Episode 58: Astroturfing

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Astroturfing — the insidious and increasingly common strategy by which special interests create the illusion of grass-roots movements in order to manipulate public opinion, promote unpopular policies, and even subvert elections. From shady mis-information campaigns waged by Big Business to the rise of "fake news" and fake social-media feeds created with the express purpose of dividing a nation, we're seeing the emergence of a new and highly effective form of public brainwashing. So here, we explore the potential this sort of dis-information has to undermine our media and democracy. We look at how astroturfing is being used to mess with our minds, influence our behavior, and to subvert our common interests. Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you get wise to how astroturfing works, and where it might be showing up in your own life. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/astroturfing/