Confession from a grievance group runner.
I run servers for small grievance groups, so here's some of my confessions.
1. The group likely won't achieve anything
Realistically, what can a zero budget group do without breaking the laws? The biggest "achievement" such groups would have, would be spawning a mass shooter, albeit, this carries potential legal penalties and deplatformimg risks, so it is not wanted.
2. I cherry pick data
Say you have the following data, you are A group. Here is how good each group achives certain tasks:
A: 4/5
B: 5/5
C: 2/5
I omit the dataset from B, so it looks like we are the best at something, even though we are not.
3. I take the middle ground
Sometimes, when it becomes impossible to deny something, I spin it.
Sure, my group isn't as good at this, but look, we are the most balanced, and we are good in other fields!!
4. Most of my menbers aren't that bright
Ironic. Lots of people in my group constantly get their accounts banned by making online threats and detailing graphic methods of how they will kill people.
5. Truth is not that important
If an incident happened, let's say my group beaten someone up, even though it is objectively wrong, I spin it as correct.
A: it demonstrates our fighting power
B: they must have wronged us for us to attack
6. You have to be somewhat familiar with laws and play the word game
Making statements online is not that easy. Walking a fine line in the geatbzone is important, and you have to refresh yourself on questions like "whether this falls within First Amendment?"
7. You can't push members too far
Another truth for grievance based groups — lots of people will call to plan attacks, discuss it, and hint at it. Firefighting is a thing that managers or leaders have to constantly do to prevent a member actually aunching an attack.
8. You have to compromise
There will be lots of people with similar views as you, but may be more dogmatic or pragmatic; you have to reach a middle ground between them.
It's actually difficult for people to fit into boxes sometimes, so you have to be flexible.
9. I just want friends and community
Why do I bother with teaching OPSEC, networking, managing servers, and writing daily posts? Because I just want to vent, and want friends. I have some people who would listen to me and swarm the opponents, and share the same core grievances.
10. Banning is expected, so the algorithm is your best friend
I have found that, many banned people easily return to our 'network' by following a few people.
11. Lots of opponents don't have hostile intentions and are just like you
The algorithm pulls many opponents together if they discuss similar things; over time, you will even have some friends you would consider opponents. Mediation is another game here; you have to be firm enough for outreach, yet not alienate your opponents.
12. Chatbots are great tools — use them
When you have to output large volume of content, chatbots become your best friends to check for cultural sensitivity, authenticity of information, and whether a post is likely to be protected under Brandenburg standard.
13. Respecting the law is the strongest OPSEC
The truth is, most people are bad with OPSEC in these groups; they constantly post share links from Instagram, show their faces, or tell everyone where they work. So you have to constantly teach them.
There are two OPSEC — social and law OPSEC.
You have to teach people to avoid information (social OPSEC) and avoid inciting attacks (law OPSEC)
14. Most people in these spaces are autistic losers
I do not mean that in an insulting way; I'm autistic myself, but there is a reason these groups' people share a certain pattern so well; they're angry at the world, jealous at those who have more, so they bond over the most effortless thing (To be honest, I am the same!).
I'm diagnosed with autism and ADHD; it's obvious who's autistic when you look at those people constantly focusing on the same topic again and again. Autism radar, I guess.
15. Many members are delusional
They look at historical countries and think that their daily lives would be the same, with modern amenities and freedom, in a "Utopia". I actually live in one of the authoritarian countries that those people idolize; sure, I love my country, but it's not as rosey as those people make it out to be, and countries bent their ideologies a lot (as I do) for pragmatic reasons.
16. You have to structure your movement to be around a coherent goal
The more vague, conflicting the goal is, the more difficult is it to stabilize the group, so you will need to rally people around a point that's extremely popular among young people; nothing more, nothing less.
17. It's grievance first, ideology second
You see these super complicated ideologies in these groups, about how the group is enlightened or different, they're all fragile scaffolding for the core grievance.
18. Big changes will not happen, small ones may
In a world where countries heavily depend on each other, do you think you can really totally remove some groups? Changes can lead to pressure on these groups, maybe disadvantaging them, but nothing more.
19. Low control is the key
The days of 5 hour study sessions are done for; nowadays, they call this post organizational groups, where members have low power distance and a leader in one group can be a recruit in another. Nowadays, these groups are mostly venting or even gaming based (you'd be surprised at how many late 20s still play Roblox or Minecraft)
20. I do not regret; 9-6 forces me that way
I created a slop ideology for my group, but I share the same grievances.
Compromises, mediation, and crafting posts is fun for me. I get to have some friends and people to talk to after graduating info a job (admittedly a decent one); you don't have much energy leaving the home from 7am to returning in 8pm, so your phone, group, and comrades become your friends. Many people say leaders are manipulative and don't care, but I disagre; I've seen true friendships maintained even though some infiltrators who did not fit our identity standard, maintained relations with current members; I don't really mind.
It's a restaurant in the hood, not a yacht club.
I run servers for small grievance groups, so here's some of my confessions.
1. The group likely won't achieve anything
Realistically, what can a zero budget group do without breaking the laws? The biggest "achievement" such groups would have, would be spawning a mass shooter, albeit, this carries potential legal penalties and deplatformimg risks, so it is not wanted.
2. I cherry pick data
Say you have the following data, you are A group. Here is how good each group achives certain tasks:
A: 4/5
B: 5/5
C: 2/5
I omit the dataset from B, so it looks like we are the best at something, even though we are not.
3. I take the middle ground
Sometimes, when it becomes impossible to deny something, I spin it.
Sure, my group isn't as good at this, but look, we are the most balanced, and we are good in other fields!!
4. Most of my menbers aren't that bright
Ironic. Lots of people in my group constantly get their accounts banned by making online threats and detailing graphic methods of how they will kill people.
5. Truth is not that important
If an incident happened, let's say my group beaten someone up, even though it is objectively wrong, I spin it as correct.
A: it demonstrates our fighting power
B: they must have wronged us for us to attack
6. You have to be somewhat familiar with laws and play the word game
Making statements online is not that easy. Walking a fine line in the geatbzone is important, and you have to refresh yourself on questions like "whether this falls within First Amendment?"
7. You can't push members too far
Another truth for grievance based groups — lots of people will call to plan attacks, discuss it, and hint at it. Firefighting is a thing that managers or leaders have to constantly do to prevent a member actually aunching an attack.
8. You have to compromise
There will be lots of people with similar views as you, but may be more dogmatic or pragmatic; you have to reach a middle ground between them.
It's actually difficult for people to fit into boxes sometimes, so you have to be flexible.
9. I just want friends and community
Why do I bother with teaching OPSEC, networking, managing servers, and writing daily posts? Because I just want to vent, and want friends. I have some people who would listen to me and swarm the opponents, and share the same core grievances.
10. Banning is expected, so the algorithm is your best friend
I have found that, many banned people easily return to our 'network' by following a few people.
11. Lots of opponents don't have hostile intentions and are just like you
The algorithm pulls many opponents together if they discuss similar things; over time, you will even have some friends you would consider opponents. Mediation is another game here; you have to be firm enough for outreach, yet not alienate your opponents.
12. Chatbots are great tools — use them
When you have to output large volume of content, chatbots become your best friends to check for cultural sensitivity, authenticity of information, and whether a post is likely to be protected under Brandenburg standard.
13. Respecting the law is the strongest OPSEC
The truth is, most people are bad with OPSEC in these groups; they constantly post share links from Instagram, show their faces, or tell everyone where they work. So you have to constantly teach them.
There are two OPSEC — social and law OPSEC.
You have to teach people to avoid information (social OPSEC) and avoid inciting attacks (law OPSEC)
14. Most people in these spaces are autistic losers
I do not mean that in an insulting way; I'm autistic myself, but there is a reason these groups' people share a certain pattern so well; they're angry at the world, jealous at those who have more, so they bond over the most effortless thing (To be honest, I am the same!).
I'm diagnosed with autism and ADHD; it's obvious who's autistic when you look at those people constantly focusing on the same topic again and again. Autism radar, I guess.
15. Many members are delusional
They look at historical countries and think that their daily lives would be the same, with modern amenities and freedom, in a "Utopia". I actually live in one of the authoritarian countries that those people idolize; sure, I love my country, but it's not as rosey as those people make it out to be, and countries bent their ideologies a lot (as I do) for pragmatic reasons.
16. You have to structure your movement to be around a coherent goal
The more vague, conflicting the goal is, the more difficult is it to stabilize the group, so you will need to rally people around a point that's extremely popular among young people; nothing more, nothing less.
17. It's grievance first, ideology second
You see these super complicated ideologies in these groups, about how the group is enlightened or different, they're all fragile scaffolding for the core grievance.
18. Big changes will not happen, small ones may
In a world where countries heavily depend on each other, do you think you can really totally remove some groups? Changes can lead to pressure on these groups, maybe disadvantaging them, but nothing more.
19. Low control is the key
The days of 5 hour study sessions are done for; nowadays, they call this post organizational groups, where members have low power distance and a leader in one group can be a recruit in another. Nowadays, these groups are mostly venting or even gaming based (you'd be surprised at how many late 20s still play Roblox or Minecraft)
20. I do not regret; 9-6 forces me that way
I created a slop ideology for my group, but I share the same grievances.
Compromises, mediation, and crafting posts is fun for me. I get to have some friends and people to talk to after graduating info a job (admittedly a decent one); you don't have much energy leaving the home from 7am to returning in 8pm, so your phone, group, and comrades become your friends. Many people say leaders are manipulative and don't care, but I disagre; I've seen true friendships maintained even though some infiltrators who did not fit our identity standard, maintained relations with current members; I don't really mind.
It's a restaurant in the hood, not a yacht club.
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