The Directed Mob

I do not have cable or satellite television; haven't since mid-2001, once the analog stations went digital I was ready to live without them.  I read news online from a variety of sources.  I prefer the variety of Real People discussing the news rather than a Talking Head reading me bits and pieces, so I frequently - OK, always - scroll the comment boards when available.  So, I confess, I'm fascinated by the fact that for every one story about Clinton there are eight to ten articles about Trump. The media corporations that were once the Fourth Estate are captivated by his Game Show; enthralled by the outrageous, enchanted by the hits, and eager to pretend they don't understand how they created this ... mess ... and now have no idea what to do with it, though that doesn't stop them from analyzing the phenomenon and whispering amongst themselves, "Oh Lordy, Miss Scarlet, what's to become of us?!"

Tonight I watched one article by the Washington Post achieve approximately 200 posts in 10 minutes.  The pace has not slowed down and it's been over three hours now.  The Washington Post must be so gratified, until or unless they read the comments.  It's one of those can't look away/ don't really want to see it type of things.




Go, observe any article [if you can find one] that attempts to consider the candidate Clinton, or present the text of a speech, or report on activity, or correct a rumor, or re-iterate a fact. Watch - or pour a mug of your preferred beverage and scroll through the wasteland that remains - as within an hour, if not minutes, of the article being posted the comment board erupts with Trump propaganda fast and furious, 24/7, guaranteed or your money back.  Mr. Trump doesn't need offices or campaign volunteers, he has legions on the internet!  How cunning is that?

I will not call them trolls because I do not believe that's what they are. I think it is entirely possible they are led by a software program that searches for keywords, sends out an alert via e-mail or private message, and obediently, the Directed Mob goes forth. Whatever they are, however they are dispatched, the Directed Mob floods the board with contempt for the Candidate, the author of the article, readers of the news, basically all things not Trump. The undecided voter, third party hopefuls, and the Clinton supporter is soon washed away.

Late night, they created posts with one or two words followed by excessive spaces; scrolls of links to InfoWars and Breitbart "news" so the earlier comments below them are literally high jacked. But if it's Prime Time, it is post after post after post, most of it having absolutely nothing to do with the article.

Make no mistake, there can be no genuine dialog with talking points and no genuine consideration with "facts" spewed relentlessly and repeatedly.  You cannot even finish reading a comment before the repeated phrases from four or five other names, often complete with misspellings, appear.  If you foolishly mention fact-checking via several debunking sites let me just warn you that suggesting they sacrifice their first born on an altar of concrete blocks in the backyard is probably received with a more open mind. The Directed Mob believes fact-checking sources are *all* corrupt, therefore lies.

You, dear foolish one, have just set yourself up to be smacked down by at least three members of the Directed Mob for drinking the wrong kool-aid.  If you refuse to take your fact checking from InfoWars and/or Breitbart, you are ill-informed, ignorant, possibly programmed by elitist cults, or worse, the product of incestuous breeding program gone hideously wrong. Save your stroke potential test for something that really matters, like the summer electric bill, or a child chasing a ball in to the street, or your neighbor falling off the ladder while cleaning his gutters.

They are not trying to persuade you to their viewpoint, they are determining if you are one of the Directed, if not, you are judged and dismissed as quickly as possible as there are so few hours and so many posts to make.  Therefore, if no one engages them individually, or responds to their baiting when they reply to your post, they move on to the next talking point, going down the list they have received, posting it over and over until they spot the next post that looks suspiciously un-Directed to them or a fresh fool comes along that missed the first 395 posts of the same rhetoric.

Directed Mobs are there to disrupt.  What they accomplish is to silence differing opinions, viewpoints, and ideas by burying them in an avalanche of propaganda. Directed Mobs agitate each other with no intention of reaching another human being, connecting and discussing the article, thoughts, possibilities, new ideas.  Their goal seems to be to literally smother any and all possibility of positive Clinton communication between their fellow citizens by using an enormous volume of repetitious statements. People that believe common courtesy is of value, even on the internet, simply move on.  So, the voice of the Directed Mob rules, or perhaps they consider silencing others as winning, certainly Mr. Trump believes a different opinion than his is intolerable, unacceptable.

I've seen Clinton supporters try to engage, to dialog with the Directed Mob as individuals.  It always goes badly.  Either it devolves to a slanging match of personal insults, or ... no that's pretty much how it always ends up.  An individual is consumed by a mob, it is why we do not allow mob rule in this country, go figure.  In fact, we don't even allow it in our election process.  There is the popular vote and the electoral vote, common sense and civil behavior must prevail against the mob.  We all learn that in kindergarten, or we used to.

The implication of the Directed Mob as the majority is fed by the volume of posts and how quickly they silence differing opinions.  I think, this comforts and motivates them to keep on behaving like children on the playground, bullying others outside their clique until they feel Strong, Great, and Safe.

Most of us see the Directed Mob arrive and move on, quietly to read the other side of the issue, or water the ivy, or ::gasp:: perhaps to enjoy live conversation in the real world.  We don't believe a comment board is going to make or break our life, or truly influence how we vote.  The article gave us thoughts to ponder, ideas to consider, sometimes even a laugh.  That's what we showed up for in the first place, the conversation on the board is just a bonus.  A bonus I miss, quite frankly, but I'll get over it.

I've heard the Spokes Contestants for Mr. Trump say there are Secret Voters out there.  I rather suspect they're voting for Clinton and just don't need to brow beat anyone from a Directed Source that programs their words or alerts them to the so-called danger of a thought not in agreement with the Director's.

Despite my fascination, I fear that in self-defense and realization that they cannot enforce their commenting policies, the corporations called media will end up shutting down their comment boards, or like NPR, move them to facebook where I will not follow. Personally, I will miss reading the give and take of earnest dialog that allowed for more than 140 characters.  Yes it sometimes stepped over the line, but mostly, remained merely passionate.  When things went too far, reporting the issue was generally sufficient. I know it wasn't that long ago but it feels like another lifetime, common courtesy and civility when discussing the issues of the day

These Directed Mobs aren't exactly eliminating freedom of speech, but they sure are squishing it considerably.