Much of mainstream media keeps the knowledge that some commenters are being paid under their hat, but watching what happens in comment sections and even on forum boards, and Twitter and similar type spots over the last 15 years, I've found patterns that suggest that there are rather large numbers of people who are writing for money, though I am astonished that $20 a hour is mentioned.
I'm guessing that is only for some writers as specified by Klein's report. As his chart shows it is still cheaper to do that than to make advertisements and the newspaper offers commenters free space. Then again not everyone who reads an article reads all the comments too.
In my general experience with forums, blogs, Twitter, comment boards, etc. it appears to be the right and centrist interests paying for their commenters. Even among liberals those who seem to be working for money tend to the right of many of us, though maybe not in their personal lives.
What I'm saying is that the money is coming from the right of every issue when it comes in to politics.
So the money earners during the Health Care Debate on the Democratic side were working to get a lot of us liberals on Twitter to be happy with an HCR package without a public option. To their credit most of the liberal commenters that I suspect were paid, were articulate and nice in their work. That's more than can often be said for the paid Twitterers on the right.
Now, that being said, even college students don't know some things. They don't see yet how they are going to be dragged down by that college loan, as many Occupiers know and have expressed. They don't see how it is when you have to go to work in High School to help support family and can't even get to college and will only be hired at minimum wage, if then, if their skin is darker than many of their peers, so many employers don't trust trust them without that degree.
They also may not know what it's like to see the children of families that are better connected to the 1% go quickly into high paying jobs that don't seem even to have that much work associated with them even when they have a degree.
They don't know how it feels when they are just getting by working long hours and suddenly they or here significant other gets pregnant and they wouldn't know how to maintain their work schedule with a baby and immense medical bills are a part of their lives.
Therefore, college students might be more susceptible to right wing and even Libertarian lies about what equality is or even the newest Big Lie that the young pay for the retirement of the old. I wrote a post that showed that the old pre-pay for their retirement entirely except for a few that live extraordinarily long lives.
BTW, the rising lifespan numbers are actually a myth created because so many children tended to die in the first decades of the twentieth century. So, the increased lifespan actually reflects a lot of children who made it into the work force. Without the 1% constantly getting tax cuts and privileges, and convincing the nation to go to war to secure them resources we would be a much more equitable nation of people living much happier lives.
But Ron Paul's libertarians and others will pay you to post for money.
And now I know that at least some other people know about this.
I'm telling you this so sponsored Internet postings will have less of an influence on you.
Me, I should get some ads, it's the only way I'll see money.
But thanks Ezra for talking about the Elephant in the Room of public commentary. Once people see it, it's hard to hide it again.
See Ezra Klein's Wonklife Tumblr Blog report >>>> Here <<<<
