Man absolutely floored by the return of his son-in-law from deployment in Kuwait. This emotional of a reaction from a father-in-law is amazing.
submitted by evenkeeled to videos
You do realize that the military has an entire team devoted to posting positive messages about the army all over the internet right? To influence public perception of the government, boost support for the war effort, and ultimately increase enlistment numbers. Proof: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks
They are, almost certainly, fake accounts created by the government to spread Pro-American propaganda.
Wow that's fucked up.
Most of the magazine articles you've ever read were prepared by the same people/thing the article is about. Sadly it is a common practice. There is a heebie-jeebie feeling when the gov't does it though.
Anyone of us could be one...
Is there anyway we could conduct a series of questions like 'you see a turtle stuck upside down in the desert' for any suspicious users?
Cake, and grief counseling, will be available at the conclusion of the test.
I don't know if any of you read Fark.com but when the Iranian "Green" Revolution was going on, the entire site was taken over by these hawkish military types who seemed to know everything about what was going on there, and there were about 30 NEWS FLASH threads about every single little thing that was going on over there. Not only that but accounts I had NEVER seen before suddenly had anywhere from 1 - 10 years history and random comments on random stories in their history. After the whole revolution thing died down those accounts disappeared.
There are DEFINITELY some psy-op type things going on on these sites.
Ah, yes, partisan groups attempting to use the internet to manipulate public opinion is so utterly adorable. Especially when their efforts are about as effective as 4Chan trolls and ShitRedditSays.
Experiment??
INSNA In 1976 key figures from the cybernetics and related Cambridge circles (including the Tavistock Institute) created INSNA, the International Network of Social Network Analysis, the leading social engineering network ever since. Their intention was to destroy the possibility that creativity could upset the equilibrium of the predetermined “ecology” of the system (and therefore the Oligarchy’s control). “Change agents” could be introduced into social networking media to bring the field of discussion back to the drab uniformity of consensus.
INSNA players developed some of the software for social network analysis, such as UCINET and SOCNET, which could analyze social networking sites such as myspace.com, facebook.com, ancestry.com, or multiple interface gaming sites. The cybernetic “change agents” developed technologies to map the fl ow of rumours through society, which they claim spread like the transmission of epidemics, such as AIDS.This technology could also be used to create social movements, thereby setting the stage for gang and counter-gang conflicts—techniques entirely coherent with those used in Venetian or British colonialism.These programs could be used to “herd” popular opinion into a desired direction. People were required to provide full psychological profiles that could be used for manipulation. Then the social engineers could outline a “group think” matrix, like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book, letting you think you came up with any particular option yourself, but precluding any real creativity.
i should have read through the comments first before i posted mine. lol. i guess im not crazy then.
No sources? I'm skeptical...
Doesn't a lack of sources always mean that the conspiracy is well covered up?
Am busy ATM but I will try and find link to original article when I'm finished here. Gimmie an hour or so.
Maybe it's a PR thing on the part of the military?
If so, then where do they get the videos?
Even more so, the videos almost automatically draw attention to the crippling heartbreak experienced by these people while deployed.
If true, this is a pretty bad attempt at PR.
But on a basic emotional level, these videos inspire how the military 'brings home the troops.' Our first thought is not, hey he could have died, it's, hey look at how the military ties with family and love instead of death and oppression/fear
I'll admit, it makes the troops more personal to me seeing these videos. They make me happy, reminds me that the people in the military are decent human beings that miss being home, and have people that care about them back here.
War will always be unpopular, but these videos don't remind me of how terrible war is, it doesn't move me any more in the direction against war than I already am. But it does make me want to "support the troops" more.
Ninja Edit: Not saying that it's wrong to want to support the troops or remind us they're people, but if it is PR, it's damn good in my opinion. If it makes an anti-war person like me feel warm and fuzzy, it probably has double the positive effect for people who support the troops and think having a strong army is great.
It does do a good job making America appear to be the good side.
Honestly, is there a "good" side? Or is it just the side you believe in?
Generally the side you believe in is the "good" side, since there's no universal "good".
What it really comes down to is neither good or bad wins, it's a bunch of scared people who are in over their heads on both sides. When the bullets fly, both sides just want to come out of it alive to go back to their families.
Even in WW2, where it was the clearest "good vs evil"* war, each side were good people fighting to go home and not have to fight anymore. The men of the the Nazi army didn't know about the holocaust and certainly weren't fighting to keep it going.
*In retrospect, and how history books were written, it's seen as good vs evil now way more than it was at the time.
Well, one thing it does achieve is humanize our troops. This could prove a useful tactic to counter people who try to attack the military as if it was some great mechanical device.
Maybe the returning troops get offered an incentive of some kind? Just brainstorming here.
Well, not saying it's not possible, but generally there's not much more of an incentive than coming home from a deployment. :)
As for reasons for the strange, one-post-only thing after a month of being a redditor . . . I don't know. I know that there are certain organizations who try really hard to set up these big surprise reunions and such, and part of their policy might be creating social site accounts to try to spread their audience for some potential advertising, maybe?
I'm as confused as you are. If there's a big conspiracy on this, it's not one they've briefed at any of my sinister cabal's potlucks.
Reddit is a very influential website, politically. There are absolutely people who want to use this to their advantage. My guess is that it's the same people who are hired to write comments on articles about controversial subjects. Either way, I'm writing this at 11:30 in the dark, and it's creeping me the fuck out.
Lol. Check ur closet. There is probably a troop waiting to jump out and surprise you.
Tell him not to film it though, or he'll experience a tear filled reuniting with the soldier which will then immediately be posted to Reddit for propaganda.
No no, don't you remember that book on scary stories from (y)our childhood?
Yeah. My older brother still has it. He is 26. The only other book he owns is the zombie survival guide.
...and what if having this pointed out is all part of a plan? A plan to possibly make us look like whacked out "conspiracy theorist." To help take away from how influential this site actually is. Brilliantly audacious if you ask me.
What if it was pointed out so that we would suspect a conspiracy then be paranoid about looking like "whacked out conspiracy theorists" so that we would stop theorizing of conspiracy's? By god the Audacity.
I wonder what happens if you downvote one of these videos or leave a discouraging comment. Is it a sort of honey pot to lure out the anti-military types?
Do you go on some list if you dissent?
even if its PR, I don't have the balls to go overseas.
If this is true, even if in only the slightest amount, then nothing we do makes a difference here because they already have control of what we thought to be a free user generated content website. Reddit, we love you, but what good are you if it's all a lie? If you aren't involved, I'd be even more concerned, though. Bah, let's just forget about it and go see some more pics of kittens and rage comics while we carry on with our lives.
you know, i've been thinking along that lines these past few days. i think about how all of the mass communication tools have been used for propaganda or to control/affect public opinion to a certain direction. from the bible being controlled by the church, to the newspapers, radios, tv, etc. and now we have the internet. the most direct controls they are imposing are the sopa, cispa etc. but what if they're doing something else. like you said, experimenting. trying to learn what triggers us. think of kony2012. they're studying how we react, and use that to their advantage. once again, they might create this fake reality and close back the curtain that the internet is trying to expose...
I've posted this quote before but it seems especially relevant here.
"The technology of digital computation, storage and control now offers us, at one and the same time, the greatest possible opportunity, namely the elimination of ignorance, forever, and the power to allow every human brain to learn and, on the other hand, the completion of a structure of social control, more thorough, more complete, more technologically perfect than any that has ever existed in the history of human beings." --Eben Moglen
scary thought huh? it can swing either way, its up to us where it will land. i hope our generation doesn't f' it up. we just need to be more skeptical, yet open minded. all those conspiracy theories might not be all that crazy...
ಠ_ಠ
for some reason, I read all the way through everyone's replies, but your's was the one that shocked me the most.
People can make you care by thinking other people care about/like something.
It works the same way as people being aware of kony all know that no one, not one person is ever going to do anything because he has no monitary value, but they all know because they all shared and liked. If no one would have said "yeah I agree" they would not bother because no one wants to be the only one to agree.
So, it is a crazy suspicion that this site is gamed.
Scripts to upvote with.
Like mental manipulation.
Back in the eighties, MTV would say "We tell you what to like, and you listen". We all thought it was funny.
Then 1990, a vj came on the tv and said and I quote "Here's a band that no one has ever heard but is the most requested video ever" and then a greasy dude who mumbled came onto the stage playing three repetitious chords, and all you could understand was he rhymed labedo with mosquito.. The guy killed himself and now for almost 15 years, every 18-25 year old who wants attention thinks "his music is deep man".
Back in the 50s they found that commercial that say "everyone's doing it, everyone wants one, you want one", most kids will want one what ever it is.
Now here on the website where everyone is anti war, gets all squishy when a military dude comes home for a video of a scene we have all seen 10000000000000 times.
Why? because it seems everyone else does.
Question is, why can't we see who upvoted clinks and comments?
Now I'm just hinking out loud but your observation could be yet another rouse in this apparent game striving toward some unknown, undoubtedly dark, goal.
So you're saying that this whole thing is a conspiracy by the military to get good PR and the leadership of Reddit is cooperating to bump it to the front page and/or fake upvotes? I actually wouldn't be surprised.
NO IDIOT
CONSPIRACIES DONT EXIST!!!!!!!!!!!
Personally, I think that the CIA/FBI/whoever-the-fuck has their hand on this site. Ideas that seem to be pretty legit get down-voted into oblivion... especially when they have to do with alternative forms of government. Now, when it's the same old sarcastic bitching, it gets up-voted. Yea, it could just be immature pricks, but almost EVERY time? Seems unlikely. Kinda like the video I posted about Michigan's legislature becoming a dictatorship.
If Political Posts are not tolerated due to sparking heated debates - why should posts glorifying the military be acceptable either? I mean, they're socially accepted murderers after all.
Probably going to get downvoted into oblivion. People hate anti-veteran thought, but its not that, I don't despise them... its just that I've always wondered how soldiers could be so honored and praised on one side, while on the other, we know the heinous crimes and brutality they commit.
TL:DR, being a soldier is not exactly praise worthy.
Maybe it isn't so much praise, but simple respect because committing heinous crimes and brutality can take a toll on someone, and soldiers are doing the dirty work of war that has been proclaimed a necessity by other people.
I would have up voted this, but then you bitched about possible/probable downvotes.
BTW, I am an airman, and I mostly agree.
Edit: The funny, and good, thing is, many military members I know wrestle with this. We usually justify itself with the fact that (provided all is as it should be) our actions prevent others from doing worse.
I honestly hope I never have to inflict violence upon another, and I really wrestle with simultaneously abhorring violence and being in an institution of violence. I like to think that my work makes others less likely to get into a conflict with us and make the conflicts that do happen shorter because we are more effective. I dunno. Like I said, I struggle with it.
Volunteer soldiers are praise-worthy because they're volunteering for a job that the state deems absolutely necessary. If these soldiers weren't volunteering for it, the state would find other ways to build a military force.
It's because of those who volunteer that you don't have mandatory service or conscription in the United States. You should be thankful.
"Heinous crimes and brutality they commit"? You're a retard, and obviously don't realize that the VAST majority of military members aren't in any way combat oriented.
They support the murder of blah blah blah. Stfu and understand that it's a job, a job that might just involve killing someone. So, you disagree, right? That's cool, I respect that and agree; I hate the thought of someone dying, on either side, for something as stupid as nationalism or religion. That still doesn't mean you are in any position to judge these people for doing what they belive, or more likely need to do, to support their own lives.
Get off your black and white high horse and understand that moral relativism is how the world works.
I'm absolutely going to judge someone who resorts to things like that to make a buck. We judge criminal thieves all the time; why wouldn't we apply the same logic to soldiers?
We certainly didn't during the Nuremberg trials.
Lol, perhaps you have reached some epitome of transcendence where you can pass judgment on another and feel justified. That's cool, but really, aside from the societal basis for your opinion, justify your position.
Because they're fucking defending our freedoms with their lives. We don't attack. we defend. you go fucking put your life on the line when the other side is blowing up your civilians, their civilians, everyone, and call yourself a murder. Its defense. Sorry for strong language. You touched a nerve, having lost family members in afg.
Its offense, not defense sir. Having be attacked daily by the enemy and having to ward them off in our own land would be defense, not flying overseas and "defending" over there. Just pointing that out.
I'm not going to argue, because that statement is very uneducated. We are defending the iraqi people as well as the afghanistans, the Taliban are dedicated to WIPING FUCKING AMERICA OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH. just google that. Research some. Figure out exactly wtf our troops are dying for. It's called keeping the fight away from our homeland. if you want them to pull back and wait for them to plant thousands of ied's around our streets instead, then yes, it would be offense. in this case it is defense.
My point still stands, theyre not the ones dropping bombs, we are.
What alternative do you suggest? Submitting to being taken over by other countries?
You could wait until those countries try to invade (which with our current military, is not likely to happen), and then fight them off? Is preemptive war really necessary, or effective?
Did you actually think about that statement before you posted?
Not trying to insult you in anyway, but just stop and think.
You could wait until those countries invade
Seriously? As a political leader you would prefer to await the attack of enemies before taking adequate steps to protect yourself. I'm not even referring to Iraq/Afghanistan which were arguably some of the biggest foreign policy blunders of modern America along with the Bay of Pigs and the Iranian hostage situation. Just generally - if that's your policy as a leader, I would be terrified to be part of your society.
I'm not trying to insult you or anything, but do you think before you type stuff?
I'm just suggesting you be less of a paranoid coward, I'm not suggesting we don't create a strong defensive army, or possibly an effective intelligence community able to foil terrorists plots. If we invaded every country that threatened us, we'd live in a terrible post-apocalyptic world. Chill out a little, not every stupid third world country has the capacity to invade and take over the US.
Worked for WWII. Nobody can argue that the US wasn't justified in dominating Germany/Japan. How'd it work out for Vietnam/Iraq?
Soldiers do what have to do so you and you art major barista friends who could lack the courage to defend us can sleep soundly at night. So you shouldn't bastardize those who are willing to fight and die for you and our country. You don't need to be grateful, just don't be a dick.
TL;DR, neither is being an asshole.
Careful, Hitler was an aspiring artist, too...that didn't make the cut. And look how he took it out.
So you shouldn't bastardize those who are willing to fight and die for you and our country.
What you don't seem to understand is that many of us think those soldiers are actually making our country less safe by invading random countries. In a way, not only are they killing and getting killed unnecessarily, but they're putting us all at risk.
It also should be noted that soldiers have very little role in this. Yes, their image abroad does characterize our nation as a whole, but typically the U.S. military holds itself to a decent standard. Rather, the point necessary to make is that foot soldiers should not be the brunt of your anti war sentiment. This is nothing wrong with a standing army in a dangerous world, and nothing wrong with (most) soldiers. If you have an issue, take it up with your government, or the military-industrial complex (if someone ever finds a way to do so), but please don't take it out on your brothers and sisters who are simply doing their job to provide for themselves and for their country.
and boy am i grateful. all those years of lost sleep pre Oct 7 2001 were making me so grumpy. :-((((
Someone seriously needs to ask the people in charge of Reddit what's up with this! Lets get this to the front page!
Now that you mention this, it would be really really easy to automate the reddit account creation process (especially if you just do the captcha's normally) create accounts every day, use them to upvote things you want frontpaged en masse, and then use a few here and there to post the things you use your other accounts to upvote / comment on.
If you wanted to game the system, you could control a percentage of the reddit frontpage with a couple of scripts.
Maybe it's just someone who realized how easy it is to manipulate jingoistic Americans.
I've definitely noticed this and have downvoted every one of these posts. Not because I'm unpatriotic, but I see it for what it is. Propaganda.
Are there other homecoming videos that are posted that DON'T make it up to the top?
Even so, they're pretty much karma magnets, so their upvotes are not ENTIRELY unexpected, but yeah it's really odd to say the least. What does this imply?
Do not be a part of the machine.
The beauty of reddit is that if that is what is going on and we can recognize it we can ignore it. Think of them like Trolls and what do the Rules of the Internet say we do about Trolls?
But no this time its the Bobjohnson account that has tons of these vids. Your logic is flawed here!
Is this reddits way of giving me my soul back? Because I have this strange urge to quit now. All I can think is GAME OVER...
You ever notice how r/aww is filled with pics of cats it's probably to make them look weak and inoccent as they prepare to invade
I've actually submitted a video to this site of my niece. When you submit it, the editor of the site uploads the video to his account. No conspiracy at all
You're not reading what i said fully. the videos are fine, heartwarming and real. the conspiracy is that there are these "dummy" accounts submitting them... they only submit one single video and then either delete their account or the post. it is completely unrelated to the actual videos.
It seems you have a mild case of this...
Redditor since 2 months, total comments: 2.
New suspect identified.
I noticed a similar process a few months ago. Except space/alien related.
I feel like I'm the only one who notices this, but... I find this strange... not the video - the video is touching. But every few times a month a "Welcome Home Blog" video gets posted, hits the front page and it's always by an account that this is the singular submission. Then the person deletes the post and their account. For example, anyone remember the girl who said she just finished a debate and her dad came up on stage after having served a tour of duty? I mean... are we a part of some sort of experiment? It's just strange, man.
Something's not right, here.
I'm not surprised
I AM RAPING YOUR FACE.
why were you downvoted? You were completely in tune with the the thread.
Topical and insightful! Or inciteful? Not sure.
Because novelty accounts that say what the username says are fucking annoying.
actually all novelty accounts are fucking annoying
You get an upvote
OH GOD FUCK YES IM CUMMING
Haggs
Upvote for user name/comment harmony
I'll allow it.
And to you as well. You guys know what you're doing making these accounts.....
Yes. Yes we do. But do you know what we're doing?
Only if he is an ancient descendant of the philosopher Plato, older than time...
"Fishing" for upvotes? See what I did there?
Sorry.
What for? I didn't hear anything.
I see what you did there! It seems to me that now you're in need of building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar. Luckily, I showed up.
I am doing some 42, how about you?
You don't need to see his identification. These aren't the droids you're looking for. He can go about his business. Move along.
Woah
http://i.imgur.com/wpGO3
http://i.imgur.com/HCZuS
http://i.imgur.com/OTcsZ
http://i.imgur.com/dX2I5
http://imgur.com/9Yix2
http://i.imgur.com/QoCPE
http://i.imgur.com/7uVZu
http://i.imgur.com/IJCA7
http://i.imgur.com/zvBeu
http://i.imgur.com/wUUTl
http://i.imgur.com/H29Tv
http://i.imgur.com/xO8PO
http://i.imgur.com/GSJCI
http://i.imgur.com/OvNPB
http://i.imgur.com/iiS5U
http://imgur.com/gKw3p
http://imgur.com/PgAA4
http://i.imgur.com/gNGaO
http://imgur.com/oeH0T
http://i.imgur.com/Zxfz4
http://i.imgur.com/CYw20
http://imgur.com/dd9M8
http://imgur.com/m3GvD
http://imgur.com/ROlmo
what
That's what I said the last time someone made this exact post. THIS IS THE REAL CONSPIRACY PEOPLE.
Seriously, what is this?
Someone spammed Reddit with hundreds of these posts a few weeks ago, I don't get it.
http://i.imgur.com/xxkk7.png
what
It must be a code.
EDIT: He has 14 comment karma, yet all his comments are in the negatives. IT'S ALL A CONSPIRACY!
http://i.imgur.com/xxkk7.png
I have no idea and I'm staring right at it!
WAT.
Redditor for a month. Total posts: 4 (including 3 times the above).
New suspect identified.
This fucking guy again. What is your PROBLEM, man?
.... wut
It kinda weirds me out too. Brings out a bizarre circlejerk
Dig a little deeper and it gets weirder... the submitter: redditor evenkeeled - 1 month, this is his only submission. top comment from barbieann - redditor for only 1 month, her comment is her only comment ever. the person who responded to barbieann (carlyeast) and has the next largest amount of votes... redditor for a month, her comment is her only comment ever.
to add to this whattheflux1 found another highly voted welcome home video oddity (be sure to expand comments)
Even more... although evenkeeled joined 4/5/12, carlyeast and barbieann joined on the same day.
Woah, this is really strange... Can anybody find any more? I'm trying to find older welcome home videos to check comment sections.
I remember when i first noticed this phenomenon... a girl posted a video of herself on stage at the end of a debate... her father who had been in afghanistan walked on stage. she presented it as if it was her in the video but the video was her one and only post on reddit. i can't seem to find the post anymore. more details i recall about the video: i think the guy was named joseph devine...
this is the actual video. I remembered it too. I definitely clicked on it through Reddit, and it definitely doesn't seem to be on here now.
You will notice that is a Welcome Home channel, and most of the videos are submitted by the same user, even though they are obviously not all his.
These videos are part of, of at least being used in a Internet marketing scheme. The "welcomehomechannel.com" blog has sister sites called "ring on the finger" and "fuzzy feelings". All these sites take other peoples feel good videos, and surround them with ads.
Video gets shared by the clueless masses, links back to blog, people click the military, or wedding related ads. Classic way to make profit. Only difference is people genuinely love to share this kind of happy content. I bet the whole reddit linking is a traffic driving strategy. Still a conspiracy, but it's nothing new.
this makes a lot of sense. any PR the military gets is just a coincidental side benefit.
I'm too lazy to look, but it also makes me wonder how much PR was in that recent movie about the navy seals that used actual servicemen.
Makes more sense as a way to earn more ad money. Maybe they're short on rent every month.
when I clicked on the uploader's channel: This channel is not available.
conspiracy solved. upvote this shit to the top!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This man knows what he's talking about. This is by far the most likely explanation for this kind of thing. It's paid internet marketing that's getting eaten up by the hivemind.
Make no mistake about it. A PR8 site that's #50 in the United States according to alexa represents an opportunity that marketers absolutely cannot pass up. Remember the whole debacle with Sadyrah or whatever her name was? A single frontpage submission can easily garner 100,000 pageviews. That's serious traffic and can ultimately lead to being ranked high in the google search results and that's what internet advertising is all about!
I wonder if there is a way to link youtube accounts so you can get them to aggregate view counts for commission. It's possible this person is just making money off the youtube ads.
This shit is creeping me out. I'm hoping for a frontpage followup to this with some Goddamned answers sometime soon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeEgbP74ohc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Video of my niece, look in the details of the video and you'll see my name matches my redditor username. I talked with the owner of the site when I submitted my YouTube link. He reposts them (you have to give permission for it to be on the site) to his YouTube account because the videos won't accidentally get removed say from your own youtube account.
Edit: this doesn't explain the dummy accounts posting on reddit. Kinda overlooked that part
Well, that's that explained. But why are they leaking them to reddit one by one through dummy accounts, and then commenting on those videos with other dummy accounts?
No clue about the dummy accounts on reddit honestly. Who wouldn't want the free karma with posting those videos. Hell even if it's PR you would think that person understands the amount of karma they are throwing away?!? Keep the account!
I'm betting they are just trying to get youtube ad revenue. A couple of reddit frontpages could be enough to actually get a check from the youtube ads.
But should anyone be surprised? Isn't this what Anonymous uncovered when they hacked HBGary, that HBGary was helping the Pentagon and corporations refine their presence on SMS? Essentially weaponizing various social media platforms in an escalation of the astroturfing both were already doing?
Mind=Blown
21 days ago. Click on the Op's username.
http://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/s7vmj/soldier_surprises_little_brother/
Edit: Holy fuck. Relatively active user justinchow13 went off the reddit map for 7 months and then showed up again for one last post. Guess what it was? http://www.reddit.com/user/justinchow13 . I'm freaking out right now guys. Plus I typed in "soldier" in the search bar for r/videos and filtered the results for the most popular, and none of the numerous "welcome home" vids I've seen on the front page in my time here on Reddit are still here except for the two I just mentioned. Why are they all deleted?
Edit #2: I'm weirded out. Ameteur sleuthing isn't providing any answers. Here's one creepy thing I found- "WelcomeHomeBlog" is the channel of Youtube User "TheBobJohnson1984." Here you go - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJMCKc6uLMI Try to click on his username or the channel name? Nope! "This channel is not available." So i wanted to see if he had any ties to Reddit. Annnnd fuck -http://www.reddit.com/user/thebobjohnson1984
"Redditor for 6 months" ....yet no posts.
Is it possible that someone is collecting these videos and posting them every once in a while using different accounts to get views (and ad money) via youtube?
I think that this is another plausible scenario.
For those who think its a military PR conspiracy, do you think these are actual videos and they are just promoting them, or are they acted. The second scenario is much scarier, and has a very Manchurian Candidate feel to it.
Just thought of a third scenario, a very elaborate viral marketing scheme?
I edited again... of your 3 scenarios, I'm most terrified of the 2nd. It seems like it's possible but so out there. With my most recent edit I think it seems like the 1st is the most likely. Can you elaborate on #3 though?
well, I don't have a specific thought on it, but there has been a lot of army related media, the show Army Wives, all the TLC stuff, that recent movie with the real Navy Seals. It could very well be some subtle viral thing to get people interested and excited about military stuff.
No way the videos are acted. Too much risk in that, actors might talk. Also, why stage them? Reality gives you everything and of course there are a lot of real homecoming videos with real emotions.
Viral marketing or money per youtube ads is not plausible for me. If someone (or a group) collects these videos and posts them here once in a while... for me that´s clearly a political agenda behind it.
EDIT: Mate, I feel strange arguing with you about this while somewhere else you talk about... you know...
Commenting so I can keep track of this weirdness.
Two's a pair.
I edited again. I want answers.
That seems like a good idea, so I'm commenting too.
Also going to comment.
Same
Returning to the Reddit map for one last post.
Get the fuck out.
This is so interesting!
Woah. Dude, run. You were never meant to find out.
Oh my goooood!
Who says it's your good?!