[pierat]

You know, we're supposed to assume sincerity and general good intent to folks here...

But you know, you have to wonder just how many big business astroturfers there are here. We know the oil companies knew about climate change in the 70s, and buried it. It's not at all unbelievable that they would pay influencers and the like to peddle downplays of climate devastation, in order to slow responses.

Obviously, we don't know for sure, since accts here are semi-anonymous. But it would make a great deal of sense to sow confusion and condemnation and downplay the anthropocene.

[avgcorrection]

I think HN is too liberal (in American terms) to focus the Denial Astroturf on. That plays better with more conservative segments. Liberal audiences are fed the Consumer Awareness Cope: drive less and grow your own tomatos on your veranda. Corporations don't cause climate change because consumers need to buy stuff from corporations for them to survive.

And since this is a wealthy and techy audience you can dial up the upper-middle class fantasies of just buying an EV, installing solar on your roofs, and getting Tesla batteries for your own home.

Go a little further still and you reach the Geoengineering Cope... which also fits here...

[growingkittens]

HN is superficially liberal (in American terms), as a side effect of being a technology community: technology causes progress. I have lived in the American South my entire life, and see that HN has a strong, conservative undercurrent.

[DiggyJohnson]

I genuinely think there are very few. Nearly every time I see someone concerned about astroturfing it seems more likely that it’s simply surprise that another individual has a different perspective than your own.