I do too, now.

What bugs me is now whenever the term trucker is used, especially by Canadian news outlets, I pull in all of these associations that don't necessarily have any bearing on or relation to the facts at hand. And (the part where I might just be losing my mind/being paranoid) it sort of feels deliberate.

I recently encountered someone that really seemed like they were prodding for how easily I could be influenced to agree with or engage in some really wacky shit. It was a very similar feeling to when I see these terms. And I'm just trying to figure out when and if that feeling, when it pops up in a media context or just irl talking with your craftier brand of crazies, is justified or just paranoia.

Sorry - doesn't really have that much to do with the article, the word in this context just triggered that same feeling. And this whole "how to tell when you're being influenced and what to watch for, while not succumbing to paranoia or just taking comfort in your personal biases" thing has been something rolling around in my brain the past couple of weeks.

I also know that I'm part of a demographic (at the moment) that has some pretty wacky stuff targeted at them online (lot of manosphere stuff, for example, finds great targets in recently separated/divorced dudes in algorithmic media formats), which lends more personal interest to the topic. Idk, might just need to touch grass more.