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| Russian Dupe |
This is a long known Russian tactic; misinformation campaigns to create division - and where there is division, there is a conquerable subset of citizens. Oh, Russia knows that they cannot conquer America the old fashioned way. They are not sending a million troops on land to take the States, instead they are sending a hundred million bots, a billion bits of misinformation all with one goal - divide America's citizens.
Think about this for one moment. The one area in which Americans seem to show their most unity, their most solidarity is sports. Remember the scene in Major League, right after the Indians beat the Yankees in the one game playoff? There is a scene where wildly different looking people hug in jubilation. That is a real thing folks. It happens just like that; people you don't know, standing next to you. Because they have on a jersey or hat in support of the same team, they instantly bond with you and consider you 'like' them.
It happens every week in my own seats at a football stadium. People whose names I do not know, that have been sitting next to me seven times a year for 20 years, give me high fives after good plays, commiserate after losses, hugged me when the team won a conference title.
And it is that kind of unity at which the Russian government is now taking aim.
Ever wonder how a sports hack from Portland, Oregon (Colin Cowherd) and a former attorney (Clay Travis) whose original claim to fame was eating nothing but pudding because he could not get the NFL Sunday Ticket rose to fame so suddenly? Simply put, they were targeted as people whose contrarian opinions were the perfect hosts for a misinformation campaign designed to divide America at its core.
Russia took this on for two reasons; one, they knew that the political divide that had existed since the 1990's was not going to grow excessively no matter what they did with Donald Trump. When two sides are already polarized, there is not much more dissension that can be introduced. They needed a subject on which many more Americans shared positive feelings; they needed a way to really split up a nation which is said to stand on unity. It's in the name folks, 'United States.' If they could take away the unity, America loses its worldwide moral high ground.
Second, Russia seethes that they were caught cheating with their athletes. They took incredible national pride at their athletic accomplishments and to see those denigrated while its biggest moral enemy reaped the reward infuriated the Russian government. So, in addition to de-unifying American citizens, they want to take down American sports institutions. What better place to start than its most popular sporting institution: the NFL.
This is why the NFL protests became a part of Donald trump's Alabama speech. Quite frankly, Trump does not have any particular code of conduct on which he stands other than money. He actually did not care much about the NFL protest, but some of those great Russian bots were able to funnel the information through his advisors. He formulated a plan to speak at a rally; he knew from the research that this would play right into the hands of his core constituent.
But you know it couldn't have much effect if he said it at a rally without the alt-right sports segment of journalism getting hold of it and propping up its 'truth' through their own brand of additional misinformation. It is why Clay Travis and Colin Cowherd are at Fox Sports now and not ESPN. They love to expound on their high ground; that they left ESPN over objections to their model. In a recent Politic article, Travis bragged that he 'turned down' ESPN to resign with Fox.
See, that is the trick of misinformation. One, no one can technically disprove what he said - two - it just ain't true. He did not stay at Fox over some mythical moral high ground, he stayed because they paid more. If ESPN had wanted him - they'd have had him, because he can be bought and sold like any commodity. That's what he is to Fox Sports; a commodity.
All of this is part of the bigger plan by Russia to deunify the nation through sports. Travis is the perfect dupe because he cares more about his followers; his money; than he does about actual journalism. Hell, he even said so in the interview with Politico "bad for the country, good for us." Clay Travis cares more about his brand than his own damn country. And we give him a walk?
We as progressives do little in this theater because not enough of us care about sports as deeply as the core fans of the NFL, NCAA football, etc. Analytics showed this to Russians and they are using it brilliantly disguised through robots like Cowherd and Travis.
But if we expose this to the rest of our Progressive brothers and sisters, if we get out and find ways to change the image, we can make the difference. NFL fans say they will 'give up their tickets' we need to buy them. Let's replace those who "boo" legitimate anthem protests with those who cheer the courage of NFL players.
Honestly, I think it would be counter productive to go after the advertisers from Cowherd and Travis' shows; those who listen won't stop listening; it would have little impact. We need to shoot down their antiquated thinking with our own actions. Go to football games; cheer the players. Call the NFL, let them know how much you support. FLOOD Travis and Cowherd's shows with calls of player support.
Colin Cowherd once took aim at a little known website called 'The Big Lead' looking to 'shut it down' with excessive traffic. Let's do the same to his show.
You see, this is the problem. Let's suppose Robert Mueller finds a smoking gun; let's suppose Trump and everyone associated with him all go down in flames. Will the Russians stop their attack on our nation's unity? hell no they won't! In fact, they will use Trump's impeachment to create further division. We must fight fire with fire. We need to get ahead of them.
