[antidesitter]

> You used the term "specifically" but nobody is nitpicking the meaning of that word to elevate a non-generous interpretation of what you mean.

What do you think the word “shill” means to most people? I’m baffled at your attempt to characterize this as “nitpicking”.

> Sometimes people are just not that careful with the words they choose and don't expect others to jump on their word choice as indicative of some highly nuanced intent.

It’s pretty clear the author intended to call politicians who don’t “support public education” shills. There’s nothing “nuanced” about that.

If you don’t think calling such people “shills” was the intent, I’m curious to hear your alternative interpretation.

[Retra]

A more generous interpretation would simply be that "shill" was used as a proxy for "selfish." But that doesn't even matter, you can ask that poster what they meant. Context should tell you they were doing nothing more than vaguely commenting on their feelings. You really don't have to dig into it.