That’s just basic engagement strategy. Speculation and “the other tribe did it, those assholes!” Go hand in hand and will boost engagement on the site which is going to make _somebody_ money they otherwise wouldn’t have made…
Yeah, was glad to see some Reddit posts that when folks like Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh tried to say "This is why the crazy left is OK with CEOs being shot" that they were bombarded with comments saying "It's not just the left".
On that point, Zeynep Tufekci once again shows to me how she has the most insightful analysis (I became a big fan of her during Covid, I thought she had the most measured takes). I totally agreed with what she wrote in https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/opinion/united-health-car...
It's pretty obvious that's bullshit. I was pretty shocked at how broad-based the lack of sympathy for the CEO was.
Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh got destroyed in their comments when they tried to make this into a "look how evil the left is" issue, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bimRF1K3Bzw , and note his YouTube comments are usually very supportive. The contrast in the audience reaction to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agu2gRzUSDY , his commentary on the Daniel Penny case, is stark.
Yes, my point is that right-wing talking heads are trying to make this into a "right vs left" issue, and they are getting destroyed for that characterization by their right-wing fan base. When you say "I can't determine who is downvoting/commenting on the video", that's specifically why I added the Walsh's video of the Daniel Perry case. Or heck, look at any of his videos, which normally always upvote his main ideas and tilt heavily right. If you think it's just a left-wing brigade flooding his comments, why don't you think they'd do the same on any of his Daniel Perry videos?
It could easily be a brigade by the left-wingers, because he is explicitly blaming them.
Daniel Perry video doesn't blame anyone. And most people, even on the left (though definitely not everyone), seem to have a normal reaction to the outcome.
I am surprised that more people don't know this type of brigading to influence public opinion. Left-wing brigades are orchestrated on private Discord servers. Smaller right-wing brigades are orchestrated on private Telegram channels.
The left-wing brigaders pretending to be right-wing CEO-killing-supporters could have gotten away with it if they had limited themselves to populist MAGA spheres.
However the Ben Shapiro fanbase are boring middle of the road pro-capitalist/neocons who would never support killing CEOs. Pretending to be his fanbase was their fatal mistake.
looks like he followed/retweeted rogan, trevor noah, ezra klein, elon, AOC, rfk jr, peter thiel, bernie on twitter. very concerned with falling birthrates, anti-capitalist but pro musk, supports AI, dislikes overwatch but is a pokemon enjoyer. eats mcdonalds but is super ripped, gave positive reviews to ted kaczynski's manifesto as well as jd vance's hillbilly elegy
Lotta folks like that online, STRONG feelings but it’s not at all clear if their opinions are thought through… lots of sentiment and mismatched identities.
The problem with tribal (political) identities is that to hold independent and opposing tribal ideologies (ie pro-choice but also pro-gun) is isolating from all groups. Thus, many people end up choosing to belong at the expense of the inconsistencies in the respective group they have decided to be a part of.
I'd say that to hold anti-capitalist ideals while liking Musk is reconciled through varying lenses. Musk can be idolized for his impact on the environment and moving various initiatives forward such as self-driving. One could argue that Musk is capitalist, but it could also be argued that Musk would drive these "good" initiatives even in a non-capitalist structure, thus the respect.
I'm not supporting musk, but merely illustrating how a certain level of rationalization can take place, counter to your insinuation that "opinions may not be thought through." It's the same thinking that also gives way when understanding the psyche behind various voters in this recent election.
