belteshazzar
Member
These posts summarize my thoughts. Wtf
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
I legitimately believe Pokemon Sun and Moon was used to influence the U.S. Election.
- Thread starter Watch Da Birdie
- Start date
These posts summarize my thoughts. Wtf
that's called 'jumping to conclusions'
The (poke)ball is in your court, Ash.
eKongDiddy
Member
You guys have to get over that stereotype of Christians disliking Pokémon if anything, Nintendo is the most likely game console in a Christians house.
"I'm not crazy, it's YOU sheeple who are crazy! Wake up!"
theAntagonist
Member
How is it Alex Jones-conspiracy tier? I'm genuinely curious. I've watched that and I think he has some extremely good points that are quite topical and relevant. And no I was not humblebragging, I was just posting that I come from a position of understanding how people who treat video games as a huge or defining focus of their lives think, act and feel. College fucking sucked, and I was terrible, procrastinated, and didn't give a shit. Tons of people go to college, so I'm struggling to think how a person could even interpret someone as saying 'I went to college' as some kind of boast. hahaha
I'm sorry that you took offense? Lol.
Hierophant
Banned
jesus christ listen to yourselves
there are so many easier ways to effect the election than fucking videogames
russia is not responsible for everything
there are so many easier ways to effect the election than fucking videogames
russia is not responsible for everything
I like the idea, but no, without any info on this Lurantis leaker, it's pretty silly to even think of. The amount of potential voters who would possibly be distracted by SuMo leaks, which were more disappointing at the time than hype, would not be kind of people who would likely go out and vote for Hillary. The Russians had much more sophisticated attacks that were directed more specifically at voting blocks in specific swing states that they needed Trump to win and I don't see them wasting their time on this. The Pokemon Go stuff only required social media, not the actual game itself, and was clearly intended to create chaos and unrest rather than targeting voters, effectively two totally different operations
Tbh even considering this seriously kind of shows how much their strategy worked, that we could imagine such a situation seriously
Tbh even considering this seriously kind of shows how much their strategy worked, that we could imagine such a situation seriously
Spikematic
Member
Posting in legendary thread.
Jesus, OP. You're either a master troll or the next Alex Jones.
Jesus, OP. You're either a master troll or the next Alex Jones.
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
Seriously. At this point they either cant read, think the OP confirmed this or something or havent read any news on this type of stuff.
Hierophant
Banned
turns out all the posters in this thread are a russian PSYOP
What Russian alarmist echo chamber do you and OP spawn from? Yall would have made great McCarthyists.
theAntagonist
Member
Definitely. I think it really shows that they haven't been paying attention, and quite obviously don't give a fuck/think the shit that's happening is insignificant. I think it also illustrates another huge problem. People literally don't fucking read.
Yeah I agree that it's impossible to know what the OP is suggesting for sure, at least at this juncture and probably ever due to the overall tiny scale it would play if there were some conspiratorial aspect to it. And I agree that this even being a topic at hand illustrates the power of influence.
Personally, while there may not be any actual credence to the OP's suggestion, I don't think it isn't without consideration. I think that their tactics were broad and were present in many different avenues, with many different scopes.
othersteve
Member
Listen.... listen. This is all I'm going to say on this. Partially because it's dangerously close to off-topic for this forum, and partially because I really just don't want to spend additional time on the topic.
There is zero doubt that the exploitation of voting demographic research to produce a desired outcome is a common tactic. There is also little doubt that most young people skew predominantly liberal (arguably for Utopian/idealistic reasons I will not venture into in this thread). Furthermore, there is little doubt that Russian individuals -- just like domestic political operatives, activists, and special interests groups -- used a variety of avenues to inflict their influence upon the election. Therefore, it is not entirely ridiculous to presume that any activity originating from the vicinity of an interested party (activist, special interests group, Russian operative) might carry an ulterior motive in its timing given the circumstances.
But the point is that exactly the same claim could be made about practically any activity that might be somehow associated with any of these groups should its timing agree with that of some significant event (e.g., Election 2016). And the bigger point is that it's not doing anyone any good to try and connect those dots, even if there is some shred of a chance that the picture it paints carries some truth.
What we need to be doing today is examining our situation and learning from our mistakes. Because, you see, to paraphrase the ever-eloquent Stephen R. Covey haphazardly, not everything is someone else's fault. Blaming external factors for the failings of an ideology or even an entire political system is not a productive activity. Rather, the questions we should be asking are much more introspective in their nature: Why was Trump elected? What can we learn from this event? How can we prevent this sort of thing from happening again?
Because right now, as we speak, I personally believe he is headed for yet another victory in 2020 -- that is, if he isn't somehow removed from office before then.
There is zero doubt that the exploitation of voting demographic research to produce a desired outcome is a common tactic. There is also little doubt that most young people skew predominantly liberal (arguably for Utopian/idealistic reasons I will not venture into in this thread). Furthermore, there is little doubt that Russian individuals -- just like domestic political operatives, activists, and special interests groups -- used a variety of avenues to inflict their influence upon the election. Therefore, it is not entirely ridiculous to presume that any activity originating from the vicinity of an interested party (activist, special interests group, Russian operative) might carry an ulterior motive in its timing given the circumstances.
But the point is that exactly the same claim could be made about practically any activity that might be somehow associated with any of these groups should its timing agree with that of some significant event (e.g., Election 2016). And the bigger point is that it's not doing anyone any good to try and connect those dots, even if there is some shred of a chance that the picture it paints carries some truth.
What we need to be doing today is examining our situation and learning from our mistakes. Because, you see, to paraphrase the ever-eloquent Stephen R. Covey haphazardly, not everything is someone else's fault. Blaming external factors for the failings of an ideology or even an entire political system is not a productive activity. Rather, the questions we should be asking are much more introspective in their nature: Why was Trump elected? What can we learn from this event? How can we prevent this sort of thing from happening again?
Because right now, as we speak, I personally believe he is headed for yet another victory in 2020 -- that is, if he isn't somehow removed from office before then.
the_darkness
Banned
Can we change OPs name to Simple Jack?
Saying "I 100% believe Russia used Pokemon to influence the US election" is crazy, yeah. Thinking it's within the realm of possibility based on everything we now know isn't.
Honestly the most far-fetched part about this theory for me is that the Pokemon leak would keep more Hillary voters home than Trump voters.
You are showing the same symptoms as OP, you need help too.
This is probably what Russia hackers want, that every god damn thing is said to be a Russian hacker job. In the end it becomes a meme, not a threat.
theAntagonist
Member
Lol nice. You do know that Joeseph McCarthy's chief counsel/confidant/advisor, Roy Cohn, was one of Donald Trump's closest companions/role models, right? Or is that just some bullshit?
It's a superficial claim, you are using this as the basis of your argument of a conspiracy which you can't even link to a game being leaked on 4chan that you conclude is being done by a greater organisation. CNN were reporting about a contest on Tumblr that required people to communicate over Tumblr. You can't put ads inside Pokémon Go about this so called contest that CNN couldn't find any winners from that Tumblr page.
The Russians didn't get to Pokémon Go like they got to Facebook with bought ads.
The worst part of this is you said you didn't even read the article, you jumped to conclusions right off the bat.
What you did was exactly what a conspiracy theorist does.
Conspiracy theorists are the reason we have anti-vaxxers, flat Earthers and climate change denial. They are contributing to anti-intellectualism and making the whole world a shitty place for the rest of us.
I'm not going to entertain the mental illness or legendary prank of some random jabroni with a theory just because said theory is 1% plausible while also being 99% bullshit speculation.
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
This actually my first time being involved with this kind of topic in general with russia and hacks but when I hear they was hacking pokemon go and making social media accounts posing as black activist I wouldnt be surprised if this happen thats all. I'm not in no echo chamber
Rellik
Member
You're dreaming right now.
Gentleman Jack
Member
This theory falls apart when you mention the leak happened on 4chan, a messageboard for white supremacist assholes.
PrinnyBomb
Member
Wow, putting aside your entire theory I had no idea how deep Russia's meddling was, even using Pokemon Go
GiantBreadbug
Member
McCarthyism has virtually nothing to do with the ideaology of McCarthyists and everything to do with the everything except the narrative out the window tactic.
Which, yes, is what the Russia conspiracy folks are doing.
Orochinagis
Member
PixelatedBookake
Junior Member
Russia conspiracy hawks are contributing to anti-intellectualism in the same way that moronic parents who don't "trust" vaccines because they give children autism based on garbage science and tall tales masquerading as common sense. Liberals rationalizing this stuff to themselves are embarrassing as hell and are no better than Alex Jones/Prison Planet nutballs.
Zen_Arcade
Banned
I mean, technically it's possible that someone else shot JFK or that aliens have visited us and are being held in a bunker in the desert.
But you'd still look pretty crazy if you legitimately believed that either of these things happened with no real evidence. People aren't just commenting on the theory, they're commenting on the fact that OP already believes it's true.
theAntagonist
Member
I don't follow. And I don't think Russia attempting to influence politics in America, especially the Presidential Election of 2016 is a conspiracy. It's real.
I'm just pointing out how hilarious people will scream 'McCarthyism' and say 'Red Scare 2.0' when this is the actual reality that's happening to the USA. My best friend does the same shit and it's annoying as fuck and I call him out every time. And he tries to use Whataboutisms, which is also hilarious, because that's a classic Soviet psychological table-turning maneuver.
AuthenticM
Member
yeah this is where I'm at.
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
I dont even know what McCarthyism is. I thought yall was talking about the coach for the green bay packers and how he sometimes abandons the run game.
You're trying to turn the subject broad when we're specifically talking about the OP's premise which full of jumping to conclusions and speculation with no actual evidence to support his specific claims. The premise is bullshit. Stop trying to use smokescreens to hide the fact that you're empathizing with someone who is either mentally ill or an excellent troll.
Hierophant
Banned
they did influence the election, that is a given
whats not is russia influencing it by fucking pokemon jesus christ
I agree that that's a pretty good rule of thumb. I guess I'm more or less disturbed by how many people's knee-jerk reaction is to call OP a tinfoil hat wearing nutjob when day after day new stories are coming out about how specific and targeted Russia's efforts were. OP would have gotten the same reaction if he made a post about Russia using Pokemon GO to incite racial tensions in the US, and it turns out that's true.
Except they fucking did use Pokemon, just not Sun and Moon.
Watch Da Birdie
I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Well, here's the thing---I think it's incorrect to think that.
/vp/ is, well, a place for Pokemon fans to discuss Pokemon. It has indeed been influenced by the alt-right over the years, but I do believe that most users of it simply want to talk Pokemon.
I also think that the majority of younger folks of voting age on those boards who aren't bots fall into two groups---they joke about Hillary to fit in, but probably would vote for her all things considered, or they don't care about voting at all and like the memes. It seems to me the goal was to never get more people to vote for Trump, it was to get less people to vote for Hillary.
I remember there was a thread posted of 4chan reactions of frogposters not knowing you had to register to vote, and while some of it was probably joking I do think that illustrated my point. For those who wanted to meddle with the election, pushing young Trump fans away from voting wasn't an issue, because they probably wouldn't vote anyway. But if you could get them away from the polls, that meant they also couldn't vote for Hillary. So kind of a win/win here.
This isn't a "we should reach out!" to them post defending such sites or anything like that. Just that I think it's a bit counterproductive to think of all of them as hardcore Trump voters, when in general many of them I feel would've voted Hillary when it came down to it if they were forced to vote. But maybe that's me having a bit more optimism in people.
I'm willing to trust CNN's reporting. I'm less willing to trust a random on the internet who mentally masturbated about Russia into a message box and hit submit.