@crybaby Some years back I posted about a supposed "Tactics for Conservative Blogging" playbook.

I can't vouch for the authenticity of the piece. The tactics themselves seem plausible however:

My writeup, which includes numerous other references and links as well:

The Reactionary Political Debate Playbook: Karl Rove's Bag of Dirty Tricks

https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/2d0r1d/the_reactionary_political_debate_playbook_karl/

Original: http://web.archive.org/web/20120425033837/http://www.theyoungturks.com/story/2011/8/26/151725/396/Diary/TACTICS-FOR-EFFECTIVE-CONSERVATIVE-BLOGGING-By-Karl-Rove

The most useful things to pull from this as I see it are:

• Recognise when this is happening. Our default is to assume genuine and good-faith discussion.
• Don't waste your time, energy, and spoons.
• Not all research is wasted, and having ammunition to counter rhetoric can be useful. But it's all but certainly wasted on the trolls themselves.
• There are tactics for changing minds. David McRaney's written a book, How Minds Change: https://www.davidmcraney.com/howmindschangehome

#DirtyTricks #ReactionaryDebate #Politics #Rhetoric