First an apology, I'm torn on posting political topics even in a place which is intended for people to discuss issues other than audio. On one hand it can rile people who have strong opinions on an issue. On the other, nothing will get resolved by not talking about them. This is especially true if we only read about and listen to like minded people reinforcing the sides of issues we are comfortable with.

So that said I'd like to present something I've been thinking about lately (behind the "show contents" button below which contains political speculation on my part). But before I do, there is a more general and non-politicial take away, I think everyone should be aware of ... and that is an understanding of a social media bot. From a page on Cloudfaire's website (it's an internet security company)

What is a social media bot

If you might get upset about speculation on Russian influence on social media please move on and not press the "show content button"

With Russia invading Ukraine and all the talk of mis-information and cyber warfare ... something clicked and it has been weighing on me. It's complete speculation on my part (a guess without real proof) on Russian influence on social media and why. Just a data point to think about.

A few months ago I read an article on Bots driving social media issue messages. Please ignore the subject that was being promoted (herd immunity) and Concentrate in on the Bot influence part. BTW: this article is from the Federation of American Scientists an organization which promotes science to/for global security.

social media conversations in support of herd immunity are driven by bots

At the time I thought the actors behind this were sophisticated promotors of the Barrington Declaration but now that I'm watching Russia invade Ukraine and adding that to other known disinformation on internal issues (traced to Russian actors) I'm starting to think Russia might have been behind it. What I'm thinking can be summed up as ...

What can you do to weaken your enemies response if you're planning something they won't like (like invading Ukraine). One way, of many, is keep these governments busy trying to hold them selves together by promoting discord from with-in. So, dividing already divided factions further and getting as many people riled up on either side to promote civil unrest, etc seems like a likely target. The topic doesn't matter as much as the unrest and destabilization. How to do this ... amplify the voices on as many hot topic issues, disseminate mis-information, and fabricate as many issues as you can (keep them busy disproving stuff). Especially support any side which will particularly cause self harm. Now, the sophistication behind these bots starts to make more sense when I reconsider the actor behind it.

It sounds kind of nutty to me even as I write this, like a story line out of a book. It's kind of scary that I'm even considering it might be true. If so, we are not the only ones who have been attacked this way.

P.S. Posting this here was partially driven by the Canadian Trucker Thread and thinking about how did we get so divided on so many issues. This I think may be part of the equation and that it's been going on for many more years than most would believe.