{"id":19551,"date":"2025-12-23T13:48:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T13:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disruptarian.com\/blog\/?p=19551"},"modified":"2025-12-25T06:59:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T06:59:43","slug":"from-kop-busters-to-comment-busters-barry-cooper-the-paid-troll-cop-out-and-why-i-chose-principle-over-personality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disruptarian.com\/blog\/from-kop-busters-to-comment-busters-barry-cooper-the-paid-troll-cop-out-and-why-i-chose-principle-over-personality\/","title":{"rendered":"From Kop Busters to Comment Busters: Barry Cooper, the \u201cPaid Troll\u201d Cop-Out, and Why I Chose Principle Over Personality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barry Cooper posted this line the other day:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s interesting, the left wing trolls have been very quiet the last two weeks. The three weeks prior I was inundated with vile insults and name calling almost by the minute. I\u2019m talking about hundreds of attacks daily. Mostly they were paid operatives having no knowledge and very little intelligence to argue about anything. Now they are silent. Obviously the money for the year ran out. I suspect they will return after the first.\u201d Facebook<\/span><\/span><\/span>\r\n \r\n <\/g><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And yeah, I saw it. I also laughed, because it\u2019s the oldest move in the internet playbook: when the heat shows up, pretend it\u2019s not real people. It\u2019s \u201cpaid operatives.\u201d It\u2019s \u201cbots.\u201d It\u2019s \u201cthe deep state.\u201d It\u2019s always somebody else.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing. Sometimes the simplest answer is the right one.<\/p>\n

If the comments went quiet because you hit \u201cblock,\u201d then no, Barry, the money didn\u2019t run out. Your tolerance did.<\/p>\n

Quick context for anyone new here<\/h2>\n

Barry Cooper is a former Texas narcotics officer turned drug war critic and media figure. A lot of people first knew him from KopBusters and later from the \u201cNever Get Busted\u201d brand, where he teaches people how police actually operate in drug cases. Wikipedia<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/use><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever you think of him today, there\u2019s no denying his story has been a thing for a long time. It\u2019s even been packaged into a documentary project that made the Sundance orbit. Screen Australia<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/use><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So when somebody like that starts whining about \u201cleft wing trolls\u201d going quiet, while longtime supporters are getting blocked, I\u2019m going to call it what it looks like: narrative control.<\/p>\n

What I said back, and what I\u2019m not going to pretend anymore<\/h2>\n

I replied on his page. And like most replies that don\u2019t kiss the ring, it\u2019ll probably get deleted.<\/p>\n

My point was simple:<\/p>\n