In the clip of Carson, MacKellar holds a small microphone while the cameraperson is off to the side.<\/p>\n
Carson says she was taken aback by the approach and Mackellar\u2019s \u201cGish gallop\u201d, a tactic where interviewees are bombarded with a stream of questions that may lack logic and include misinformation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was only once she asked if the unborn were human that I noticed the person with a camera. I knew if I kept talking, she would continue to find ways to twist my words,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u2018The strategy is to just humiliate people who disagree with them,\u2019 says Carson. Photograph: Sia Duff\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Carson ended the interview but was worried about how the clip would appear on social media and was angry about the tactic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing that irks me about people who do this rage-baiting stuff, accost people, blindside them, they don\u2019t want a proper debate because it would wipe out the points they want to make,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe strategy is to just humiliate people who disagree with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rage baiting is online content \u201cdeliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular webpage or social media content\u201d, according to the Oxford English Dictionary\u2019s publisher<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are plenty of other tactics being used by Australian influencers. Some approach demonstrators at pro-Palestine protests, anti-One Nation and anti-March for Australia protests. They then often publish short clips of the protesters looking angry and dishevelled.<\/p>\n Others have set up tables or signs to stage \u201cprove me wrong\u201d scenarios, a tactic popularised by the late US far-right activist Charlie Kirk<\/a>. Often, the well-rehearsed influencers will post content showing them \u201cdemolishing\u201d their detractors.<\/p>\n Other examples include evangelical Christians choosing to preach or to try to debate religion with Muslims, including during Ramadan.<\/p>\n The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman-Grant, said last year there were \u201cgrowing concerns\u201d about street interviews that \u201cappeared to exploit or humiliate\u201d people, including homeless, drunk or drug-affected people, the West Australian reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cJust because something may be technically legal does not mean it is ethical,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Dr Lisa Harrison, a media and communications lecturer at Flinders Unversity, said the ethics behind street interviews were \u201creally disappointing\u201d. \u201cThey\u2019re jumping on controversial topics. You have to wonder if it\u2019s about the controversy or the content,\u201d she said, adding there were also multiple ways to make money out of such content.<\/p>\n She lists advertising, endorsements, paid appearances, sales and fundraising as some of the potential commercial benefits.<\/p>\n
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