In the past week I’ve been absolutely roasted for criticising two different countries. Normally I’d be okay with that, I can handle a mild toasting and after all debate is a good thing.
On both occasions though I was flamed for mentioning human rights issues that are established facts and have been known for many, many years. I was critical of the actions/laws of their governments and not the people, their race, religion, general political ideology or nationality.
On both occasions I was bombarded by long posts that parroted propaganda, and in the case of one country I was told (on multiple occasions) that I was ignorant, racist and even fascist for mentioning the issues I did. I’m not complaining about how I was treated, but as a reminder, I was discussing internationally-recognised human rights concerns that can be verified and based in fact.
I could just be paranoid but I’m fairly convinced the responses weren’t from patriotic citizens. I think they were paid trolls or bots, and I think their purpose was to quiet negative talking points about the countries that were mentioned.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Possibly. Me personally, I’m not getting paid to post. Not yet. I’m working up to that. Eventually, I plan to print out pro-China comments I’ve made and fax them to the Chinese embassy in the hopes that they’ll hire me. For now, I’m just padding out my CV.
This whole conspiracy theory is so bonkers. Lemmy was created by communists. You look inside, you find communists, and then it’s all this “What!? People who disagree with me!? On the internet??? Impossible! They must be paid secret agents!!!”
If you want to avoid the existential horror of realizing that people exist with different views from you, different instances have different user experiences, and you’re free to choose one that doesn’t federate with communists.
It’s very well documented that Russia, China, Iran and others operate troll farms to influence people on the internet.
I remember in 2016 when all those pro Trump comments on reddit were being made by users only active during Russia working hours until it got pointed out.
Just those countries?
They’re the top three.
There are levels.
And your instance is on a particular one. More so than other ones.
Vagueposting
This is not about having different opinions, this about a solid group within Lemmy spouting oblivious propaganda
Where “propaganda” is defined as “having different opinions,” yes.
“Its not about X, it’s about X!”
You really can just say anything