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It's not an insult, the other way around, it's naive to think that the general population acts intelligently with respect to information available to them on an
by jariel 6y ago
It's not an insult, the other way around, it's naive to think that the general population acts intelligently with respect to information available to them on an ad-hoc basis.
All nations media outlets are absolutely protected and controlled industries for this very reason.
Information can be wrong, totally misrepresented, hyperbolic, it can reach large numbers of individuals wherein contrasting information cannot.
The objective of a 'foreign actor' is not to 'inform' citizens, it's the opposite - it's to use 'information' possibly 'truthy' to manipulate elections towards their desired outcomes.
If a foreign state wants to release 'important information' to 'inform' citizens, then it can be released with enough time for that to be vetted, digested and disseminated properly.
More than 1/2 of the vote is based on emotional decision making around specific subjects, were the media open to influence by other parties, it would be possible to control electoral outcomes when margins are +/- just a few points, as so many elections are these days.
If Putin is behind the 'Hunter Biden leaks' - that's fine, the truth is the truth, but not 10 days before an election it isn't.
- Andrew_nenakhov 6y ago> that's fine, the truth is the truth, but not 10 days before an election it isn't. Why not? It's like watching a romantic movie, when a good guy crashes a wedding of a loved one in a last minute, and instead of "speak now or forever hold your peace" tell him "but not in 10 days before the wedding!"
- jariel 6y agoBecause it's nothing like that, and Putin is not 'a good guy' with noble intentions.
- Andrew_nenakhov 6y agoTrust me, living in Russia, I know a lot more about Putin than you do. However, the truth is the truth. On an unrelated note: seing fisthand how Putin's propaganda is working in the internet, it is beyond laughable how much power and influence you americans ascribe to Putin. His internet 'troll' factory is not a sophisticated tool for propaganda, it's a blunt factory that simply floods every comment section with low-quality noise. Of all money that were meant to influence the elections, 99% were, without any doubt, simply stolen. Trump's victory in 2016 is not a consequence of some elections meddling, but simply a coincidence. As one prominent member of russian opposition said (btw I know him personally, as in 'shaking hands personally'), “What is happening with ‘the investigation into Russian interference,’ is not just a disgrace but a collective eclipse of the mind.” [1] [2] [1]: https://www.facebook.com/leonid.m.volkov/posts/1585818548107439 https://www.facebook.com/leonid.m.volkov/posts/1585818548107... [2]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/world/europe/russia-vladimir-putin-liberals.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/world/europe/russia-vladi...