Dr. StrangeShill or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Do My Own Thinking

so, how about them shills? you hear a lot about them these days, because they exist for a fact. the question is.

SO WHAT?

it pissed me off at first, that people were being paid to tell me how to think. HOW DARE THEY?!!!1!!

but then i realized that it's up to me to research, to inform myself, to bounce sources and ideas off of other people, and to form my own opinion. i think people or robots who are paid (or made) to make you think a thing about a war or a product or a group of people are just people who have more or less the same access to info that you do. for real, it's all out there, and you have it at your fingertips.

the tip-off to me is if someone looks like they're TRYING to make people angry. that's when i start digging, because it means someone with an agenda might be trying to shut down your brain. it's up to you whether you let that happen.

so the next time you meet someone on the internet who pisses you off or appeals to the part of you that gets pissed off even if you agree with them, start digging. i promise you that it's more effective to try and find the facts from reputable sources and present them than it is to get pissed off and get flamed out.

just my 2 cents.

Shills are obvious. It's the ones that sound crazy you need to worry about.

originally posted by: Metallicus
Shills are obvious. It's the ones that sound crazy you need to worry about.

couldn't help it. but i dunno. i think the people who sound cray are the ones less likely to be on salary? true believers are still just as bad a source of info as shills, but they're not trying to lie. that counts for something.

a reply to: Metallicus

hey, also. are shills obvious?

could you tell me why? i know what i look for, but i'd like to hear what makes them obvious to you.

thanks in advance.

a reply to: ATODASO

Maybe you should have a look at this :

www.youtube.com...

As it would be conducive to your opinions on

thought interference.

a reply to: Metallicus

Your rather obvious yourself
as a matter of fact.

a reply to: Wildmanimal

ha! i just commented on your thread! and starred and flagged.

i hope other people show up to contribute info, as someone commented on my recent thread on mexico, "why are we screwing around in the mid east when our backporch is burning?"

cool.

originally posted by: Wildmanimal
a reply to: ATODASO

Maybe you should have a look at this :

www.youtube.com...

As it would be conducive to your opinions on

thought interference.

i'll imbed because its the best opening scene ever.




i always thought the monolith was a stand-in for the tree of knowledge. i guess as that relates to making your own mind up, it means that as a person with access to knowledge, you have a responsibility to seek it out. chimps let get told how to think, humans think for themselves.

a reply to: ATODASO

I noticed that

Yes we think for ourselves ,
at least to a certain extent.

a reply to: ATODASO
I think you meant The Tree of Knowledge.
The Monolith is Symbolic of The Fallen Angel.
Similar to:
Prometheus brings the knowledge of fire.

Fire symbolizes Violence and Intelligence.
Therefore,Power.
In this instance, it is Forbidden Power.
S&F
Best

First thread I have read where EVERYONE is a shill..

Just kidding. Personally I see the subject as being a bit dumb...or paranoid. There are trolls on the internet. They are not paid, they are not foisting some agenda, they get their kicks pissing you off.

You are not paranoid if they really are out to get you....unless they are not, in which case you are batty.

I am not paranoid..I simply understand that people have very different opinions and also, at times, are batshist crazy, or just plain sad little trolls. There is no need for shills... personally I have never seen an opening listed for "online shill". I wonder what it pays? lol

a reply to: bbracken677

They may not be commissioned, but they are paid. They maintain their supposed integrity in their society, they have enough cognitive dissonance to get along with most other people that understand very little, they have no problem stepping all over people to get what they want (so therefore, they usually get what they want), and they prosper in middle management, successfully dismantling the bridge between the common sense simpleton and the learned wealthy, for their own sense of self worth.

Sounds like they are paid very well for their ill conceived opinions and hardly well considered notions... not to mention the extreme levels of arrogance and hatred for anything that breathes a word outside their personal agenda (which is to maintain the foundation for their arrogance; for if it were to fail, then the whole of their being would also crumble and they would then require to start completely anew).

a reply to: bbracken677

you CAN find job/contract listings, but the title isn't "shill". it's "social media specialist" or "content writer". lol

here's a few examples.

www.usatoday.com...
mediamatters.org...
www.buzzfeed.com...
consumerist.com...
news.yahoo.com...
www.postloop.com...
firstlook.org...
www.naturalnews.com...

there's paranoia, and then there's just accepting reality.

Sounds a lot like McCarthyism to me.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines McCarthyism as "the political practice of publicizing accusations of disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence." link

a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

feel free to look through the links posted just above your post for evidence, and as it says in the op, do your own research.

a reply to: TarzanBeta

Ok...either you are talking about people in middle management sometimes being shills for the company, or you actually mean that there are jobs that exist for the express purpose of shilldom.

I think (if I interpret correctly) that you meant the former. I was referring to shills on ATS. This subject comes up occasionally and people maintain there are people who are paid to come here and.. troll, or whatever. That is the particular shill I was discussing.

The middle management type is not what I would call a shill so much as someone who is trying to move up the corporate ladder yet lacks the innate skills required to do so. Commonly referred to as a butt kisser.

I have known people in the lower ranks who insisted on looking at every action by management through shist colored glasses. These people were fools and destined to never get ahead. You either have an open mind and see things as they are, or you have a closed mind in which case, I feel for that person. No doubt they will blame their lack of success on others (perhaps even the "shills" and never recognize where their own shortcomings are.

Kinda like the knuckleheads that respond to an ad for B2B outside sales and then show up dressed in their best ghetto wear or just a tshirt and jeans. You are going to represent a company and you come to an interview dressed like that? Interview is over lol

a reply to: ATODASO

I have hired a social media specialist... nothing close to a shill.

Unless you think ad writers are also shills...in which case: meh!

a reply to: bbracken677

i'd say they fall under the same general category, being people who are paid to tell other people how to think. but you can easily verify the existence of people who are paid by both governments and private political entities to bury or promote ideologies, stories, and etc. by clicking on some of the links right up there. ^ there's plenty of other reputable material to be found, too.

now, it's not my job to influence your opinion lol, but if you take into considerbation the fact that this is a site with an international audience of millions where politics and controversial issues are discussed in depth, i'd say it would be weird to entirely discount the idea that such people are active here in their professional capacity.

but that's not really the point of the op. just take it as a thought experiment: if there are shills, YOU decide whether or not they influence your opinion. it's up to you to do the research and make the call on any issue you care about. as long as you're doing your own thinking, they may as well not exist.

a reply to: ATODASO

I am 60 years old. If you wish to influence my thinking, you need to come prepared (the generic you) with facts and data. I do not accept opinions, nor do I accept forum posts for references. I look for reputable sources and not paranoid nut case websites as sources either. I may find them entertaining, but I have a very finely attuned BSometer that has proven itself over the years lol

While I get what you are saying, I think your perception differs from mine somewhat. While some may claim my use of a "social media specialist" to be a hired shill, I do not. The person set our company up in social media, along with factual information about our company and keeps an eye on activity (yelp, FB etc) and keeps us informed with "data blurbs" regarding how many people are visiting the sites etc. There is no shilling going on with our use of the media specialists. It's all about getting information out there and creating business opportunities for us. They do not get on and post crap... They are not official spokespersons for our company. I cannot (given the companies I have worked for in the past) imagine a professional company turning over those duties to third parties who do not have official positions in the company. That is asking for problems.

a reply to: bbracken677

hey, you're entitled to your own opinion, and you're also entitled to look into the links posted on this thread to inform it.