3 ms·

Putin would like it if everyone thought his government is just great, but he knows he can't get that to happen. So what he is doing instead is having his intern

Putin would like it if everyone thought his government is just great, but he knows he can't get that to happen. So what he is doing instead is having his internet propaganda organization push the line that you can't trust any information source. That has the added benefit that if citizens give up deciding what to believe, then they will become apathetic and democracies will collapse, which would be very useful for his goals. As for the Washington Post, I don't think it is always correct, but I do believe that it usually is sincerely trying to get at the truth.

mncharity 10y ago
> usually is sincerely trying to get at the truth Good intentions are neither good outcomes nor good conduct. Incentives seem to trump intentions, and seem poorly aligned with the public interest. Is this WP version[1] less bad than the LA Times version[2]? Yes. And it's in the entertainment, not the business section. But they still published it. And to be fair to the author, "Hollywood" is good at this game, and regularly suckers some journalist, sometimes quite senior ones, into doing one of these. But they still published it. And to be fair to Hollywood, a former Obama White House official described them as "extremists are people who talk only among themselves". But they still published it. "Pravda on the Potomac" and "it usually is sincerely trying to get at the truth", do not seem necessarily inconsistent observations. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/with-change-at-the-top-of-copyright-office-a-battle-brews-over-free-content/2016/11/07/a8c0b140-a4ea-11e6-8042-f4d111c862d1_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/with-chan... [2] http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-copyright-office-20161109-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-copyright-office-20161...

mncharity 10y ago

> usually is sincerely trying to get at the truth Good intentions are neither good outcomes nor good conduct. Incentives seem to trump intentions, and seem poorly aligned with the public interest. Is this WP version[1] less bad than the LA Times version[2]? Yes. And it's in the entertainment, not the business section. But they still published it. And to be fair to the author, "Hollywood" is good at this game, and regularly suckers some journalist, sometimes quite senior ones, into doing one of these. But they still published it. And to be fair to Hollywood, a former Obama White House official described them as "extremists are people who talk only among themselves". But they still published it. "Pravda on the Potomac" and "it usually is sincerely trying to get at the truth", do not seem necessarily inconsistent observations. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/with-change-at-the-top-of-copyright-office-a-battle-brews-over-free-content/2016/11/07/a8c0b140-a4ea-11e6-8042-f4d111c862d1_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/with-chan... [2] http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-copyright-office-20161109-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-copyright-office-20161...