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They are trying to gaslight us. Foreign powers want to misinform and distract the public in democracies; a misinformed populace puts pressure on elected governm
by AngrySkillzz 10y ago
They are trying to gaslight us. Foreign powers want to misinform and distract the public in democracies; a misinformed populace puts pressure on elected governments to govern poorly. If democratic governments flounder because of this, that gives authoritarians an opportunity to get more power and influence over world politics.
Not to say that western nations aren't engaged in their own information operations. Just that it is asymmetric warfare, authoritarian regimes have a lot less to fear from a misinformed or disengaged public.
- ConfuciusSay02 10y agoAuthoritarian regimes usually rest on more fragile underpinnings. If anything it's the inverse, authoritarian regimes have a lot MORE to fear from a "misinformed" public. This is borne out by the fact that we see authoritarian regimes crack down much harder on social media and other forms of free communication.
- wavefunction 10y agoI don't believe I agree with your contention, either that authoritarian regimes have more to fear from misinformation or that this relationship is borne out of social media. Social media is neutral in terms of its content: it can broadcast accurate information or it can broadcast inaccurate information. But it allows that information to reach a much larger audience more quickly than calling on the phone or sending a letter or even wandering the streets shouting whatever you want to spread. The only significant negative aspect of social media for authoritarians that I can think of is that it allows for non-centralized information spreading, whereas controlling the newspapers and TV is more straight-forward.
- stcredzero 10y agoa misinformed populace puts pressure on elected governments to govern poorly. Worse than a misinformed populace is a populace that can't think. The latter might well get real information and dismiss it.
- pdeuchler 10y agoStatistically over the past 100 years democratic institutions have affected (or is it effected in this case?) the politics of authoritarian regimes dramatically more, as in orders of magnitude more, than the other way around
- enraged_camel 10y agoHistorically that is true, but times are changing. Specifically, the Internet makes the flow of information (and therefore propaganda) a lot more symmetric. We saw this with the most recent election. It will only get worse.