3 ms·
It works the other way around as well, American lack of cultural understanding of China also makes American influence operations seem very stiff and ineffective
by ermir 6y ago
It works the other way around as well, American lack of cultural understanding of China also makes American influence operations seem very stiff and ineffective. I remember seeing a pro-democracy speech given by some Sinologist at an American University, the audience of which was mainland Chinese people. It was full of Americanisms and cultural elements which I assume would be very offputting and ineffective.
As for the Russian operations, the writer in the article briefly touches an aspect which I believe has the essence of why some of their operations work so well: it seems like the employees at the Internet Research Agency are having lots of fun subverting America. A few weeks ago I saw that one of the front organizations that claimed to be from somewhere in the US had an acronym that translated into something like "fuck" in Russian. I can't imagine the Chinese bureaucracy would allow such childish pranks to be part of a state influence operation, but paradoxically allowing your employees to mess around like this has a strong effect on the efficacy of your operations.
This actually mirrors a lot of what Paul Graham says about procrastination, and Jordan Peterson about play being an essential human activity. Simply put, if you don't feel like you're playing, you'll never get into a flow state where you can do your best work.
- pixelpanic360 6y agoHi 50cents. It's horrifying people turn blind how CCP and Communism is slowly destroying the world. Look what happened to Hong Kong!
- pmachinery 6y agoWhat Russia does is nothing new; they're just applying abroad - simply, via the internet, and with the witting or unwitting help of useful idiots in target countries - what they did at home. "...what Surkov has done, is to import ideas from conceptual art into the very heart of politics." "His aim is to undermine peoples' perceptions of the world, so they never know what is really happening." "Surkov turned Russian politics into a bewildering, constantly changing piece of theater. He sponsored all kinds of groups, from neo-Nazi skinheads to liberal human rights groups. He even backed parties that were opposed to President Putin." "But the key thing was, that Surkov then let it be known that this was what he was doing, which meant that no one was sure what was real or fake." Sound familiar? It was written two years before Trump became president, about a policy originating 20 years ago in Russia. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/12/31/bbcs_adam_curtis_on_the_contradictory_vaudeville_of_post-modern_politics.html https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/12/31/bbcs_adam...
- chillacy 6y agoI noticed this happens within the US too in mainstream politics. You can sometimes just tell who is writing a piece based on their word choice, let alone any deep framing of the world.