Do you think this theory is crazy?

[Blue Christmas]

After watching and streaming cspan for most of the infraudural charade yesterday, at the end of the day it really wasn't the coronation ceremony itself that upset me. Rather, it was the countless number of callers to cspan that just sounded like out of their mind freepers - just spouting off with an endless torrent of what I thought were particularly ridiculous and outrageous opinions.

And it occurred to me that maybe - just as Armstrong Williams (and probably a whole cadre of other "journalists") is on the White House propaganda payroll to peddle the policies of the Bush regime - these anonymous callers were also by and large just paid proponents of the (f)right wing.

Has anyone else out there ever considered this? Or does this seem like an outlandish theory to you? Because, as seemingly crazy this theory may be, I cannot for the life of me believe that there are actually that many stupid people out there.

[purduejake]

1. It's not crazy...

They pay people to register people to vote and then rip up democratic forms.

[Caution]

2. There are enough rush-bots out there that the R's get this service "free"

[BattyDem]

3. It's not crazy ...

I remember reading about companies that do exactly that: you hire them to flood the media for you. Phone calls to TV and radio shows, letters to local newspapers, etc. Somebody on DU posted a link to one of the companies quite a while ago. I'm sure i bookmarked it .. but I can't find it. :-(

[jasmeel]

4. Some maybe but not all... Amy Goodman interviewed

several people today on Democracy Now that were pro * and they really believed some f**d up stuff. This woman in a mink and a cowboy hat had her son in the military in Iraq and was pro-* and that amazed me. But I also realized that you may have to believe falsehoods if the other reality/possibility is too disturbing.

[loudsue]

5. I think it's very possible, Blue Christmas. In fact "probable" is the

word I think of here. The neocons have SO MUCH MONEY at their disposal to issue propaganda, and all they'd have to do is find some of the most rabid rushbots and offer them some $$ to monitor C-spam. If they monitor c-spam, they just have to call in and repeat the weirdo talking points they've been fed. And since they all sound pretty much alike (none of them have had an original thought of their own, as best as I can tell), it's easy to keep spewing the same crap.

Yep. I think you are prolly correct!

:kick::kick::kick:

[Malva Zebrina]

6. I have thought this

my husband often tunes in--they all have the same talking points, use the same rhetoric, and seem to have become increasingly caustic in their verbal abuse of liberals.

[bunkerbuster1]

7. Ask yourself this: why WOULDN'T Karl Rove hire online/hate radio goons?

What's the downside? That one of them would crack? There's always plausible deniability built into these kinds of relationships.

I assume that there are at least a few dozen "professional" online trolls posting to Usenet and various web boards (including this one). I assume there are at least a few dozen callers to hate-radio shows. It wouldn't take a lot of dough, and it wouldn't take a lot of freelancers to get a wave (or call it a meme if you prefer) going.

Maybe it's not the case; maybe it's not necessary, but I always assume it's the case. For god's sake, they paid Armstrong nearly a quarter mil: plenty of natural-born Freepers would do precisely as told for a lot less, and very convincingly.

[Mist]

8. Not crazy at all

Starting around 1998, I started each day with coffee and C-SPAN. I always enjoyed the call-in segments. I liked hearing the variety of opinions, even ones I thought were off the wall. After 9/11, there was definately something going on. Too many similar, and I mean VERY similar, calls on the conservative line ("do you support the Pres.?). I find it very easy to believe that some of these callers are "ringers," and probably being paid.

[Blue Christmas]

9. I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking this!

I would find it almost unbearably depressing (even moreso than the current almost-intolerable state of affairs) to believe that all of these callers were/are "for real."

Then again, it's still pretty scary that there are even people out there willing to accept money to spread these kinds of lies. (Although I guess the same could be said for most of Congress at this point...) B-)

[EVDebs]

10. Ever hear of the CIA's "Operation Mockingbird" ?

Nobody even bothers to check media credentials anymore. A deeper look into Bob Woodward, for openers, wouldn't hurt either !

http://www.webcom.com/ctka/pr196-woodward.html

or

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/07.03.97/scoop-9727.html

This is just for openers folks.

[0007]

11. There may be paid trolls here on DU

[Capn Sunshine]

16. MAY be?

Oh wait, maybe not ALL of them are PAID.

[Cats Against Frist]

12. This is an interesting question

I think that the people who are saying that the RNC gets this for free are probably right. Though, it would be rather stealth to pay a number of people to monitor, so those "exact talking points," could be hammered home. But think -- when you hear bushbots talk -- don't you hear those things anyway?

Now there are two theories:

1. The people who call in are SO CRAZY that it almost seems like they actually blow the careful "veneer of bullshit," that surrounds the GOP's delusional and hypocritical rhetoric. For instance, when Richard Perle was on, he spent the entire time going "Neocons? What neocons????!!," claiming that he was a registered Democrat and Saddam was Lucifer -- in other words, that the war had nothing to do with oil or hegemony or strategic military bases, protection of Israel, etc.

Then, the GOP callers would totally call up and bust him out like "Well, we HAD to get the oil," or "We have to protect Israel."

So are they un-paid because they're toooo crazy?

or

2. Do they serve a very important purpose to the GOP, no matter how crazy? You'll notice that the politicians, and particularly Bush and Cheney are like "What right-wing network of think tanks and hate radio propaganda? What are you talking about? Swift Vets? Who?" -- and they stay away from the mudslinging, so that they can "appear" above it. Maybe they benefit from the crazy callers, because they'll put words to what GOP politicians, and even Rush Limbaugh can't: the actual hate, delusion and aggression that lies under the bullshit about "freedom and Democracy and Jesus."

Rick Santorum has to get up and wax pathetic about how homosexuals are undermining the fabric of the family, but a surrogate caller can call up and say, "it's unnatural, it's disgusting, these people are going to hell, etc." They can get the REAL message out, under the rhetoric, without any consequences.

Just some thoughts.

[housewolf]

13. I listen frequently

and my theory is that many of the right-wing callers are on some email list that goes out each time c-span opens their phone lines giving them the talking points. I have reservations about them being paid to do it, it seems to me there are plenty of people willing to do it for "the cause."

It's not that easy to get on c-span, in my experience. I've tried a number of times to call in and always get a busy signal.

[Sparkle]

14. The repuke cspan callers watch too much Fox News.

And listen to Rush and read Drudge. So yes, there are that many stupid people out there.

I guarantee you if Condi Rice was a Democratic National Security Advisor for Gore, Clinton or Kerry, these same repukes would be bashing her from sun up to sun down.

[poe]

15. your theory is accurate

this is done not only on CSPAN but on numerous talk radio shows. much of it is choreographed. go to PRWATCH and search through their archives. this technique is also used on RADIO FREE EUROPE. the current head of CPR board of directors which dictates the agenda of PBS use to head up RADIO FREE EUROPE. for the seminal work on propaganda locate alex carey's unfinished work on the topic of propaganda in a democracy. the great australian sociologist, now deceased, was an influence on chomsky. he gives the details it's not just theory. the scale of PR in the US is breathtaking.

[shiina]

17. Very likely, but they needn't even be paid...

They could just be Repub peons who are led to believe that this sort of behavior is well-looked upon. Make enough calls and get a pat on the head and a raise or a trip to Tahiti.

But with the arrogance of this admin, they probably do pay them outright.