Internet Trolls: Online Nuisances Or Corporate Shills?

[Travis]

Oh, so it's mostly homogenization you feel is problematic. Do you happen to know if most greek yogurt is normally homogenized?

I think it often is because unlike 'pasteurization,' the 'homogenization' appellation is not legally-required to be declared on the label. Homogenization appears to be commonly employed in cheesemaking for enhancing rheological properties, yet is never explicitly labeled. However: any unpasteurized milk could not have been homogenized due to the temperatures employed, and I do believe there are many yogurts made with raw milk. Raw milk cheeses are also commonly available.

 

[Braveheart]

I dont think propagandizing the masses is anything new and has been going on for a long time; euphemistically called Manufacturing Consent. The only thing that has changed is that we are so atomized in our information sources now that just controlling mass media isnt enough anymore.
Internet Trolls May be Trained Government Agents According to Leaked Document

Excellent

 

[cyclops]

I think it often is because unlike 'pasteurization,' the 'homogenization' appellation is not legally-required to be declared on the label. Homogenization appears to be commonly employed in cheesemaking for enhancing rheological properties, yet is never explicitly labeled. However: any unpasteurized milk could not have been homogenized due to the temperatures employed, and I do believe there are many yogurts made with raw milk. Raw milk cheeses are also commonly available.

Thanks!

 

[Amazoniac]

I think it often is because unlike 'pasteurization,' the 'homogenization' appellation is not legally-required to be declared on the label. Homogenization appears to be commonly employed in cheesemaking for enhancing rheological properties, yet is never explicitly labeled. However: any unpasteurized milk could not have been homogenized due to the temperatures employed, and I do believe there are many yogurts made with raw milk. Raw milk cheeses are also commonly available.

I think most people here consume those without fat..

 

[GAF]

I have never had a tax client that was a paid internet troll. If I get one I will relay details.

 

[Travis]

I have never had a tax client that was a paid internet troll. If I get one I will relay details.

Have you had one that was an employee of a brand protection agency?

 

[GAF]

Unfortunately No. Personally, I think most trolls are paid by third party subcontractors to hide any direct paper trail.

I think paid trolling is widespread, but I have no proof yet. I am hoping to find proof.

 

[Barliman]

Nobody is getting paid to say that pharmaceutical drugs r kewl.

I've been to doctor's offices same time as the corporate shills (pharmaceutical reps) and the pharmaceutical reps really stand out - they're usually the best dressed, most coiffed and usually carry a briefcase (nobody uses briefcases anymore,) but are in the waiting room right alongside people on Medicaid and Medicare lol.

So yes, I guess people are getting paid to be corporate shills, but they actually WORK FOR THE COMPANY. Pfizer is not going around signing temporary contracts for pharmaceutical reps lol.

Yes, I am well sick of being lied to by pharmaceutical reps. I still have not regained my composure after the overt fraud around Vioxx. That is only the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Travis]

Guicciardi, Anthony. "Monsanto and Others Caught Paying Internet ‘Trolls’ to Attack Activists." naturalsociety.com (2015)

'Have you ever seen a post, comment, or reply that absolutely reeked of behind-the-scenes compensation by corporations like Monsanto? In the growing age of internet activism, and the expansion of social media as a tool to spread the word on real issues, paid internet trolling is becoming a new career path.' —Guicciardi​

Smith, Jeffrey. "Monsanto’s Army of Online Bullies." responsibletechnology.org (2015)

'There are hundreds, possibly thousands of them—paid to bully, shame, and endlessly argue with anyone posting a comment deriding GMOs or pesticides. And when a high-profile person stands up to Monsanto’s technology, watch out. The trolls swarm in and gang up.' —Smith

'Take Marion Nestle, for example. When a GMO propaganda film called Food Evolution purposely quoted her out of context, she demanded that her 10-second clip be removed. Nestle’s blog was then ambushed with 870 comments by Monsanto’s minions, forcing her to block all comments from her site, Food Politics.' —Smith​

 

[Amazoniac]

At least the way I refer to things doesn't trigger sentinels: Mon and Santo, Up of the Rounds, G and M and O, etc.

 

[Travis]

At least the way I refer to things doesn't trigger sentinels: Mon and Santo, Up of the Rounds, G and M and O, etc.

Yes, they do have advanced search methods that must be circumvented.

[Psst: Monsieur Santo was born in late August, giving him the fourth zodiac sign (️). He often sends peasants to round-up corn for the marketplace, leading to dyspepsia in some.]

 

[Wagner83]

This thread reminds me of the magnesium stearate* "coating" the inside of the digestive tract and "preventing absorption of nutrients". There were a lot of beautiful blogs about this, amazon reviews mentioning it, and then regular people took over. I don't know if it does all of those things but given what we know about stearic acid and magnesium I have some important doubts. It was a clever way to try and win a supplement market worth heaps of money and sell products at a higher price based on a supposed higher purity.

*It is a soap, consisting of salt containing two equivalents of stearate (the anion of stearic acid) and one magnesium cation (Mg2+).
Magnesium stearate - Wikipedia

 

[zewe]

Antibody formation appears to be facilitated by homogenization, a process that traps milk proteins inside the smaller liposomes as they form. It has been experimentally shown that homogenization facilitates the persorption of xanthine oxidase, a protein found in milk ten times larger than the bovine folate receptor.

The prevalence of autoantibodies against the folate receptor has been found to be 42% among Irish females.

Back when i was working in the food industry, during the 80s/90s, the US government wanted to take milk off of the food pyramid. The milk industry fought against this.

The goverment told them to change the equipment used for homogenization [called a voltator if I remember correctly] and the milk industry refused.

This was for the same thing Travis is talking about.

 

[TripleOG]

Spend enough time on forums dedicated to different forms of entertainment (music, games, movies, sports, tech, etc) and its painfully obvious corporations try to dictate the online narrative. Gotta love when a random tweet from an account with less than 100 followers is spread across every social media platform to push a narrative. Same thing with low traffic blogs you never heard of, but are somehow referenced as gospel.

Amazon reviews have become plagued with this, too, over the years.

Alls fair in love and war, they say.

 

[Travis]

Spend enough time on forums dedicated to different forms of entertainment (music, games, movies, sports, tech, etc) and its painfully obvious corporations try to dictate the online narrative. Gotta love when a random tweet from an account with less than 100 followers is spread across every social media platform to push a narrative. Same thing with low traffic blogs you never heard of, but are somehow referenced as gospel.

Amazon reviews have become plagued with this, too, over the years.

I had gotten false confidence is so much crap when I was younger due to Amazon's paid reviews. Now all I read are peer reviewed scientific articles, and then infer what ought to work.

I think the pro-vaccine propagandists are the worst, and certainly the most-vicious. They often get away with it because immunology and toxicology are somewhat complicated topics, so it's a bit harder to spot the contrivances and deceptions used in their comments.

The Government trolls are actually easier to spot because they actually argue against inviolable physical laws.

Back when i was working in the food industry, during the 80s/90s, the US government wanted to take milk off of the food pyramid. The milk industry fought against this.

The goverment told them to change the equipment used for homogenization [called a voltator if I remember correctly] and the milk industry refused.

Torres-Spelliscy, Ciara. "Got Corruption? Nixon's Milk Money." www.brennancenter.org (2013)​

'In The New York Times, I wrote about the illegal contributions from the dairy industry to President Richard Milhous Nixon’s 1972 reelection campaign. I focused on this as a reason why the current Supreme Court should uphold aggregate contribution limits, a post-Watergate reform.' ―Torres-Spelliscy

'The money the dairy industry gave to Mr. Nixon’s campaign was illegal six ways to Sunday.' ―Torres-Spelliscy

'AMPI’s campaign money was illegal because it came from a corporate source. Corporations, then and now, are barred from giving directly to a candidate for federal office under the Tillman Act.' ―Torres-Spelliscy

'And, moreover, the names of the committees were meant to be innocuous, such as the one ironically named, “Americans United for Honesty in Government.” For a list of the Orwellian PAC names, see the original evidence from the Watergate hearings here.' ―Torres-Spelliscy
​

It wouldn't surprise me if they had influenced the RDA for calcium, which is quite a bit higher here than in most countries. I'm not implying that this harmful of course, just pointing-out a supposed influence. Calcium does appear quite safe at nearly any dose given enough magnesium.

This thread reminds me of the magnesium stearate* "coating" the inside of the digestive tract and "preventing absorption of nutrients". There were a lot of beautiful blogs about this, amazon reviews mentioning it, and then regular people took over. I don't know if it does all of those things but given what we know about stearic acid and magnesium I have some important doubts. It was a clever way to try and win a supplement market worth heaps of money and sell products at a higher price based on a supposed higher purity.

I think it's a plausible idea, yet is also practically irrelevant. The digestive tract is quite long, and just a few milligrams of free stearate shouldn't be much cause for concern. I think you'd have to take gram-sized doses to significantly inhibit vitamin uptake before stearate is metabolized; the magnesium should relax the intestines, counteracting any inhibition. Stearic acid can: (1) be burned for energy, (2) Δ⁹-desaturated to oleic acid, (4) become a structural membrane lipid, and (3) is the only fatty acid consistently-associated with low cancer rates. In vitro studies indicate that stearate decreases cell membrane fluidity and reduces glucose uptake, perhaps how it can partially 'starve' quickly-proliferating cancer cells. Before a cell can divide the membrane must also double in mass, perhaps why the enzymes fatty acid synthase and Δ⁹-desaturase are often upregulated in many cancers. The intracellular sodium concentration and cell membrane fluidity are both highly associated with a cell's mitotic rate.

 

[Wagner83]

 

[zewe]

@Wagner83 Amusing but informative....thanks.

FYI:

Astroturfing can be prosecuted under several variations of consumer protection laws designed to protect the end user from false and deceitful advertising. In addition to state laws, consumers are also afforded protection at the national level from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

 

[tara]

So yes, I guess people are getting paid to be corporate shills, but they actually WORK FOR THE COMPANY. Pfizer is not going around signing temporary contracts for pharmaceutical reps lol.

It is a known phenomenon that some pharmaceutical companies have actively initiated and supported "patients" organisations to pressure for their drugs.
It has also been demonstrated that prescribing doctors are often not realistic in their awareness of the pressure they are subjected to by pharmaceutical reps and marketing strategies.

 

[tankasnowgod]

I knew that you would know for certain that paid trolls exist online, at least in shaping public opinion in certain other arenas. However: I had posted that article because I sense a certain amount of reluctance around here in acknowledging food & nutrition trolls specifically, perhaps because those not doing so are simply the trolls themselves—actually being a bit more common than you might think.

I have run into someone who I suspect is a corporate shill on this forum- Jack Roe, who I encountered in this thread- B Vitamins Cause Obesity

In some of his other threads, he insults Peat, calling his articles "Rambling," and basically being dismissive of his work, and anything that doesn't fall in line with Mainstream thinking. He also placed far too much faith in the World Health Organization, part of the United Nations, for anyone honesty engaging in this forum.

 

[Travis]

I have run into someone who I suspect is a corporate shill on this forum- Jack Roe, who I encountered in this thread- B Vitamins Cause Obesity

In some of his other threads, he insults Peat, calling his articles "Rambling," and basically being dismissive of his work, and anything that doesn't fall in line with Mainstream thinking. He also placed far too much faith in the World Health Organization, part of the United Nations, for anyone honesty engaging in this forum.

Based on his unrelenting approval of 'essential' omega−6 fatty acids, I would say he has a peculiar resistance to logic. He had pursued with maintaining a stance of omega−6 'essentiality' in the face of all facts, and his unwillingness to acknowledge legitimate scientific data had gotten so bad that the next day I could not physically bring myself to click on top–left button proclaiming 'Jack Roe had quoted your post.. .' So I had sorta forget about him, but was hoping he'd come around to being a bit more discerning in he future when I'd been hit with a driveby pro-PUFA Jack Roe post in an entirely unrelated thread—one insinuating that a specific concern of thread's creator could've been caused by Peat-induced omega−6 deficiency, ostensibly with intent to shame. This post had come-off more as a 'preach' than as a 'rant,' almost as if he'd traded his incredulity over non-mainstream ideas for the wholesale acceptance of all outdated and incorrect—yet still politically correct—textbook dogma. Now with apparent intent of spreading his newfound religion, he sprinkles abstract cuttings like fairy dust and concludes with 'omega-6 means better nerve conduction'—followed with eight-grade feminine 'eyeroll' surrounded by asterisks FFS, with one on each side. After I had then posted the actual data plainly indicating that arachidonic acid (20∶4ω₋₆) had been the one fatty acid most negatively-correlated with nerve velocity, and α-linolenic (18∶3ω₋₃) unambiguously the most, I had awaited his response. He did not reply—crickets for days—perhaps on account of the coming realization that the abstract he'd Jehova-dropped on my doorstep with self-righteous assuredness had actually confirmed exactly what I'd said previously at our first encounter, perhaps also that he would've known that had he bothered to read further down.. .