Russian Trolls on Medium?
Will they Boris, or are they Godunov?
It’s not every day a fellow platform user provides a link to Sputnik International, the Russian government news agency Rossiya Segodny’s version of Voice of America, to illustrate their point.
It all started when I published my piece Enemy of the People, which contains zero mentions of Russia. The piece is about open discourse and the wrongness of branding those who disagree “enemies of the people.” It names former flingers of that phrase, including Lenin and Stalin. It also refers to America’s Cold-War-era, communist witch hunts. Rather fair and balanced of me, da?
I received this in reply from someone I’ll call JG:
Ironic that you cite McCarthyism. That’s exactly what the Dems, the press and the McCains of the R party are practising.
And the spectacle of self described progressives aligning with war mongers and neocons is sickening.
Do you actually want to go to war with Russia? Have you all lost your minds?
I thought this quite a leap from my applauding John McCain for saying it was wrong to attack the press with the label “enemy of the American people,” so I wrote back:
Asking questions about the breadth of Russian meddling in our election process based on our own intelligence agencies’ findings = a witch hunt + warmongering
Do I have that right?
The charges were then upped by JG:
You can add racist to the charge sheet too.
Why is speaking to Russians a problem?
Are you demanding investigations into Israeli meddling in US politics? Have you called for an investigation into Ukraine intelligence’ involvement in this scandal?
How did we get to racist? How did we get to “speaking to Russians?” Why bring in other foreign meddling? I was getting rather weary of JG’s ever-spooling irrelevancies. But, I am not a fan of foreign meddling, so I replied:
I wish there were. But my piece is not about Russians, Israelis, Ukranians or lack of them. It is about the labeling of classes of Americans enemies.
So take your high horse on a ride somewhere else or stick to the subject.
I had not called Russia an enemy, yet this is what I got in reply:
That you consider Russia as an enemy just shows your gullible acceptance of the propaganda being peddled. And your racism.
Racism again. How can a white person be racist in respect to Russians? I’m clearly white. I, unlike JG, have a profile photo. I replied in a manner I thought might demonstrate I did not have prejudice against people from that part of the world, while pointing out that one could have reasons other than “racism” for distrusting the Russian government:
Racism? My husband’s family home was seized by the Russians and his two aunts were virtual prisoners of the Soviets ... Excuse me if I don’t have the level of trust you do.
What do I get in return?:
No I won’t excuse your racism. A few unsubstantiated anecdotes don’t make your irrational fear and hatred not racism.
You people have a collective psychosis. All whipped up by a propaganda blitz.
I was now, in all seriousness, beginning to wonder if English was JG’s first language. That would explain his use of “racism” out of context. I asked:
Do you even know the definition of racism?
Here’s what I got back:
Yes I do Meg. And I know what Russophobia is too. And American exceptionalism.
That’s 3 out of 3 for you.
American exceptionalism? Russophobia? Where was he getting this from anything I’ve written. It was beyond absurd. I’d had enough:
You are a joke. Bye.
That’s when I got the link to Sputnik to educate me on my Russophobia:
You’re a victim. Toodles.
Do we have here a bona fide Russian troll? If so, the Kremlin isn’t getting its money’s worth.
I don’t think JG is a Russian troll. He’s not good enough. If he doesn’t clean up his logic, the worst he will do is bore us.
I think it’s time for a (non-Soviet) block.
