4 ms·

There is certainly a strain of leftist totalitarianism prevalent on HN, which suppresses any news not in sync with their "we good, they bad" world view.

by qazpot 7y ago

0815test 7y ago
> a strain of leftist totalitarianism A strain of leftist totalitarianism which - as it turns out - originally came about as a result of Russian (well, Soviet, but still) political interference. Isn't that deliciously ironic? Of course the memetic infection has been self-propagating for a very long time, also merging with other strains originating from e.g. Maoist China at the peak of the Cultural Revolution. It's a bit like a zombie invasion which has no real underlying goals of its own besides memetic success - but the Russian propaganda component was definitely there originally!
- mooseburger 7y ago
  No it's not, that started around 2010 with the Great Awokening. It's being driven by the mainstream media: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1133440945201061888.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1133440945201061888.html
  - mistermann 7y ago
    That's pretty interesting. As they say, Meme Magic is real.
  - taurath 7y ago
    Missing from this post - a source and also the total num of articles used as source data. I’d bet that the number of articles in general have increased by a lot.
- mistermann 7y ago
  > originally came about as a result of Russian (well, Soviet, but still) political interference. Could you share what this refers to, and do you have specific conclusive evidence that you could also share?
  - MockObject 7y ago
    I would guess he's alluding to Soviet influence on our 60s counterculture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_influence_on_the_peace_movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_influence_on_the_peace_...
  - 0815test 7y ago
    See e.g. Vladimir Bukovsky's Judgment in Moscow, currently being reissued in English translation. It just goes to prove that Russian interference in Western politics is nothing new, much less out of the ordinary. But the direction it points towards is very different from what you hear these days in the mainstream media!
    - mistermann 7y ago
      Thank you, that's seems both substantive and evidence-based. In my mind, the important question is: to what degree, in what forms, and backed by what evidence, does this interference actually in fact continue today, and (as you say) how closely does this align to the narrative of interference that is presented (through various channels, by various actors, coordinated or independent) to people today? It's quite fun to think about impartially.
      - 0815test 7y ago
        The interference need not continue today for the related memes to still be active. They've simply become zombie memes and have been actively spreading as such, perhaps being quite independent of any outside interference. Similarly, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution has been over for decades in China itself and the Gang of Four has even lost political favor in the PRC, but the memes which have been boosted by it ("Marx, Mao, Marcuse!" and the like) are very much active in the West. The unrolled Twitter thread that's been linked in a sibling comment is highly instructive in this regard!
        mistermann 7y ago
        Some zombie memes may still be active, but we also have a fresh set of Russia memes that are pushed every day by the three letter agencies, media, and individual people (with infected brains) on various social media platforms. It's quite fascinating to watch how it all works in action, human brains act very much like computers that are attached to a network - just as a computer virus infects a machine, which in turn infects other machines it comes in contact with, the same thing can be observed (via comments on internet forums) happening with human beings as they both enthusiastically spread and defend the meme. If anyone happens to know of anyone who is studying this phenomenon specifically in today's context, or if there is even a general name for the phenomenon, please post a comment.
pessimizer 7y ago
There's absolutely no relationship between leftism and the FBI, other than that the FBI targets leftists.
- luckylion 7y ago
  Can you turn that around to determine whether some group is leftist? "Are they targeted by the FBI?" as a test?

There is certainly a strain of leftist totalitarianism prevalent on HN, which suppresses any news not in sync with their "we good, they bad" world view.

by qazpot 7y ago

There is certainly a strain of leftist totalitarianism prevalent on HN, which suppresses any news not in sync with their "we good, they bad" world view.

0815test 7y ago

> a strain of leftist totalitarianism A strain of leftist totalitarianism which - as it turns out - originally came about as a result of Russian (well, Soviet, but still) political interference. Isn't that deliciously ironic? Of course the memetic infection has been self-propagating for a very long time, also merging with other strains originating from e.g. Maoist China at the peak of the Cultural Revolution. It's a bit like a zombie invasion which has no real underlying goals of its own besides memetic success - but the Russian propaganda component was definitely there originally!

mooseburger 7y ago
No it's not, that started around 2010 with the Great Awokening. It's being driven by the mainstream media: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1133440945201061888.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1133440945201061888.html
- mistermann 7y ago
  That's pretty interesting. As they say, Meme Magic is real.
- taurath 7y ago
  Missing from this post - a source and also the total num of articles used as source data. I’d bet that the number of articles in general have increased by a lot.
mistermann 7y ago
> originally came about as a result of Russian (well, Soviet, but still) political interference. Could you share what this refers to, and do you have specific conclusive evidence that you could also share?
- MockObject 7y ago
  I would guess he's alluding to Soviet influence on our 60s counterculture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_influence_on_the_peace_movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_influence_on_the_peace_...
- 0815test 7y ago
  See e.g. Vladimir Bukovsky's Judgment in Moscow, currently being reissued in English translation. It just goes to prove that Russian interference in Western politics is nothing new, much less out of the ordinary. But the direction it points towards is very different from what you hear these days in the mainstream media!
  - mistermann 7y ago
    Thank you, that's seems both substantive and evidence-based. In my mind, the important question is: to what degree, in what forms, and backed by what evidence, does this interference actually in fact continue today, and (as you say) how closely does this align to the narrative of interference that is presented (through various channels, by various actors, coordinated or independent) to people today? It's quite fun to think about impartially.
    - 0815test 7y ago
      The interference need not continue today for the related memes to still be active. They've simply become zombie memes and have been actively spreading as such, perhaps being quite independent of any outside interference. Similarly, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution has been over for decades in China itself and the Gang of Four has even lost political favor in the PRC, but the memes which have been boosted by it ("Marx, Mao, Marcuse!" and the like) are very much active in the West. The unrolled Twitter thread that's been linked in a sibling comment is highly instructive in this regard!
      - mistermann 7y ago
        Some zombie memes may still be active, but we also have a fresh set of Russia memes that are pushed every day by the three letter agencies, media, and individual people (with infected brains) on various social media platforms. It's quite fascinating to watch how it all works in action, human brains act very much like computers that are attached to a network - just as a computer virus infects a machine, which in turn infects other machines it comes in contact with, the same thing can be observed (via comments on internet forums) happening with human beings as they both enthusiastically spread and defend the meme. If anyone happens to know of anyone who is studying this phenomenon specifically in today's context, or if there is even a general name for the phenomenon, please post a comment.

pessimizer 7y ago

There's absolutely no relationship between leftism and the FBI, other than that the FBI targets leftists.

luckylion 7y ago
Can you turn that around to determine whether some group is leftist? "Are they targeted by the FBI?" as a test?