Comparing #walkaway astroturf to #demexit
Here's a short primer on how to tell the difference between the right-wing #walkaway astroturf and the real #demexit.
Notice the regions.
How many actual liberal Democrats do you think are "walking away" in Alaska and Wyoming?
Now compare that to disgusted Democrats in Iowa and Oregon.
Which is more believable?
Now check out this article in today's right-wing Daily Signal, titled Democrats Are Leaving Their Party in Droves. Conservatives Should Pay Attention.
Today, many former leftists are taking their first steps on their own road to Damascus, and the right is not doing nearly enough to capitalize on this unprecedented mass exit from the left.
...
Make no mistake, the left has been greatly rattled by all this. The left’s treatment of the #WalkAway Campaign mirrors the way it reacted to the Tea Party movement. First, it ignored it, hoping it would go away. Then it moved on to minimizing and attempting ridicule, which it has done with #WalkAway. Steven Colbert and others claimed that the #WalkAway Campaign is just run by Russian bots.Having seen that fail, the next step was to try to co-opt it with its own movement.
The first clue is that he refers to "the Left", not to the Democratic Party.
Implying in no uncertain terms that people are switching their core values.
Does anyone think that is likely?
But the big giveaway is right there on the left side of the column.
"Tea Party's Walk Away Project"
Talk about lack of subtlety.
To be fair, the Tea Party was astroturf'd too, so maybe he doesn't know the difference.
Finally, there is the well-traveled road and that the so-called founder has walked, and his familiar background.
Three months ago, Brandon Straka was a New York City hairstylist and aspiring actor with a small social media following. Now, he's a frequent Fox News contributor with nearly 70,000 Twitter followers, whose posts have been shared by Donald Trump Jr. and Sarah Palin.
...
Those on the right are eager to hear stories — true or not — about a shrinking left, and Straka is delivering. By aggressively promoting his contrarian opinions on social media, he has followed a now well-worn path to conservative media stardom that’s been traveled by Tomi Lahren, Candace Owens, Milo Yiannopoulos and Chadwick Moore. InfoWars’ Alex Jones even donated $10,000 to Straka’s GoFundMe page for “#WalkAway Campaign Startup Costs." As of this week, the campaign has raised more than $67,000.
Compare his story to all those #demexit aspiring actors that became conservative media stars.
Oh wait. There are none.
Since #walkaway doesn't reflect a real movement, what is it's purpose?
A hashtag claiming to capture a movement among liberals has gone viral, in this case, almost exclusively on the right-wing Internet, as a reinforcement of one of its binding ideas.There’s little actual evidence to suggest that #WalkAway represents a mass conversion of millions — or even thousands — of Democrats to the Trump Train since Straka’s video. Instead, the #WalkAway hashtag is going Conservative Internet viral on the same hope driving recent pro-Trump support of Kanye West: that the country is on the verge of a mass conversion to conservative thought, a Great Awakening of sorts. And the thing about anticipating an awakening is that it never actually has to happen for the idea of it to go viral.
Comments
DNC had this one coming
There are a Lot
that have left the
party. Or more accurate, maybe, the party left them.
But #WalkAway suggests Leftys are leaving The Left and moving to The Right.
Which of course is horse$h!t.
This indeed is an Astroturf construct designed, I guess, to move Centrists rightward.
'cuz Leftys sure aren't moving.
"Follow your Lefty brethren to The Right!" "It's the new hip place to be!"
And it may succeed in moving some centrists to The Right.
but, hell, if anything I've moved ever so slightly Leftward in my old age...
from my usual -2 / -2 ...
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Here's mine
I've moved up and to the right with age.
We probably need to remap the political compass.
It would be so helpful if you saved your charts
...and infographics to a wider width, for which there is ample room. I presume you are using a monitor with relatively low resolution, so the text on the charts can actually be read. Much of the time I'm on a laptop, which squeezes those charts into an even finer resolution. I wonder if others struggle with your narrow graphics.
I mention it here because this is one graph I really want to study. I am very curious about the trends I think I am seeing and if they are reflected there.
C99P only allows 500 width
I've tried making it larger, but the changes won't take.
That can't be right.
Cory Doctorow?
This book was recommended to me by a friend the other day. Is this where they stole the tag from?
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
I'm not sure how viable
a society that exists by re-purposing the detritus of a defunct industrial society would be. 3D printers require virgin feed-stocks which can only be supplied by the largest and most complex oil refineries. The highly technical computers which are required to program and run these printers would soon be rendered useless w/o a source of replacement parts.
Too many people think today's high tech goods comes from a store shelf or Amazon warehouse. They don't realize the massive amount of capital and expertise required to make the simplest of manufactured goods.
What will the denizens of Doctorow's Walkaway society use for a simple item like toilet paper once they have stripped the wallpaper from the abandoned buildings in the defunct cities they are scavenging?
Does Doctorow even know the tremendous amount of technology that goes into producing a basic item like TP? I think not.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lDhrN5eN1M]
Of course you can make it by hand.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRlBtabKRFM&feature=youtu.be]
TP is very modern
What did people do before? There is an (amusing) answer I saw in Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children where his mother is appalled that the British use TP instead of old rags and water.
I haven’t read the book, though, and I do appreciate the length of modern supply chains. The interesting question is: How much can we shorten them?
But returning to my original question, where did the term come from? The book was published in April 2017, which makes the timing seem right.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
The people described in the book are
philosophically and ideologically polar opposites to the people who publish comments in #walkaway.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaA6FXGP9Cc]
Give me your definition of the "left".
ie core values, belief system
I want to see if I have "walked away".
Dems still win!
Because the Democrats will pick up two Republicans for every Democrat they lose! So they’ll double their membership!
Right?
/s
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
OT: Lula increases his lead in the polls
awkward
#walkaway is NOT astroturf
You need to look deeper.
Can you be more specific?
What organization originated it?
The fact that the right is enabling and encouraging it doesn't mean they started it.
Everything I've seen tells me this is grassroots. What it is doing is allowing people to give voice to their true feelings they've kept hidden from their friends and acquaintances for years.
Personally, I Demexited well before the election when my SO bought me Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope". That's when I said to her that Obama is not what you think he is. We had a huge argument. She now agrees that I was correct. There was a number of things that disturbed me - upgrading the military for "over the horizon force projection", support for the World Bank and the WTO plus a dozen other things that got my antennae tingling.
Many others caught on very quickly - especially John Pilger whom I respect greatly.
#walkaway is a reflection of that. How long did it take you to #walkaway from the Dims? I spent fucking years at DKos trying to reason with the fuckwits there to no avail. But, I can say that history has proven me right - just as it has with many others here in C99.
Will this #walkaway grow or fizzle out, I have no idea. But it is interesting as it gives voice to many (like us here) who are fucking pissed off at what the Democratic party has done. They have fatally poisoned the "left" in America - turned it into a stinking pile of shiite. Look no further than Pocahontas' recent remarks. BTW, that one stupid remark will cost the left a good 2%+ of their support. NONE of my left-leaning acquaintances want fucking open borders to give social benefits to the world at large when people who have been here for generations are struggling.
Nobody I know has
"walked away."
And I know a few in my district, elsewhere.
Suspected astroturf from the first post I read on FB.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
C99 has #walkaway
from the party?
Sure. no doubt.
But that's #DemExit.
And I would in a New York minute, except I like voting in Primaries.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Not only from the party
Also from that side of the aisle.
Depends on what you mean
I'm firmly on the left. More so now.
Does your "left"
include anti free speech ANTIFA, the spoiled brat navel gazing SJW's, the rampant reverse racists, the open border fanatics, the supporters of military interventions/conquests in foreign nations, Russia, Russia, Russia, Putin, Russia Russia-gate fuckwits, DKos posters?
What the fuck happened to the traditional left liberals in the last decade?
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vVXlLgifxQ]
Most of that stuff isn't "left"
Most of it is just "Democrats".
By your definition
any true "left" in the US now only exists in people's imaginations.
imagination = ideals
"The Left" has a broad spectrum of values and ideology.
That it isn't represented in Washington (except by a couple individuals) is not news.
Hell, Schumer wanted moderate Republicans more than liberals.
The Dems no more represent left-wing ideology than the GOP represents integrity.
What politcal party
serves this "left" you speak of? The Unicorn party?
I've been reading/watching
dozens and dozens and dozens of videos and testimonials on the FB #WalkAway group and there is no way that this is an astroturf movement. They are vibrant and authentic and real and heartfelt, and further to the point, the number of comments and number of likes is orders of magnitudes greater than anything I have seen in 10+ years on FB.
The #WalkAway movement is exploding.
And they are all Walking Away from the Dem Party/Liberalism TO TRUMP and the Conservative populist movement and anyone who doubts this is in denial, I believe. This movement also reflects the numerous Democrats I know who secretly told me that they were voting for Trump but were afraid to tell any of their friends or family for fear of being judged harshly, which is no surprise given how judgmental and authoritarian liberals have become these days. And this, btw, is why any metrics you are citing are not reliable, because many dems who are walking away and supporting Trump/conservatives are too afraid to tell anyone.
Hmmmmmm
I don't believe it
And I'm not going to believe it.
The polls don't show it.
Yes, people hate the Dems, but there is no new love for the GOP.
Yes, and those same polls...
Yes, and those same polls accurately predicted the 2016 Pesidential Election.
Sorry, polls are no longer a reliable source of information.
You need to spend several weeks reading and watching video after video after video ... reading and listen to their personal stories... reading the comments, etc.
If you did this like I have, you would not be making the claims you are making.
It is clear that Hillary/DNC rigged the primary and stole the nomination from Bernie, the evidence of this is overwhelming.
Trump admin will not let he DNC rig the 2018 mid-terms, now that they control the executive branch.
What!?!?!?!
That's insane.
No offense, but you have a very wrong idea of what Trump is about.
The Dems are corrupt, but Trump puts even the DNC to shame in levels of corruption.
Trump has little to no control
of the Republican party. Not even the Executive branch. He is President in name only - just a goofy figurehead.
And no offense...
And no offense, but I think you have a very wrong idea of what Trump is about... and if the Q drops connecting the dots prove correct, then my idea of Trump will trump yours. History will be the judge.
Or as Q says...
FUTURE PROVES PAST
The #walkaway people are not necessarily
walking TOWARDS the GOP. Most that I've watched have become Independents.
THAT I agree with
but that's not what I've seen portrayed on Fox and their binary worldview. Which also happens to be where the #walkaway founder spends his time.
yes, Dems becoming independents is reflected in the polls
The only sane person on Fox
is Tucker Carlson.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8xEw2gjEVk]
ditto gjohnsit. There are
Tons moving to
various Indie parties, including the Independent party.
That some are "walking away" from The Left to run to dRump,
well... not really Leftys to begin with.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Agree. #WalkAway is b.s.
If there are some
"walking away" from The Left to dRump
they never were on The Left.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
But many more were
don't buy it.
The question is
what caused this?
Some incident or another caused the big spike.
but, why did it wane so quickly?
Could be wrong, but it looks and smells like astroturf.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
This caused the spike
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51UGcghHZsk]
We will have to wait to see how and if it continues. I know that it struck a very sore spot among the electorate who are fucking fed up with the way the Dims and the fuckwits who support them (commonly known as the "left") are behaving. BTW, it takes a lot of guts to stand up like this to speak your mind.
All the people I know dislike Trump, but they hate Hillary for what she did. She should have gone quietly into the night and let the Dims begin to recover instead of fomenting all the shit that is now going down.
Amazing Polly responds to your concerns:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE7NCBeZy_I]
Is all RW horse$h!t.
This is a KochBros construct.
Another awesome move by The Right
to divide The Left. To hopefully stop the Blue Wave
and salvage what they can of the Nov. election.
Another RW job well done!
I doubt many on this site has ANY faith in Fancy Nancy or Chucky Schumer or the usual suspects or the Dimocratic party as a functioning entity of The Left. Most here are done with the party. I just don't see many of us abandoning The Left to move to Trump or The Right.
That is not happening.
And I suspect it ain't happening anywhere else either.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
There is no "left" worth shit in America
It has been poisoned and fractured by the Democrats. All that is remaining are a bunch of lost souls wandering in the wilderness.
R/D is horse shit
You, and many others here are still buying into the old R vs D and Right vs Left. Old habits die hard, I know, but every time I see "RW" or "RWNJ" or "Koch brothers" being blamed for all that is bad, I want to barf. Hell, when I read about how this or that D politician is great, I want to barf. Either NPR is "RW" or the Kochs are Dems OR there is no difference.
Since this is not dkos, and we are not forbidden from saying that there is no difference between the two parties, why do so many still believe what Little CIA Napoleon force fed us over there?
There actually are Dems who flipped to R. There are also people, like myself, who have never been either one, and never will be. Some people apparently need someone or some group to blame, lash out at and call enemy. This essay is an example of that. "We" said #demexit and those evil Rs are trying to take credi for it and the Rs are liars because no Ds switched teams. So pety and stupid, but it certainly energizes the ones who buy into the horse shit!
True, it could be
a construct of the DNC,
some Clintonian entity.
Regardless, it's astroturf.
And, while there may not be a dime's worth of difference for some,
riddle me this... what is to be gained by those leaving the Ds for the Rs, the Left for the Right, Hillary for dRump??
okay, maybe Hillary for dRump is not the best example.
Are they jumping on the America First! MAGA bandwagon?
Hell, maybe they are! Maybe they've looked at what the Libruls have accomplished over the last 25 years, since Bubba, and said to themselves "they haven't accomplished d!ck !! Time to bail to somebody that's getting $h!t done!!"
Could be.
I suspect though that it's more Millennials jumping than the older crowd.
Maybe I live in a bubble but the Millennials I bump into here in NY-21 choose to work to rebuild.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
My 2 millennial kids haven't jumped anywhere
Neither has ever been D nor R. Both are informed, though neither voted in '16. The one who's wayyy left refused to vote after Bernie was ripped off, and the one who's closer to Libertarian was 1 month shy of being able to vote.
I will say that the, now, almost 20 yr old has spoken of his disdain for antifa on his UT Austin campus, saying they're all racist (aka "reverse" racism for some reason when it's against white people) and man haters.
I'm pretty sure I've had a bigger impact on him than his 24 yr old sister even though I definitely influenced her about Killary by sending my avid reader links about her and her criminal behavior. She was scared shitless when she sent me links about the Russians and bunkers and drills prior to 2016 GE.
Why do you, or does anyone else for that matter, give a shit whether people have changed from D to R when elections are as fake as the lying, criminal assholes running in them -- especially if they have an R or D affiliation? And when the only difference between the two is the party initial? Now there's a real "what difference does it make?"
I don't. Couldn't care
less. It's not about D vs.
R or Left vs. Right.
It's about asshats like the one in the video gaslighting our asses.
It's about the KochBros (Oligarchy) again pumping something something to fuck The Left.
And while The Left no longer exists in some eyes...
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
The only gaslighting
is that which is going on in your head.
WTF is this shiite about KochBros? Watch a few dozen #walkaway and you will realize this isn't Koch astroturf bullshit. Most of the crap now going down in America is originating from the fucking asshats on the left - from Killary, DWS on down. It's all because those on the "left" refuse to admit they were running a piece of shit for president in 2016. The people on #walkaway can smell it and they are moving away - just like must of us here in C99 have done.
We've all walked away
from Hillary. That happened
Long before Philly 2016 for most of us.
And not the same as "walking away" from The Left.
What's left of it.
Many have "walked away" from the Dim party, indeed, but most have gone Green or gone Indy.
They haven't "run to dRump" as this asshat in the video suggests.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Well, if they aren't really walking away
It'll make it easier to justify why the polls and exit interviews don't tally with election results. I ain't talking about Russia.
Hmmm...leave, exit, walk away...to where..?
It seems to me the better approach would be to also suggest a positive direction.
For example: #walkthisaway --> DSA
bing! Exactly.
They may be walking away
from the party, but it doesn't make sense that anyone is jumping to dRump or The Right.
From my perspective DSA and most post-Primary Convention "parties" (or groups) are of one Bernie concoction or another, all of which seem to compete for superior Purity status. But, yeah, most of those are better than the current party makeup, so WalkAways should be walking to one of those instead of bailing to dRump! Which makes me think it's yet another KochBros contrivance.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.