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submitted 10 months ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
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[-] ameancow@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Unfortunately, we have an entire civilization with "screeching messages" in their ears right now, we have a population largely reactive and only thinking that they're thinking, people are fed nonsense, a deluge of headlines that blur reality and fantasy. I have to explain to people working in my team in the morning huddles when they are chatting that no, we did not in fact discover Atlantis and a mermaid kingdom. No, there are no giant floating eyeballs in space. We did not discover a city on Mars, aliens have (as far as we know) NOT been in contact with anyone, much less politicians. When media and headlines on stories are designed to sensationalize, people stop paying attention and stop believing anything but what they want to hear, and you can change people's ideas what they want to hear.

I'm quite sure efforts were made to swing the election manually, via voting machines and ballots, maybe those efforts made a difference, but a lot of people who have never been involved in the logistics of voting in a country this size have no concept of how hard it is to rig. Remember, this was part of the huge contention with Trump when he lost in 2020, he claimed fraud and because of those claims everyone got a better glimpse into how secure the US's elections are. They are secure simply because the scale of the operation needed to change results is staggering.

I'm not saying you're entirely wrong, but I think the election was stolen via more subtle and broad, sweeping methods, which is more efficient and less easy to track down individuals responsible - I am talking large-scale social engineering. It doesn't take a lot and it doesn't give back a lot, but it can be enough to turn a tide, it can be enough to shift perspectives just enough, it can be enough to capitalize on public mistrust and frustration and it can select for the people most vulnerable to specific, tailored messaging.

And this was before AI was what it is today, I expect the next elections are going to be even more baffling.

this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2025
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