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How is China learning this from the US? Chinese manipulation of social media is well known to be vast and incredibly coordinated. There just isn't evidence that

How is China learning this from the US? Chinese manipulation of social media is well known to be vast and incredibly coordinated. There just isn't evidence that the US government is engaged in anything approaching the Chinese scale. Sure we have tremendous surveillance capabilities, but we use them to detect criminal and terroristic behavior, not to police thought crime in the same way that China does. Don't be silly. It's so fashionable for pseudo-intellectuals to adopt a cynicism-all-the-time mentality, especially about America, but it's really just lazy thinking.

colordrops 9y ago
As long as we are throwing out veiled insults, it's clear you exhibit a child-like ignorance and naivety. There's a news story a week some media collusion or propaganda apparatus being brought to light and people like you continue to remain in denial about the truth.
wybiral 9y ago
It makes me wonder how the conspiracy people think this stuff is orchestrated. Does it all get planned out by one council of secret overlords masterminding the flow of public information? How many people are in on the secret? What is their end goal? ...Or maybe social dynamics and global relationships are more complex than that and patterns emerge even without the need for a conspiracy behind them...
- colordrops 9y ago
  It doesn't take but a modicum of research to know these answers. I'd expect HN commenters to be better than speaking out of ignorance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_in_the_United_State... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_on_Public_Information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_on_Public_Informatio... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Information_Agency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Information_Agen... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Secretary_of_State_for_Public_Diplomacy_and_Public_Affairs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Secretary_of_State_for_P... https://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-brown/propaganda-public-diplomacy_b_1547214.html https://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-brown/propaganda-public-... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent And this doesn't even begin to get into the deep collusion between the government and the media with lobbying, regulatory capture, government appointments, politicians on corporate board seats.
  - wybiral 9y ago
    "Propaganda" is an ambiguous word. By some definitions every country engages in ongoing propaganda. Especially in times of war (where the majority of these "modicum of research" you provided took place) there is sometimes a need to establish channels of communication and leadership. Maybe it's easier to believe in a massively orchestrated conspiracy machine masterminding all of this, but I believe that the world and ongoing international affairs are slightly more nuanced than that.
    - colordrops 9y ago
      What are you on about a "massively orchestrated conspiracy"? No one but you is talking about that.
      - wybiral 9y ago
        Sorry, it seemed like that was being implied here but I must be mistaken. Perhaps you were simply referring to the normal complexity one would expect out of a diverse crowd of interests from bodies of government and businesses acting in ways that sometimes overlap when you said: > "deep collusion between the government and the media with lobbying, regulatory capture, government appointments, politicians on corporate board seats"
    - jdietrich 9y ago
      >in times of war We have always been at war with Eastasia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_military_operations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_mili...

colordrops 9y ago

As long as we are throwing out veiled insults, it's clear you exhibit a child-like ignorance and naivety. There's a news story a week some media collusion or propaganda apparatus being brought to light and people like you continue to remain in denial about the truth.

wybiral 9y ago

It makes me wonder how the conspiracy people think this stuff is orchestrated. Does it all get planned out by one council of secret overlords masterminding the flow of public information? How many people are in on the secret? What is their end goal? ...Or maybe social dynamics and global relationships are more complex than that and patterns emerge even without the need for a conspiracy behind them...

colordrops 9y ago
It doesn't take but a modicum of research to know these answers. I'd expect HN commenters to be better than speaking out of ignorance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_in_the_United_State... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_on_Public_Information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_on_Public_Informatio... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Information_Agency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Information_Agen... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Secretary_of_State_for_Public_Diplomacy_and_Public_Affairs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Secretary_of_State_for_P... https://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-brown/propaganda-public-diplomacy_b_1547214.html https://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-brown/propaganda-public-... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent And this doesn't even begin to get into the deep collusion between the government and the media with lobbying, regulatory capture, government appointments, politicians on corporate board seats.
- wybiral 9y ago
  "Propaganda" is an ambiguous word. By some definitions every country engages in ongoing propaganda. Especially in times of war (where the majority of these "modicum of research" you provided took place) there is sometimes a need to establish channels of communication and leadership. Maybe it's easier to believe in a massively orchestrated conspiracy machine masterminding all of this, but I believe that the world and ongoing international affairs are slightly more nuanced than that.
  - colordrops 9y ago
    What are you on about a "massively orchestrated conspiracy"? No one but you is talking about that.
    - wybiral 9y ago
      Sorry, it seemed like that was being implied here but I must be mistaken. Perhaps you were simply referring to the normal complexity one would expect out of a diverse crowd of interests from bodies of government and businesses acting in ways that sometimes overlap when you said: > "deep collusion between the government and the media with lobbying, regulatory capture, government appointments, politicians on corporate board seats"
  - jdietrich 9y ago
    >in times of war We have always been at war with Eastasia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_military_operations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_mili...