General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Want to know just how fake some pro-TPP people really are? [View all]DirkGently
(12,151 posts)Odd choice of counter-examples you've picked there. Someone clearly MOCKING the Tea Party with a facetious sign? Pro-segregationists who are best known for being defeated by the much larger, nationwide protest movement to end it?
C'mon.
The point of the OP is simply impossible to argue. The TPP is immensely unpopular, for good reason. There is an ongoing, maliciously dishonest attempt, on behalf of the handful of monied interests that support it, to create a false impression of "grass roots" support. We are supposed to believe there is an invisible army of "regular folks" in support of it, based on websites and advertising.
It's not like the OP is making some esoteric or hard-to-follow point. The practice is called "astro-turfing," and it's a well-known phenomenon deployed increasingly by well-heeled, but minority interests, to capture the strength of real grass-roots movements with fakery.
It's a lie; simple as that. TPP has no grass-roots support, precisely because it doesn't serve the public good. It's a power-grab for multi-national business interests, and putting it forward is a straightforward assault on the common good and the way democracy is supposed to work.