It's not really the opposite. A percentage have always sucked up to the powerful. "Bro, let me be your minion and I'll defend you for the benefits of complicity."

Saidit is pretty far from free speech (hence, my absence), and dissident political content here is far to the left of sites I've been using, despite the trolls that attracts.

As for the "graduate student-like research comments telling people off", your and my reactions kind of point away from that being a paid propagandist, unless I'm still overestimating average IQ. I think a genuine propagandist would look to 'fit in' more, and not be so contrary and obvious.

Regardless, commentary in the near future will likely be dominated by AI bots, if it isn't already on the more popular platforms.