Twittergate: Beandog Trolls Spoil Tea Party
October 11th, 2010 | by Jen |A prank by a group of online trolls, including several Australians, has whipped conservative US commentators into a lather over what they claimed was a gang of progressive “e-thugs” formed by the Democrats to smear the Tea Party movement.
In a 13 minute online conspiracy video, dubbed “Twittergate”, extreme right-wing US commentator Greg Howard - dubbed the “Glenn Beck of Twitter” - accused the Democrats of hiring online thugs to harass conservative Twitter users and goad them into making offensive comments, which are then used to smear the anti-Obama Tea Party movement.
Beck, a popular conservative US political commentator who appears regularly on radio and TV, published the video on his website, triggering a firestorm of protest from armchair conservatives on blogs, forums and Twitter.
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The reaction was music to the ears of one of the so-called e-thugs, Samuel Birbeck, 30, from Adelaide. Budding comedian Birbeck, along with several other Australians, is part of a group of online trolls called the Beandog Militia, formed to annoy and embarrass conservative bigots who spew bile online.
“You try and bait people into revealing their own stupidity and ignorance and then sit back and have a good laugh at them,” Birbeck explained in a phone interview.
“It could be anything from asking someone an inflammatory question to really really crude childish stuff … to making overtly racist comments towards them and getting a response that indicates they actually seriously hold those sorts of views.”
Looking at a sample of Howard’s tweets, which are read by almost 15,000 followers, it’s easy to see why he was targeted.
“I proudly compare myself with Obama. I am twice the man he’ll ever be,” reads one.
“Only thing Obama has accomplished of any use is prove someone with high melanin content in their skin can be elected,” reads another.
Howard also accuses Obama of being a homosexual and claims that it’s no surprise that a majority of serial killers are registered Republicans because “they are highly intelligent as a rule”.
Offending blacks and Muslims is another of Howard’s favourite topics. “If Musims are forbidden from going through full body scanners, then install them at every single airport and door in America,” reads another of his tweets.
Birbeck said Howard had been in his group’s sights for some time but the group regularly goes after conservatives, having also been partly responsible for the firestorm of criticism against Family First’s Wendy Francis over her gay slurs on Twitter.
In response, Howard and fellow conservative tweeters formed a group to take on the Beandogs, dubbed “the Wrecking Crew”. The crew released the conspiracy theory video and have even accused the Beandogs of embedding viruses in their Twitter avatars.