Fake News Fake Groups

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"Late last October, Squamish Mayor Karen Elliott opened her Facebook feed to an ad calling her corrupt and incompetent. Since March 2021, Elliott and most of the town council had been hammered by dozens of similar ads posted by an anonymous, purportedly local Facebook page called Squamish Voices. Although it bills itself as a “community group,” the page lists neither its founders nor its followers." National Observer, Right Wing Operatives Identify as Local.

“They’re trying to direct our elections,” said Nalley. “Why are they sticking their noses in municipal elections? And the way they’re doing it, they’re hiding behind this front, and people are just liking them all over the place because of how well they’re doing their advertising, and people just don’t realize.”

“When you want to attack people, you just take what you want and you leave the truth out,” said Iafrate. “People need to be aware that there are those out there that are sophisticated enough to create a website to look like they’re a legitimate community group.”

But here’s the thing: in some respects, we’re already in the middle of a world war with Russia. It just happens to be playing out online rather than on the battlefield. And for the last few years, at least, Russia has been kicking our ass. Its ability to spread disinformation, sow doubt and destabilize democratic institutions helped elect Donald Trump, as the Mueller report proved conclusively, and it may also have contributed to the unexpected win by the “leave” side in the 2016 Brexit referendum. We're In A Disinformation War With Russia 

"The recent trucker convoy that occupied Ottawa for the better part of a month was aided and abetted by foreign forces, and that seems to have Russian fingerprints on it."

First of all we must honour integrity, compassion, democracy and human dignity.

Then we ask ourselves, privately and then in a supportive group: what is it we can do? What power do we have?

Just talking about what others do wrong does not create a functioning society. Who do we talk to? Who do we listen to? Where do we volunteer? Who do we care about? Who will we defend if they are attacked? How much do we learn about the issues that affect us?

If you have a full time job or a family -- how do you support and educate them?

How do you engage in conversation with them and value their ideas, their learning, their growth?

All of these things matter in a functioning democracy. The quality of life in all its activities is worth thinking about.