like the way Birds Aren’t Real folks ARE trolls

That was more a riff on the decades-long fear of mass surveillance. There's a degree of conspiracy theory on top of the conspiracy theory, in which a few niche corners of the internet assert the "Birds Aren't Real" guy was promoted as a means of deflecting attention from the Snowden Leaks and other surveillance whistleblowers.

I’ve had trouble sussing out what’s real and what’s just bullshit “reasoning” to support bullshit ideals.

Welcome to Post Modernist Mass Media. Manipulating public opinion is now more important than conveying anything that's actually useful.