Re: Trolls

**T4two** Mon 16 Jan - 12:44

[quote]

Loopdaloop: Conclusion (from the above link)
Some conspiracy theories create serious risks. They do not merely undermine
democratic debate; in extreme cases, they create or fuel violence. If government can
dispel such theories, it should do so. One problem is that its efforts might be
counterproductive, because efforts to rebut conspiracy theories also legitimate them. We
have suggested, however, that government can minimize this effect by rebutting more
rather than fewer theories, by enlisting independent groups to supply rebuttals, and by
cognitive infiltration designed to break up the crippled epistemology of conspiracyminded groups and informationally isolated social networks.

This was Alex Woolfall's specialist area that he used whilst at Bell Pottinger.

Thank you Loopdaloop. Extremely interesting. Being able to identify 'sensitive' subjects by the scale and speed of disruptive action is as HiDeHo says, a useful tool. I suppose that one of the best ways to combat the dissemination of uncomfortable truths on the internet is to refer to a conspiracy theory and those propagating 'the theory' as 'nutters' or even 'scum'. That is why it is important to deal with factual information and this is a great strength of this forum; the amount of research, recording and translation by members never fails to impress me.