*24.05.03 Triple Play of Troll Tactics

Link to video:

v4ruhhx-the-triple-play-of-troll-tactics.html 

Script:

This video will focus on 3 related tactics since sometimes they are used in combination. There is the "Go Fetch" tactic, and the "Repetition Equals Truth" tactic and the "Everyone Knows It's True" tactic.

I'll describe a real example to show how absurd the trolls can be.

Someone made a claim and I didn't think it was believable, so I challenged them to back it up. Since a troll is often just making things up, they need to take various steps to try to hide the fact they had nothing.

First, they just declare it IS a fact, which is an aspect of the "repetition equals truth" tactic.

Second, they start the "go fetch" tactic by saying I should research it to see they are right. But why should I "fetch" their proof when I don't even think it exists?

Third, they declare I'm just too lazy and the proof is easily found. But if easily found, why don't they provide it?

Fourth, they finally provide a link, but it is to a person simply saying the same thing and he doesn't provide backup either! As such, it is another attempt at using the "Repetition equals truth" tactic.

Fifth, they finally give a link to a VERY long article except nothing in it supports their claim!

Sixth, they declare I don't read well, but they refuse to point out what they think I missed.

Finally, since I didn't miss anything, they said the proof was in one of the links included in the article, but won't say which one.

Over and over, at some level, I was expected to "fetch" proof that didn't even exist because the troll knew he couldn't back up his own claims. It's common from trolls.

But for politicians and the media, it is the "repetition equals truth" tactic that is most effective in fooling people.

Let's look at an example, again using The Filipina Pea channel, since I'm most familiar with it.

An oft-repeated claim I saw some time ago was that Pea didn't write her own scripts. A troll would say, "I heard an old ex-pat writes her scripts". Then another says, "I heard that too". A third says, "It's true". Not one of them gives proof. It's all the power of repetition.

You will even hear people say they have no idea, and then immediately say they know it is true! Don't believe me? Well, here is an example from Big Mouth, on his live stream, responding to someone asking who is the power behind Pea:

"Who is behind the Pea's YouTube Channel? I have no clue. I'm sure it's her boyfriend. I'm sure of it". 

See what I mean? Absolutely nuts. How do you have no idea, but be sure it's true all at the same time?

I wouldn't care, but it hurts people for no reason. I do care about that. I admire people who work hard to get themselves out of a bad situation, like poverty, and I absolutely resent people who try to take credit from those hard working people, in this case, saying Pea doesn't write her own scripts.

We can look at the one person who would actually know, since they are the world's foremost expert on The Filipina Pea. That is, The Filipina Pea! You see, she has a video that walks us through the process of creating her videos. Here's a brief sample:

"I write out my videos to make sure I cover everything and also put humor into it".

"I already made some notes about some stuff I want to talk about. I write things down as I think of them, sometimes weeks or even a month in advance".

No one has ever shown Pea doesn't write her own scripts. They do seem to have a need to assume she doesn't. Is it jealousy? Is it a kind of racism or sexism because they think a Filipina can't do such a good job and needs a western boyfriend to do it for her?

Oh, they sometimes try to come up with a justification for their assumptions, so let's look at that too. It pretty much always comes down to the same thing and it is, of course, just another of their assumptions.

You see, Pea uses a number of western cultural references and these trolls assume she couldn't possibly know so much. But they are speaking out of ignorance because we knew from the start why she could do it so well. Because Pea, the foremost expert on the subject, told us.

She said from the start that even as a little kid she was fascinated by the west and watched western movies and listened to western music. Why on earth should people assume this wouldn't be true, considering the influence of the west and especially the United States media around the world. It doesn't strike me as strange at all. Even in 6th grade, I had a classmate who, for some reason, was fascinated by Ancient Greece and did a lot of study about it. He likely knew more about Ancient Greece than the typical elementary school teacher.

That's far more unusual than what Pea did! Yet in spite of the fact that nothing contradicted the information Pea provided, trolls would rather believe assumptions.

A second reason is that Pea also spent some months as an adult living in the UK, being directly exposed to western culture.

A third reason is that Pea doesn't sound like the typical Filipino. She sounds like someone who learned the language at a young age from people who were native English speakers - like you get from watching western movies! She mentioned in one video that her young niece loves to watch Peppa Pig and, as a result, she is picking up an English accent. How well Pea speaks is evidence that supports what she has told us. Heck, she speaks English better than I do!

Her video also explains other ways she gets western cultural references since, obviously, she isn't going to know them all. Even Americans don't know all of them:

"But I want to put cultural references in a few places. Stuff that the audience will know about and, hopefully, connect with".

"I always do that because everybody likes them and they seem to amaze people, but it's actually really easy to do. So I'll use my secret weapon - Google!"

She included examples, but let me focus on more troll assumptions based on their ignorance, or nastiness.

Pea does skits for outros and, to give an example, she has done one based on "Gilligan's Island". Trolls declared that it was absurd to think a Filipina would know about "Gilligan's Island". Well, that's an assumption, isn't it? Especially with the internet availability of so much stuff. But what is even better, Pea had already addressed this and did so in two ways.

First, she had made the general remark that her fans send her ideas as well as links to videos so she can quickly check if something may work as an outro.

Second, and more fun, is that Pea has specifically said that someone sent her information about "Gilligan's Island" and she had said she hadn't heard of that one before.

Pea simply knows some cultural references and does research to get other references as well as having fans send her more examples. No mystery at all and no need for someone else to write her scripts.

Another lame excuse was when trolls claimed she sent her scripts to some fans before making a video so they could let her know if there were any problems with her cultural references. After all, even with her own knowledge of western culture, actual westerners will be more likely to spot a problem.

The trolls actually said that by sending scripts to others meant that she was not writing her own scripts! But professional writers do the same thing. They have family, friends, various experts and, of course, professional editors, checking what they write too. But no one claims those readers and editors were the writers!

Yet the trolls repeated claims are believed by many. Thus the false claims spread and, before you know it, become "common knowledge". Yet it is all based on lies and assumptions.

That, in turn, leads to another tactic: Claiming that, "Everyone knows it's true". Yet they really know nothing factual. All these tactics are designed to avoid backing up their own claims.

So we have trolls whose claims we know are baseless, but they are just hateful. And others who don't realize that the things they believe are untrue, so they spread the poison anyway. And some who, for some strange reason, just take pleasure in tearing good people down and so are happy to spread the lies whether they know they are lies or not.

Don't be so quick to accept people's claims. Especially if they are tearing down others.

Thanks for watching and don't let the trolls stop you from speaking out.