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I Can Destroy Your Reputation and Career in Two Minutes
Townhall.com ^ | September 1, 2014 | Rachel Alexander

Posted on 09/01/2014 5:21:49 AM PDT by Kaslin

There is a new form of cyberbullying out there and it is scary, because it could derail the professional career of any conservative - even those working in apolitical jobs. Slimy folks like “Busta Troll” are hijacking Facebook pages of conservatives, replacing the content with goats and anti-conservative messages. Some believe a goat is used because it is a Satanic symbol; many of the conservatives are targeted because of their Christian or Jewish views.

The conservative Citizens’ Post page on Facebook was hijacked by the “Goatz Alliance,” which also goes by the name “Busta Troll,” by pretending to be from a conservative organization called Freedom Alliance. The bullies also set up several fake conservative Facebook groups to give themselves credibility. Once they cajoled the owner into giving them admin privileges, the hijackers posted anti-conservative propaganda all over the page. On one of their fake Facebook pages, a cyber thug claims to be paid by George Soros.

Another conservative Facebook page, “America, the Next Generation,” was hijacked not just once but twice by the cyber thugs, who pretended to offer help fixing a rude post about Obama, but then posted goats. R.W. Burgin, who runs a Facebook page called The Seditionist, told The Examiner that liberal cyber thugs copied photos from his page and photoshopped them into parody pages and videos, including alongside pornography. He was called a pedophile and his employer was contacted, in order to try and get him fired.

The cyber thugs are clever and have a lot of time on their hands. The main thug, Busta Troll, apparently gave an anonymous interview to the Atlanta Conservative Examiner, boasting that he had “goated” 17 Facebook pages. Then he supposedly set up an elaborate scheme where he pretended that a conservative named Kevin Kopper had his Facebook page hijacked, so Kopper offered $1,000 to anyone who could out Busta Troll. Kopper claimed he found someone for $1,000 who identified Busta Troll as Christopher Lyman. Busta Troll explains the scheme on his website and how all the names involved are fake. It looks like Busta Troll’s identity may have finally been discovered. Fortunately, Facebook appears to be cracking down on Busta Troll, at least for the most part.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are even more disturbing ways cyber thugs are going after conservative activists. Donna Cruse, a vocal Tea Party activist, had one of these hateful people photoshop her Facebook page to make it look like she said something racist related to her credit union employer and how they give out loans. The screenshot was then posted publicly by Americans Against the Tea Party, and the credit union was contacted to complain about her.

The problem? They should have contacted the credit union first. The bank told the anonymous coward that she hadn’t been employed there since 2010! Her alleged comment makes no sense in 2014. Unfortunately, her current employer watched as the cyber storm occurred on the credit union’s site, and due to the frenzied public reaction to this hoax, she was immediately suspended and has been placed on indefinite, unpaid suspension. She is nowreceiving death threats. Her previous co-workers are afraid to associate with her, possibly out of fear for their jobs. Even more outrageous, Donna has many black friends - who I happened to notice in photos with her on her Facebook page - and last year, she shaved all her hair off her head to show her support for an ethnic friend who was undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.

Nevertheless, her current employer launched an investigation into her and found what they believed to be another Facebook profile of hers, but it was actually a dormant account of a leftist troll who simply changed the name and added a stolen photo, causing further investigation into her personally. In other words, Donna has become “the criminal” in the story. This is how they terrorize people on the right to the point of suicide.

I am fairly good with photoshopping, and know how simple it would be to superimpose a fake comment onto a screenshot of someone’s Facebook page. I photoshopped a screenshot of Barack Obama’s Facebook page to say he was becoming a Republican in less than two minutes. How this tactic could be used to take out conservatives is frankly terrifying. The best way to prevent it is to spread the word and explain how the photoshopping works. Someone loves Hitler? Someone wants to kill Obama? Someone is a white supremacist? Someone hates gays? Photoshopped sex photos? The possibilities are endless. The left is excellent at making this kind of thing go viral and getting activists to call and make complaints.

Progressives and their comrades in the media are always trying to claim there is a link between right-wing conservatives and offensive viewpoints - even though the truth is abhorrent viewpoints are more closely connected to the left - so some employers may believe the anonymous thugs over a Tea Party member. Especially if they pile it on by having a few more anonymous people post comments after the article claiming the person has made offensive comments in the past (even though they have no proof), and bang! It begins to sound convincing.

One little two-minute photoshopping incident and your entire career aspirations could be over - forever. Anyone who Googles you for the rest of your life will likely find the abhorrent things about you. And it’s not just what someone said about you - it’s what YOU supposedly said so it’s even tougher to dispute.

Wikipedia is another forum conservatives need to take on, since it has become the number one source for encyclopedia-like, general information. Trolls - probably mostly unemployed criminals living in their parents’ basements - have taken over much of it, posting horrendous things about conservative people and conservative organizations. Unless someone has a lot of money to pay someone to clean up their reputation, or time to spend hours learning how to maneuver the complexities of editing Wikipedia, this site can significantly hurt their credibility.

Hopefully, entities like Facebook will address this in the future, perhaps by setting up a department to deal with requests for records in order to prove the photoshopping is false. A spammer took my photo and started a fake Facebook profile with it recently; I complained to Facebook and they wouldn’t remove it (fortunately it has since disappeared). Another solution is to set up a website where these incidents can be exposed and debunked. If anyone is looking for a new venture to help conservatives, this would be a very valuable project. Otherwise, expect to see many more conservatives destroyed over false accusations - including some big names.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: bullying; careers; conservatives; cyberbullying; employment; fakebutaccurate; internet; jobs; progressives; ratherbiased
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To: 1rudeboy

Snopes is incorrect like the MSM is incorrect. Technically they may be not be lying, but by omission, choice of terms, etc there’s a definitely leftward spin on the political stuff they ‘fact check’.


41 posted on 09/01/2014 8:03:31 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: skeeter
And I find it funny that practically no one can establish that Snopes is "incorrect," instead complaining about its bias.

A fake email is just that . . . and to determine it, that's why people go to Snopes. If you disagree with why Snopes claims it is fake, that's fine . . . it's still fake.

42 posted on 09/01/2014 8:08:47 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Kaslin
hmmmm...

a method such as that could have unforeseen consequences..




43 posted on 09/01/2014 8:09:12 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey ( "Never, never, never give up". Winston Churchill ...)
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To: Kaslin

Good old atheists. Defending tolerance and free speech from mom’s basement.


44 posted on 09/01/2014 8:09:34 AM PDT by Ethan Clive Osgoode (<<== Click here to learn about Evolution!)
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To: fatnotlazy

Yes, you can delete the account but, more importantly, you can “defriend” the people who annoy you, and they won’t know it.

Only accept “friend” requests from people you actually know. Facebook is a great tool when used responsibly but can easily be misused like anything else.

Great way to keep in touch with family and friends who live far away.


45 posted on 09/01/2014 8:09:47 AM PDT by Jedidah
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To: Kaslin

What’s a Face Book?


46 posted on 09/01/2014 8:09:50 AM PDT by Rodamala
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To: 1rudeboy

And I find it funny that a site purporting to be an arbiter of the truth would have any kind of bias.


47 posted on 09/01/2014 8:10:59 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: Focault's Pendulum

LMAO. Was it you who dropped a dollar in my coffee cup? I wasn’t begging ... it still had coffee in it, dude!


48 posted on 09/01/2014 8:11:10 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("What in the wide, wide world of sports is goin' on here?")
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To: Kaslin

People using FACEBOOK to post personal stuff are simply targeting THEMSELVES! Dump FaceBook, why do you feel the need to post all your personal information for the world to see? (I’d expect this from Obama, but not YOU!) [collective “you” intended]


49 posted on 09/01/2014 8:11:55 AM PDT by ThePatriotsFlag ($$$$$$$$ DEFUND OBAMA! $$$$$$$$$)
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To: yldstrk
Get off Facebook, it is stupid and so many people’s legal cases implode because of stupid idiocy they post on Facebook

You got that right! I'm hoping it will help us in a lawsuit. Stupid woman left her facebook page WIDE OPEN for us, and that's all I'm going to say.
50 posted on 09/01/2014 8:12:01 AM PDT by Mama Shawna
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To: Kaslin
... Once they cajoled the owner into giving them admin privileges...

Doh!

51 posted on 09/01/2014 8:12:48 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The man who damns money obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it earned it." --Ayn Rand)
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To: yldstrk

I have a similar sister and some idiot friends.

When they post something annoying I go to the clickable arrow at the top right of their post and select “I don’t want to see this.” That takes it off my newsfeed and makes me feel like I slapped their stupidity.

(Same little arrow allows you the choice to “unfollow” someone.)


52 posted on 09/01/2014 8:17:33 AM PDT by Jedidah
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To: Alberta's Child

The constitution gives private entrepreneurs their rights to do what they like(no don’t ask SCOTUS those bastages are compromised). My sense of my own personal freedoms would caution me to not work for someone who would ask me that.

Nor would I keep a doctor who asked me about my guns. I would leave after telling him to ‘heal thyself’.


53 posted on 09/01/2014 8:20:05 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: dfwgator

I’m sure you don’t count that a big loss. I know I certainly wouldn’t give it another thought. My most prolific lib Facebooker is on a jag of using Bernie Sanders quotes. I let some pass without comment but never fail to use “commie” when I do respond to a Sanders quote.


54 posted on 09/01/2014 8:21:02 AM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: Kaslin; GeronL
Dan Rather and the Democrats tried this in 2004.

#FAKEBUTACCURATE

55 posted on 09/01/2014 8:26:44 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (ISIS has started up a slave trade in Iraq. Mission accomplshed, Barack, Mission accomplished.)
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To: skeeter
Again, and internet rumor is just that, an internet rumor. You see one posted here every few weeks. On the last one, I had a conversation that essentially went like this:

A: Uh, Snopes says it's fake.
B: Snopes is biased.
A: Uh, but it's still fake.
B: What difference does it make?

That sort of stuff never fails to crack me up.
56 posted on 09/01/2014 8:27:08 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Jedidah

But if a potential client sees the page first............


57 posted on 09/01/2014 8:27:14 AM PDT by yldstrk ( My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Rodamala

A stupid nosy site


58 posted on 09/01/2014 8:28:04 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: SamAdams76

“I am pretty much resigned to the fact that eventually, my employer and my family will eventually have access to all that I’ve ever said here over the past 17 years.”

Just about everyone that’s ever spent ANY time around me has heard it ALL.


59 posted on 09/01/2014 8:36:02 AM PDT by Blue Collar Christian (quod est Latine morositate)
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To: 1rudeboy

“Snopes is an excellent resource, and rarely incorrect.”

Snopes put out 462 articles in support of Hussein TODAY.

Many times, they will “debunk” something their god actually said by changing a word or two of it and then chastise anyone for actually believing it.

That all being said, they are an “excellent resource” for debunking stupid emails and rumors that the average person who doesn’t have their face planted far up Hussein’s posterior ought to know are stupid emails and rumors anyway.

My source: Search snopes.com for “Obama” and scroll through the “Next 100” references to the end.


60 posted on 09/01/2014 8:50:06 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs (Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)
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