Quote:Russia and Iran are targeting the Make America Great Again movement and trying to “destabilize the right from within,” according to a new report.

Both rogue states are using tens of thousands of social media bots to amplify untrue voices and opinions “masquerading as MAGA loyalists,” to cause chaos and confusion and question US leadership, The Post has learned.

The bots are automated software applications that mimic human activity on social media.
They are used to amplify real-life influencers who post untrue “false flag” narratives designed to discredit President Donald Trump and his conservative stalwarts, according to a bombshell new report from the Network Contagion Research Institute, a politically neutral nonprofit who study extremism on the web

Quote:“If you talk to Republicans right now, more than 80 percent of them support the war against Iran. But if you go on Twitter you get the sense that there is a civil war raging.

“This is exactly the purpose of the psychological operation — to destabilize people’s perceptions of institutions that are supposed to protect us,” said an NCRI analyst.

The bots make it look like extreme posters have tons more support than they actually have, which helps to persuade other real life viewers that what they are posting is legitimate.

The bots use innocuous, average names and have profiles which make them appear as average Americans.

NCRI says after domestic attacks, including the Uvalde school shooting, Matthew Crooks assassination attempt on Donald Trump and the murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC in May it has noticed an alarming trend of a “false flag reflex”.

“Within minutes of initial reports [the events are recast] as evidence of hidden conspiratorial plots, obscuring the true motives and perpetrators.

“In the days following these crises, Kremlin-affiliated propagandists and Iranian state-linked media are able to rapidly inject narratives that are taken up by MAGA-impostor influencers, who then inject them into MAGA-branded spaces,” the report notes.

(06-20-2025, 03:39 PM)SomeStupidName Wrote: I agree, it seems like a big push or maybe just someones last ditch effort to derail the direction of how this world turns in these days of our lives. I hope it fails, but I guess that's up to what the people will buy.

Quote:Eroding trust in society means a gradual decline in the confidence and belief that people have in institutions, leaders, and each other. It's a breakdown of the social fabric where faith in shared values, reliable information, and the integrity of those in positions of power diminishes. This erosion can impact various aspects of life, from political stability to economic well-being and personal relationships. 



Here's a more detailed explanation:

• Decline in Confidence:
  Eroding trust signifies a decrease in the belief that institutions (like governments, media, or corporations) will act ethically, transparently, and in the best interests of the public. 
  
  
  

[*]Weakening of Social Bonds:
It's not just about individual disappointments, but a broader societal issue where the shared understanding and expectation of good faith behavior erodes. 



[*]Systemic Issue:
Eroding trust is not a sudden event, but a gradual process where cracks appear in the foundation of social interactions, leading to a decline in cooperation and increased skepticism. 



[*]Impact on Sustainability:
In the context of sustainability, trust erosion can undermine efforts to address environmental and social issues because people become less likely to support or believe in initiatives promoted by those they distrust. 



[*]Examples:
Scandals involving public officials, misleading advertising, the spread of misinformation online, and lack of accountability from corporations can all contribute to eroding trust. 



[*]Consequences:
Reduced trust can lead to social fragmentation, political instability, economic downturns, and a decline in overall well-being. 

(06-21-2025, 08:56 AM)SomeStupidName Wrote: I feel the erosion of trust was more of the main focus over the last few decades and the whole thing feels liked a poorly scripted soap opera. It will be a miracle we don't end up in another civil war, that is of course if we can put WWIII back into the box. I don't think the powers that be realized how far gone Russia's ability to make war was and certainly didn't calculate Irans complete collapse. I think the bigger problem now is we would be almost stupid if we didn't strike while the iron was hot and our enemies appear incompetent.  This mostly leaves us with China to deal with economically I know they are feeling the impact but they probably have fully functional and advanced equipment. We'll see how this plays out I guess.

(06-21-2025, 11:12 AM)gortex Wrote: So MAGA members are now happy to ignore their "no foreign wars" mantra and be led by Israel on their personal Crusade in the middle East like Britain was led by the nose by Bush in his personal Iraqi Crusade ?

Iran has strategic military alliances with Russia and China , in March this year Iran, Russia, and China held joint naval exercises called the “Maritime Security Belt 2025” , an American attack on Iran will have wider consequences than Bush's attack on Iraq.

This is a dangerous moment , be careful what you support.

Quote:Some American voices claim “America First” means standing by while a radical Islamist terror regime openly chants “Death to America” and builds a nuclear bomb.

Let’s be very clear: this is not a slogan for Iran’s leadership. It is a governing doctrine. It has been since 1979.

This regime has spent four decades building, funding, and arming terror proxies across the Middle East and Europe. It has killed over 1,000 American service members and wounded nearly 6,000 more.

This is not theory. This is not distant history. This is some of what they’ve done:
• 1983, Beirut: A Hezbollah truck bomb destroyed a U.S. Marine barracks, killing 241 Americans, 220 Marines, 18 sailors, 3 soldiers.
• 1996, Saudi Arabia: The Khobar Towers bombing, led by Iran-backed Hezbollah al-Hejaz, killed 19 U.S. airmen and injured 498. • 2003–2011, Iraq: Iran’s Quds Force supplied explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) that killed 603 American troops , 17 percent of all U.S. deaths in Iraq, per the Pentagon.
• Afghanistan: Iran supported Taliban attacks that led to an estimated 100–200 U.S. deaths, with hundreds more wounded. • 2024, Jordan: An Iranian proxy drone strike on Tower 22 killed 3 U.S. soldiers and injured 47. And since mid-2023, Iran-backed militias have launched over 180 attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan with drone swarms, rocket barrages, and missile fire. They’ve also plotted to assassinate Trump, a sitting U.S. president on American soil. And now, they are enriching uranium to 80 percent purity, a level with only one purpose. You don’t need weapons-grade enrichment for energy or medicine. Yet still, some say: “Well, I’m America First guy . I just don’t want another war.” That is not America First. That is naïve. That is passive. And that is how bigger wars begin. Letting a regime with a four-decade kill count and an active nuclear program go unchecked is not restraint. You are not ‘AMERICA FIRST’, You’re just America with a strong opinion and zero follow-through.

(06-21-2025, 11:12 AM)gortex Wrote: So MAGA members are now happy to ignore their "no foreign wars" mantra and be led by Israel on their personal Crusade in the middle East like Britain was led by the nose by Bush in his personal Iraqi Crusade ?

Iran has strategic military alliances with Russia and China , in March this year Iran, Russia, and China held joint naval exercises called the “Maritime Security Belt 2025” , an American attack on Iran will have wider consequences than Bush's attack on Iraq.

This is a dangerous moment , be careful what you support.

(06-21-2025, 12:18 PM)FCD Wrote: Sure, it's called "propaganda", the intentional manipulation of minds to make people believe something which is counter to their culture, upbringing and instincts.  Propaganda has been around, in officially recognized and organized form, since the 1920's.  It has been around a lot longer than that but people didn't really understand it as a formal process back then.  It was just some 'Dr. Evil' figure conjuring up some wicked plan from inside his lair in a volcano.  It wasn't until Edward Bernays started categorizing and documenting it in the late 1920's that it became an actual goal with a repeatable process behind it.

There are numerous forms of propaganda.  That is to say, there are numerous ways to achieve the end-goal of whatever the person, government or organization wants to achieve by making people think differently.  Sometimes propaganda can be very subtle, and other times it can be 'in your face'.  There are numerous famous examples, but probably the most recognizable one is smoking and the tobacco industry.  Although smoking had been done for thousands of years prior to the tobacco industry getting involved, but it was the tobacco industry who made it mainstream. 

As a former smoker myself, I am not one of those "former smoker nazi's" you see so often, so I have a somewhat ambivalent view of smoking in general.  That said, even some light reading into how the tobacco industry followed Bernays' principles, almost down to the letter, and the absolutely stunning results from those efforts is a real eye opener.  I smoked because I liked it, and when I quit I missed it, and still do sometimes.  Not because of the addiction (although that was there too, but that's not why I started smoking).  After some careful introspection one day, I realized one of the reasons I liked smoking was because I fell for some of the mind games played out on the populace by the tobacco industry and marketing firms.  I digress a little bit, but if you step back from it and look, there are numerous similarities between smoking and communism in terms of propaganda and how it is used on people.  I just use smoking as a good example and illustration of how propaganda works.

I highly recommend everyone read the book, "Propaganda", by Edward Bernays published in 1928.  You won't believe how overt it is and yet you never even thought about all the ways your own thinking has been manipulated by propaganda over your lifetime.  It's a real shocker!  It's not a collection of case studies, but rather a step by step process with the reasoning behind each element and step.  "Crystalizing Public Opinion", published 5 years earlier in 1923, also by Bernays, is an excellent read also.  I recommend reading 'Propaganda' first and then reading 'Crystalizing Public Opinion' afterwards.  The latter will make much more sense if read in that order.  'Crystalizing Public Opinion' is akin to the "What?" and the "Why?".  'Propaganda' equates to the "How? Where? and When?" elements.

(06-21-2025, 01:51 PM)gortex Wrote: Seems we are two sides of a coin mate , I support our defence of Ukraine as a Russian victory has grave consequences for us all , Peter the Great 2.0 , Putin , won't stop at Ukraine indeed he is already massing forces at the border with Finland.

Israel's war is a war of religious ideology in my opinion as specified by the codename Rising Lion , there are also dangerous players in Russia and China to take into account who are allied to Iran just waiting to use an American attack on Iran to their own advantage , if America launches an unprovoked attack Iran why shouldn't China take Taiwan , they're ready to go ... this conflict could ignite WWIII proper.

Dangerous times my friend.

(06-21-2025, 01:51 PM)gortex Wrote: Seems we are two sides of a coin mate , I support our defence of Ukraine as a Russian victory has grave consequences for us all , Peter the Great 2.0 , Putin , won't stop at Ukraine indeed he is already massing forces at the border with Finland.

Israel's war is a war of religious ideology in my opinion as specified by the codename Rising Lion , there are also dangerous players in Russia and China to take into account who are allied to Iran just waiting to use an American attack on Iran to their own advantage , if America launches an unprovoked attack Iran why shouldn't China take Taiwan , they're ready to go ... this conflict could ignite WWIII proper.

Dangerous times my friend.

(06-22-2025, 04:37 AM)EndtheMadnessNow Wrote: Edward Bernays and Group Psychology: Manipulating the Masses




"The public no longer knows what's meant by the truth. I mean no one can tell the difference anymore between what's real and what's fake."
- Dr. They

A message that Chris Carter wanted to give us before ending the tv show to keep the 'game' going.?




"Propaganda is the executive arm of the invisible government."
— Edward Bernays

"Saving democracy" was a phrase invented by Edward Bernays to promote the Anglo-American empire.

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of."
— Edward Bernays, Father and Philosopher of Public Relations aka Propaganda.

(06-22-2025, 09:48 AM)F2d5thCav Wrote: Disinformation in the air

Putin says it isn't fair

Oh, now where to steer ?

All eyes turn to Sir Keir.