adric22
Well-known member
I am not normally the type to jump on conspiracy theories, but since we know the oil companies have done stuff like this before, we know it is not beyond them.
Whenever I see an article posted on the Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt on a popular news site (such as Yahoo, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, etc..) the user comments below the story are usually about 99% negative. And when I say negative, I mean belligerently negative towards electric cars. Also the vast majority of the posts seem to have false information in them. We've heard many of them before, but I list some of the common cites:
These are all paraphrases of course, but these are the only types of comments I'm seeing. And every time I post a positive comment, it never shows up. Now, I live in Texas, a state which is not overwhelmingly considered green. I've talked to hundreds of people at car shows and other public places when I bring my home-converted electric car around. True, a lot of people say the car wouldn't work for them but people are overwhelmingly in support of the technology. I've never heard anyone openly bash the idea of people who want to driving electric cars. Also I've noticed that websites like youtube seem to have a better balance of comments on videos.
So am I crazy in thinking that the oil companies have paid off the moderators on these news websites to delete all or most of the positive comments in order to make it appear that the public is not in support of these cars?
here is a recent example, but I've noticed this trend for months now:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100714/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gm_volt_warranty_7
Go ahead.. look through the comments and see if you think this is balanced or not.
Whenever I see an article posted on the Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt on a popular news site (such as Yahoo, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, etc..) the user comments below the story are usually about 99% negative. And when I say negative, I mean belligerently negative towards electric cars. Also the vast majority of the posts seem to have false information in them. We've heard many of them before, but I list some of the common cites:
- Electric cars pollute more than gas cars.
- Electric cars are worse on the environment from their manufacturing process
- Don't free us from foreign imports because all the parts come from overseas.
- When talking about the Chevy volt, people say it can "only go 40 miles and you are dead on the side of the road"
- these cars will be all over the side of the freeways, dead, out of power.
- Only a homosexual would drive a car like this, a real man uses gas engine.
- Nobody would ever buy such a piece of junk
- These cars will sit on the lot and Nissan will go broke for making them all
- How could you ever drive a car that could only go 100 miles? That won't take you anywhere.
- I'll stick with my Hummer
- Who in their right mind would pay $32,000 for a car that can only go 100 miles?
These are all paraphrases of course, but these are the only types of comments I'm seeing. And every time I post a positive comment, it never shows up. Now, I live in Texas, a state which is not overwhelmingly considered green. I've talked to hundreds of people at car shows and other public places when I bring my home-converted electric car around. True, a lot of people say the car wouldn't work for them but people are overwhelmingly in support of the technology. I've never heard anyone openly bash the idea of people who want to driving electric cars. Also I've noticed that websites like youtube seem to have a better balance of comments on videos.
So am I crazy in thinking that the oil companies have paid off the moderators on these news websites to delete all or most of the positive comments in order to make it appear that the public is not in support of these cars?
here is a recent example, but I've noticed this trend for months now:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100714/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gm_volt_warranty_7
Go ahead.. look through the comments and see if you think this is balanced or not.
