xp_logs | Digging deeper

xp_trance posting in

Hope, Sue and Doug start to look into events in Pennsylvania.

"Safe School Coalition"

"Sapiens Foundation"

"Society for the Protection of Human Children"

"Teen Overwatch Initiative"

The list of the names of four groups primarily supporting that bill on the whiteboard seemed so innocuous. Tilting her head a little, Hope narrowed her eyes. "Perhaps some of these people should have asked ChatGPT for some better name suggestions.. The Teen Overwatch Initiative?"

"Well, you know. 'Hitlerjugend' was already taken." Doug's tone was dry enough to put the Sahara to shame. "Classic astroturfing, though. Make your group sound as innocuous as possible, make opponents look like the crazy ones. Who doesn't want to protect children?" he asked, his voice shifting timber to the smooth silkiness of a lobbyist. "Who doesn't want schools to be safe?" He flicked his hand dismissively. "And then they fall back on 'just asking questions', and let the press paint a 'both sides' type of narrative, and their work is practically done for them." Cynical? Maybe. But not wrong.

"It was one of the first thoughts that occurred to me as well. And I think it's very likely." Hope admitted. "But let us be cautious of tunnel vision in case it does turn out to be something very different. Sue, could you pull up the websites next to each other?"

A few taps on the keyboard had the screen dancing, one website after the other sliding into position next to one another so they could compare them all. "Just looking at it, they all seem relatively different, the same images of kids and the same message," a hand waved at hte screen, "Save the kids, looking out for the next generation. It's what comes next that's so interesting. All about threats too the healthy upbringing, the safety and to the protection of the youth by "undesirable elements" who will leave them behind, or worse."

Doug held up his hands and wiggled his fingers to draw Hope and Sue's attention as he ticked off each word of the next statement. "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for -human- children." At the end, only his thumb was still curled down. "Fourteen words, and I will bet you five dollars that you will find that statement, or something very close to it, on those sites."

Hope subtlety rolled her eyes at him. "If I wanted to give you five dollars, I would just have done so. But I have a feeling you might be right." Pulling over a keyboard, she quickly typed in the phrase and set Doug's and Sue's programs to work. "Bingo. It's couched to make it all sound eminently reasonable. For parents, for teachers, for just the concerned citizen who might just run across a 'manifesting mutant on their way to work'..."

Doug shook his head. "It's a solid playbook, to be sure. Always lead with 'concerned', benign statements about 'safety', and so on." He couldn't deny the slickness of the strategy. "And then the tests, and even if there are problems, people will be so sure they can be ironed out." He sighed. "The number of well-meaning people who fall back on the 'Shirley exception'..."

"That's the scary part isn't it, this kind of strategy really appeals to those well-intentioned, the parents and teachers who really do worry about anything and everything out there. Like you said, they can't think of anyone using the rules badly, they just want to protect their families and communities, just being guided to protect them from the wrong people." Sue shook her head, slumping down in her chair, "You know sometimes, it really makes you despair for humanity."

"It certainly can." Hope let out a small sigh. "Okay, so based on the language, tactics and talking points we strongly suspect there are links between these organizations. I would suggest we start looking at the people behind the websites."

Sue pulled herself up, fingers tapping at the keyboard as she opened up new windows on her screen, "You know what they say, follow the money."