a comment on recent GOP "trolls"

[© tweed]

thing is, I legitimately cannot tell if they are trolls or not.  CaDan probably is to an extent, but possibly may not be, then the Tidewater_Wave fellow and etc.  I hardly ever jump on board with left-liberal criticism of the right-media because I think it is designed (in a possibly unconscious sense, through social processes) to make the egregious offenses of left-liberal media (NYT, the Big 3 networks, etc) hidden as the 'other pole', when in fact they are products of exactly the same process: corporate sponsorship.

but we do have a phenomenon here, and if you make a point to consume right-media with any regularity (which I highly recommend for people of all ideological persuasions, but especially for those who consider themselves left-wing).. if you make a point to do this you'll see how seductive and widespread this "false-consciousness" is.  it would be one thing if it were just raving loonies, but they're actually not: Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, etc. are not idiots in a strict sense of the word.  they're not about to write or say anything meaningful, but they're smart enough to hold narratives together.  and that's just the thing: if the internal narrative is consistent, and if the discussion is allowed to largely take place in a vacuum, impermeable by fact, it can be packaged and sold and applied to a vast array of situations.


so, in short, a) I can't tell if they're 'for real' or not, neither would surprise me; and, b) a very Tweedist comment here, I believe the question of whether or not there is any difference between the two is dwindling in its meaning.

[Tidewater_Wave]

Troll around here seems to refer to anyone who someone disagrees with. Sure some ppl get things wrong but no one is perfect. What brings out the partisan in me is when people do the same on the other side.