0:00:03.830,0:00:08.280
Astroturfing, which sounds like a new[br]teen trend of fucking artificial grass[br]

0:00:08.295,0:00:10.605
while eating Cascade pods.

0:00:10.605,0:00:15.389
That's right. The teens have moved on from [br]Tide. It's all about Cascade now.

0:00:15.389,0:00:18.270
Astroturfing is the practice of corporations or[br]political groups disguising themselves

0:00:18.270,0:00:22.529
as spontaneous, authentic, popular[br]movements. It's basically fake grassroots.

0:00:22.529,0:00:27.750
That's why they call it, "Astroturfing."[br]It's a very funny, very clever name.

0:00:27.750,0:00:31.890
Now, you're probably familiar with[br]Astroturfing as a concept from seeing ads by

0:00:31.890,0:00:36.719
groups with a generic populist-sounding[br]names like Americans Against Food Taxes

0:00:36.719,0:00:40.309
delivering weirdly specific messages [br]like these.

0:00:40.309,0:00:41.909
[Mother] Washington is talking about a

0:00:41.909,0:00:46.450
new tax on juice drinks and soda. They say[br]it's only pennies.

0:00:46.450,0:00:49.970
Well, those pennies add up when you're[br]trying to feed a family.

0:00:49.970,0:00:54.820
Washington, if you're listening, what[br]doesn't seem like much to you, can be a lot to us.

0:00:54.820,0:01:00.210
[Male Voice] Tell Congress, no taxes on juice drinks and sodas.

0:01:00.210,0:01:05.790
Now, it won't surprise you to[br]learn that Americans Against Food Taxes[br]was not started by regular Americans

0:01:05.790,0:01:10.520
pooling their resources together to take[br]out a large ad buy on national TV about

0:01:10.520,0:01:14.670
their number one problem priority, a[br]proposed soda tax. No, it was a front

0:01:14.670,0:01:17.540
group for the food and beverage industry[br]which makes a lot more sense.

0:01:17.540,0:01:22.910
Soda companies have a lot of money.[br]At least enough to convince LeBron James

0:01:22.910,0:01:26.130
to pretend he drinks Sprite. Sprite: diabetes[br]you can taste.[br]

0:01:26.130,0:01:31.060
And, while you might[br]think well, yeah, but that's obvious.

0:01:31.060,0:01:34.429
I'd never fall for astroturf bullshit like that,[br]don't be quite so sure

0:01:34.429,0:01:37.890
because with dark money surging in the wake of decisions like Citizens United.

0:01:37.890,0:01:43.100
Astroturf techniques are now becoming more[br]sophisticated, effective and dangerous

0:01:43.100,0:01:46.870
and they are not going away, so tonight,[br]we thought it might be useful to take a[br]

0:01:46.870,0:01:50.040
look at some of those techniques to help[br]us better spot them in the future.

0:01:50.040,0:01:53.790
Let's just start with the names[br]themselves because sometimes groups are

0:01:53.790,0:01:56.465
created with deliberately misleading names.

0:01:56.465,0:02:00.155
For instance, the group Save our[br]Tips which purportedly speaks for

0:02:00.155,0:02:04.140
waitstaff is an anti-minimum wage[br]increase group funded by restaurant owners.

0:02:04.140,0:02:08.369
The National Wetlands Coalition[br]worked on behalf of oil companies and

0:02:08.369,0:02:12.390
real estate developers and the American[br]Council on Science and Health has been

0:02:12.390,0:02:16.740
funded by among other things,[br]fracking interests, soda companies,

0:02:16.740,0:02:22.409
E-cigarette companies and chemical[br]manufacturers, so it's pure straight-up[br]opposite world.

0:02:22.409,0:02:27.219
It's like if this show is called Funny Time [br]Happy Hour with Chuckle-Hunk John Oliver,

0:02:27.219,0:02:32.850
It's just demonstrably false. We can't[br]back that shit up. And, look it's not

0:02:32.850,0:02:38.050
always easy to spot exactly what the[br]group's motive is especially with [br]an ad like this.

0:02:38.050,0:02:43.590
{Male voice] Don't eat here! I'm mad! What's with your people tossing money at

0:02:43.590,0:02:48.209
the Humane Society of the United States?[br]These HSUS losers aren't even affiliated

0:02:48.209,0:02:53.250
with your local pet shelter. For more[br]information go to humanewatch.org.

0:02:53.250,0:02:57.030
That is a very strange ad because first of[br]all, if you're going to have a talking dog,

0:02:57.030,0:03:02.100
why would you make him such a gruff[br]asshole? Hey, I'm Tony and I'm mad

0:03:02.100,0:03:05.760
the Humane Society's a bunch of losers[br]and if you disagree you can suck my dog dick!

0:03:05.760,0:03:07.560
[Audience Laughing]

0:03:07.560,0:03:15.130
And second.. second, who would take out an[br]attack ad on the Humane Society? A rival[br]

0:03:15.130,0:03:21.069
even Humane-er Society? Puppy mills?[br]Self-loathing dogs? It's impossible to

0:03:21.069,0:03:25.209
say for sure. All I can tell you is that[br]ad is the work of Rick Berman,

0:03:25.209,0:03:30.400
a PR expert who's known in the industry[br]as Dr. Evil. He is known for his defenses

0:03:30.400,0:03:34.690
of controversial products from[br]secondhand smoke, to trans fats, to payday [br]loans.

0:03:34.690,0:03:39.220
He's also created nonprofit groups[br]that have fought regulation of all of [br]those things.

0:03:39.220,0:03:43.520
In fact, it's one of those groups the Center for [br]Consumer Freedom,

0:03:43.520,0:03:50.160
which was credited on that Humane Society [br]attack ad, so if is the Center for Consumer Freedom

0:03:50.160,0:03:55.090
a front group for Berman's corporate clients?[br]Is it at all relevant that Rick Berman has

0:03:55.090,0:03:58.959
shown up at events for the Pork industry,[br]an industry which has been targeted by

0:03:58.959,0:04:02.380
the Humane Society in the past for the[br]use of gestation crates, or as Rick

0:04:02.380,0:04:07.989
Berman insists on calling them "maternity[br]pens," I can't say. I legally can't say.

0:04:07.989,0:04:13.180
I want to. I badly want to, but I've been[br]explicitly told I can't. You can probably

0:04:13.180,0:04:18.820
guess but I can't say it out loud. What I[br]can say is that Berman rejects any

0:04:18.820,0:04:23.020
accusation that he runs front groups for[br]corporate clients saying, "There is no

0:04:23.020,0:04:26.650
front because there is total[br]transparency" which is a little odd

0:04:26.650,0:04:31.479
considering we don't know who's behind[br]many of his campaigns and that message

0:04:31.479,0:04:35.020
of transparency does seem to[br]significantly change whenever he's

0:04:35.020,0:04:39.160
behind closed doors because here is[br]audio of Berman pitching his services to

0:04:39.160,0:04:41.390
a group of oil executives.

0:04:41.390,0:04:43.890
[Berman's voice] "People always[br]ask me one question all the time.

0:04:43.890,0:04:46.190
You said, how do I know is that I won't be found out as a

0:04:46.190,0:04:48.250
supporter of what you're doing? [br]

0:04:48.250,0:04:50.600
We run all of this stuff through nonprofit[br]organization

0:04:50.600,0:04:56.170
that are insulated from having to[br]disclose donors, there's total anonymity."

0:04:56.170,0:04:59.660
See, transparency. But, look...[br]look he is right.[br]

0:04:59.660,0:05:04.210
There is total anonymity and just as a[br]general rule, if the most common question

0:05:04.210,0:05:08.180
you get asked is how do I know no one[br]will find out I'm doing business with you?

0:05:08.180,0:05:12.620
That's not a great sign. If the same[br]privacy guarantee that Hardee's gives

0:05:12.620,0:05:13.940
all of its customers,

0:05:13.940,0:05:17.670
"Don't worry none of your friends family[br]or coworkers will ever find out that you've [br]been doing this.

0:05:17.670,0:05:22.340
Now, go and enjoy your monster[br]thickburger before the horse meat gets cold."

0:05:22.340,0:05:27.860
But, astroturfing is more, way more than[br]just funneling money through nonprofit[br]

0:05:27.860,0:05:31.850
front groups. Groups can also recruit[br]questionable experts to lend their

0:05:31.850,0:05:35.120
arguments credibility. There are multiple[br]examples of this, but my favorite

0:05:35.120,0:05:39.680
concerns a group called Citizens for[br]Fire Safety. A few years back, health

0:05:39.680,0:05:43.940
officials in California wanted to remove[br]a requirement that furniture contained

0:05:43.940,0:05:48.830
chemical flame retardants as they had[br]been linked to cancer, but Citizens for

0:05:48.830,0:05:53.570
Fire Safety produced a Burn Surgeon, Dr.[br]David Heimbach who argued for keeping

0:05:53.570,0:05:58.370
all of those flame-retardant requirements by telling them a pretty memorable story.

0:05:58.370,0:06:04.250
7- week old baby was in a[br]crib, laying on a fire-retardant mattress

0:06:04.250,0:06:12.830
on a non-fire retardant pillow. Mom put a[br]candle in the crib, candle fell over, the

0:06:12.830,0:06:18.530
baby sustained a 50-percent burn. The[br]entire upper half of her body was burned.

0:06:18.530,0:06:23.510
Now, this is a tiny little person, no[br]bigger than my Italian Greyhound at home.

0:06:23.510,0:06:29.410
She ultimately died after about three[br]weeks of pain and misery in the hospital.

0:06:29.410,0:06:34.730
Now, that sounds horrifying. But, there are[br]some weird things about what he just said.

0:06:34.730,0:06:39.760
First, I don't know why he felt the[br]need to compare the size of a baby to[br]his Italian Greyhound,

0:06:39.760,0:06:44.575
everyone knows what size a baby is.[br]

0:06:44.575,0:06:49.085
Nobody's never seen a baby. So wait, it's[br]like a person but smaller. Tell me more!

0:06:49.085,0:06:52.269
Doesn't use stilts? How does it board a[br]bus?

0:06:52.269,0:06:55.219
What I'm picturing is something[br]about the size of five hamsters taped[br]together.

0:06:55.219,0:07:01.105
Or, very small lawnmower. Am I[br]around the right ballpark here?

0:07:01.105,0:07:03.245
But second, if part of you there was wondering

0:07:03.245,0:07:06.940
Hold on. Who puts a candle in their baby's crib?

0:07:06.940,0:07:11.289
You're not alone. Journalists with the[br]Chicago Tribune wondered the exact same

0:07:11.289,0:07:14.800
thing and they soon discovered that two[br]years earlier, Heimbach had testified

0:07:14.800,0:07:20.440
before a different California panel[br]telling a weirdly similar story.

0:07:20.440,0:07:25.120
I will tell you about a child I took care of in[br]April. Mom had a candle sitting

0:07:25.120,0:07:31.810
beside the bed, left the room for seven[br]minutes. For reasons we don't know, the

0:07:31.810,0:07:37.040
child that candle turned over, the child[br]sustained an 80 percent burn.

0:07:37.040,0:07:41.020
Okay so, now this is starting to sound a little[br]suspicious. How many people are putting

0:07:41.020,0:07:46.270
lit candles in and around their baby's[br]cribs? Oh, I just put little Ethan to bed.

0:07:46.270,0:07:50.020
I put plenty of lit candles in his crib[br]as a nightlight and I balance several

0:07:50.020,0:07:54.150
sharp knives and open cans of paint thinner[br]right on the crib wall so he has something to [br]look at.

0:07:54.150,0:07:58.389
Look.. look, Heimbach wasn't done because just a year later, he was testifying before

0:07:58.389,0:08:01.870
the state legislature in Alaska and guess [br]what?! [br]

0:08:01.870,0:08:06.660
[Heimbach's voice] A six-week-old baby that[br]I took care

0:08:06.660,0:08:13.300
of earlier this year, mother went away, there[br]was a candle on the bureau, somehow the

0:08:13.300,0:08:18.125
dog knocked the candle onto the crib and[br]the little girl sustained this

0:08:18.125,0:08:21.945
seventy-five percent very devastating burn.

0:08:21.970,0:08:26.080
Wait, so now there's a dog involved all of a[br]sudden? What kind of dog would do such a[br]thing?

0:08:26.080,0:08:28.430
Wait a second, I know exactly what kind of dog.

0:08:28.430,0:08:32.610
A gruff, needlessly Italian dog like Tony.

0:08:32.610,0:08:41.299
By God! By God! As if... as if sensing that[br]lawmakers there were questioning his motives.

0:08:41.299,0:08:45.649
The very next sentence Heimbach said completely unprompted was this.[br]

0:08:45.649,0:08:50.870
[Heimbach's voice] I am not in the pocket of anybody that makes a specific flame retardant.

0:08:50.870,0:08:54.600
Now, to be fair, he's actually right about that.

0:08:54.600,0:08:59.479
He was not in the pocket of someone that[br]made a specific flame retardant.

0:08:59.479,0:09:05.159
He was however, in the pocket of Citizens for[br]Fire Safety who paid him $240,000 for his[br]help and who it turned out only had

0:09:05.159,0:09:10.199
three members which were the three[br]largest makers of flame retardants in

0:09:10.199,0:09:15.590
the world, so I call it liar, liar pants[br]chemically incapable of catching on fire.

0:09:15.590,0:09:19.620
Oh, and one more thing. When a reporter[br]called the medical examiner's office,

0:09:19.620,0:09:25.070
they had no record of any burn victim[br]matching Heimbach's description whatsoever,

0:09:25.070,0:09:28.879
so one of them did the next[br]logical thing.

0:09:28.879,0:09:31.180
I thought the best thing to do was just to call[br]him at home.

0:09:31.180,0:09:36.470
I said those kids you talked about, did they all die in your hospital?

0:09:36.470,0:09:42.200
He said it wasn't factual it, was anecdotal.[br]And I said, but that's not what you testified.

0:09:42.200,0:09:44.329
and he said, Well, I wasn't under oath.[br]

0:09:44.329,0:09:47.910
Okay, okay. Well first of all, you're generally

0:09:47.910,0:09:51.959
expected to tell the truth, even when[br]you're not under oath and second of all,

0:09:51.959,0:09:56.430
anecdotes aren't the same as lies. I saw[br]Keri Russell walking out of a bakery.

0:09:56.430,0:10:00.689
That's an anecdote. It's not a good[br]anecdote, but it is an anecdote. I saw

0:10:00.689,0:10:04.439
Keri Russell riding a dragon out of a[br]bakery. That is a lie. Although, admittedly

0:10:04.439,0:10:09.300
would be a way better story. And, look the[br]real problem there is Heimbach's lies worked;

0:10:09.300,0:10:13.680
that flame-retardant bill in[br]California initially failed thanks in

0:10:13.680,0:10:18.149
part to his testimony. And.. and the final[br]and perhaps most controversial tool in

0:10:18.149,0:10:22.650
astroturfing relates to something that[br]our current president actually loves to[br]complain about.

0:10:22.650,0:10:26.220
I'll tell you what. You take a look outside.

0:10:26.220,0:10:33.829
These are paid protesters, folks. The[br]protesters are paid a lot of money by[br]the DNC. It turned out that the

0:10:33.839,0:10:39.690
protesters we used to have[br]were bought for $1,500 a piece.

0:10:39.690,0:10:45.615
We have a protester. By the way, were[br]you paid $1,500 to be a thug?[br]

0:10:45.615,0:10:48.685
Now, I can't work it quite out there.

0:10:48.685,0:10:52.650
Is Trump angry there or is he excited he's just[br]stumbled onto a job opportunity that

0:10:52.650,0:10:59.000
Don, Jr and Eric would actually be[br]qualified for? But while Trump's specific

0:10:59.000,0:11:03.450
accusations were nonsense.[br]Paid demonstrators do exist which Trump

0:11:03.450,0:11:07.320
should frankly know himself because his[br]campaign reportedly had actors who were

0:11:07.320,0:11:11.460
paid $50 to cheer for him at his[br]campaign announcement.

0:11:11.460,0:11:15.480
But.. but paid demonstrators are one of the[br]most infuriating tools of Astroturfing.

0:11:15.480,0:11:17.980
Just... just look at what happened last year in[br]New Orleans.

0:11:17.980,0:11:21.000
A company called, Entergy needed city[br]council approval for a controversial power

0:11:21.000,0:11:25.800
plant which it got not long after a public meeting where by sheer chance,

0:11:25.800,0:11:31.670
a bunch of huge power plant fans in[br]orange shirts turned up.

0:11:31.670,0:11:35.730
Now, it later emerged that a PR firm working for Entergy hired

0:11:35.730,0:11:40.260
a company called, Crowds on Demand which[br]recruited actors to support the plant.

0:11:40.260,0:11:44.610
They did this with a Facebook ad[br]which offered and, I quote, $60 to $200

0:11:44.610,0:11:50.370
dollarydoos to help with a gig for three hours,[br]which in itself, right there, is a red flag.

0:11:50.370,0:11:54.840
Dollarydoos? Sounds like slang for[br]money that you'd find in a Mark Twain

0:11:54.840,0:12:00.630
novel called, "Even for the 1800s, there[br]are way too many "N" words in this."

0:12:00.630,0:12:06.300
Crowd on Demand even provided talking[br]points such as: Folks, this is 2017.

0:12:06.300,0:12:10.620
"We had a boil water advisory here last[br]month and I'm tired of feeling like I live in a

0:12:10.620,0:12:15.360
third world country." and it seems like some[br]of the people there took those notes and [br]ran with them.

0:12:15.360,0:12:21.490
I'm tired of feeling like we're living in a third world country. This is the United States of America.

0:12:21.490,0:12:29.160
It's 2017 going on 2018 and we have to worry[br]about these frequent water boil

0:12:29.160,0:12:34.500
advisories and so on, and so forth. I have[br]to be concerned that a grandmother, or a

0:12:34.500,0:12:42.210
son, or a pet could possibly drink or[br]take in some brain-eating amoeba.

0:12:42.210,0:12:47.010
Yeah, I'll give him credit for that last[br]bit. The brain-eating amoeba bit was all [br]his own.

0:12:47.010,0:12:52.020
He was just riffing hard at that[br]point. Now.. now, that man insists that he

0:12:52.020,0:12:55.920
believed everything he said and that he[br]wasn't paid by Crowds on Demand.

0:12:55.920,0:13:00.390
Although, you should know that another[br]person there who does admit to being paid

0:13:00.390,0:13:04.680
said he received instructions that read: A few[br]things to keep in mind. One, tell nobody

0:13:04.680,0:13:08.970
you're being paid. Two, tell nobody you're[br]being paid. Three, media will be present

0:13:08.970,0:13:13.140
do not talk to them. Four, tell nobody[br]you're being paid and Five, if somebody

0:13:13.140,0:13:16.410
approaches you, don't tell them you're[br]being paid, which are and this is true,

0:13:16.410,0:13:20.760
word-for-word the vows in a traditional[br]Scientology wedding. Now, they're

0:13:20.760,0:13:25.380
beautiful vows and you should go.[br]Now, if you are wondering who is behind

0:13:25.380,0:13:31.110
Crowds on Demand, let me introduce you to[br]their CEO Adam Swart. The answer to the

0:13:31.110,0:13:37.370
question, what if a lukewarm bottle of[br]Smirnoff Ice was a person? Now.. now, he's..

0:13:37.370,0:13:42.000
he's pretty unrepentant about what his[br]firm does.

0:13:42.000,0:13:45.420
[Interviewer's Voice] Have you ever provided protesters for an event?

0:13:45.420,0:13:46.349
[Swart] Of course.

0:13:46.349,0:13:47.619
Demonstrators?

0:13:47.619,0:13:48.004
[Swart] Of course.

0:13:48.004,0:13:49.279
Do you see anything wrong with that?

0:13:49.279,0:13:50.929
[Swart] Personally, nope.

0:13:50.929,0:13:54.029
Do you ever feel like you're tricking[br]people though into getting behind

0:13:54.029,0:13:57.240
something that they may have not gotten[br]behind if they didn't see all this activity there?

0:13:57.240,0:14:00.930
[Swart] We don't trick people, we engage them.

0:14:00.930,0:14:04.840
Yeah, yeah but you engage them by tricking them, don't you?

0:14:04.840,0:14:08.490
Both.. both of those things can be true at the[br]same time, it's like someone saying I'm

0:14:08.490,0:14:10.650
not masturbating in the middle of this Pinkberry.

0:14:10.650,0:14:14.790
I'm just engaging the police department.[br]You're actually doing both and one

0:14:14.790,0:14:19.080
doesn't make the other okay. Now, of[br]course, Swart's whole ruse is predicated

0:14:19.080,0:14:23.304
on people holding their nerve and not[br]giving the game away in real time.

0:14:23.304,0:14:25.624
But, amazingly, that has happened.

0:14:25.624,0:14:28.004
[Female's reporters voice] In the small town of Camarillo,

0:14:28.004,0:14:29.959
[Male citizen's voice] I think the city needs a shake up. [br]

0:14:29.959,0:14:34.530
Citizens aren't shy about expressing[br]their opinions but one chilly Wednesday night in December,

0:14:34.530,0:14:37.840
[City Councilman's Voice] Prince Jordan Tyson?

0:14:37.840,0:14:40.950
City officials say this man stood out.

0:14:40.950,0:14:43.860
[Man's voice]This case is clearly common[br]sense.

0:14:43.860,0:14:47.480
[Reporter's voice] Because for three minutes,[br]he told the City Council what he later admits[br]was a lie.

0:14:47.480,0:14:51.320
[Tyson]I'm just a concerned citizen[br]coming up here and speaking to you. [br]

0:14:51.320,0:14:55.270
[Reporter's voice] But, he's not. he's a [br]self-described struggling actor [br]from Beverly Hills

0:14:55.270,0:14:57.930
who goes by the name of Prince Jordan[br]Tyson.

0:14:57.930,0:15:01.860
Okay no, I don't believe it. I do not believe [br]it does anything about this face.

0:15:01.860,0:15:05.890
This face say struggling actor from Beverly Hills to you?[br]

0:15:05.890,0:15:08.470
I'm sorry this story just doesn't check out.

0:15:08.470,0:15:13.990
But, incredibly, it's true. Because while they[br]know "Notorious PJT" initially claimed to be

0:15:13.990,0:15:18.850
from the area. He soon had a crisis of[br]confidence culminating in this.

0:15:18.850,0:15:20.850
[Reporter's voice] Forty minutes later,[br]Tyson came back to the podium.

0:15:20.850,0:15:21.850
[City Councilman's Voice] Prince is back.

0:15:21.850,0:15:26.200
[Reporter's voice] For one of the strangest[br]moments the City Council has ever seen.

0:15:26.200,0:15:29.750
[Tyson] I don't agree with the reason I'm here[br]and I was paid to be here.

0:15:29.750,0:15:31.130
[City Councilman's Voice] How much were you paid?

0:15:31.130,0:15:32.290
[Tyson] A hundred bucks.

0:15:32.290,0:15:34.160
[City Councilman's Voice] How much?

0:15:34.160,0:15:35.160
[Tyson] A hundred dollars.

0:15:35.160,0:15:41.180
You're fucking idiot, Prince! You just broke[br]Crowd on Demand's rules 1, 2, 4 and 5.

0:15:41.180,0:15:43.480
Now you won't get those hundred dollarydoos

0:15:43.480,0:15:45.100
which could have gone toward changing your name to

0:15:45.100,0:15:48.730
literally anything else, or getting a[br]haircut that doesn't make you look like

0:15:48.730,0:15:56.470
an al dente Owen Wilson. When you add[br]all of this together, faith groups hiring

0:15:56.470,0:16:00.940
fake experts and fake crowds which[br]managed to affect real world change, it

0:16:00.940,0:16:05.200
gets pretty dispiriting and it can do[br]real damage that goes way beyond the

0:16:05.200,0:16:08.980
narrow issues that each group is trying[br]to influence. The very existence of

0:16:08.980,0:16:12.700
companies like Crowds on Demand mean[br]that something authentic can now be tainted.

0:16:12.700,0:16:19.580
In fact, conspiracy boards now[br]regularly and wrongly cite Crowds on[br]Demand as providing everything from paid

0:16:19.580,0:16:27.380
protesters for Charlottesville, to crisis[br]actors for the Las Vegas shooting and[br]that is hugely dangerous because the

0:16:27.400,0:16:31.510
consequences of this cannot be that[br]everyone assumes that anyone who doesn't

0:16:31.510,0:16:35.500
agree with them is astroturf. You know[br]what? While skepticism is healthy,

0:16:35.500,0:16:40.300
cynicism, real cynicism is toxic and[br]because this problem isn't going it away,

0:16:40.300,0:16:44.709
it is now even more incumbent[br]on us to use our judgment diligently.

0:16:44.709,0:16:49.779
If the Ray Liotta of dogs is telling us[br]the Humane Society is terrible,

0:16:49.779,0:16:54.819
it's probably worth us all asking, why?[br]Why? Who might have trained him? and

0:16:54.819,0:16:59.529
What do they stand to gain? And,[br]unfortunately, until we find out a way to force

0:16:59.529,0:17:04.179
Astroturf groups to be more transparent[br]and accountable, that's about all we can[br]do right now.

0:17:04.179,0:17:09.130
Astroturf is a serious threat to our public discourse and it is

0:17:09.130,0:17:12.220
critical that we are all much more aware[br]of its dangers

0:17:12.220,0:17:15.939
and since astroturfers have left all[br]their tools lying around, at the very least,

0:17:15.939,0:17:21.039
we might as well use them to fight[br]candle fire with candle fire and deliver

0:17:21.039,0:17:23.670
a heartfelt message.

0:17:23.670,0:17:26.890
[Narrator's voice] We're all Americans. Real people definitely not actors. We're just a

0:17:26.890,0:17:30.680
coalition of concerned doctors,[br]mothers, teachers, and kidnappers

0:17:30.680,0:17:34.080
and we think you deserve the truth about Astroturfers.

0:17:34.080,0:17:37.059
Here are the facts.[br]Astroturfers are responsible for every

0:17:37.059,0:17:41.830
shark attack in American history. Wonder[br]all the bees have gone? Astroturfers shot

0:17:41.830,0:17:45.580
them in the face and according to the[br]Bipartisan Institute of Factual [br]Science Studies,

0:17:45.580,0:17:49.299
every single Astroturfer has[br]killed at least one puppy with their

0:17:49.299,0:17:54.610
bare hands, or maybe not. We're not under[br]oath. The point is that Astroturfers

0:17:54.610,0:17:59.830
set this baby on fire. That's not a dog,[br]that's a real baby, no bigger than an

0:17:59.830,0:18:03.190
Italian Greyhound. Her name's Eleanor and she likes four things.

0:18:03.190,0:18:08.870
Her binky, ba-ba, corporate and[br]political transparency, and not being on fire.

0:18:08.870,0:18:12.240
And right now, Eleanor is 0 for 4 and if you're not careful,

0:18:12.240,0:18:19.330
one day an Astroturfer is going to come to [br]your house and light your baby on fire.

0:18:19.330,0:18:21.954
Stop Astroturfing.

0:18:21.954,0:18:24.164
[Another Narrator's voice] Paid for by[br]Citizens for Fresher Orange Juice.

0:18:24.164,0:18:30.494
[Audience laughing]