|Since the Internet and Facebook, it has got a lot worse. And the data is coming
|from Russia that is dividing America.
+-[T=>MP]

It has gotten worse, but I am not convinced it is all coming from Russia.
I suspect there are other foreign bad actors, in addition to Russia, that
are assisting.

That said, I still believe we were more divided that people realize, even before facebook and "Russian collussion." Back in the 1990's, there was a presidential campaign where the person running for President didn't do much more than any one else running in the past, but his eventual First Lady, and
a loud-mouthed friend from Louisiana, were stirring up the poo any time
someone stuck a microphone in their faces. She, in particular, would
sometimes even contradict her husband when it came to their political goals.

It seems to me like, once this person was elected, congress started getting into the act. Something else that happened about that same time, I think,
was that the equal time laws got changed. That may have been thanks to
talk radio, which was really coming on then also, but TV and radio stations
no longer had to give equal time to both sides of spectrum.

The cable news networks eventually took sides and became unwatchable to those of us who remember what they used to be like. Local news broadcasts no longer had to label opinions as "opinion" before stating them. They didn't do
this because of Russians or social media, they did it to bring in eyes and
sell advertising.

Fast forward to 2016. When one side lost the election, they immediately pointed the finger at "Russian collusion" and Russian disinformation on
social media. Funny thing, though, if you pay attention, that same side
trots out "Russian collusion" whenever others speak out against them.

Tulsi Gabbard, who ran for the Democratic nomination in 2020, said some disparaging things about Hillary Clinton. It was no time at all before
Hillary herself was supposing in interviews that "the Russians" had influenced one of the primary candidates. Without naming names, she painted a picture that could only fit Gabbard.

Since then, on at least one other occasion, Gabbard has spoke up about
Clinton and the corruption of the Democrat party and, right after, here
came the "Russian collussion/influence" rumors again, this time naming her directly.

I don't doubt that Russia, and others, have used America's reliance on
social media to attempt to influence what goes on here, but I more so
believe that American politicians have used this possibility to continue
their own misinformation campaigns, that have been going on since before
social media became a thing. "Russian mininformation" has become a "boy
who cried wolf" phenomenon.

Just this past week, both the New York Times and New York Post reported
that the Hunter Biden laptop "conspiracy" which the White House called
"Russian misinformation" back a year or so ago may actually exist.

Something else I have noticed on other BBS networks. I am the moderator
of FIDO POLITICS, and have also noticed this on another network that has
since banned politicial discussion... there are often discussions that are pretty tame, between mostly Americans, until someone from outside the US
gets triggered and jumps in with rants laced with profanity and eventually
gets the discussion killed. Those folks usually seem to originate from
Central Europe, or Australia, but not always. My point here being that
some of the division being witnessed in BBSland does seem to originate from beyond US borders, but not Russia.

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