them to lash out.
I met an Obama-hater who was mad because the ACA didn’t pay for her surgery.
I asked, “Is it your opinion that the government should be paying for everyone’s surgery?”
She shut up and walked away.
(“This Army chow is rotten! It stinks! I wouldn’t serve it to dog! And the portions are so small!”)
I blame Bush for Obama. Two birds with one stone, and all that.
Did you see the video that Buzzfeed made when they visited Obama at the White House? This bit of it will doubly slay you!
