Slate "How Russian Trolls Used FB to Exploit the Bigotries of Trump's Base"

[NRaleighLiberal]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/11/how_russian_trolls_used_facebook_to_exploit_the_bigotries_of_trump_s_base.html

The “United Muslims of America” Are Coming for You


By Mark Joseph Stern

Here’s a simple question to gauge the prudence of your political beliefs: Could Russian trolls design a painfully amateur Facebook post that whips you into an ideological frenzy by affirming your views or attacking your opponents in the crudest, basest, most racist and asinine way possible?


For thousands of Donald Trump supporters, the answer is a resounding yes. On Wednesday, the House Intelligence Committee released a tiny fraction of the roughly 3,000 political ads put out by a single troll farm linked to the Russian government between 2015 and 2017. More than 11 million people saw at least one of them, according to the company. The ads fall into two categories: blunt affirmations of Trumpian bigotries and fake liberal posts meant to arouse conservative ire. These fake liberal posts often depict Hillary Clinton as untrustworthy and too friendly with disfavored minorities. What’s astonishing about these posts is how closely they mimic actual conservative propaganda on social media and how narrowly they target a specific slice of the American electorate. They demonstrate that, as early as 2015, the Russian government had not only identified the burgeoning Trump base; it had learned how to exploit its paranoias and prejudices with near-surgical precision.


Take, for instance, the troll farm’s fixation on Muslims. Islamophobia was, of course, a centerpiece of Trump’s presidential campaign, so it’s only natural that Russian Trump trolls would attempt to foster anti-Muslim hatred. But their approach is much more sophisticated than, say, Trump’s. (“I think Islam hates us.”) Russia realized that unequivocal Muslim bashing has limited appeal, even among fervent Trump supporters. It is one thing to harbor hostility toward all Muslims; it is another to publicly tout your blanket contempt for every last Muslim on Earth. Most pro-Trump Islamophobes prefer to frame their animus in the Fox News style: not disdain for Muslims themselves, but rather derision for Muslims’ alleged imposition of Islamic extremism upon the United States.

It’s fascinating to see how easily Russia hacked the standard pro-Trump ideology.
And so Russia drew from the greatest hits of mainstream Republican Islamophobia: burqas and Sharia law. “ ‘Religious’ face coverings are putting American people at huge risk!” One post screams. “We must not sacrifice national security to satisfy the demands of minorities. All face covering should be banned in every state across America!” It got 4,300 shares. An even bigger hit links burqas with Sharia law, insinuating (falsely) that burqa-clad Muslim immigrants are imposing Islamic rule upon America.


snip - lots more to read, with links or screenshots to many of the ads

[ffr]

1. K&R

Bookmarking.