More than a dozen American activists have come forward in a ‘Russian bots’ video confession, claiming that the mainstream media is trying to rewrite the history of 2016 elections by pointing to elusive Russian bots.
The activists assert that the political process “has been stolen” – but say it wasn’t by the Russians.
The tongue-in-cheek video features “confessions” from political activists across the US – all of whom admit to being Russian “bots,”“trolls” and even “spies.” However, despite its lighthearted tone, the video has a serious message, Will Markham, the video’s creator, told RT.
According to Markham, the Russian bot narrative is part of a “bigger gaslighting tactic from mainstream outlets to try to rewrite [the] history” of the 2016 presidential elections. “We remember the [election] very well,” Markham said. “And when we see these mainstream networks try to rewrite everything, we start to think: ‘Ok, they’re really just trying to mess with us.’ So, we got together to demonstrate that we are real people, real activists from America.
“It was a common joke among us. We said: ‘I take full responsibility for Hillary Clinton’s loss,’ because we were the ones out trying to influence the election – you know, just us American citizens.”
Melanie Fisher, a self-described “Bernie Sanders activist” told RT that she has been “accused of being a Russian bot for over a year now.” Fisher, who hails from California, said she thinks the media pushed Russian bot scare stories because the establishment didn’t want to admit that “Hillary’s didn’t have nearly as much support as they wanted you to believe.”
To account for the vocal opposition to Clinton’s candidacy, the “powers that be” used “the lame excuse” that Fisher and likeminded Americans were “actually Russian bots.” “It was ridiculous,” Fisher told RT. “We are everyday Americans that are concerned about the condition of the country. And we’re concerned about the way the media is portraying activists. So I want to get the truth out. They can call us Russian bots but we’re actually just concerned Americans – reality is not as it’s portrayed [in] the media.”
Ithan Sokol, a former Bernie Sanders supporter, said that the video’s message should resonate with Americans across the political spectrum who realize “this whole Russiagate narrative is a huge smokescreen” to distract from “corruption” in the Democratic and Republican parties.
“They don’t want the American public to actually look at the evidence,” Sokol, who lives in New Jersey, said. “They just want to tell us ‘This is what you should think.’ Anyone who can see through the propaganda should jump on board this campaign as a big FU to the mainstream media.”
The media’s asinine attempts to pin Clinton’s loss on the Russians have inspired fed-up Americans to speak out, Danielle St. John, a California congressional candidate, told RT.
“Our political process has been stolen from us, and it wasn’t stolen by the Russians,” she said. “This [video] is our attempt to tell the world that America is awake, America is not going to let this happen for too much longer, that there is a lot of political change coming.”
Russian bot and troll sightings spiked shortly after Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. The Russian e-beasts seem to have quickly become main characters in any talks on alleged meddling in the elections. As a result, social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have reportedly clamped down on alleged Russian lurkers – said to be netting scores of legitimate users in the process.
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